Deep Jool Kethane Expedition - A hideously bloated points gathering tour - COMPLETE!!

[Speeding Mullet]

DEEP JOOL 5 – THE KETHANE EXPEDITION

This is an ongoing mission report and on completion subsequent entry for Ziv's Ultimate Jool 5 Challenge (The Kethane Expedition).

I did the original challenge with much difficulty, but it taught me a lot about how to navigate around this particular system so I thought the Kethane challenge would be a logical next step following my successful trial of the mod with the Direct to Duna Mission.

Please bear in mind as you read through this that while the Kerbal's have designed everything carefully in the VAB and it all should work, any glaring errors that might be present would be best discovered by them along the way. I think I've been guilty of a lot of pre testing on previous missions so this is certainly the least tested and at the same time most complex mission I have ever done and it should push my reaction to unanticipated mission occurrences nicely!

A link to the challenge rules can be found here. Some general information and detail below on the sort of scale I am taking on:

Mods:

Mechjeb

LLL (Dead weight only)

Mission Structure:

First Launch: Heat shield and all the fiddly bits

Second Launch: Living decks

Third Launch: POWER!

Total Ship Mass on Departure: 284 T

Total Part Count on Departure: 894 - bad times

Crew Manifest:

Erdrin, Maldan, Bilbin, Elrie, Seancas, Lulas, Joelin, Neilsy, Wehrger, Kiremy, Danfred, Kermal, Tomrick, Donzor, Neldon, Milton, Bartmund, Billy-Bobster, Chadfen, Dillling, Jebediah, Neilvis, Bob, Hanlorf, Derzer, Bobney, Kenmore, Wehrbal.

POINT LOGGING:

I will add up the 'hopeful' points at the start, and then detail the haemorrhaging of points through the mission as (inevitably) various things go disastrously wrong for our brave crew.

General:

28 Kerbals on mission: 140 points

Jool Impactor Probe: 20 points

Jool orbiting satellite: 20 points - Fail - ran out of power and fell into Jool

Main ship remains in orbit around Jool: 20 points

Mobile lab: 10 points

Nukes used: - 100 points

Kerbal Death: 0 points

Main ship is refuelled from a Kethane source: 50 points

Kethane sample bought back: 40 points

Kerbal return to Kerbin: 25 points

Initial full ship modifier: - 284 points

Points per moon:

Mining Kethane: 40 points

Mapping / communication satellite: 40 points

Kerbal Landed: 280 points

Surface Jumper: 120 points Fail - Laythe Jumper did not have enough power

Land a mobile lab: 150 points Win - landed on Pol, Bop, and Vall

Experimental package deployed: 120 points

Points for remaining base:

Remaining mining station: 40 points

Remaining jumper: 80 points

Remaining rover: 40 points

Living space: 80 points

Remaining Kerbal: 160 points

Mobile lab remains on surface: 20 points

Remaining mapping / communication satellite: 20 points

Laythe specials:

Surface plane: 90 points

TOTAL STARTING POINTAGE: 1121

POINTS LOST DURING MISSION: 50

POINTS GAINED DURING MISSION: 150

TOTAL POINTAGE: 1221

ADVICE NOT HEEDED

- don't try to maximise the points because you will end up with a huge lagging ship. Always check part counts!

- try and at least look at the delta V requirements for the system you are visiting.

MISSION REPORT CHAPTERS:

CHAPTER ONE - LAUNCH TO ORBITAL DOCKING

CHAPTER TWO - KERBIN DEPARTURE, AEROBRAKE TO POL

CHAPTER THREE - POL OPERATIONS

CHAPTER FOUR - BOP OPERATIONS

CHAPTER FIVE - VALL OPERATIONS

CHAPTER SIX - TYLO OPERATIONS

CHAPTER SEVEN - LAYTHE OPERATIONS

CHAPTER EIGHT - RESCUE OPERATIONS

CHAPTER NINE - THE RETURN HOME

Edited May 9, 2014 by Speeding Mullet

[Speeding Mullet]

CHAPTER ONE - LAUNCH TO ORBITAL DOCKING

This chapter in gallery form takes you through the three launches and orbital docking maneuvers it took to build the ship in orbit. This album probably represents a few weeks work because I was designing everything without testing endlessly at Kerbin or using hyperedit etc. The only things I know work for sure are the Laythe and Tylo landers which I've yoinked from the previous non Kethane mission, the rest is either going to perform beautifully or lithobrake spectacularly.

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Interestingly enough I actually attempted launching this as one big gravity defying lump but the result was as follows:

Edited March 12, 2014 by Speeding Mullet

[Speeding Mullet]

CHAPTER TWO - KERBIN DEPARTURE, AEROBRAKE TO POL

The next update on my mission takes you through the outward bound journey using a small gravity assist at the Mun to line up an efficient burn to Jool. On arrival in system I deploy the impactor probe and prepare to aerobrake to Pol.

I am visiting Pol first because it will be the most efficient moon to mine kethane and transport it up to the mother ship.

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FAIL: -20 POINTS. The RCS robot which was due to double as my Jool satellite unfortunately got it's solar panels peeking the wrong way and ran out of power. It fell into Jools thick atmosphere never to be seen again. Here it is absolutely tanking it into the lower atmosphere:

[Speeding Mullet]

CHAPTER THREE - POL OPERATIONS

In this chapter a lot is going on. I've navigated successfully into orbit around Pol so the pictures (with descriptions) start with the deployment of the Pol comms and Kethane scanning sat. It was a tense wait for Kethane to be discovered and a negative result would have meant the ship performing it's least ideal scenario - return abort, or a huge orbital operation involving much ship re jigging.

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Pol Flag planting Ceremony

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With Pol operations complete, and the system now busy with various bits and bops on their way to the Joolian moons I think the key learn from Pol for future missions is remember to add RCS!

Next up - Bop!

Edited March 25, 2014 by Speeding Mullet

[SSSPutnik]

Omgz, what's your part count? Love the ship design, shame about RCS but you no doubt saw my post in the J5 thread. Well done.

The main ship, hopper and rovers are all really beautiful.

Yeah you only need 1-2 drills. Just do time acceleration...

Edited March 19, 2014 by SSSPutnik

[Speeding Mullet]

Omgz, what's your part count? Love the ship design, shame about RCS but you no doubt saw my post in the J5 thread. Well done.

The main ship, hopper and rovers are all really beautiful.

Total Part Count on Departure: 894 - bad times. Luckily I have a relatively powerful laptop but it was still very laggy at the start of the mission. docking the 3 main sections was nigh on impossible, or at least took a very very long time. The part count has shot down now as bits and bobs drop off down to the surface, or go into separate orbits so it's not as heinous any more.

Thanks for the comments on the ship, I made significant use of sub assembly when going through the build phase and it really paid dividends in terms of getting things looking the same, and everything balanced. There's a lot of very tight fits with the individual parts, maybe I'll take a few example shots in the VAB for a closer look.

I saw your post in the J5 thread, I was trying to think of a decent way to split the ship also as I thought I could find a way to do an "all in one" like you which lead me to my design, and also a nice way of absolutely rinsing the points against Ziv's best advice. I'd say it's harder to build a ship to maximise the points in the Kethane challenge, but for me designing a ship that would make it all the way round without needing a refuel in the original challenge was very tricky, and in fact I didn't manage it!

Bops next, the plan hopefully is to completely top of the fuel tanks and fill up the Laythe and Tylo landers (I set off with them totally dry to save weight). I've realised I didn't need to take a Laythe lander with me as the Kethane miner has enough power / DV etc, but I don't suppose it hurts to land a few more, or I could re purpose it.

[SSSPutnik]

Yeah I looked at the points system and decided against hoppers or bases.

I wanted something simple, its basically one craft, with a return ship, (so the main lander/space station can stay in orbit).

In theory it can move around the Jool system refueling as required.

But... Problems. I really want to boost the points up a bit, so am tempted to go large, still not decided.

I'm getting a little tired of launching stuff and the inevitable tweaking of launcher setup

Some closeups of the compact parts of your ship would be good. High from the west coast BTW.

Those Kethane drills weigh a lot.

[Speeding Mullet]

am tempted to go large, still not decided.

DO IT!

Hi from the East! If you are after a really good challenge that demands long term planning and forces you to develop a common launch vehicle then you should look at sturmstiger's Duna Permanent Outpost Mission Architecture Challenge My mission report for that is in my signature if you wanted to look at an example, the challenge thread is nearly 55 pages long last count!!

I made an album below of a few bits of detail:

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Edited March 20, 2014 by Speeding Mullet
nearly 55 pages long, not 550.

[Speeding Mullet]

CHAPTER FOUR - BOP OPERATIONS

So it's taken me a while to find time to write and upload the pictures for this next chapter, again it's a large update so I've tried to break it down into a few sections. Flying the mission is actually starting to become really enjoyable as I learn how to dock large components without rcs, and also as I get into more of a routine in terms of the orbital maneuvers required at each moon.

Before departing Bop I decided to shed a load of parts and send all my scanning satellites out to their respective moons. For some reason I sent a Kethane scanner to Tylo to scan which is in reality useless, but I guess it will be good to know where the Kethane is, as I do plan to launch a Tylo specific Kethane misson which will allow for much more of an excursion and extended stay on the surface, rather than the whistle stop that is taking place in this mission. I think once Tylo is scanned the satellite will be repurposed to Jool to garner a few more points, but I will have to perform satellite retrieval and refuel in orbit so we will see how that goes won't we!

Scanning Satellite Maneuvers

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The main bulk of the Bop operations with descriptions is contained in the gallery below. The rover was still really hard to control on the surface of Bop, but better than Pol. I'm sure at Vall and Laythe the rover will perform nicely.

The other thing I realised is that I can gain a further 150 points by landing the science hub on the surface of each moon rather than just one. I think the Kethane Miner is powerful enough to do it, and also on Laythe it can perform as the landing and RTO craft which i superb.

For this reason I have decided to repurpose the Laythe specific lander I am hauling along with me to function as the return to Kerbin craft, meaning I can leave even moarrrr ship in orbit around Jool!

Bop Operations

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Bop Flag Planting Ceremony

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WIN: + 50 POINTS for landing the science hub on the surface of Bop!!

With Bop operations complete, I'm now comfortable with handling the ship and as it sheds parts the game is speeding up noticeably, which is huge as it was an 894 part giant lagging knoodle when it started!

Next up - Vall!

Edited March 26, 2014 by Speeding Mullet

[SSSPutnik]

Awesome installment. The driving and hopper exploits were good. Nice work on the extra points.

PS: just saw pics you posted for me, thanks, some good ideas there and thanks for the hopper.

Edited March 26, 2014 by SSSPutnik

[Speeding Mullet]

Thanks SSSPutnik, I've been working on the mission a lot more recently, so I am now ahead of where I'm writing. The crew are up to their mischievous doings again! No problems on the hopper and pics, hope you find useful!

CHAPTER FIVE - VALL OPERATIONS

This again is a big update, chronicling the full Vall operation. The crew decided that Vall would the the moon to really get to grips with the rover and do an extended duration mission over the course of a few days. Also this part of the mission, with Tylo as the next moon means that I will have to top off all the fuel tanks on the ship using the Kethane miner. Have a look and see what the crew gets up to!!

Vall Operations

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WIN: + 50 POINTS for landing the science hub on the surface of Vall!!

Next up - Tylo!!

[SSSPutnik]

Another excellent installment.

[Speeding Mullet]

CHAPTER SIX - TYLO OPERATIONS

So let's get Tylo out the way finally. We have been carrying around the tylo lander for the whole of the mission so far, and had to fill it's tanks at Vall if you remember. It's now a super heavy fuel sucking nightmare and we need to ditch it before Laythe, it will also help massively with maneuverability and speed etc. The Tylo lander is actually the same model as from the non Kethane expedition that I completed, which saved on design time, and gave me re usability. To be honest I didn't really think I could design anything better, but I did have to modify it a little bit with senior docking ports instead of regular ones. I hope that hasn't affected it too much as I haven't tested it! Anyway, let's see how the crew get on shall we?!

Tylo Operations

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So it was marginal. I literally ran out of fuel on the lander at about 3 feet altitude the engine just went phut. Luckily there's a bunch of landing legs on it so there was no damage. Also very tight on lift off, I had a look at the TWR and realised that the vehicle designed to return everyone to orbit was too heavy (due the addition of a senior docking port) but some quick thinking there saved the crew. Could have been a bunch of minus points otherwise!

Laythe next up, can't wait to see how all the equipment performs there, especially the plane!

[Speeding Mullet]

CHAPTER SEVEN - LAYTHE OPERATIONS

So the most anticipated planet for the crew as they have been burning to visit Laythe with all it's interesting features, spectacular views, and breathable atmosphere. Most anticipated also as they have been lugging the plane around the system and will finally get to find out if it works. There is one problem, and that is that fuel is getting quite low. Remember none of the equipment was tested at all before the mission got underway, and the engineers and scientists did only the most perfunctory maths to see if everything will actually get around the system. It's all up in the air so time we checked in on the crew once again. Go Laythe!

Laythe Operations

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EMERGENCY!!!! So the crew are, at this point, stuffed. There is no rescue capability from Kerbin, and no refuel (according to the director it would be cheating) so the crew are on their own. There is not enough fuel as it stands to finish the mission. The crew worked through many different solutions, and broke the ship down to it's smallest constituent parts to see if they could figure out a solution. They think they have something, but it's by no means a certain, and we will have to wait until the next update to see if it's going to happen for them, or whether they will be stuck, stranded in orbit around the second pale blue dot.

Fail: -20 points The Laythe hopper did not have enough fuel to make a 20km jump and return, and I didn;t want to sacrifice a brave crew member trying and failing, so it's not going to happen. At least the aeroplane and rover both proved their worth as a way of getting around.

[Speeding Mullet]

CHAPTER EIGHT - RESCUE OPERATIONS

So this is now the most important part of the mission, if it doesn't work then all the hard work will have been for nothing. The crew has worked out by breaking down the whole spacecraft and coupling the main engines to the Kethane miner that it should be possible to deliver enough Delta V to the Kethane miner to make it to one of the outer moons to refuel. The plan is if that works to slowly top the tanks up on the main engines until we have enough fuel to progress with the mission. Let's see how they do!!

Rescue Operations

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Congratulations goes to the crew and to me also. I seriously thought I wasn't going to be able to rescue this mission, but faced with abandoning hundreds of hours invested in this mission I wasn;t willing to give up, and it paid off. things are looking up and the only remaining thing to do is put the ship back together in orbit around Laythe, tranfer to Jool orbit, break the ship back down again and return home!

[SSSPutnik]

Not quite clear what the emergency was? Ran out of fuel on Laythe ascent? Laythe is deceptive, so easy to land, but takes quite a bit of dV to make orbit again.

Some gorgeous pics. Glad your mission was saved.

[Speeding Mullet]

Not quite clear what the emergency was?

I had to hop up to a mountain, refuel, and takeoff from there to reach orbit around Laythe which ran the tanks totally dry, but once there I did not have enough fuel by a very very long way to finish the mission (reconstruct ship, shift to Jool orbit, break down ship, fuel return vehicle etc) so I had to scrounge all the remaining fuel to put together the Kethane miners rescue trip to Pol to get us back on track. It was extremely tight!!

Just about to finish the last section of the report now! Edit - finished:

CHAPTER NINE - RETURNING HOME

All is well and the crew have fully topped off tanks and are ready, seriously ready for the flight home. This is the final leg of the mission and the culmination of a serious amount of work.

Returning Home

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I cannot believe I have done it. It's been a roller-coaster ride, plenty stressful and at times in serious doubt that any of it would work at all. I have to say the no testing route really made things harder, and also made me plan a lot better I think.

I'm at a bit of a loss as to what to do now!

SM

Edited May 9, 2014 by Speeding Mullet

[8MMW]

Huge and impressive mission. I've never used Kethane mod, so I can't tell a lot about that aspect, but here are some other observations:

- nice aerobraking shield, matches the ship with its shape, + for making it look good on itself (it could have been just a usual, boring, symmetrical umbrella);

- because of the Kethane, the fuel part doesn't take up 80% of the ship, so it looks cool with most of it being sciencey things and add-ons;

- nice Laythe-plane design and piloting skills. I have problems with constructing aircrafts / landing controllably on Kerbin, let alone getting such a thing to Laythe;

- 20-30 refuelling flights on Pol? You should have got some patience achievement for that ;

- considering Pol's low gravity, wasn't it possible to land there with the mining unit with the engine unit on top of it? Or wouldn't the landing struts hold this mass? If that was possible, it would have saved you those 20-30 refuelling cycles;

- + for landing at KSC. When I'm back from interplanetary missions I'm usually too happy just because of that and never bother to choose the landing site;

- + for bothering to make a cool gif.

About the issue SSSPutnik mentioned in Jool-5 thread - I think the low feedback might be also caused by the vast amount of pics you posted. That a good thing by itself, it's difficult to show so much work you've done on a few pics. On the other hand, posting an abstract with ~30 best/most interesting pics on the beginning would draw more attention to the rest of them. Going through all the albums here took me some time, and I admit it was worth to see all those ideas. But I didn't look that interesting in the beginning, maybe that's why many had viewed it, but not many bothered to go through all of it.

Edited May 11, 2014 by 8MMW

[Speeding Mullet]

Huge and impressive mission. I've never used Kethane mod, so I can't tell a lot about that aspect, but here are some other observations:

Thanks for the observations 8MMW, very much appreciated!

I wasn't going to add the aerobraking shield as it wouldn't be in place by the time it got to Laythe or indeed for the return to Kerbin but I thought why not, and I think it just looked cool rather than anything else!

I agree the main advantage of the Kethane mod for me is that you can send absolutely colossal ships around the place which would be far more ungainly if they had to cart all the fuel around with them. If you haven't used it before and fancy trying a mod then it would be a good one to go to.

I have huge issues with Kerbin planes, but the Laythe one seemed to go to plan. It's a first for me!

20-30 refuelling flights: I did not think of landing the Main engine. DOH!!!

Landing at KSC: I'm the same, I normally just bung the thing into orbit and call it a day, but it seemed like the mission needed a proper end!

Thanks on the gif, I had a few more I wanted to include but never bothered putting them together.

Thanks for the feedback on the thread. Looking back all my major threads have had the same result and have been in roughly the same style, so I will take on board your comments for my next grand report for sure!

[SSSPutnik]

Well done Speeding Mullet. One of the more interesting missions for sure.

[destructivenoob]

could you post a download link? I have a few ideas on how to explode improve it as well as i would like to try it but being a relatively new player I'm no where near building something like that

Thanks!