The Jool Ship Evacuation

[Clockwork13]

So if any of you have seen my last thread about how I went to Jool but I don't have enough fuel to return to Kerbin so I'm doomed to orbit the Sun forever. I decided it might be possible, using the rest of my fuel and EVA fuel to get into Kerbin's orbit.

I have to do about a 3000 m/s burn, and I have most of my EVA fuel (I think) and I have 108 fuel left in my ship. Is the return possible?

[Goldham]

Well I cant tell you much without your DeltaV but IIRC I think you can resupply your EVA fuel by entering and exiting the command pod.

[Clockwork13]

I don't know how to find what my DeltaV is

[Goldham]

You can get Kerbal engineer and I think there is a mod that puts it into every command pod, you might want to try that.

[Clockwork13]

My maneuver DeltaV is 2944.3 m/s

[Taki117]

It's possible to return using EVA fuel, each pack has 600 m/s dV for a kerbal (Not sure about pushing) But if you are going to be doing that you want to push the smallest ammount possible, so All I would do is push the command pod. EVA fuel does replenish if you go into the command pod, but I would burn what you have, then decouple (If you have a decoupler there) your command pod (that will also give you a couple m/s of dV) then just get out and push.

[Silverchain]

So if any of you have seen my last thread about how I went to Jool but I don't have enough fuel to return to Kerbin so I'm doomed to orbit the Sun forever. I decided it might be possible, using the rest of my fuel and EVA fuel to get into Kerbin's orbit.

I have to do about a 3000 m/s burn, and I have most of my EVA fuel (I think) and I have 108 fuel left in my ship. Is the return possible?

No. For a bare-bones enclosed cabin and a 48-7S and nothing else you're not going to be able to get more 2000 dV for that (if the 108 is total liq + ox units); for any practical big ship you're not going to get anything like. You might be able to do it with a slingshot from Dres, I dunno. I would send another ship out to rescue them - rendezvous in solar orbit is not much harder than rendezvous in planetary orbit, just takes a bit longer.

[Captain Sierra]

No. For a bare-bones enclosed cabin and a 48-7S and nothing else you're not going to be able to get more 2000 dV for that (if the 108 is total liq + ox units); for any practical big ship you're not going to get anything like. You might be able to do it with a slingshot from Dres, I dunno. I would send another ship out to rescue them - rendezvous in solar orbit is not much harder than rendezvous in planetary orbit, just takes a bit longer.

By bit, he means months of time passing. since your less than 100 dV short, I think you've reached the the point of it truly being Kerbal Space Program, the only space program where getting out and pushing is sometimes the best option.

[Kryxal]

What sort of orbit are you in right now anyway? If your apoapsis is outside Kerbin's orbit, your periapsis inside, and you're same-plane you can likely get a Kerbin intercept with minimal fuel, but we'd need numbers for this really ... and if you get into Kerbin atmosphere, can your Kerbals deorbit?

[SSSPutnik]

Been following your other thread. Why do you need to orbit Kerbin???

[technion]

You appear to have abandoned your earlier thread, to make a new one about getting this crew home? Plenty of people have said on your earlier thread, that you should be able to crash straight into Kerbin.

[SSSPutnik]

I'll try and clarify again...

You do NOT need to orbit Kerbin, IF you have parachutes on your craft. (If you don't have chutes, skip to the end).

Get a Kerbin encounter.

Once you enter Kerbin SoI, tweak your periapsis so it's below 20km, or hell, intersects the surface.

If you do this far enough away it should take tiny amounts of fuel.

Just plow straight into the planet.

The atmosphere will slow you down, no need to slow to orbit first. Just ram straight in without slowing.

At a safe speed/altitude after the atmosphere has slowed you down, deploy chutes and land. Done.

Getting back to Kerbin from Jool is easy.

For numerous pictures, see the Jool 5 Challenge thread in challenges forum area.

NO CHUTES!? Geez, how you going to land? Don't... Instead of piling into the planet, tweak your periapsis to about 23 km.

You won't hit Kerbin, but the air should slow you down enough that you can make a stable orbit around Kerbin with minimal amounts of fuel AFTER aerobraking.

Once in a stable orbit, send a rescue ship up.

Edited February 17, 2014 by SSSPutnik