Rigel
Swingin' on a Star
Copycat
Biker Mice from Mars
ET phone home
Voyager Quest
Floater
Registered
Read about this challenge, you know, a trip to all Jovian moons and back with just 2 launches, limited to 300T each. Many people said that it's doable using ion engines. Thing is, I wanted to prove it. Or, more precisely, I wanted to see what could be achieved with ion engines and a 300+300 Tons limit.
To be fair, ion engines should have some kind of electric generator that, at the moment, the game lacks. So, in order to compensate it, I designed my spaceship to be as realistic as possible. So here it is:
As you can see, my propulsion system consists of 11 ion engines, and I've included a nuclear reactor, a radiation shield and a truss with radiators. Those components add 26,5T to my ship, for only 16,5T of thrust. Then I included some fuel tanks, a hab module, a command module (with I'll use for the reentry on earth) and a lander. I used some clipping to make the ship cooler, but no BP editing and no cheats at all.
Ok, I had to launch the ship first, with the fuel tanks almost empty to fit the 300T limit. Once in orbit, I transfer whatever fuel is left in the launcher into the ship:
Then, the lander and the fuel. When it docks the ship, I fill it's tanks and detach the third stage of my secod rocket:
I hadn't fuel enough to fill all my tanks, but I almost did it. Now it's time for a long burn to get me to Jupiter:
In jupiter, I used some gravity assists with its moons, combined with some burns, until I find myself in an eliptical Jupiter's orbit with my periapse is just inside Io's orbit. Then, during an encounter with Io, I brake enough to be caught in a Io's orbit. In doing so, my two expendable fuel tanks are dry, so I jettison them. Then it's time for the lander to detach, and land on Io:
Now, the lander goes back to orbit and rendevouz again with my mothership. Then we raise our orbit for an encounter with Europa:
Same for Ganymede:
(continues)
To be fair, ion engines should have some kind of electric generator that, at the moment, the game lacks. So, in order to compensate it, I designed my spaceship to be as realistic as possible. So here it is:
As you can see, my propulsion system consists of 11 ion engines, and I've included a nuclear reactor, a radiation shield and a truss with radiators. Those components add 26,5T to my ship, for only 16,5T of thrust. Then I included some fuel tanks, a hab module, a command module (with I'll use for the reentry on earth) and a lander. I used some clipping to make the ship cooler, but no BP editing and no cheats at all.
Ok, I had to launch the ship first, with the fuel tanks almost empty to fit the 300T limit. Once in orbit, I transfer whatever fuel is left in the launcher into the ship:
Then, the lander and the fuel. When it docks the ship, I fill it's tanks and detach the third stage of my secod rocket:
I hadn't fuel enough to fill all my tanks, but I almost did it. Now it's time for a long burn to get me to Jupiter:
In jupiter, I used some gravity assists with its moons, combined with some burns, until I find myself in an eliptical Jupiter's orbit with my periapse is just inside Io's orbit. Then, during an encounter with Io, I brake enough to be caught in a Io's orbit. In doing so, my two expendable fuel tanks are dry, so I jettison them. Then it's time for the lander to detach, and land on Io:
Now, the lander goes back to orbit and rendevouz again with my mothership. Then we raise our orbit for an encounter with Europa:
Same for Ganymede:
(continues)
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