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Cmdr. Arn1e's Jool Adventure (and Jool 5 submission)


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Hi all...

Many have done this one already, but as it's such a hard and in-depth mission, I decided I would try it as I sometimes find it difficult to challenge myself (and the signature image is pretty cool, too!)

So far I have been working on my mothership; a huge behemoth that I hope will get my 5 kerbals to Jool, tour the moons, and return, for lots of lovely science! (Yep, going for the Jebediah Level verion 2... well, why not?)

I have so far gone through 3 different Mothership designs, this has been due to forgetting to check how much TWR it has after adding additional fuel tanks and landers!

One Design:

21F0BCD39B59442E8FCB5BA99C347087D60E0E53

What happens when you try to lift with full fuel and not enough D-V:

9F64F38B73DE9BB221D332318FC9A80C5DB71E0F

First round of sending up small(ish) fuel tanks for the sides:

BD3997D3602A7544A7A96E1762302082DB5D1339

Yeah, it looked cool and all, just nowhere near a decent TWR:

99830C7A4618203F50A1AF3D5A44D349C8859148

I have been lucky with my Laythe lander; Initial design and tests have proved highly promising (especially now I've begun to learn the correct altitudes to switch engines... this means I'll also now be able to enter some of the SSTO challenges properly! Woo! Including my own... About time I suppose...) and even a late change so it is the craft that takes the sience modules up haven't changed its flight profile much :D

Laythe 1 with science packages:

A47E8C7ACC1E7738E15097EAC4B7E9C3A1E6E4FA

Work is continuing on the other landers... 1 down, 4 more to go! plus testing... should be fun... glad that I could test the Laythe lander on Kerbin, saved a lot of time! :)

Update 1: The Mothership is nearing completion; command and living module (Cupola with Hitchhiker Container) is up front and centre, and the main science lab is tagged onto the bottom... just the few more drop-tanks and it will be nearly ready...

Update 2: The Mothership is now complete in orbit; I have mainly been building my landers for the 0-atmo bodies and doing more testing... It's a good idea to take slightly more D-V than needed, right?! :wink:

The New Mothership:

7F8982CE2963C3EB1C60B023EA2E3D5707B7B8CE

Vall/Tylo Landers:

29C1B949797A9AC6AB5E9601B747CEC8AC93F47A

Bop/Pol Landers:

52EF7CEFAA2CFEA365BCAB5E656F46CF2FB20A35

Update 3: A lot has moved on, and I now have all the laners bar Laythe 1 attached to the mothership; so far down to 0.32 TWR using 4 skipper engines... this may need another rethink yet!

Nearly ready for the off?:

B42B5EF78EBDEB087F78198B0FAB38AB04C1DC91

With the Laythe 1 as well:

3BAFD5C47C97B6E622A48D93236E0A8F78559FBC

Hoping it manages to get where it needs to; not shown is the extra D-V held in the drop tanks (big orange tanks).

If I need to, I can always send a fuel freighter out to re-supply, shouldn't be too hard!

One last thing to do before moving it out to 610km in preparation for planetary transfer; build a shuttle-type SSTO spaceplane to bring some of the tourists back! It currently has 12 inhabitants, not all of which will be staying aboard for the trip - this is, after all, a Jebediah-Level mission, and it will be nice for the 5 kerbals to stretch their legs once in a while!

The Laythe 1 rendezvous went fairly well, storing the nosecone and atmospheric modules on the side of the main part of the mothership using their own little remote RCS module, so all docking (bar the transfer of crew to reduce the number down to just 5) is now complete :D

Laythe 1 one the runway:

64BFF2A7B04B0114E07DA757D7579BD364B0534E

Not long after takeoff:

774A9DFEB0B4153A866E820C62376A071ED4B0B2

Just about to switch to the LT-45's:

D22FF183101BA31C403DE5145FD9B8C5AD6D9C1E

Testing is underway on the crew shuttle, will post more about that once it works!

Major Update!!!

So the crew shuttle didn't work out, ended up just using this:

97131FE21B1E901145BDA3E4428B9257F269D522

Managed an awesome landing with it though :D :

EC596E2B61530A8144BA42F4FB32E05E89C0EE2A

The completed SaR (Science and Research) Mothership complete with drop tanks and landers, as full of fuel as I have the patience to do the multiple launches required...

9353572AD2C1D2978A88EEC2AE3FC74E01B14915

One of the Vehicles I used to get the drop tanks up:

D227D2C50DFD33F394E7C2103A645581E649C33B

Everything is connected up, everything looks to be in the green, time to go!!!

2FC06BC531706466132493ACDFB941867521FB66

well, this doesn't line up well so far...

5316C7E06FE23D8F3C01E64CAA929E2978B37BDB

that's better:

4F45180E027599550AF51B058A7F8FD605041E58

Burn, burn, burn! hehe!

2E70E2767028B55C649AF447857A5893D03DB303

Off into the darkness between planets:

AFD4458E3FE4791C83BCE85B18401A17720F47B4

Fine tuning the intercept:

F675E12DA67257F05ACAF3CA0D9B9B21BB91B12B

Transferring fuel from drop tanks:

D3546347C721CD0131FAE0D82FE00DA56BD7AA01

Then disconnecting the tanks:

9E9856ABEF62574E5CE9786CB1D2E8BD79B0978B

3488EA1682E507350AAB07F0F5225D4D4E70E696

And now my Mothership looks a bit naked:

02B67808F9D821006B0F2B1F987929395DDF54DA

but now has lots of babies drifting off in all directions keeping it company until Jool Intercept:

9C45C645645D32625BC3D2A490FD15AFEEBD000E

So this is how we're looking on entry into the Jool Planetary system; Mothership total part count down to 475, mass down to 312 tons, held together by 52 struts...

837F8EDAF22A19C5B452C3762117158C5D9CB46A

Even more fine tuning, to try and get that perfect Aerobrake:

BB449F2556982F8DB3C90068EE260EE552DAA6AF

The views certainly got prettier the closer the brave crew got:

26CD44F1A42D24EB628A10949564C3B8C03D68AC

Time to pull in all those Solar Panels:

5C7DC745A4C35B60072B46183B1A4100022170BF

OH, DEAR GOODNESS!!!:

773F9207A422E3394A9B223376999BBD85A37F74

8344BA503CC3B622130E699AFC7F935150C89C9F

Silly me, forgot to turn off 4x Physics warp :sealed:

When I realised and it got 'stable', this is the result:

JoolAerobrake.gif

What a ride!!!

and things got a little hot for a while:

0D7C47D4B781A1B6291C9E77E22CA93D4DDBE16A

So, for my first time (intentionally) aerobraking in Jool's atmosphere, I don't think I di too bad... got it almost right for the laythe intercept, just had to Hohmann transfer a little to get it right on the money:

FCF614A99FCEA623A2EB7CABAD321FE43B355631

Okay, I was pretty off:

55BFBEE36E857559A60EF43C43C4E0FAA4CC28F3

A lot of tweaking later:

A8F3AABC9BA7F637FDBEB62DFF70F4BD9E63D333

And finally burning into a near perfectly circular orbit with nearly the last of the fuel on the RaS Mothership:

4D17A4B76A5A302A574633281428CC12BC727AF5

2F5F0F71046C2BECCE57821396455F6E2B75ACB8

And there you go:

82457664ECD04864C49DD89B860F0C40843FBDBB

What a ride so far, now to get some fuel out to this hungry puppy... which turned out to be even more of a challenge with the amount of fuel I wanted to take! (Enough to complete the rest of the mission, avoiding a shedload of extra work and waiting around for transfer windows, possibly for multiple ships, which I'm not ready to handle even with mechjeb and Alarm Clock!)

Major update complete, Continued in posts further down :D

Edited by Cmdr. Arn1e
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Seems to be a huge construction. What's the part count of the thing (last screenshot from the orbit?).

It won't be much of help for you now, but from what I have recently observed: the Kerbodyne KR-2L engine has an enormous thrust and decent Isp (380), so it seems as a good alternative to LV-N engines (it just needs twice as much fuel :)). In your ship however using two of them would be an overkill, and using one is impossible in "pull" configuration, so 4 Skippers (?) are good as well.

The Laythe plane seems surreal enough to be functional (as it often is in KSP).

One thing I can't imagine is how slowly/unstably that whole thing will rotate in space, with the plane hanging on the small docking port :)

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The drop tanks will stay attached fine during aero brake from my own experience. With no FAR installed, they stay rock steady. With FAR they will go nuts but be fine I think.

Massive ship, at least you for good TWR, my current mission it was 0.02

And at times MJ was telling me I had micro metres of acceleration during engine shutdown till I came to a halt.

What's the bright green glowy thing?

Remember ladders on landers!

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Seems to be a huge construction. What's the part count of the thing (last screenshot from the orbit?).

It won't be much of help for you now, but from what I have recently observed: the Kerbodyne KR-2L engine has an enormous thrust and decent Isp (380), so it seems as a good alternative to LV-N engines (it just needs twice as much fuel :)). In your ship however using two of them would be an overkill, and using one is impossible in "pull" configuration, so 4 Skippers (?) are good as well.

The Laythe plane seems surreal enough to be functional (as it often is in KSP).

One thing I can't imagine is how slowly/unstably that whole thing will rotate in space, with the plane hanging on the small docking port :)

Oh yes, I have had lots of fun towards the end of construction - docking the crew transfer vehicle was a nightmare for example, in the end I caved and got MechJeb to do the docking on only the CTV, as trying to get the Mothership to even rotate so a port was facing it usually resulted in a LOT of vertical wobble!

and yes, 4 skippers, good spot :) I will be uploading a whole load more screenshots including the MechJeb Vehicle Info tab open, just checked and it's at 695 parts - first time I've had real noticeable lag! To give some sense of scale, dry mass is 164.270 tons, and if currency was in use already it would cost $766 Million!

Thanks for the tips, I may try again with an even bigger ship yet hehe :wink: (then I can use your suggestion of the KR-L2's :D )

The drop tanks will stay attached fine during aero brake from my own experience. With no FAR installed, they stay rock steady. With FAR they will go nuts but be fine I think.

Massive ship, at least you for good TWR, my current mission it was 0.02

And at times MJ was telling me I had micro metres of acceleration during engine shutdown till I came to a halt.

What's the bright green glowy thing?

Remember ladders on landers!

Yep, all landers that need them have ladders (made sure to double check, fitting ladders to the bottom of a One-Kerbal Lander Can can be trying - too high and it blocks the door, too low and it might as well not be there due to the 'lip' of the Lander Can...!) and Laythe 1 has a ladder each side of the cockpit, just in case!

Bright green glowing is from the drop tanks illuminating the main body - first time I had it at 1.0 green, and it was so bright I couldn't see docking ports! so scaled back down to 0.5 and they are still pretty bright...

I have discovered a new problem... the skippers are a tad powerful in this configuration, it turns out, so I see the drop tanks 'bending' backwards during acceleration! VERY glad I decided to link them to each other with the Jr's! (to give away one of my secrets... I don't think they would hold if only connected to the main body by the Snr's...

Definitely massive - in the past and on other saves I usually only sent single kerbals out on missions to the other planets, which usually only required a single Rockomax Jumbo-64 with a couple of Nerva's on the bottom... not the fastest transfers, but quick enough for me in the past...

I have found the ship become VERY unbalance if you transfer fuel while it is accelerating; something I will consider in future huge missions...

Thank you both for feedback :D

Edit: As a side-note, I will be needing to send at least 4 fuel tankers to replace the used drop-tanks to get home, will say how much fuel I have left on arrival at Jool, I'm guessing it won't be much heh :huh:

Edited by Cmdr. Arn1e
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Those are some very nice landers. I think all of them are coming at 1/2 (or less) weight than the ones I'm working on so far.

The mothership looks nice too, what kind of TWR are you looking at so far?

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Those are some very nice landers. I think all of them are coming at 1/2 (or less) weight than the ones I'm working on so far.

The mothership looks nice too, what kind of TWR are you looking at so far?

From memory, I was getting 0.31 TWR before I started on the transfer burn... which used up most of the fuel in the main body, which allowed me to jettison the drop tanks once the burn was complete, so now there are 12 random fuel tanks orbiting the sun between Kerbin and Jool!

Been having lots of 'fun' trying to design a nice efficient fuel tanker since last update, as the mothership is once again nearly dry after Laythe intercept and circularization, and have been trying out 8MMW's and SSSPutnik's suggestions... From experimentation, I have learnt that the most efficient engines are the skippers - I tried with the KR-2L's, and then with Mainsails, but both proved FAR too powerful for the Docking Port Snr.'s, even when limiting the throttle (both vanilla - style and with MechJeb) which had the effect of longer burn times for less maneuverability... So back to the drawingboard I went, just putting the last of my 'Mega Tankers' into place and then sending it off to meet the Jool SaR (Science and Research) Mothership...

Will be making a new post to chronicle these adventures, as it will again be pic-heavy and fairly lengthy...

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Right, here we go then...

First off, here's the cool SSTO Tanker Truck using KR-2L's, pity it is useless until I do a 'guest list' entry using KAS...

439286B7E10ED57C5A157BB7152BD4EAA03EC7AF

F2E78E86E007131D8177AF36C70FCC326AD4E21D

And here's a 4-Mainsail Tanker Truck:

D32BD8944C8B0646B1C57EA950FE915237059535

What I've ended up with isn't exactly small though...

966FDCF935EAF179C2DE59DDD4E86BD6F84D6288

I think the LV I use for my heaviest payloads is reasonably impressive in itself:

3E53313960CFAC455F8128A75063E8321B0F1992

It does look pretty all lit up though :) (with first Mega Tanker segment in place):

A4144DF47B1846E919260AD72AC10A9BF6796DE9

Ah yes, the Mega Tanker segments:

9305F39BCB62F92F57752841D3BBF3442661F1B6

1F6E734A626AE1BCC5E536F4E1BB145EC2037641

39E736E8AB71DB8841F2D323F584EBCA1091E872

1B8EFD08E59EA1C4896AF881B336D6C88DC2A19E

C29D2E7D8AAF6A76AC9F245C1E3107DDB0A05D3C

Lots of docking was involved...

284EA6E7735DB0C15515388C74D90FCE9CA374E0

and a fair few launches...

777CE4250089C3727858E3EB8BDD39A441CB915C

and more docking:

E97C752C299B3588133F32C53AFE812ADDEA97CD

But I'm finally nearly done...

A0FC54C9295E1C8FF1307E5673ED7AFA521BC153

Just adding on a load of extra RCS (and sneaking a small tug along for the ride, fairly sure this should be within the challenge rules as I believe precedent was set when Ziv allowed SSSPutnik to send a replacement shuttle... happy to be corrected as usual though!)

B9B07E887D9C1DCD4E8785B39E3571E507B1C61A

B4A5A208BF2FBE935C5A0BBCC7F8FD5719F4081B

So, onwards with the adventure!

EDIT: Stats on the full fuel tanker:

F1F53E79CD9A8B6387F3B5846E5E6271B352A8C1

Update: Failure! Tanker made it to Jool, but had used so much fuel to do so there wasn't enough left for Laythe transfer... back to the drawing board :/

Update 2: Things are loking better now; 4x4 banks of Nuclear Engines! had NO problem getting it to 610/610 orbit in prep for sending it off to Jool to rendezvouse with the Science and Research Vessel, but just had a slight problem with manuever nodes glitching... which is why you're getting this screenshot of the almost-ready tanker!:

B9C7B2A3F76191716D69C949C533783C8C61253D

OH! and my mission now has a theme song!!!

Lightyears from Home (youtube link)

Edited by Cmdr. Arn1e
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  • 3 weeks later...
What's the bright green glowy thing?

I think that is the planet Jool

..

..

:P

And well done Arn1e, all very impressive. I'm in the process of trying to do something similar, only in a rather less elegant way than you and some others have done it. And I'm not finding it easy....

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Things are loking better now; 4x4 banks of Nuclear Engines! had NO problem getting it to 610/610 orbit in prep for sending it off to Jool to rendezvouse with the Science and Research Vessel

Big clusters of nuclear engines worked very well for me. They are so much more efficient than Mainsails and Skippers, they literally sip fuel where those other engines are gulping it. My own Jool-5 submission (still a wip) is doing pretty well at managing its fuel supply. Definitely would not have worked with anything but the LV-N engines.

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Thanks guys, feedback is both useful and welcome! :D

I have now pulled of the first refuel mission (details below!), and the Laythe landing and lift - the Laythe 1 proved to be very much up to the challenge, and performed better than I hoped! even had a little fuel left over that I was able to transfer back to the mothership to aid in the Vall transfer... if I hadn't, I may not have had that little bit needed to close orbit on Vall, and I would be back in Jool orbit waiting for the next load of fuel before I could try again!

I also think I was very lucky to get the Laythe landing on the second try... first time I didn't manage to get it down on flat enough terrain, and ended up making a small crater in a hillside! the same hillside actually helped on takeoff though, as it gave me just enough angle of attack to get airborne :D

Anyway, on to the UPDATE!

To continue where I left off, the tanker had just left Kerbin, and was on its way to Jool/Laythe:

DB7F3530ADF923E38226CF96EDC8C1889D686DE8

6B4311AC4516DF733701AAC56454F39438420E47

8CEC77F226612EB632D523C3102ED41F1708F759

9871CEAEE50435F44945CE4252C89FDF707FC7E9

Ended up getting a lovely aerobrake in Jool's atmo, which put me in a position to intercept with Laythe without too much dV used:

AF32C3B4529B7C74197549F004FED1618A022FCE

EA033DDF62873D5306DDEB56B28CDF505E507529

8A3761471F17171625EDD71A44127B56A263453F

D96E0218A7A71550EB8644C5DE70CF7AC93AEA61

A78E73C048569F81FC29C73D155B336220E2C14D

F68F800791B6C2056B657BC739525F1AD1F17116

It made it with all 4 orange Rockomax tanks full, which was enough to sort out the Mothership's Laythe orbit and bring it in a bit closer (ended up parking it at 100x100km orbit).

ECBE98889EBBA045A9FBE4F8859D16C8F6ED773F

F1B94867DAA7E61DB21F7AB36F42728B78D2590F

]

4601D79957978E280B26A3311C143C41D523B101

4B4ECCB20E4C03360957A226BB941B433FB1ACC4

E4ADECFA8E887E2B7180FDB6A5D718437EB8A4A2

And the tug with lots of extra RCS also gets transferred across:

D99FB4634FABF384B1E1B331416183FF2B40E408

A90BA95D737D0D84AF960BF32CECBE3CE755BEBB

(That last one shows how huge the fuel tanker is! >.<)

And another 'spare' docking adapter:

13E81C55BC3FBFC6314AE29EEC465287EDDD989F

Once everything had been transferred across, it was a near-miss getting the tanker to crash onto Laythe:

8D4BBBB66C6A4925E80E02314A1297F864037C22

Good image showing how cose it came, and where the small tug has been stored for now:

5F66CFC63BAC8807818B49725E33080745DA1CCA

On the way to disposal in one of Laythe's oceans:

2238CFC66838D90AE334279FC4167A29E8054140

SPLASH!

B50E5B9ABB4DC3185B6401207904637B24EB2ADC

Back to the Mothership to sort out its orbit before the Laythe attempt:

CFDD1BAA5BD7618D998F8B9D532CBF7C8FB1A3C1

Then transferring Jeb on EVA to the Laythe 1 plane:

73E5CA03DAFF9DAB6EE5E6DDC7250108F5B3C70E

8936AF88E2EC741D4681D76499EECF8704278566

And attaching the Science Nose to the Laythe 1:

EE7ECD06EA9528675C26A90B821584D41D29DC6B

811721745B415BE092DD4CB4ACDB1676E044F4A2

Then getting to safe distance before firing rockets:

0F6E8B61D074CDB0A5BB4AB6A5E88500A7690090

Uh-oh, all the fuel lines and struts seem to have messed up! hope it doesn't interfere with the mission... (it didn't! :wink:)

2C28CABDCF5D42B911D96C69371C7923EF2CBEA9

69F3CE54EBF04D99F30C85C99512A4F69EC62BB5

B5E266A5FD89622902A11BEAB68F9992287987E1

Heading, 90.7 degrees... this must have been where I crashed into the hillside!

3ED9AE75E206F4145B2A27BDC8AD626CFAF2A1D9

This looks like the successful landing:

C2562C66412218E203305BFBB5F87CEE18C58C9B

Yep. 91.2 - just enough to land on a flatter bit of terrain!

A6B9205B5D3D22A400DEFD818E6D15C6971814B0

And Jeb seems to be very happy to be on solid ground once more :D :

B3122A2E39DB28301F02AA75FA0DC7FDB136C6F4

And so, onto the SCIENCE!! 1st MG cannister:

600BF77B07DF0A2460B8ED3B8A6E9DABA0AF7A4C

One barometer reading on the surface (after forgetting to get a screenshot of Science Jr):

5BD663B0F3ECDF2FA52E088F76A027C0F7B7E1FB

Ladder down for surface activity:

85B7278BCA8C8A658C3EB9E3DFA845C47674866D

Disaster! or is it?! There turned out to be a wing in the way of the ladder... didn't stop Jeb getting that all-important surface sample!

C84DFCD634DF09053AF5D6376E11F9E9DE17E73E

And EVA reports can be done anywhere, of course:

AB0408870317EB6F18CBD9DFE848346544FDB90C

Temperature reading:

E2D73823705102C76AA618274937657266C4B606

Seismic Scan:

463BB09016454674B57C51B12C0B392F748C205F

Gravity Scan:

D8305238F82B64385AC672C00664EA55B6E3BE79

All science done (bar the nosecone reading, 2nd pressure reading and remaining MG cannister) so away we go!

23928EF607FBCA2A4844BCFC53715E5054AC16D9

In-flight Nosecone Reading:

42686578F632C8EE98E74A0C9A082F82A65268EB

Goo:

2141E5ECD2DC3FFA70B21BA4716FA76A1A7860F8

and the last Barometer:

D6A36CB106779C74205C0AE9986B13BC9424B648

Nearly Forgot! Crew Report:

C3A77D00FC3D5F16BA9769E5CCAD304B2CBB73A1

Switching to rockets for last of the ascent:

45735FEB2857AFA794E3D251708B03062423A9C1

As the fuel lines seemed to do their job even though they were messed up, I don't need the wings anymore!

4ADFCE98E6FEA7F04A069AE26555BE1DB308BC7E

On way to Rendezvous with the Mothership:

730E0A2B04DC2140B5E416C51D2E32CD53EE47C5

C9ACE33DD4CCB09A1E50741A6B4B88FDDE33DE23

And back with the SaR Mothership, nosecone already re-attached to its correct port, and Laythe 1 attached via the Science Package:

88BB5C93D01434297EE6DA99AAC06AB6A246CF9B

How it's looking now:

ECFBDED75AFDD5D888E8937566BA98D75CEB8F79

Once docked, Jeb got out and moved all the SCIENCE!! to the Lab:

41F7E1E87F4C1FE281D42B1F03570F5C2D79AA5C

7F16D77EC882D603735262F25B2FADC64FD380E9

257979D422BD7FF0AB490504664C2B09FDF5EB9C

8A265A5BEFFCCFE3A4659C653222B6044B0E7D65

19E4B7481C1E015E94987E8D167DB18EF0DDFA19

4F12985D7F60FB4A3822FD2BC14C8C270B0BBB27

D12BA5A1C51482B133FC96C51119CEAB9EF18142

61024ADBB74A0E468BD914430CECCE4E89444987

That's a LOT of science!

B25584A40924700620E1150B70D60E7713311BCC

Then Jeb made his way back to his proper station:

550DBB3C1F560CF516DC2BBC17716A4AAF58C0E6

Then, after the remainder of the fuel and oxidiser had been transferred out, I used RCS only to dispose of what was left of Laythe 1 in one of the oceans:

7B5CCED01071632E233FE74258AC09CDC64C1564

F0BB24A5A37635A79A36F5E918DF157F676FAB64

43E0CAD669DF99F61A05F06749AEC4F6D3CEC2C0

Then, like the n00b I am, I forgot to take screenshots of the Vall Transfer! D'oh! still, this thread seems pretty pic-heavy already...

Anyway, Current state of play; In Vall Orbit awaiting MOAR FUEL! because my mothership is turning out to be SO innefficient...

Very glad I transferred the last of the fuel out of the Laythe 1 before ditching it, otherwise the orbit would be even more eccentric!

0E4185EC367E14DC9B9F7AC2844CBCB0AFD1673E

Still, the views are still pretty!

15E0E5346B34E92E14BD8075979EA3483769FB24

7F971B409C6F200F43DFCCE842F9A395709231B6

95D90E3EFB062F8AB96111336FC8229EADB82358

And that's it for now, pending Fuel Delivery... at least it won't take me a month and a half this time, as I already have the vehicle for delivery after the first run! will see if I can get it to deliver more fuel this time, but as landers are used and disposed of the dV requirements should go down, I just hope that it doesn't rip apart on the way home! but that's a worry for later... Onwards!

UPDATE: Fuel tanker now en-route...

Edited by Cmdr. Arn1e
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  • 4 weeks later...

You've been waiting a while for this update, and I apologise - but goes to show what you can expect from this challenge if you don't plan ahead sufficiently!!!

3rd iteration of the Tylo lander later... but that's for the next update when I have the screenshots up!

VALL update First!

So, last time I updated I had gotten into a nice Vall orbit and was awaiting refuelling again... With that successfully pulled off, (using the same Tanker vehicle as before) I went in and scrubbed the place for Science!

545316243F9ED3F840ADBDF5C709A6A70FE7CBEE

Turned out to get quite a bit of fuel out there this time due to balancing the tanks a bit better, and everything went pretty smoothly (For a change, For me!)

Also decided to dock the whole thing instead of transferring over the tanks... much quicker and easier, why didn't I think of that before?! D'oh...

DE6A913EFBD5A99048A5B0D3765ACEEC0C554506

Once that was all out of the way, I docked the Vall Lander (from now on, the VL) to the science package, then docked the tug to the bottom port of the VL to take it down to Descent altitude:

507A034D4B5B96D66695172A72035D1B72C4D878

B3FA349E78439B61C35BD25A120285B8F5A29A49

(couldn't resist taking this pretty nice screenshot from a distance with HUD hidden!)

5D5FB91ED1829DC21012600A60CC40EA00AB7993

90CF0ED69B7F462A7B934253F77AC45AF70BB456

Once at descent altitude, did the final spot burn and landed with ease:

23EB8DE9D208EF64533EC243124DEB987ABE7C33

Safely Down:

C1C93B35C17E16056EA7731E07C2F3F5114C7118

2349627D5965894DE7A73065389E220963BAD40D

Bob got to stretch his legs a bit - I think he was feeling a bit cramped, as he decided to get out before doing any science!

83778EA5446D79C6208B5C9289FED6A720C9B175

As soon as he was feeling better, he got right down to it, being the sciencey sort of Kerbal he is:

4B76EC7B8246F46AAED3A485AD76B260D30C4A3F

48C9D65D3DA342610292A5810CE2A2276A2637B4

FB6BE426092A4379AD5098F555A16C4607638246

6A159DB97CBB0453CD2CE5B98AEA30AA291421D0

AC0B56904EDE402452D09D72FC2C2E8765DD308E

642B14990F09BAA7BCD6603006149C73AD3E516D

2E740963AFD2E2B71B0747ACABCDB93AEFF7D8CC

And that final Goo Container on ascent:

36430A2E5701C2F7BB4D781C40599EA47487E31F

(Oooh, the power of those rockets...)

Connecting back up to the Tug:

DF8E6FE7C308D42512B9E02F2E702FB90BA7CEE4

(You can't see from this angle, but managed a bit of a bump while rendezvousing... another D'oh! moment hehe...)

2073576A86B19B57660C29A6D1F7624BA5F991C4

(You can see in this one...)

Nearly back at the Mothership:

8BB3911A4E256E069698F93A1C39955E4E4F7336

And docked back together:

AA0C215D797CDAED703D8632A30D93587B12159E

Then Bob did the usual data collection routine, and took it to the MPL before getting back into the HitchHiker Container:

8D2380C148A78573519D7EF7377DAA5D539DB310

F9C38489D8ED1B1C2E01D8777E696EA862416CEC

Bob seems to be comfortable on EVA now, rather than terrified all the time!

0C1C6A28CCE8F649D8782945DAC27E7685A81CAB

Once Bob was safely back aboard the nice spacious HHC, the VL was undocked and sent to its demise on the hard hard rocks below:

162308F988AA2DCD742BEDC9EF7CA5C42CC9EC25

4F6B191728845B9978F37D62F2F83C8C577C0801

Everything in the green, the Mothership set course for Tylo and fired main engines:

5B54210519F016C79943870D7516826701A9470D

F681D38CA42E0CAC6EF08D06EFCFD8A0746B0007

768966DC637B81BE8BE80E401DDB191D0E4EFB92

B6DFE39CB817309C0413D06F50AE57A9728FD186

5C5B7323CF253BCC98DB28E2F171355A23562197

7E342B8140CEB6647D851CAF3937AFA55754B508

Ah, Tylo, where the Mothership gets a rest before heading home!

9AF2B934012C022F735A6F09A2C1DA131BF48BFD

As you read at the beginning of this update, I have now gone through 3 new iterations of the Tylo Lander, finally completely overhauling the design and settling on something that I feel is a bit more Kerbal... I won't post the original again, but suffice to say I saved a LOT on weight (partly due to forgetting any batteries, another D'oh! moment, but better than one of the previous versions on which I forgot RCS thrusters... bigger D'oh lol!) the following is a pictoral documentary of the Tylo Lander testing:

Original Lander Attempt:

21F65523221C5D0E52C2B7166EED24F2C6B30640

61FEC4A26C6EA8FBC430EB4DEAD8EF2DCBE220A3

Shortly after, it crashed into the cold, hard, uncaring surface of Tylo...

So then I built, launched and tried with the next version:

A rather underpowered one! (Pictured just about to aerobrake through Jool's Atmo):

6C2DF823CBAE2AF6E5AA0C6F2ECE54FD73E8808A

4A501DD269B2F6E1AD3B1C0A44ACB8B2E4D8ACDF

Which didn't even make it to Tylo SOI...

Then the one with the Medium-sized SRB's: (Sorry for dark pics)

2CA26F083D16D149E8DF4352315195A1A8D29D1E

4B4C6701B7DE8602198247E0FE0F9EAF876A506E

Attached to Tug:

D7A20AE6AC34A93497F10FC95FD8D6BB9E6AA82E

Transfer:

D32FE876E4FD002FC4FA2A905E5D8A219F6B1EBE

Pulling was problematic, so switched to push config:

AB8892C239821645D8BC938389C3223439112448

Aerobraking:

25D5C8E99431C2463C45FE6BFCE5973630B50C95

BE7359141CC0B5317F22EBFFFE803201ED93C544

D0F512D0F4C1BBF127EC9BA61C572AC7A9DD83BE

77FC24B4E8A047A76E9D94FC8919344F011956EA

E899BDEA28A0E0B0E9B44BDA5BDDBA9616D8964B

Transfer:

9980D5B0F83DD77EF1B931AADD8368F1E532605A

73F223A736655242CFB2F896D51C9B94D83EC165

*rumble*rumble*rumble*

022D98E3967F93E49F8CA01F7EB228700FB2C726

Orbit/Rendezvous:

1A3F203FB094A2961A0E1FFF403978186B283954

7F87FA53BA1A22B7D38CD6026EC5FA0B86930D7A

WHOOSH!

E73C2C87E841ADDA462D42A00D2071155E3C7BEC

694E7D702686DBC81414A29E7A1DC999E8C6C1D4

And not long after, *Crash*Bang*Wallop* into the ground again :(

So, after completely re-thinking and designing, I ended up with this on the Launchpad:

91BD536CA5710EAF06FCEFAAF3D2711C725D1DA9

Which I then docked to one of the tanker trucks:

A12FAFABCB3B323AE584B8F73B4DF0046DA79459

E8EB9A9F817438B453DCD4ED6AD9FC2026AE6BCA

7AC8B34FC2C99E7D72A0652B1BA77550A7A7234D

Transfer:

23FAFAF641EC12DBCECE638DB1394ED3368DDFAB

Aerobrake:

499FCF8A78D8A75A6F32293E8573DE4EFD464BE1

Aerobrake Fail!:

AC0EE20387964E6ABAC2A4E18B1B66B057697B8B

Back to the VAB for the most radical rethink yet, launch (using same LV as pictured previously), and dock together with another tanker truck:

D232CF62C62DBCE5DE7A28602CAC39E10DC80CB5

E061AA15AD5DFE1E340CF9AE1851921337EFEF18

Final Specs of the Last Lander:

2BD3CC8385DFA8349695AD3EC557F0BABD4BBC04

Off to Jool it goes:

6F80DF8B70B6E70A5BD2C0A508F4241F505AC736

929DB0F9A8EA32A413DC1BBEF3D658AFF904AB49

2EFDE4C522513CF46D5AD7950E8D6B0786A85860

Anyway, this is the lander I have just used to successfully land and then Ascend from Tylo for the first time ever :D It is attached to the Transfer Vehicle and has a small in-system tug attached (both got dropped during Tylo circularization) the red glowin is from the lighting on the Transfer Vehicle...

44BA04A0C72306C3E0B5A187E61611DC494EEA2F

And that's it for this update, but Hopefully I won't be so lax in getting the next one up! Tylo! Woo! First time of having to use the F5 and F9 buttons repeatedly to get it just right! :D

(NOTE: Replacing the Tylo Lander is where I failed the challenge... didn't stop me from going ahead and completing, but trying again now...)

Edited by Cmdr. Arn1e
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Wow, have things progressed fast since the last update!

The Tylo Lander worked like a charm, all due 'grats to Fendleton for the idea of using solid boosters for descent - worked like a charm, if a little dangerous for the last 2 boosters!

I'd better explain...

Here is the lander, now in Jool system:

3E394F33375BC3459D84B8C1A2638A9844CF53CE

Aerobraking:

995236AA7769F9D31B937F5C691A3A9D707C68E7

Another pretty big course change to get on a Tylo intercept:

C88CDADE222CD71D7CF5862E08B1D1B13CE1FA74

On-course:

04A812BDBEEB08EFDFDADC0E903A5F609B15C7E6

Circularized around Tylo:

303D32B009215BB3F5967DBC69F3554AD26AC279

Connecting up with the previous iteration of the Lander, to pick up the Science package and Bill:

1386ABCE1F4BB623E54B79E4713D225CFFCD637E

Docked:

F444CD6241EA138D9E89985876835CBE8DA61D90

Bill enjoying his EVA:

0DD5E5D995225789CB4A5F6FB2CCC538006AC72C

Once transfer was complete, the landers disconnected from the tug and span round so the right one was now connected, and the old lander disposed of by crashing into Tylo's surface:

4E2A85BCD18D6A4B62DF87E35E9CF4EE9D80349F

Then the fun realy began! took me a god few attempts to Land without losing any parts, thanks to the bi-staged SRB's. 2 to put me into a landing trajectory, and 2 to slow me enough when I got closer to the surface:

0439DD4E0B47B2AB1B2DBDD3997F581CCEAD947E

7AF18C30C4368B4983200AEBE7AD746D40AC23A2

25B034A636CCBB63273708881DD9389951466D58

B0FE259AB858FEC9B48DEADCA98E52E18AB4E7FC

C4257E1848AEA2667EA7EFD9FEC16221E35BAAE1

Safely down (You'll notice solar panels are folded away; a necessary precaution, as on release of the last 2 SRB's, usually while still firing, would destroy 2 of them if they were open!):

B58F8256E86F7A39EE12FA3CBBEBFC16A69742B6

As I said, it took me a few goes to get it down and take it off again with enough dV to rendezvous back with the Mothership, so only took one set of science screenshots:

C0DEEFFCA14E9BD50116BB63F32AB466CD9AFC16

CC58823C3CB6E63DAAC9BA30A6F96876CC563875

636B1B352A770A4C3AAC091C48A8923A72920938

FF0949D54BD202A59AC7B77F5D3DB39DF8AD390F

DD459D146D02D0F20DC187BF1549FE339F2ED587

A nice shot of Bill before planting flag/collecting science:

66A6ABFBA71FDC60E0A38970FE94EEEE4820517F

And collecting science:

F20C86FF45F68CAB6BDBA292AF9F4F93B2E5F6F0

4BFC57A616194B0FD592C15558D000048798899D

Takeoff was fun:

0F3351F0CD9AC64FDBC295397951021788CA1D09

and heading back to the Mothership was also fairly simple:

C5C4A38CB66BD6071E675FC87F8F3F1FD3B024FB

Docked back together:

6E4CFC415F4053C053E6ABF59E03D34B3356E150

all dat SCIENCE!:

30C26251765EE31BC32B919B6DFF1E1D422EAFB6

Cleaning the experiments:

1DB2A3CC09834421CE8EA4EE336C82532A839D62

Sending the Lander off to the surface for destructive disposal:

165B0513B845CB522EE697C07A9D8FC8809EBC55

5B652F74B491FA94F7FAA444FFFFC6E241FF4277

Then re-fuelled the Tug to ferry Dergal Kerman to Bop:

36E3C9EFB4B42CAD72AE37F5621666B4D7828C3B

Everything connected up about to depart for Bop (sorry for dark picture!):

9B178FB20551A61DF0CF8457F4403B3F6AC10027

Travel to Bop was trivial;

285F37336BE8B635B1A0C0C0982EAB944D69AE56

as this was his first time out, it was decided he was not to use MechJeb (I forgot to put the module on >.<) for his landing and ascent, doing it the old fashioned way!

94A8F08FB3B216B0DEFC3D1572F77EA12A49400A

He managed a pretty decent landing, so I guess he learnt a lot from his Instructors :D

D37A343E60CF9B87F584E331926FA50DF3DBF981

He got on with the science quickly:

DEB9085F72A4121504748B77BB669ABA7DF48F9B

5392E2FABCD6BBF3B56361BA91EC55621836C145

9D26B3CB19E9464C2477461CA1BAFB5E13B9583E

04BABDA52906A77FF982E8C7EE660978351CBD98

241A91343C8900969F16C37B3BA5FEAC9B59520E

539406C692ABB6248A619A22E5A88752E76C6FB2

56AC30B7B4637386B38AA51BAB138EB412079D6A

8191BA5C24B1B3179E51128FBBF953EEDADC5B70

Takeoff was very straightforward:

6BBB49E73D1829BA4D1E6D31119696D9ADF259E5

Back with the Tug (sorry for horribly dark pic!):

041E9137B94CBEEB277BF866DA54F8B8F3461E91

Better pic:

51EDD0C4961849CCC6C1AA3A98548FE88747C1E4

back to Tylo:

A6548E360BC81701D2F44955772A5F5241045588

back together with the Mothership:

2E69E4C3B8098D19E2801B06CC601006546D15C8

Dergel then collected all the science;

5831CC782F51D291BAB72AFBF67083E8ADD443AD

and stored it in the MPL:

F9ACB03BEE68A26C1070D84B5FC0659B4658F1BB

and headed back to his seat in the HHC.

Then, as there was no robotic control over the lander, I decided to expend a now-useless docking adaptor to dispose of the Lander (again on Tylo's cold hard ground):

CFD94C4BD13DB61727CE765804A82EE0660B762E

57CFE7810FA92D46D21AC2F32FECBB23E7E98CE1

Then Tomeny got ready for his trip to Pol...:

9AD3A0142FC9859B4FF6A065CBCF60F9B5DE6743

DD8E8C6E65D91E9038A299AE037E624E3E7149F1

Once ready, He headed off:

BBF756C8CD6D2732BF3B78BF325273AD1571AFFE

2DD5AA84AF402E7D892997492D8DB92FC1D6F5DA

Then, before I could complete, .24 has hit! Argh! The Distraction!

I have backed-up my .23.5 folder just so I can finish off this mission without the changes, as it's looking like I will need to send one last Fuel Tanker, and with the new currency system apparently you have to complete a load of missions before you can think of sending anything interplanetary, which would mess up this final stage... It also means that I'm not running through Steam and so am goin to upload screenshots to photobucket from the screenshots folder... Dag nabbit! heh... :)

Edited by Cmdr. Arn1e
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  • 2 weeks later...

Sily me forgot to get screenies of the transfer to Pol! another D'oh! moment when I checked back and uploaded... suffice to say it was pretty easy though :)

Landing was very easy too, as the PL had 'spare' fuel I managed the de-orbit and landing with plenty of dV left to get back up to the tug... But getting ahead of myself yet agian! I'll pick up from the landing and science collection:

Landed:

screenshot0.png

Goo Observation:

screenshot2.png

Gravity Scan:

screenshot4.png

Materials Study:

screenshot3.png

Seismic Scan:

screenshot5.png

Temp. Scan:

screenshot6.png

Tomeny feeling very small!:

screenshot8.png

Crew Report:

screenshot7.png

EVA Report:

screenshot10.png

Surface Sample:

screenshot9.png

Final Goo:

screenshot11.png

(Sorted everything out, sorry for the delay!)

Nearly back at Tylo for Rendezvous with the Mothership:

screenshot12.png

It was here that I found out I had stuffed up yet again... The Mothership was in a retro-orbit >.<

Operations time again:

screenshot13.png

screenshot14.png

screenshot17.png

screenshot18.png

screenshot19.png

Then had to use one of the Tanker Trucks to bring the Lander the last of the way as the Tug ran out of fuel, but was too useful to leave behind:

screenshot20.png

screenshot21.png

All docked back up:

screenshot22.png

Tomeny transfers all the collected science (then gets back into the HHC):

screenshot23.png

Everyone's looking very pleased with the completion of this all-important mission to keep the public interest high back on Kerbin:

screenshot24.png

And looking forward to getting Home!

First we ditch the last Lander:

screenshot25.png

and send it off to Tylo's Embrace:

screenshot26.png

screenshot27.png

Quick shots of the Mission profile in the Tacking Centre:

screenshot28.png

screenshot29.png

screenshot30.png

Last refuel mission:

screenshot31.png

screenshot32.png

screenshot33.png

screenshot35.png

screenshot39.png

I did mess up and go to the wrong ship first! Luckily I had plenty of fuel for what I needed to do...

screenshot40.png

screenshot41.png

screenshot52.png

screenshot53.png

Once fuelled up (and having swapped the engines over, see last screenshot) we set off for Kerbin.

Ship Info:

screenshot55.png

Exiting Tylo's SOI:

screenshot56.png

Planning transfer to Kerbin:

screenshot58.png

On our way!:

screenshot59.png

Adjusting trajectory:

screenshot61.png

Hello Kerbin!:

screenshot63.png

Aerobraking:

screenshot66.png

screenshot69.png

Circularizing:

screenshot71.png

Stable Orbit:

screenshot72.png

Now it's in a stable orbit, I need to bring 2 things back down to the surface; the MPL and the Crew Quarters. Each has its own retrieval vehicle;

MPL Returner:

screenshot73.png

MPL Docking:

screenshot82.png

screenshot83.png

Descent:

screenshot85.png

screenshot86.png

screenshot87.png

screenshot88.png

screenshot89.png

screenshot90.png

Not the saffest of all places to land, but DOWN!

screenshot91.png

8894 Science on Recovery :)

screenshot92.png

The Recovery Vehicle for the Crew section had to be a little bit, well, over-designed...

screenshot94.png

screenshot95.png

Doing its thing:

screenshot96.png

screenshot97.png

screenshot99.png

screenshot100.png

screenshot102.png

Worked wonderfully :) :

screenshot105.png

screenshot106.png

screenshot107.png

Got another 80 science from that craft too :)

screenshot108-1.png

So a grand total of 8974 :cool:

[del]And hopefully, Completion of a Jebediah Level Jool-5 Mission![/del]

FAIL.

Disqualified. Turned out the Tylo Lander swap was against the ruels...

Still, this has been very educational, and hopefully my 2nd attempt will go much better!

Edited by Cmdr. Arn1e
FAILED.
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