Trickshot - Joolian Ãœberprobe

[Elmetian]

This is something I've been working on for a while. The plan was to send a mission to Jool that would do everything, and most importantly, could be put up in one launch. The Trickshot probe currently requires 3 mods (Planetes Corporation Headshields, the Telescoping Hull Cam mod, and Hooligan Labs Airships mod), though I'm also considering releasing a stock version without the airship probes, and with the cameras and heatshields removed. I think the mods make it much more fun though, and none of them really constitute cheating as there are no vanilla analogues for them to be compared against. Anyway, here are some pictures of Trickshot and her daughter probes in action.

Trickshot Probe Gallery

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Two airship microprobes designed for Jool and Laythe:

Airship Probe Gallery

Two standard atmospheric probes for Jool and Laythe:

Atmospheric Probe Gallery

Two microrover probes with skycranes that can land on every Joolian body except Jool and Tylo:

Microrover Probe Gallery

And two Munar probes capable of landing everywhere except Jool and Tylo:

Munar Probe Gallery

Edited September 8, 2013 by Narcosis

[Elmetian]

Launch Instructions:

Use Olex's excellent calculator for finding ejection angles. Here is a persistent file saved during the Jool launch window if you're lazy.

• Engage ASAS.

• Press 10 to lock the gimbal on the outer engines.

• Launch at full throttle, then reduce by one notch before engines overheat.

• When only the last asparagus stage remains, unlock the gimbals for extra stability.

• Place into a circular orbit with a minimum altitude of 200km.

• After decoupling from the launch vehicle, lock stages with Alt+L

• Spread your ejection burn over two or more orbits for maximum accuracy.

Jool insertion Instructions:

• Once inside Jool's sphere of influence, tweak your intercept using the manoeuvre nodes so that you are entering the Jool system prograde (you don't want to be orbiting retrograde to the moons).

• You should also tweak your inclination so that you are on the ecliptic plane.

• Drop your peripasis to approximately 120km above Jool's surface. This is a good time to quicksave in case you choose the wrong altitude for aerobraking.

• Inflate the heatshield, orient the probe prograde, and watch the light show as Trickshot slams through Jool's atmosphere.

Airship Drone/Atmospheric Drone Instructions:

• After being captured by Jool, now is a good time to release one of each type of atmo' probe.

• Decouple manually by clicking on the small decouplers when you're at apoapsis.

• Press ] to switch craft, 2 to extend the solar panels, and 4 to activate ion engines.

• Drop their periapsis into the day side of Jool.

• Retract solar panels by pressing 2 just before re-entry. Press 1 to open parachute. Decouple heatshield manually by right-clicking on it, and quickly switch craft using ] because the camera considers the decoupled heatshield to be the root component.

Microrover Notes:

• Liquid fuelled engines are toggled with 3, and the parachute with 1.

• Due to the lack of an ion engine, the microrovers must be released while already in orbit around the target body.

• If landing on Vall, you must reduce Trickshot's semimajor axis to at most 15km before releasing. It is also recommended that you decouple the superfluous heat shield prior to the de-orbit burn.

• Once landed, decouple skycrane and fly away.

• Switch to docking mode whilst driving and engage SAS function for stability by pressing T.

• Use the parking brake and press 7 to turn off motors while recharging batteries.

• Press 5 to operate the rover via the headlamp-mounted camera.

Munar Probe Notes:

• Extend the solar panels by pressing 2.

• The ion engine is toggled with 4. Use this for orbital manoeuvring.

• Liquid fuelled engines are toggled with 3. Use these for de-orbit burn and landing.

• If landing on Vall, aim for an 8km circular orbit using ion power before de-orbiting. You must use at least 100 units of Xenon gas before landing. Be sparing with the liquid fuelled rockets as the delta V surplus for Vall is very small.

Action Group Bindings:

1 - Opens parachutes

2 - Toggles solar panels

3 - Toggles liquid fuelled engines on the probes

4 - Toggles ion engines on the probes

5 - Activates all cameras

6 - Switches between active cameras

7 - Toggles Microrover wheel motors.

8 -

9 -

10 -Toggles outer engine gimbal on launch booster.

Edited September 8, 2013 by Narcosis