Mission to Jool "Glory Road" (LOTS of pictures)

[Tokay Gris]

Mission to Jool "Glory Road" - Preparing the way home - mission report

According to plan, the "Maureen Johnson" jetisoned most of the attached "Falcon MK II", except the command capsule still needed for the two "Bumblebee" pilots and the additional crewmember of the "Colin Campbell".

A rather complicated burn for Jool (the orbit being more polar than equatorial) and another aerobrake, the "Maureen Johnson" is now in the same orbit as the "Colin Campbell" and the "Dum Vivimus Vivamus II".

Edited July 4, 2013 by Tokay Gris

[popeter45]

are those the same picture?

[Tokay Gris]

Mission to Jool "Glory Road" - Status report

Location of vessels:

Main Vessels:

- "Colin Campbell": Circular equatorial orbit around Jool, 0 inclination, 2500 km height.

- "Maureen Johnson": Circular equatorial orbit around Jool, 0 inclination, 2500 km height.

- "Dum Vivimus Vivamus": Circular equatorial orbit around Jool, 0 inclination, 2500 km height.

- "Peewee": Circular equatorial orbit around Laythe, inclination 2, 120 km height.

Other Vessels:

- "Bumblebee I": Attached to "Dum Vivimus Vivamus"

- "Bumblebee II": Circular orbit around Vall, inclination 75, 110 km height.

Objectives accomplished:

- Phase Two is complete

- Phase Three is complete

- Phase One primary objectives mostly completed

- Support mission is complete

Objectives is progress:

- One habitat still to be placed in a circular equatorial orbit around Laythe

Other tasks still to do:

- Rendevous of the three vessels around Jool, transfer of fuel

- Transfer of "Bumblebee II" from Vall to Jool, there to rendevous with the "Maureen Johnson", then to be docked to the payload of the "Colin Campbell" and left with it in orbit around Jool. Pilot will be transfered to the "Maureen Johnson" for the trip home.

- Transfer of the second habitat to Laythe with "Bumblebee I", there to rendevous with "Peewee". The pilot will be transfered to "Peewee" and the habitat, as well as the tug will be placed in orbit around Laythe.

Way home:

After these tasks have been completed, a trajectory to Kerbin will be planned and executed on all four vessels.

Arrival home:

All four vessels will execute an aerobrake in Kerbins atmosphere and establish an eqatorial orbit. They will be met by shuttles to transport the crew back to the surface.

Planned point of arrival: KSC

(Sorry folks... these tasks will have to wait until I am home again mayself in about ten days....)

(And another sorry: No mayor mishaps so far....)

[Tokay Gris]

are those the same picture?

Wups. Yep, they were. Thanks!

Changed it to the correct one. I took waaaay too many pictures of aerobrakes.... But I did a lot of them so far during that mission.

[popeter45]

by any chance at the end of all this can you make a imgur album of all the screenshots you made of this ?

[Tokay Gris]

Sure, will do. Craft-Files of the involved vessels will be included.

[popeter45]

thanks very much

[Tokay Gris]

Pictures so far in this album:

http://harrimanenterprises.imgur.com

Craft-Files will have to wait until I get home, so will have to wait a few days more.

I really hope that 0.21 will wait that long to give me enough time to conclude this mission...

[Tokay Gris]

Mission to Jool "Glory Road" - Mission report

With the success of the support mission and the safe arrival of the "Colin Campbell", refuelling operations began.

Docking of the big ships was only possible by digging deep into the RCS reserves.

The "Maureen Johnson" used most of her fuel for the trip to Jool and so, the enginestage of the "Campbell" has to rendevous with her in order to refuel.

Docking proved to be difficult again and the RCS-reserves of the "Campbell" were drained completely.

Since seats for the return trip are scarce, the "Maureen" will have to rendevous with the "Campbell"s payload to pick up the pilot of the payload and the pilot of the remaining "Bumblebee"

Meanwhile, in Laythes orbit, construction of the refuelling station to be left there comences.

One of the radial tanks of the "Peewee" is filled with not needed fuel and undocked after the pilots of the landing vessel - now used as a orbital tanker - and the pilot of the "Bumblebee" are taken aboard.

The second tank will be dropped shortly after departure for Kerbin, so that it stays clear of the station.

[Tokay Gris]

Mission to Jool "Glory Road" - Return

All mission objectives complete, it is time to blast for home.

First, the trajectory of the "Peewee" is executed. Although most of the fuel has been left in orbit around Laythe, an easy trajectory could be calculated and the return trip to Kerbin took suprisingly little delta-V.

The "Dum Vivimus Vivamus II" jettisons her radial tanks and is on her way.

One last wave to Jool and off they go!

After long months in space, Kerbin approaches.

One last aerobrake and all vessels are safely in orbit around Kerbin. Finetuning of that manouver was rather difficult for the "Colin Campbell", as she drained all her RCS fuel during the last docking with the "Maureen Johnson".

The orbital shuttle picks up the crew of the four vessels.

The last leg of this long mission can be enjoyed by the heros, the shuttle beeing fully automated.

Landing at KCS was without any problems.

And here they are!

From left to right:

Crew of the "Dum Vivimus Vivamus II":

Gilbald Kerman

Roding Kerman

Dehat Kerman

Crew of the "Colin Campbell":

Johntrey Kerman

Billin Kerman

Adlin Kerman

Crew of the "Maureen Johnson":

Raytrey Kerman

Bartbury Kerman

Obford Kerman

Keltrey Kerman

Dudke Kerman

Crew of the "Peewee":

Encan Kerman

Shepry Kerman

Mitsby Kerman

Welcome home, boys!

[Geschosskopf]

Bravo! Quite an epic project. Glad everybody survived the supernova and got home safe

[Tokay Gris]

Thanks a lot! I had a lot of fun during this mission.

Jool IS the biggest target in the Kerbol system and I managed to get this first encounter done in one big sweep. Tylo remains to be landed on, but with the experience on Laythe, I think I know how to do this.

Currently I am writing up the "credits", sort of. Present the vessels included on the launchpad, complete with craftfiles, if anyone is interested...

And afterwards the question is what to do next....

[Tokay Gris]

Mission to Jool "Glory Road" - Credits - Vessels

1.) Support missions

First of, a mission of this magnitude can not be done without supporting missions. I managed to get away with three major support parts, one of them to bring fuel to Jool, one to get fuel into Kerbin orbit to start with and one to get the astronauts back to Kerbin intact.

The biggest support mission was the "Colin Campbell". Besides the bad luck this mission had (see mission reports on that), here are the parts of this vessel.

To begin with, here is the payload: A huge pack of tanks with one senior docking port on the bottom:

As you can see, there is no additional lifting stage. The fueltanks are emptied on ascent and need to be refueled in orbit.

It did work of sorts, although the shere mass of that payload did pose a few problems. Needless to say that this beast, if filled to the brim, is almost impossible to dock on its own. At one point during the mission "Glory Road" it was necessary to actually do this and the usage of RCS fuel was - to put it mildly - massive.

Here is the craftfile:

ftp://[email protected]/Craftfiles/_Campbell_%20Payload%20raw.craft

(rightclick and "save as")

(Please review staging, if you want to use it. I removed Mechjeb from it, so that in this configuration it is competely stock)

To complete this vessel, a modified "Pollux MK 5" is used. This actually is the improved version with increased struts between the lower and the middle jumbo-tank.

The cone on top is not really necessary, as well as the other cones. It has to be said, though, that after the last two lateral tanks are decoupled this vessel seriously lacks torque. On long burns it tends to oscillate and it was necessary to stop the burn, realign and restart burning two times during the return burn.

Here is the craft-file. Same applies here: Mechjeb was removed, so it is pure stock. And again: Check staging.

ftp://[email protected]/Craftfiles/_Campbell_%20Cruiser%20Raw.craft

Combined the two parts make one helluva big vessel. TWR is abysmal, burntimes are forever and stability leaves something to be desired.

Also, this vessel is not that stable during aerobraking manouvers. Structural integrity is pretty good, though. It survived one really deep Jool aerobrake, although losing control totally.

Edited July 26, 2013 by Tokay Gris

[Tokay Gris]

Mission to Jool "Glory Road" - Credits - Vessels

1.) Support missions: Orbital tanker

In order to get this show on the road, you need fuel. LOTS of it. And you need it in orbit.

The vessel that can do this is the Orbital Tanker "Lumox". It gets two Jumbo-tanks into any orbit you like, has the capability to rendezvous and is unmanned, so you don't need to worry how to get a pilot back.

As you can see, it is a pretty standard payload/lifter configuration. It does have atomic power somewhere, but still has enough solar panels to energize a small town.

If you want, you can attach a few of those together to form an orbital refueling station.

I do have to admit that after the 15th refueling mission, I chose to edit the persistence-file instead.

Here is the craft-file. Again, right-click and "save as". And check staging.

ftp://[email protected]/Craftfiles/OT%20_Lumox_%20MK%203%20raw.craft

[Brotoro]

Excellent mission! Good job, Tokay.

[Tokay Gris]

Mission to Jool "Glory Road" - Credits - Vessels

1.) Support missions: Orbital Shuttle

Since the vessels going to Jool all lack the capability to get the crew back to the surface of Kerbin, a shuttle do that is needed.

The easiest way to do this is a rocket... not a spaceplane. Well, maybe a spaceplane is better, but I haven't had any success in constructing one so far.

So a rocket it is.

The Orbital Shuttle "Homeward Bound" is pretty simple in design. Enough seats to get the crew to the surface, enough RCS do do the docking, enough delta-V to do orbital manouvers and parachutes to get back to KCS.

Since I totally forgot that I have an atmosphere to aid me, this shuttle is overpowered. The parachutes weren't necessary. This baby can land on its ass without them and with fuel to spare.

It does have one flaw, though, that I discovered after I rought our heros back to the surface:

Once they leave the cabins and are firmly on the ground, they can't get back in. Not that they need to, mind you, but I see this as an error in construction.

In detail, the landing gear obstructs the ladder going down, so they have to jump the last two meters.

The shuttle is unmanned and therefor, you need to keep an eye on the battery levels. It does have single solar panels, but it can be unfortunate if the power drains while on approach on the dark side of a planet (almost all such manouvers are on the dark side).

Here is the craft-file, and again: check the staging!

ftp://[email protected]/Craftfiles/Orbital%20Shuttle%20-%20P%20raw.craft

[Tokay Gris]

Mission to Jool "Glory Road" - Credits - Vessels

2.) The "Dum Vivimus Vivamus II"

(For those not fluent in latin: "While we live, let us live", from the Robert Anson Heinlein book "Glory Road" and the name of a sword. If you like SciFi: Good reading!)

The "Dum Vivimus Vivamus II", as is apparent by the name, is the second craft of that nature. The first one faced total destruction between 0.19 and 0.20. I think due to some addon, but it was sub oprtimal anyway. WAY to little delta-V, probes too big and so on.)

Again, this vessel is basically a "Pollux" underneath (of unnamed Mark, actually) with added cross on top to fit in the probes.

Main idea for this baby was to get probes into the Jool vicinity and preferably into orbit around the moons.

Getting into orbit was rather simple since this construction doesn't weight that much.

Here you can also see the basic design feature of the "Pollux"-vessels, in that the lateral tanks are kept attached and only the engines are decoupled.

Somewhere between 0.19 and 0.20 something changed in the fuel-line-arrangement and I am not sure when this vessel was constructed. It is very possible that this vessel does no longer work as it did when I put it into orbit.

Basic staging was, that first the lateral tanks are drained, then the two lateral engines jettisoned while keeping the tanks and the main jumbo tanks fuel the remaining "Mainsail".

Due to the changes, the fuelline between the Jumbos and the Mainsail has to be revised. Otherwise the "Mainsail" gets only the tiny amount of fuel in the structural tank at the bottom and reaches "Brennschluß" pretty fast, although there still is ample fuel in the craft.

Here is the craft-file. And again: Don't complain, check the staging!

ftp://[email protected]/Craftfiles/_Dum%20Vivimus%20Vivamus%20II_.craft

In order to fully equip the "Dum Vivimus Vivamus II", probes are needed.

I have to say, the probe is not an accomplishment. But - in concordance with Murphy - I did notice the mayor flaws in that design after reaching Jool.

The "Bumblebee" is pretty good as an orbital light tug and pretty balanced and two of those are attached to the "Dum Vivimus Vivamus II", as you can see in the mission reports.

The probes are pretty much crap, though. The engines don't have gimbaling abilities, which renders them pretty useless. Also, it was a problem to get them all attached to the docking ports of the cruising vessel, especially the last two. It can be done, but expect heavy use of RCS and refuel the tugs after each docking.

Again here is the craft-file. Again, without Mechjeb and purely stock, as are all but one of these vessels.

ftp://[email protected]/Craftfiles/_Bumblebee_%20+%20Probe.craft

Last but not least, the habitats meant to stay in orbit around Jool and Laythe:

Basically the same configuration as the probes, again with a "Bumblebee" to get them where they are supposed to be.

Craft-file with the usual warnings:

ftp://[email protected]/Craftfiles/_Dum%20Vivimus_%20LQ%20raw.craft

Complete, the vessel looks like this:

She ain't pretty, but she does the job.

Aerobraking is not only possible but necessary, because without it you don't have enough delta-V to get back home.

I did refuel before burning for home, but that was not strictly necessary.

What IS necessary however, is that you get some support vessel to pick up the two pilots of the "Bumblebees".

Also, it has to be said that retrieving the last two probes can be tricky, since the "Bumblebee" is longer then the distance to the lateral tanks.

Possible solutions: Get the probe away from the vessel (a short burst of the otherwise useless engines of the probes) or decouple the lateral tanks before you retrieve them.

As described in the mission reports, the probes have to be put in their desired orbits by the tugs, because they can't do it on their own, despite there engines.

[Tokay Gris]

Mission to Jool "Glory Road" - Credits - Vessels

3.) The "Maureen Johnson"

After the success I had with the "Falcon Mk II", it was the logical conclusion to put that vessel on the way to Jool.

If it can land on Mun with lots of fuel and TWR to spare, it can land on Bop, Pol and Val.

So, first off, the cruiser to get it there. Again, a trusted "Pollux MK V":

Not much to say to this baby. It works. And in this configuration has three seats to spare.

What was said for the "Dum Vivimus Vivamus II" applies here as well: I can't garanty that the fuelline to the main engine is accurate.

Craft-file with usual warnings:

ftp://[email protected]/Craftfiles/_Maureen%20Johnson_Cruiser%20raw.craft

Now the lander:

A trusted "Falcon MK II" with revised rover attached.

Rover is stable even in low gravity environments (but better brake before turning), the lander itself is very stably and has good abilities landing and docking.

Craft-file:

ftp://[email protected]/Craftfiles/_Maureen%20Johnson_%20lander%20raw.craft

Sadly, I could not make this craft-file stock only, as I did all the others. Problem is not MechJeb, but an ISA-Mapsat-receiver that is too small to target in the VAB. It is located on the rover.

Complete vessel looks like this:

[Tokay Gris]

Mission to Jool "Glory Road" - Credits - Vessels

4.) The "Peewee"

Since the "Maureen Johnson" didn't have the punch it takes to land on Laythe, another lander was needed.

The cruiser is the same as the one one "Maureen Johnson" (Namely a "Pollux MK V").

The main problem was the lander: Due to some bad ideas, the vessel was incredibly heavy. And so it required a bigger lifter to get it into orbit:

As I now know, this was not necessary.

I didn't know what to expect so I constructed the lander without taking the athmosphere into account, except putting quite a few parachutes on it.

Footprint is pretty big, in order to prevent tipping over, since the vessel itself it rather high.

The lander itself is a two-stage vessel, one for landing and one for reaching orbit again.

There is a stage in between the lander and the cruiser for orbital manouvers. The idea was to use it for the actual braking to reach the surface and then jettison it (a bit heavy for that anyway), but with it attached to the landing vessel, manouverability is lousy at best and extremly sluggish, if not to say: Impossible.

The lander is fully capable to land on Laythe from orbit and the landing stage has usually enough delta-V left to get you almost half to orbit again.

The landing gear has to be partly retracted for the pilot to get to the surface and back to the command capsule again, but since the landing gear is mostly installed to take the impact on the surface, it can stand well enough alone without those extended.

Craft-Files are here, usual warnings, of course....

ftp://[email protected]/Craftfiles/Laythe%20Lander%20MK%20I%20raw.craft

ftp://[email protected]/Craftfiles/Laythe%20Cruiser%20raw.craft

Edited July 26, 2013 by Tokay Gris

[el_coyoto]

That was an interesting and well written mission report.

Thanks for the time you put into it!

[Tokay Gris]

Thanks!

Hm... it seems I did something wrong with the craft-files.

I will repost them as soon as I find out what I did wrong and how this can be changed.

[Tokay Gris]

The saga continues!

Now our brave kerbonauts are on their way to Duna