(Jan 27) Jool V - the hardest mission I've ever done...

[FTLparachute]

16 hours ago, Kerbalsaurus said:

The Tardigrades are so goofy looking, I love them.

Just wait until you see how I reset the science experiments - that is much stupider.

[FTLparachute]

Y3 D170ish - Laythe, Part 2

Spoiler

Waited a couple of orbits until we were aligned with Feynman Base again - annoyingly this put us in an eclipse.

T1a undocks from the J6 - every Laythe module has been detached now, and the J6 can now commence more detailed studies of Laythe's surface.

Descent took a few attempts, as I needed to do a precision landing on the north side of the island - the T1s cannot go uphill very easily.

Landed successfully, but a drive is needed to reach Feynman Base. Shortish, though.

Eclipse now over and J6 in range, the journey can commence.

The rover is (big shocker) very top heavy at speed, very prone to flipping at speed and goes down hill very fast. The brakes are needed to stop the craft from breaking itself.

Interesting geological feature.

Soon, the T1a was at Feynman Base. However, Bill needed to readjust the Scanning Arm, as it was bent too far down to properly scan any features.

No luck, as Laythe's gravity is too high to reorient it. This is a solvable problem - it just means a second landing will be needed.

As for the J6, it stays in orbit for a few more days surveying for the Tripoint between Crater Bay, the Shallows and the Sagen Sea. Once this is done, an orbit is set for better Comnet linkage with the T1a.

However, once reaching this orbit, I realized that I only had 1 set of deployables on the GTT. This meant I could only get their science from 1 of Vall, Pol or Bop. While this is the first science loss of the mission, it also means that Bill is not needed for the Pol and Bop landings. Therefore, the J6 begins to set out for Pol refuelling, with Bob doing a solo run of Bop, then Pol, with the GTT.

But the T1a is ready for its expedition...

 

[FTLparachute]

Y3, D173 - Laythe, Part 3

Spoiler

After the incident last time, I took off with the T1a. Originally the plan was to drive directly to the Southern Tripoint, but as the craft is very slow underwater I made the decision to drive the rest of the island, without properly packing up the science equipment. No worries - this just means that the mission profile is going to be even funkier than before...

T1a departs. The way in which the Sci Jr and the Goo will be reset is by Kirk, holding on to a ladder at the back of the craft. Perfectly safe.

First rest stop, at the southern edge of Mt. Tardigrade, named as it was the landing site of the T1a.

Second point, further down the coast. No notable features present.

Long drive followed by some smaller hops to ascend a hill. Kirk also finds this island sticking out of the ice sheet, which he names after himself.

First sighting of Scott Point.

And arrival - this is the furthest the T1a can go on land.

After some time, Piper packs as much equipment as possible, before ascending from the surface.

Passing over the summit of Mt Tardigrade.

Scott Point visible. The craft is flying low to land as close to the tripoint as possible.

Splashdown, very close to the tripoint. The T1a only has... 16km to drive. Uh oh...

[FTLparachute]

On 1/26/2025 at 9:45 PM, FTLparachute said:

However, once reaching this orbit, I realized that I only had 1 set of deployables on the GTT. This meant I could only get their science from 1 of Vall, Pol or Bop. While this is the first science loss of the mission, it also means that Bill is not needed for the Pol and Bop landings. Therefore, the J6 begins to set out for Pol refuelling, with Bob doing a solo run of Bop, then Pol, with the GTT.

Very quickly doing an addendum on this - when I wrote this I assumed that the science in the Deployable was carried inside the part even when picked up by a Kerbal. However, I am now aware this is incorrect - the science is gathered by the Kerbal as a report. This means that I will simply be landing the J6 on Pol, with no antics on Bop or Pol, though Pasted may have to fly solo to fit Jeb level's crew requirements.

[DennisB]

On 1/25/2025 at 10:41 PM, FTLparachute said:

some funky techniques are use to get 4 copies of the split value experiments, with Buzz having to externally carry some up to the surface.

Will you tell us the details, how you collect the 4 copies? I'm curious.

[FTLparachute]

2 hours ago, DennisB said:

Will you tell us the details, how you collect the 4 copies? I'm curious.

I do an experiment, then transfer the data. For most of the craft, they have enough probe cores/ESUs/cabins for this, but for the T0  I did not fit it properly so the main set was held in the ESU (under the chute array), then the copies of the split-value experiments (atmo analysis, sci jr, goo, seismometer, gravioli and surface sample) were held in the pod, externally by Buzz and in the experiment parts themselves.

Pretty sure I could recover copies at the same time, if so I can do it separate.

...

Also IMPORTANT NOTICE  - The T1s are (big shocker) not very fast underwater. As in it would take days to reach the Tripoint by driving underwater. Note of advice to trying to get Landed in this area - use a submarine. This is the first major science loss for the mission, though not one I'm particularly annoyed about.

Edited 7 hours ago by FTLparachute
thx for 2k views