My reusable stock ships visit Jool and Duna.

[Vanamonde]

(Craft files and launch instructions for the motherships can be found here.)

This is the test flight of my most recent update to my reuseable interplanetary ship designs. In it, KSS-15 Galleon, first of the M111 Galleon class, was launched to orbit,

refueled, and then loaded up with 115 tons of sub-missions bound for the Jool system.

This mission required 9 launches and a price of $2.2million to prepare, and upon setting forth, comprised 566 parts and massed 518 tons.

It was not the most efficient transfer, but the ship did reach the Jool system.

And actually, the poor transit made it a better test of the ship's ability to get the job done, since it was able to reach Jool despite some wastage of fuel. The mission's science module, the M113 SPaRM, began collecting science readings upon entering the new territory of Jool space.

Some test runs were transmitted to Kerbin, while additional runs were stored in the SPaRM for full recovery.

The ship then aerobraked

into an elliptical orbit crossing the paths of Laythe and Vall, from which position sub-missions could be dispatched to various locations in the Jool system. First, a rover was launched and landed on Laythe, where it beamed back science from the surface.

A science satellite was next launched, and set to transmit science from Tylo orbit.

An opportunity then presented itself to assume Vall orbit, which moon is my favorite world in the game, and therefore was the primary objective of this mission. On Vall I deployed another rover,

a station core for future expansion,

and that lander planted the flag and gathered science from the surface of Vall.

The lander then returned to Galleon and the science was transfered into the SPaRM. The lander was left in orbit with the hope of being refueled and used by later missions, while its crewed transferred back to Galleon. And then Galleon broke orbit and headed higher in the system to address Jool's other two moons. A rover transmitted science from the surface of Pol,

while Bop became home to both a satellite and a rover.

Last but not least, a satellite was placed in the orbit of Jool itself.

Galleon then awaited a return window, and burned for home. After aerobraking into orbit,

the SPaRM separated and landed itself, for full recovery of most of the mission's science, along with the two science crew.

An SP-42 then rotated Galleon's weary flight crew with fresh pilots, as the ship awaits refueling for its next mission.

Results:

The ship returned to Kerbin after deploying a mission to either orbit or land upon every body in the Jool system.

Financial Results:

Outfitting the mission cost $2.2million, but the contracts it completed earned $3.8 million, for a tidy profit. On top of which, the 4 satellites, station, and 4 rovers deployed along the way can continue to perform science contracts. The lander is made to be re-used and also waits future missions in Vall orbit, and of course, Galleon itself needs only to be refueled and loaded up with another payload before it, too, can be sent to other worlds.

Science results:

This mission transmitted 2670 science points, and another 3756 science was recovered with the SPaRM.

This was my most elaborate KSP mission so far, and I hope it was of some interest to at least a few people

Edited October 18, 2014 by Vanamonde

[Vanamonde]

Chapter 2: Report on the Duna/Ike shakedown cruise of my smaller interplanetary ship design, the Locomotive II class.

This is KSS-14 Tireless, loaded up for an expedition to the Duna system.

That is 283 parts and 333 tons at departure, of which 95 tons is payload.

This mission deployed station cores in orbit of both worlds.

The reusable lander brought the first Kerbals to set foot on Duna,

returned the science to Tireless and refueled from the mothership's tanks, and then brought the first Kerbals to set foot upon Ike.

The lander once more returned to Tireless, but this time transfered science and crew to the mothership. The lander was left in Duna orbit for reuse, but an unfortunate miscalculation resulted in an additional Ike encounter which tossed it into solar orbit. Oops.

Anyway, Tireless then returned to Kerbin,

where it also landed a SPaRM containing the science collected during the mission.

Tireless is also parked in orbit, waiting to be refueled and set forth once more.

Edited October 18, 2014 by Vanamonde

[Specialist290]

Impressive work Makes me wish I had the patience to assemble missions like this.

[eataTREE]

Interesting. I like your radially mounted crew modules. Getting them to weigh the same so as not to throw the ship off course must have been a pain in the butt.

I am currently designing the ship for my first J5 attempt. It has no rovers. On reading your mission report I realize I must fix this immediately. (I'd also really like to bring a spaceplane for Laythe.)

EDIT: Did you have any problems with wobbling under thrust?

Edited October 17, 2014 by eataTREE

[Vanamonde]

These missions were too massive to wobble.

[HafCoJoe]

I think "massive" is still an understatement. Awesome job! I might just steal your plus-shaped rovers for low gravity planets. Inventive. And the science lab module and Vall landers are also cool.

[Vanamonde]

I'm going to post the craft files for the motherships. If there's interest, I could share the files for the sub-vehicles as well.

[HafCoJoe]

If you'd be up for sharing the Vall lander yeah I'd have a peek at it ^.^

[Vanamonde]

Craft: http://www./view/v2geqh851xz66nf/M114c_Science_Lander.craft

[CDK]

Good job at making the rocket Vanamonde!

[SmashBrown]

Seriously man, I would love to be able to make this stuff. One day! Interestingly, did you use mechjeb or any other tools to help you work out the delta v needed or was it all stock ksp and best guesses? Bravo, bravo.

[Vanamonde]

My highly technical process of determining delta-V: I tried different designs until I got one that worked.

[SmashBrown]

My highly technical process of determining delta-V: I tried different designs until I got one that worked.

I like it!