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

[Commissioner Tadpole]

Docking the landers with the main ship was the plan, the problem is that the mothership can't exceed 9800dV.

[mcirish3]

Well I am back. I have to say it looks like some new recommendations where put in place in my absence to keep peeps from making the same mistakes I did. As some of you may remember I quit this challenge because the warp cracken had destroyed my ship. What I never said was I did have a F5 save from before the destruction so the mission was not lost just a lot of time lost due to having burned for 2+ hours before the destruction and I was frustrated at that point with a glich destroying my ship. In any case I spent the last few weeks trying out and testing various mods. In that time I have found a way to continue my mission attempt. What changed?! three mods have made all the difference for me. they are as follows.

[Plugin] [0.22]Kerbal Joint Reinforcement v1.4.2 -- Properly Rigid Part Connections found here. This has reduced but not eliminated the time warp kraken hits. ( with this mode I would be able to reduce part count on future missions.)

[Plugin] [0.22][Release-1-1] Active Memory Reduction Mod found here. This has greatly improved pc performance, single most influential mod in getting me to continue.

[0.21] Squad Texture Reduction Pack - B9 and KW Packs also found here another small boost to pc performance.

In any case you will see below that I have entered the jool system and done my first aerobraking maneuver. I am out of RCS so I do have a prob bringing more out to me. I will have to refuel RCS before the mission can continue very far.

By the way glad to see so many peeps working on this challenge.

Note: ship part count down to 955.

Edited December 8, 2013 by mcirish3

[Mesklin]

Mesklin: Nice stuff, looking good! But what will push your ship to Jool? The lander's two nuclear engines? If so, it will take a while... and you will need to do 2-3 orbits between the initial burn. And I guess you will need refueling missions too.

And I'm worried about your lander's capability for landing/ascent at Tylo. Will you use some additonal fuel pack for the deorbit burn? (it can be about ~800 m/s) And for a good ascent you should have at least 2.0 TWR...! But the smaller the lander's TWR the slower the ascent from Tylo's surface and so much more fuel/dV is burnt, so that way it's not 2400 m/s but can be 4000 m/s too!

Ziv, I have two nuclear engine on lander and two on main ship, 15 minutes for ejection burn in one long, long acceleration. And no physical warp, I tried to use it and result was, a..., slight catastrophic . I hope fuel will be enough without refueling, 1/3 mission done right now (Laythe finished, lander on Vall) and situation with fuel looks normal.

And about lander, I tested it on Tylo, and this device can land and return to low orbit, with drop tank, of course. TWR for this lander is not perfect for Tylo, I now it, but it compromise between mass of engines, fuel and TWR for all construction. Later I will public next part of mission.

[Ziv]

mcirish3: cool, good to see you again, welcome back! Glad to hear that you have found some solution against the Kraken, thanks for sharing them!

Hm, very unique main ship solution! And it looks funny now with this T shape! Keep us updated!

Mesklin: Oh, how did you test the lander at Tylo? With Hyperlink or similar? If you know that it will be okay then that's cool. Show us pictures about how you progress!

[Mesklin]

how did you test the lander at Tylo? With Hyperlink or similar?

Exactly, it is too painful for me, fly to Tylo for lander tests by conventional way

[Blue]

I would be a bit father in my mission as well as having some screenies, however my laptop's on the fritz and I probably won't have it back until after Christmas.

However, when I do undertake my mission, it will have all of the following:

8 Kerbals Return Mission

8 Probes for Mapping or whatever-- some of them may end up being Impactors

2 Kerbals landed on Pol, Bop and Vall

3 Kerbals on Tylo and Laythe

30 ton Mobile Science Lab Rover on Tylo (to prove that it can be done, and to up the Ante for any future Kerbaldom ambitions to the surface of Tylo).

This is a screenshot of MILLE mk. 2 (Mobile Integrated Labratory and Living Environment), being put through her paces in one of the more recent Mun missions of mine.

The MILLE 3 has already been thoroughly test, which has since gone through development cycles to make EMILLE (Eve Class) and TILLE (Tylo Class).

The MILLE 4 likely will be considered once the new large science module thing comes out with Version 0.23, but I don't think I'd bring one.

Edited December 5, 2013 by Blue

[Ziv]

Wow Blue, 30 tons to Tylo? You Are CRAZY!!!

I'm curious how you will done it!

[Mesklin]

Here is next part of report for Jool-5 expedition "Odyssey"

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[Blue]

Wow Blue, 30 tons to Tylo? You Are CRAZY!!!

I'm curious how you will done it!

"We went to the moon. It wasn't a miracle. We just decided to go." - James Lovell

[dawg]

I'm still in the drawing board, unable to make the main rocket exceed 9800dV to go to Jool and back.

Seriously, seeing you all getting there and doing it makes me feel bad.

Don't feel bad. This is an extremely hard mission. It took me over two real life weeks of quite a few hours every day (I'd estimate 6+ every weekday and most of the day every weekend day) to build, test, get all the parts for this mission into orbit, and assemble my ship.

Also, send extra fuel missions. That's what I did...

[Ziv]

Yeah, when I had the idea of this mission I have spent about 3 days thinking about the mission and writing/drawing ideas about what will be needed and how can I optimize the steps, the ship stages and the part count.

In the next step I was testing my ideas on Kerbin or at Mun/Minmus (I posted pictures about the first lander prototypes).

And, at first, you have to have experience with landing, rendezvouzing, docking, refueling, etc... I'm playing with KSP since a long time and I was thinking about this as the final challenge for myself in the game (but now I found something new... ). So yes, this is an extremely hard mission, but a very fulfilling when you can finish it at the end!

[Daffit]

Hi!

I just made this mission without noticing it has a forum, so I share the pictures and information with you.

I decided to send satellites to Jool and all it's moon than landing too. I had a core module with Hitchhiker Container, a Laythe lander, a Tylo lander and a main lander which is also used to lowering orbit. There was a command module, attachable to all these modules and with all the science. There were 8 launches from Kerbin and one for a building module only around Kerbin. I had 8 big fuel tanks, decoupled when empty. Due to I forget to balance the whole ship I was not able to throttle with full power. To reach Jool, it took me 6 Earth hours, my computer lagged very, I almost given up.

When I entered to Jool gravitation pool, the modules had been rearranged, moved the Taylo lander to the front, while the main and Laythe lander headed to Laythe. Two satellites were release, one of it lost during aero break at Laythe, the other successfully orbited Jool. The core module arrived to Taylo with Jool aero break and sent satellites, replacing the destroyed one and to Vall and to Taylo. Meanwhile I landed then successfully ascended from Laythe, then headed to Vall, with success. After that, I met with the core module, refuelled, than took the Tylo lander to land. Success, and then lift from it's surface.

From now on the mission was easy, due to the fuel remained, Bop and Pol is easy to land. I released satellites to all moons and one remained which set to high orbit around Jool.

Back to Kerbin and splashed into the water.

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Edited December 7, 2013 by Daffit

[Ziv]

Hi Daffit, that's a massive ship!

Congratulation, you have accomplished the JOOL-5 challenge!

You can add the JOOL-5 badge to your profile if you want... Settings at top right, then Edit Signature in the left menu - copy there this without the spaces after the four "["-s:

[ URL=http://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/threads/57197-THE-ULTIMATE-JOOL-5-CHALLENGE-land-Kerbals-on-all-moons-and-return-in-one-big-misson][ IMG]http://i.imgur.com/Z5hSyCv.png[ /IMG][ /URL]

Yeah, that's a pity that you have to be careful about the part counts with big ships...

[mcirish3]

WEll Got my prob down to jool and have rendezvous with Layth and separated my first lander. Picks below.

Note: Ship part count down to 916.

Also want to share a glitch that happened the first time I drop the prob (Could not leave the prob after this so had to use f9 reload.) pics below the album.

Very fast hu? not sure what caused this but was crazy

Triplicated ship how odd. Almost like time dilation.

Edited December 11, 2013 by mcirish3

[Ziv]

Jebediah: Hey, Bob! Wait... you know, after arriving back from the JOOL-5 mission, the Kerbal Space Program received new fundings and contracts for a Laythe Base and looking for Kethane throughout the system. This is great and I'm really happy, but I hate the amount of attention what we get from the press and the people! I need some time on my own... so, I have an idea.

Bob: Yeah, I understand that, I feel the same. What's your plan?

Jebediah: I have landed on Laythe what I pretty much enjoyed. I want to go back.

Bob: Sounds good!

Jebediah: Yeah. And I haven't landed on any of the other moons, so I want to land on them too.

Bob: In one go? Seriously??

Jebediah. Yes.

Bob: Are you CRAZY???

Jebediah: Ahh... you act like anyone else.

Bob: Okay, Okay, Sorry. But I think this is a huge plan! How would you get the funding? How many launches? What about planning the ship?

Jebediah: I have arranged everything with my lead engineer, Ziv. We figured out that I can use a very small lander with a commander seat only. Even for Laythe...

Bob: WHAT? Are you CRAZY????

Jebediah: Please, can you react something else, too?

Bob: Ahh, sorry. I'm getting curious, tell me more!

Jebediah: so, here are the plans for the ship:

Bob: Wow, looks impressive... but maybe too small for this huge mission, don't you think?

Jebediah: No. Small ships can go further out with the same amount of fuel. The small lander needs very little fuel so it can easily be refueled many times.

Bob: True. Parameters?

Jebediah: 170 parts, 132 tons. No lag! And 4648 m/s Delta-V in the lander...

Bob: WHOA... I guess our space program will profit from this new technology!

Jebediah: Definitely!

Bob: And how many launches will you use to put this together and send to Jool?

Jebediah: One...

Bob: WHAT? That's CRAZY!!!

Jebediah: YOU are getting crazy, hehe.

Bob: But how? With what? How many orange tanks and Mainsails? How many stages?

Jebediah: Come and see the launch. Tomorrow, when the sun is right above us...

Bob: So, at noon. You lunatic.... okay, see you tomorrow!

---------- TOMORROW ------------

All system is go. 3,2,1.. LAUNCH! Stage 1... Stage 2... Stage 3... Good job, we are in space with one launch. Now burning for the interplanetary travel to Jool... look, how close Minmus is!

Arriving at Laythe:

Jebediah separated with the lander, with the Laythe module attached on the bottom.

Jebediah: YEEEEEHAAAAAAAAHHHHH!!!!!!!!

(Bob in the background: This guy is crazy......)

Slowing with the Jets at the last meters...:

And Jebediah is on the ground of Laythe!!! Again.

Ascending with the Jet engines....

Dropping the Jets when they had no air anymore, and changing to rockets:

...and Jebediah arrived back to the main ship after the successful Laythe landing!

for the full story: http://imgur.com/a/1EWoP#0

Edited December 12, 2013 by Ziv

[mcirish3]

Wow impressive.

[SSSPutnik]

I'm entering but really worried will be too laggy.

Ship will weigh in about 900t.

Edited December 10, 2013 by SSSPutnik
Oops, wouldnt comply with challenge then.

[SSSPutnik]

Apologies to Ziv, your pics are a lot nicer!

The Operosus! Two landers, both, hopefully Tylo / Laythe capable. (Got one as a spare in case of catastrophic kerbal containment failure).

Uses two mods, KW Rocketry and MechJeb. 9 launches to construct. (OK it took more than that but I'm not counting those). 16 LV-Ns.

Ship is ready to depart, I may top off some RCS fuel before departure. Waiting on wife friendly time to head Joolwards.

[Mesklin]

ARRGH!!! After all fuel economy actions (include partialy field disassembling for lander by soft lithobreaking method), I do not have enough fuel for reach Kerbin, I have only 930 m/s on low Pol's orbit. Maybe it is enough for reach Dune and wait rescue expediton with fuel on Dune orbit

Ship before field disassembling

and after (I used RCS for return lander back to orbit)

Expedition ship on Pol orbit

[Ziv]

SSSputnik: Wow, those are huge landers! Nice looking ship, I'm curious how it will work! Keep us updated!

Mesklin: Oops! Did you use lithobraking on purpose? Because that's not a bad idea if you left behind unnecessary weight and have engine for going back to the Expedition Ship... (which looks pretty cool! Compact and compex at the same time!) ...which moons have you landed yet?

[SSSPutnik]

The landers have 4 aerospikes and a dV of about 5800. Equipped with 4 drogues and 4 main chutes.

Tylo will be challenging but the rest should be fine.

Ship has a bit of a design flaw, solar panels can deploy but I am worried certain orientations will hit the landers. If I rebuilt the tank section I could reduce part count a bit in hindsight.

Edited December 10, 2013 by SSSPutnik

[Blue]

With such an ambitious and audacious idea as mine, I thought I'd show people my planned vehicles and landing systems just to see what I'm running with. Considering the fact that my laptop is bloke and the whole assembly will take some time to arrange, I may as well inspire others with the products' ideas. The horrendous resolution is due to it being played on a borrowed computer.

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Unicorn 1 carries the crew habitiation module and Pegasus lander, as well as a science equipment module. A small RCS tug will connect a Colton rover to the Pegasus for the landings on Pol, Bop and Vall.

Unicorn 2 carries four x32 fuel tugs with their own engines. Each of the fuel tugs serves as a multi-purpose fuel transport system as well as an ad-hoc emergency-return drive stage if necessary. Unicorn 3 will be the same, carrying an additional four fuel tugs.

Unicorn 5 carries the TLT: the Tylo-Laythe landing Transport. It is the heaviest component of the mission, since it will be sent to Jool fully fueled, and weighs the equivalent to 3.7 full big orange tanks.

Unicorn 4 carries TILLE and the heavy Rover Landing Assembly. The RLA carries two docking arms which will attach to the top-side of TILLE, and they will be transported dry. The heavy rover must be refueled before the landing attempt at Tylo.

After that is a couple pictures of the TILLE with the Landing Assembly, configured for the landing attempt. Each of the arms must be detached from the transporting ship and then independently docked to TILLE-- hopefully aligned straight.

Each one of the interplanetary vessels (the most recent iteration of my interplanetary vessel designs, the Philadelphia V) has 12km/s of delta-v if carrying nothing. Unicorn 5 with the fully fueled TLT lander has a total of 3.4km/s. The fuel tanks will hopefully extend this to include all of my ambitions.

Each of the Philadelphia V spacecraft are launched partially fueled and require 2 more orange tanks to be sent up to them for refueling.

The total of launches to assemble all of this will be 29 launches-- 22 of which will require rendezvous and 14 being refueling missions alone. This is because, with the exception of the TLT, every component you see attached to a large docking port on top of the Philadelphia spacecraft, is its own launch. For example, on Unicorn 1, each of the three Alicorn Crew modules are their own launches, and the Pegasus lander is its own launch.

Edited December 10, 2013 by Blue

[Mesklin]

Yep, it was specialy landing without downed legs for destroy engines and bottom tank on lander (At the start of mission I planned to return whole lander back to Kerbin). And no more moons for landing, Pol was last, I need only return to home, but you was right I took not enough fuel. I need only one more gray big tablet, only one.

[Ziv]

Wow Blue, what an impressive huge plan! And your Tylo-Laythe Lander is the bigger lander I've ever seen! And the Tylo rover lander makes me curious too! Will these ships go separately to the system?

[Ziv]

Mesklin: so it turned out that your lander is not enough for Tylo? Or if it's only the fuel then you can send a refueling ship, no?