Journey of the Jool 1 | How I learned to love orbital construction

[TRAPPIST-1E]

This is  a random mission I started to try and get back into KSP. I thought to myself, 'Might as well try to do a fun little Jool mission' (spoiler: It was not just a fun jool mission). I originally planned to send it to maybe Val, Pol, the sort. It quickly got out of hand.
I don't have any screenshots from earlier in the mission, but I can cheat some crafts around and show them in the VAB to approximate an idea

Currently, the mission is floating above the surface of Bop, parts strewn willy-nilly on the craft, and looking unrecognizable from how we began. Let's start from the beginning, shall we?

Spoiler

The craft is comprised of 2 main modules, a bottom propulsion stage, and a top habitat module

Bottom and top, respectively. Orbital assembly went without a hitch, save for the fact that I forgot to pack enough monopropellant. I had used up almost half of it by the time I left Kerbin

 

There were also 2 landers, a small one for normal use on Vall,

and a mining one for Pol

After I attach these landers to the main craft does the first major issue arise, that of the fact that I forgot to include the mass of the landers when designing the mothership's propulsion stage. In doing so, I had to discard the smaller lander in orbit of Kerbin, moving the mining lander to center-mass docking and draining all excess fuel into the propulsion stage.

I eventually got on a course to Jool, and that's when the Delta-V problem reared it's ugly head. I found even with a Tylo gravity assist I would end up stuck in orbit of Jool. I had to use orbital construction to strip every unnecessary part off of the craft, and that left with me having barely enough fuel to get into Bop orbit. The main mission would need to take a quick break for now. I took the mining lander down to the surface (a horrible descent, my Dv margins were razor-thin) and managed to scrounge up enough fuel to get back to orbit. I made 1 more mining trip, but not before re-configuring the entire lander.

I figured it would be more efficient to just strip the lander down to a drill, ore tank, fuel and engine, to leave the refining for the mothership in orbit. This new lander would be dubbed the 'Macguyver', due to it's hastily constructed and in-situ nature.

This proved to be really tedious, though. It took too much time and was still really inefficient to fly down to the surface for a tiny bit of ore each time, and I figured it would take 40+ missions to refuel the ship.
So I decided to land the entire thing

Using the lander as a kind of janky landing strut, I set down on the slopes of Bop for a 100+ day expedition to refuel the craft.

Eventually, I took off, getting to the position I am in now

So where does the Jool 1 go from here? Tune in later, to see where they go. For there is buckets of fuel now, and a whole host of worlds to explore.

 

The Crew of the Jool 1
-Jeb

-Valentine

-Bill

-Bob

-Cerby (Pilot)

-Donwell (Engineer, also mastermind behind the Macguyver lander)

(This will be updated later)

 

Edited May 7 by TRAPPIST-1E

[TRAPPIST-1E]

Chapter 1: The Vall-iant Expedition

Bob would get right to work plotting a course to the mission's original objective, Vall. The beautiful ice moon of Jool musn't be missed, and we do not have the capability to land on Tylo or Laythe yet.

This course would let them reach Vall in 6 days. They would need to get cozy around Jool, as the next Jool-Kerbin transfer window would not come for another 3 years

Burning primarily on the nuclear engines to conserve fuel.

Highest point of the orbit over Jool. Tylo can be spotted just over Jool's north pole.

Jeb looks over Vall, 5 hours out from the capture burn

Arrived at Vall

Capture burn for about 1000 Dv

About half our fuel remains. This may prove to be an issue in the future, but for now it's OK. There are plans in the KSC in progress to resupply the mission before the Jool transfer window

Valentina transfers to the lander and undocks. She will gather some ore on the surface of Vall in addition to the customary first landing procedures.

Boosting into a lower orbit for ease of landing.

Sunrise as we get closer to the surface

KSP2? What's that?

Coming down

Final descent, landing in 5, 4, 3, 2,

Whoops?

ooh

this

this is bad. Very bad

Edited May 8 by TRAPPIST-1E
full thing

[Mustant]

Who's aboard the lander?

[TRAPPIST-1E]

Valentina

[TwoCalories]

The sounds like a fun mission. I'll be tuning in for when updates come out from here on out!

[TRAPPIST-1E]

Chapter 2: A Bit of a Pickle

A little fiddling with the RCS thrusters, some wiggling on the surface, and Valentina is upright!

The crew of the Jool 1 celebrates, but a pressing matter is still here. How will Val get home? She has half the amount of delta-V needed to reach Val orbit, and the Jool 1 itself is too unwieldy and Vall to large to attempt any landing there.

In the meantime, Valentina exits the lander and conducts the first footsteps on Vall, deploying the mandatory flag in the process.

She even makes a quick trip to one of the nearby geysers, taking a sample for (hopefully) later use.

In the meantime, the Jool 1 sits patiently in orbit, the crew debating the best plan of action

Bob brings forward the idea of using spare fuel tanks and the 1 spare engine to send down enough fuel to allow Valentina to reach orbit

Cerby entertains the idea of stripping down the Jool 1 and landing on Vall directly

The idea of landing directly has potential, but would effectively strand them there. Due to the abundant ice they would be fine in terms of life support, as the onboard ISRU can manage splitting water for oxygen and growing plants with some onboard seeds, but that would mean spending 3-4 more years around Jool. They would be effectively stranded. However, the ship is lacking fuel, the short jaunt to Vall having spent a little more dV than expected.

Whatever course of action is taken, it must be taken now.

[TRAPPIST-1E]

Interlude 1: A Very Important Decision

Deep in a classified government blacksite, 2 high-ranking individuals discuss some Very Important Matters:

 

"The ship is not going to get there in this state. Vall was a bust"

 "There's still time to look. If we tell them to land on Vall and hold down until rescue, we can have them search for what we need"

"Move the old Vall Orbiter into a polar orbit, it can search for the target that way. Think about the public reaction to kerbonaughts dying on Vall!"

"No, we need boots on the ground searching. We cannot risk anything here."

"I guess we can get them to land and search, but we musn't reveal what we need. This needs to stay away from even them."

"But what if they find out?"

"That is taken care of"

"And how do we suppose we get them home afterwards? We can't let them stay too long out there, ionizing radiation isn't good for the body"

"There was a certain research program, almost 80 years back. It was deemed too risky and in violation of international law, so it was scrapped. Times have changed, however, and it might be the only way we can get them home."
"You don't mean-"

"Yes. Project Orion"

[TRAPPIST-1E]

Chapter 3: End of a Mission (Or is it?)

A decision has been made.

The KSC has drafted up plans for a rescue craft, meaning that the crew of the Jool 1 have been given the go-ahead to land on Vall. The crew quickly gets to work.

Behind the icy plains of Vall, the Jool 1 prepares for possibly it's last ever flight.

They take one last look at Jool from orbit, and start the deorbit burn

Falling down towards Vall, the unwieldy ship proves hard to orient

The landing is conducted in the early Vall morning, about 1 hour before sunrise

The final landing is harrowing. Luckily, the crew makes it out alive

Jeb gets out and plants the customary flag.

And Vall soon joins, using the last drops of fuel in the lander to navigate over to the Jool 1.

The crew of the Jool 1 settle down now, preparing the spacecraft for it's potentially years-long stay on Vall.

(If you're wondering why the scenery changed, it's because I landed normally, but when I tried to load a save it bugged out every time and destroyed my excrements, possibly due to Parallax scatters. I had to cheat the ship down after loading a save from when it was in orbit, and I deduced some fuel. I hope this minor thing is OK for you guys.)

 

[TRAPPIST-1E]

Interlude 2: Bill has some fun

To lighten up the mood, and to distract from the pressing situation, Bill built a small rover to get around on Vall

It may be a little . . . unorthodox, but it sure is fun to drive around in!

With a total top speed of  . . 4 Meters per Second, he christens it the Wheelie-Dealy 10000

Everyone else just calls it the Tumble-Dryer