(OLD) The Ultimate Jool-5 Challenge:land Kerbals on all moons and return in one big mission

[Himynameisjake]

Done, will post more later, but here's a teaser.

http://i.imgur.com/G1z0lEP.jpg

Also, I haven't broken down my Jool system vs. Grand Tour science just yet, more to come.

[Ziv]

Himynameisjake: it's just awesome if you really did a Grand Tour without refueling... I can't wait to see your designs and solutions!

[Himynameisjake]

Himynameisjake: it's just awesome if you really did a Grand Tour without refueling... I can't wait to see your designs and solutions!

Alright, here is my Grand Tour mission (no refueling!) thread, submitting for the Jool-5 Challenge Jebediah's Level:

Mission Log

Currently a work in progress, adding albums as I get the pictures uploaded and sorted. More to come (obviously).

Hope you enjoy Ziv!

Edited April 24, 2014 by Himynameisjake

[James_Eh]

Wow that is unreal. My Jool-5 (non-refueled) trials and tribulations have already cost me a month of real time. I think I'm golden this time, with even enough oomph left to pay Dres and maybe Duna/Ike a visit on the way home, but even contemplating Eve and Mojo as part of the same mission is giving me hives.

I find that I spend most of my Jool-5 time collecting artsy photos...

[Himynameisjake]

Wow that is unreal. My Jool-5 (non-refueled) trials and tribulations have already cost me a month of real time. I think I'm golden this time, with even enough oomph left to pay Dres and maybe Duna/Ike a visit on the way home, but even contemplating Eve and Mojo as part of the same mission is giving me hives.

I find that I spend most of my Jool-5 time collecting artsy photos...

http://i.imgur.com/ogedGXu.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/LKBAsi4.jpg

At least you figured out how to make Steam not compress your pictures >.< A lot of my screenies look like crap.

[SSSPutnik]

The Osperus III - Kethane expedition is taking shape.

Go big or go home I say !

Main ship, launch / feasibility tests.

Tylo capable mining rover and tanker/lander.

[Overfloater]

Hello, Ziv!

I have a few questions:

-Is it allowed to assemble my ship on Munar orbit before departure, so I can start from there?

-Am I allowed to use my part-clippy (no cheat codes were entered of course...)space-plane to deliver the ship modules into orbit??? it's my fav' standard transportation... xD

-Am I allowed to use my other part-clippy plane to retrieve the crew capsule from LKO after it returns from the mission?

[Himynameisjake]

Hello, Ziv!

I have a few questions:

-Is it allowed to assemble my ship on Munar orbit before departure, so I can start from there?

-Am I allowed to use my part-clippy (no cheat codes were entered of course...)space-plane to deliver the ship modules into orbit??? it's my fav' standard transportation... xD

-Am I allowed to use my other part-clippy plane to retrieve the crew capsule from LKO after it returns from the mission?

Nope to both:

CHALLENGE DETAILS

Given the size of this challenge, everybody is a winner and saves the Kerbal Space Program who executes this successfully.

- No cheating.

- No part-clipping.

[ChaserGrey]

Allright, I'm doing this. Kethane mode, expedition style. I have no experience with Kethane or interplanetary transfers. Let's do this.

"Ignorance of the laws of physics is no excuse not to try it", as Jebediah would say.

Edit: One question based off the ones above. I'm planning on a large ship assembled in orbit. Is it permissible to bring the ship into LKO and retrieve them with a non-clipped ship? I'd kinda like to keep the large ship intact and in orbit.

Edited April 25, 2014 by ChaserGrey

[Ziv]

Hello, Ziv!

I have a few questions:

-Is it allowed to assemble my ship on Munar orbit before departure, so I can start from there?

-Am I allowed to use my part-clippy (no cheat codes were entered of course...)space-plane to deliver the ship modules into orbit??? it's my fav' standard transportation... xD

-Am I allowed to use my other part-clippy plane to retrieve the crew capsule from LKO after it returns from the mission?

Hehe, the Munar orbit assembly was never asked before, sounds fun! Yes, why not? The only thing that you have to go from Kerbin to Jool with one ship only. Only emergency refueling missions are allowed but they doesn't shine in the hall of fame...

And part-clipping is not allowed, sorry. I also love to experiment with a lot of stuff but for the JOOL-5 mission, please keep it real. Do it as a real mission to make it more exciting!

Edit: I saw your planes and they are amazing! But they are far too unreal for the mission. But I'm not against planes, if you find a good non-clipping solution!

Edited April 25, 2014 by Ziv

[Ziv]

Allright, I'm doing this. Kethane mode, expedition style. I have no experience with Kethane or interplanetary transfers. Let's do this.

"Ignorance of the laws of physics is no excuse not to try it", as Jebediah would say.

Edit: One question based off the ones above. I'm planning on a large ship assembled in orbit. Is it permissible to bring the ship into LKO and retrieve them with a non-clipped ship? I'd kinda like to keep the large ship intact and in orbit.

At Kethane mode Expedition style it is permitted, yes.

[Alchemist]

Alright, here is my Grand Tour mission (no refueling!) thread, submitting for the Jool-5 Challenge Jebediah's Level:

Mission Log

Currently a work in progress, adding albums as I get the pictures uploaded and sorted. More to come (obviously).

Hope you enjoy Ziv!

Damn you! Now I want to do this, too. With my lander (except Eve, I'm not bringing this down there, it's better to design a separate 1-kerbal lander). So the equipment would be: Mothership (even bigger version of Antares??? I hope it won't lag out on me), Lander (Radon nuclear lander - I love this design), Tylo equipment (with Russian-style staging), Laythe equipment (pack of jets?), Eve lander.

Fligt path could be: Kerbin (the lander easily does LKO-Mun/Minmus-LKO) - Eve (I'm not going to carry an Eve lander anywhere!) - Kerbin slingshot - might visit Duna or Dres on the way up - Laythe and Tylo (dispose the heavy stages!) - Vall (may be between Laythe and Tylo, not a problem with modular design) - Bop & Pol - Eeloo and whatever left up there - Eve slingshot (double slingshot?) to Moho (a pretty cheap way to get there from up there) - return to Kerbin.

Damn! now I know what will I be doing in the summer.

Edited April 26, 2014 by Alchemist

[James_Eh]

Ok I am ready to post on this cursed challenge again.

I think I have passed the last major hurdle. We have:

1) gotten the whole monster into the vicinity

2) landed and returned from Laythe (with a trip to the beach)

3) sent the smaller lander to Vall to await the fuel it needs

4) headed to Tylo (in two pieces - had to send DAISY-B the mother ship (with the remaining Laythe lander core) in one flight, then the Tylo lander as a second flight because it turns out DAISY-B had issues with having the Tylo lander in the centre docking port position)

5) landed and returned from Tylo despite the horrific discovery that I had the fuel lines reversed (this was torture - about 14 attempts (*cough* simulations) before I finally got it right)

So now we have to reassemble the 3 ships orbiting Tylo into a single thing, and head back to Vall to grab the last piece, then do Vall/Bop/Pol

I guess that, rather than post the whole kit and kaboodle here, I'll create a fancy mission log thingy to link to.

[Himynameisjake]

While my albums are not trimmed yet, my entire trip is up and posted to my mission log. Enjoy!

Mission Log

Edited April 28, 2014 by Himynameisjake

[James_Eh]

Me also. I have just started a mission log to document. Now have to catch up as we are 3/4 done the challenge. Had to learn some imgur stuff... Will post the mission plan later.

[Cmdr. Arn1e]

I have begun testing my 'Space Coach' mothership... spent about 5 hours getting it into orbit, including some abortive fail attempts with it full of fuel (you can imagine the result... see pic!) and have now got it parked in a 101x99km orbit awaiting fueling...

This thing is a bit of a beast; full of fuel it weighs in at a monstrous 496.019 tons, and has a vacuum ISP of 13225m/s... quite light on parts though, clocking in at 296 individual bits... and would cost in the region of 398.1 M$! (ouch!)

anyway, this is the basic design, with some interesting little quirks - you will see in the last and 2nd to last pictures my automated universal docking adapter - very proud of this, and it certainly proves it's worth!

In VAB:

Another one of the aborted launches:

Up, up and awaaayyy!:

Circularizing:

'Automated' docking adapter:

and docked to its home for now, one of the Clampotron Jr.'s:

and as you can see from that last image, I have over 3,000 Delta-V left for orbital maneuvers in the circularization stage, i'm sure it will come in handy to raise orbit a bit more when I come back to it tomorrow...

Guess I will do more tomorrow, but it's getting late for me now so it will have to wait!

[Ziv]

While my albums are not trimmed yet, my entire trip is up and posted to my mission log. Enjoy!

Mission Log

Himynameisjake: Congratulations, you have finished the JOOL-5 Challenge on Jebediah's level and, by the way, you have finished a

GRAND TOUR

too!!

This is just unbelievable! Absolutely impressive mission planning and executing! I really loved the "Rocket backpack" last stages, and the smart mission planning that your orbital-tugs (Hermes and its twin) had a chair on it for emergency solutions as it was needed at Eve. I also loved as you used Hermes for interpalentary travels (like to Dres).

For me, it was strange that you put the mothership around Laythe instead letting it in orbit around Jool. Was it because of the limited dV of the Laythe lander?

To be honest sometimes I lost the tracking of the modules, I would love to see some kind of a "module mission map" with different colors for the different modules during the mission, that would be great!! And so I would be able to understand the whole mission in one.

This definitely was the most complex and complete mission what I have seen so far. Absolutely No1, congratulations!

[Himynameisjake]

Himynameisjake: Congratulations, you have finished the JOOL-5 Challenge on Jebediah's level and, by the way, you have finished a

GRAND TOUR

too!!

This is just unbelievable! Absolutely impressive mission planning and executing! I really loved the "Rocket backpack" last stages, and the smart mission planning that your orbital-tugs (Hermes and its twin) had a chair on it for emergency solutions as it was needed at Eve. I also loved as you used Hermes for interpalentary travels (like to Dres).

For me, it was strange that you put the mothership around Laythe instead letting it in orbit around Jool. Was it because of the limited dV of the Laythe lander?

To be honest sometimes I lost the tracking of the modules, I would love to see some kind of a "module mission map" with different colors for the different modules during the mission, that would be great!! And so I would be able to understand the whole mission in one.

This definitely was the most complex and complete mission what I have seen so far. Absolutely No1, congratulations!

Aww you make me blush! Thanks for the inspiration to travel to the reaches of the system!

The Laythe orbit was two part, not having to worry about other bodies affecting its orbit for the year+ I was parked in the system and the Laythe lander's limited capabilities. I plan to make a more succinct version of the log to make it easier to view and appreciate and would be happy to to the module mission map.

As for the hall of fame, I launched and completed the Moho trip in version 0.23, the only parts that would have potential benefit in the mission (bigger launch vehicles and ion engine buff), so I would consider this a .23 mission despite landing in 0.23.5. Up to you, but I wanted to give you the clarity for your question mark.

Edited April 30, 2014 by Himynameisjake

[SSSPutnik]

Just finished first fueling mission of the Osperus III.

I'm worried about TWR. One third of fuel loaded, Deltav is about 8000 but no landers attached yet and thrust is about 0.2G

[Cmdr. Arn1e]

Just finished first fueling mission of the Osperus III.

I'm worried about TWR. One third of fuel loaded, Deltav is about 8000 but no landers attached yet and thrust is about 0.2G

heh, you think you have it bad, I may have to re-design the space coach yet - it only has a TWR of 0.07 fully fueled!!! >.<

Have decided to transfer the fuel from my circularization stage and de-orbit it using monoprop (SO glad I remembered to include the remote guidance unit!!)... I think I'm going to have to use some very light landers, or do another re-design

Edited April 30, 2014 by Cmdr. Arn1e

[Alchemist]

Don't worry, these TWR values are not too much of a problem (0.05 g is pretty doable). It might result in ultra-long burns and be a bit inefficient, but nothing to avoid.

Just some tips:

1) you won't leave Kerbin in 1 burn. Spend several orbits raising your apoapsis (get it to 2-5 thousands km), then make the escape burn

2) have periapsis of the elliptic orbit a bit before the theoretical ejection burn position - you'll initially get escape trajectory that's much closer to parabola. (I'd say about 20 degrees between major axis of your elliptic orbit and the plotted ejection vector is good).

3) during late phase of the ejection (and the burn might last up to until halfway to the Mun) watch your ejection vector - try getting it as close to initially plotted as possible. When your interplanetary trajectory starts approaching the desired, recalculate the rest of the burn (last couple hundreds m/s) to ensure you'll not miss the planet.

4) When approaching target, check your circularization burn time before entering the SOI - it might be necessary to reduce the relative velocity just after or even slightly before entering the SOI (even with my Moho craft I usually start the injection about halfway between edge of SOI and periapsis, but you have to be sure you have enough time to make the orbit closed)

5) you don't have to circularize in 1 go, just make the closed orbit. Maybe you don't even need to bring the entire craft to low orbit.

P.S. Here I explained a bit about how I do the ejection with a low TWR craft

Edited April 30, 2014 by Alchemist

[Himynameisjake]

Don't worry, these TWR values are not too much of a problem (0.05 g is pretty doable). It might result in ultra-long burns and be a bit inefficient, but nothing to avoid.

Just some tips:

1) you won't leave Kerbin in 1 burn. Spend several orbits raising your apoapsis (get it to 2-5 thousands km), then make the escape burn

2) have periapsis of the elliptic orbit a bit before the theoretical ejection burn position - you'll initially get escape trajectory that's much closer to parabola. (I'd say about 20 degrees between major axis of your elliptic orbit and the plotted ejection vector is good).

3) during late phase of the ejection (and the burn might last up to until halfway to the Mun) watch your ejection vector - try getting it as close to initially plotted as possible. When your interplanetary trajectory starts approaching the desired, recalculate the rest of the burn (last couple hundreds m/s) to ensure you'll not miss the planet.

4) When approaching target, check your circularization burn time before entering the SOI - it might be necessary to reduce the relative velocity just after or even slightly before entering the SOI (even with my Moho craft I usually start the injection about halfway between edge of SOI and periapsis, but you have to be sure you have enough time to make the orbit closed)

5) you don't have to circularize in 1 go, just make the closed orbit. Maybe you don't even need to bring the entire craft to low orbit.

P.S. Here I explained a bit about how I do the ejection with a low TWR craft

Lol, this would have saved me so much fuel! Definitely would have been able to bring Artemis home.

[godefroi]

I finally finished my mission. Originally launched in 3 parts in 0.23, I set it up as a single launch in 0.23.5 and here are the results.

Javascript is disabled. View full album

[James_Eh]

Quick question to the judges: could somebody tell me if the albums I am posting are enough proof of this undertaking? This is the first time I have tried to keep a serious record of a journey, plus my first attempt to answer a challenge, and although I am 90% done and quite proud of myself (despite some "key learnings"...) I am worried that there are pix that I am missing. I find it somewhat tedious to edit these albums, and if it isn't enough I may stop pausing to take pix and just finish for my own fun... Thanks!

[SSSPutnik]

As long as you show key points its fine.

You should also write a mission summary when done.