Small craft to Jool?

[baseballtjt]

I built this just expecting to get to orbit and maybe as far as the mun and it ended up going a lot farther than i expected.

http://imgur.com/a/JFPl0

So, what are some craft you guys have built that went much farther than you expected?

[cantab]

Good going. If you fly it well I can see that making orbit with a lot of delta-V to spare, the jet engines are super efficient.

This is a ship DasValdez made as a Mun lander for beginners: http://www.kerbalx.com/crafts/212

This is it one I landed on Eeloo: https://flic.kr/p/q3SvAQ . And I should be able to get it back to Kerbin.

This is a cheap little probe built with the mission of flying past the Mun, Eve, Moho, and "beyond": https://flic.kr/p/mYi7EP

The "beyond" turned out to be Eve again, Kerbin, Duna & Ike, Duna again, Dres, Duna twice more, Kerbin again, Jool, and Eeloo.

Yeah, I think I'm pretty good with gravity assists.

[Stratzenblitz75]

Well, Ziv, the host of the Jool-5 challenge, did this:

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10 tons from the launchpad. On a grand tour.

I am at a loss of words to describe how impressive this achievement is. I'll just let the images speak for themselves...

Also I have some things... but the're not as good...

[Tw1]

Well, there's my ladderlift craft, which theoretically can get anywhere except Eve....

But I haven't gone very far yet because of the long 'burn' times. But maybe I can take some planning ideas from Ziv's incredibly awesome mission.

[Pecan]

...what are some craft you guys have built that went much farther than you expected?

I use a deltaV map, which indicates what it takes to get everywhere. Coupled with a mod like KER/MJ/VOID (or a spreadsheet), which give you actual performance figures for builds, that means I'm not surprised at where my craft can go, or how much they can lift - they were designed for a particular purpose.

Edited December 16, 2014 by Pecan

[Slam_Jones]

- snip -

Damn impressive

[magnemoe]

Well, Ziv, the host of the Jool-5 challenge, did this:

http://imgur.com/a/Oevfg

10 tons from the launchpad. On a grand tour.

I am at a loss of words to describe how impressive this achievement is. I'll just let the images speak for themselves...

Also I have some things... but the're not as good...

Extremely impressed, I was proud of my 666 ton grand tour, yes it included Eve but you can build an 8-12 ton Eve lander and it should be possible to use your lander / tug to push it towards Eve, then brake and return to LKO.

[katateochi]

OP that's a v nice solution. The small stuff can really surprise you sometimes with what it can do! (oh and also, Welcome to the forums!!)

@Stratzenblitz75 That's very impressive! Fuel for thought as it where and I love the pre-launch stuff.

EDIT

Well, there's my ladderlift craft, which theoretically can get anywhere except Eve....

http://i.imgur.com/mJ2hMWa.png

But I haven't gone very far yet because of the long 'burn' times. But maybe I can take some planning ideas from Ziv's incredibly awesome mission.

errm! that's awesome, but can you explain it a bit?

Edited December 16, 2014 by katateochi

[undercoveryankee]

After I did a Mun/Minmus/Ike/Duna tour for a Reddit challenge, I discovered that I had enough fuel left to stop at Gilly on my way home.

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[Vanamonde]

This exchange of spacecraft ideas has been moved to Spacecraft Exchange.

[Tw1]

EDIT

errm! that's awesome, but can you explain it a bit?

It uses the tiny force of a kerbal pushing against something while on a ladder- sufficient to lift about 1/5 of a tone from kerbin. It has a chair to enable warp, so flight time is limited based on the amount of EVA fuel needed to move from chair to ladder. So, to tour the Jool moons, (And anywhere else if I get round to it,) I need a pod to rechage that. The pod has a small amount of RCS to help with rendezvous, as the ladderlander has to much TWR, and little precision.

But the plan is to EVA across to the low TWR ladder orbiter, and re-rendezvous with the lander to recover it.

A complex, and patience requiring process. I was hoping to automate long burns with some help with KOS, but that doesn't seem to have control of EVA'd kerbals.

Edited December 17, 2014 by Tw1