Career Mode to Jool! Post your attempts here!

[Starwhip]

Anyone who has made a craft (manned or not) that can successfully intercept / orbit Jool, in career mode, post it here.

This is my first ever attempt for Jool. And it's in career mode.

At Jool:

Failed attempt to Aerobrake and circularize orbit... went too far down to the surface.

Crashed into Jool... at -250 meters.

Here's the .craft file

http://s000.tinyupload.com/?file_id=34849415932871344100

[Neotician]

Witha relatively small craft and a bunch (6 or more) parachutes + landing legs, it's possible to land there :>

[AlamoVampire]

Witha relatively small craft and a bunch (6 or more) parachutes + landing legs, it's possible to land there :>

land on Jool? not possible, as its a gas giant, and you simply fall until destruction. Jools moons however, all are able to support a landing

[Mitchz95]

I've gotten a few probes to do flybys, but I always run out of fuel before I can circularize the orbit. Still working on it, though!

[AlamoVampire]

I've gotten a few probes to do flybys, but I always run out of fuel before I can circularize the orbit. Still working on it, though!

go for an aerobrake/aerocapture if you can line your approach right, you can hit the upper levels of atmosphere and slow down into a capture w/out any fuel spending, and use what fuel you have to circularize

[Guest links123]

Go for an aerobrake/aerocapture if you can line your approach right

[Umlüx]

i am fitting a 3 man mission to jool, including SCIENCE! and a laythe lander. right now i am at 180tons ... this will be fun because i haven't mainsails and large docking ports yet....

[ScholarBeardpig]

I popped a probe up there, no problem. The basic design for me was:

- Probe

- Fourth stage - short fuel tank + 909

- Third stage - long fuel tank + LV30

- Second stage - tri-coupler, double long fuel tank + LV30

- First stage - 3x Solid Boosters (the long ones) w/ 2x radial-mounted Solid boosters each.

I am perpetually warring within myself about the benefits of stage-out vs. stage-up. This rocket stages exclusively up, and - barring extraordinary circumstances - WILL get you there.

[Starwhip]

go for an aerobrake/aerocapture if you can line your approach right, you can hit the upper levels of atmosphere and slow down into a capture w/out any fuel spending, and use what fuel you have to circularize

Yeah, that was where I screwed up. I went down to 99,000-ish and slowed down too much. Otherwise I would have attempted to circularize and flyby some moons for extra science.

I also made this. It's an edited screenshot, but it looks nice.

Edited October 24, 2013 by Starwhip

[geb]

I launched this thing about halfway through my career mode. I had already visited Ike and Gilly with some simpler ships, so I decided Jool deserved something a bit more grand.

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[antbin]

This craft can aerocapture at Jool and return, but I'm still working out how to most fuel-efficiently tour all the moons. Tier 0 parts using the SRB overheating trick. Hard to launch, though!!!

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>> .craft file <<

[redteddy23]

Go for an aerobrake/aerocapture if you can line your approach right

Quick save while you are out past the orbit of the moons and try and adjust your periapsis / closest approach to about 110 to 120 km. I find 118 works best for a rough intercept of laythe then another laythe aerobreak at about 23km will allow you to circularise with a reasonable delta-v. If it all works out you feel pretty pleased with yourself

[milbournosphere]

I went to Jool for the first time today. I had a grand ambition; one central probe with satellite probes. The goal was to send the little guys out to the moons as impactors; the main probe would dip lower and lower into Jool's atmosphere collecting SCIENCE until destruction . It 'kind of' worked. The vessel in question, just after aerocapture, deploying panels and preparing to transmit data:

The first thing you'll notice is that I'm one probe short of all five moons. Small design oversight there! I was able to capture into Jool's orbit, but I underestimated the amount of delta-v I'd need to stabilize that orbit. As a result, I'm basically stuck in a lopsided, somewhat-polar, orbit. Aerocapture did its job, so I do have a circular orbit, but unless I plan to scrap the idea to send my little probes off (and I'm not sure they'll be able to get to their destination anyway, given the gravity pull of the planet), I'll likely fall into oblivion, as my periapsis after the aerocapture as around 100km.

All this being said, the vessel is outrigged with all the science instruments and I've managed to transmit back quite a bit of data for a not-small amount of SCIENCE, so the mission isn't a complete failure.

I'm tempted to let this one fall into the atmosphere and use my 'findings' to send a second vessel with more delta v in the transfer stage and probes with the grand goal of getting an impactor to each of the moons. Any tips are appreciated!

[Mitchz95]

Quick save while you are out past the orbit of the moons and try and adjust your periapsis / closest approach to about 110 to 120 km. I find 118 works best for a rough intercept of laythe then another laythe aerobreak at about 23km will allow you to circularise with a reasonable delta-v. If it all works out you feel pretty pleased with yourself

I always have trouble getting that to work. Even if I can get the periapsis where I want it from orbiting the Sun, when I enter the target's SOI the periapsis is nowhere near where I had it before. I don't understand it.

[asdfCYBER]

Here's my middle-techtree attempt with enough vacuum-∆V to tour the whole solar system in one go.

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I'm tempted to let this one fall into the atmosphere and use my 'findings' to send a second vessel with more delta v in the transfer stage and probes with the grand goal of getting an impactor to each of the moons. Any tips are appreciated!

try using ion engines from the Near Future Pack! (stock ones also work, but are less effective)

Edited December 14, 2013 by ExtremeTrader

[Rune]

I launched this thing about halfway through my career mode. I had already visited Ike and Gilly with some simpler ships, so I decided Jool deserved something a bit more grand.

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A parallel-burning beast with a single NERVA burning at the core for in-space maneuvering... That efficiency is over 9000! It also makes me smile.

Rune. Good alignment and long burns!

[Universe]

Here is a quick album of my own mission to Jool in career mode. My ship was blatantly based on Discover from 2001: a Space Odyssey, as I had just finished reading the book prior to this mission. Here ya go!

Universe.

Edited December 15, 2013 by Universe
For some reason, my IMGUR album doesn't want to show up. Sorry about that....

[panfish5]

One time I did a fly by of all the moons and landed on bop next to the kraken with a small probe and didn't have nuclear engines yet.

Edited December 15, 2013 by panfish5