The Grand Tour!

Altaïr

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#1
Here is one of the most emblematic challenges of SFS: the Grand Tour!
It consists in landing on all bodies of SFS (stock game), except the Sun and Jupiter of course, and to get back home.

As this is a very ambitious challenge, I let everyone choose its difficulty settings: single launch, no refueling... This is your choice, you can also do it the easy way of course! The only constraint is that it must be the same vehicle that lands everywhere.

And to begin with, I will be my own challenger by accomplishing this myself :p

As I like INSAAANE challenges, here are my difficulty settings:
- Single launch
- No refuel allowed from external sources (only fuel tanks that were launched by the rocket are allowed)
- No ionic propulsion (Now THIS is a challenge!)
- Space clean: no debris left in space
- Realistic throttle: throttle can't go below 30%

Of course that was far from easy and required a lot of preparation, but that was really interesting!
As this is very long, I'll avoid to detail everything so that my story doesn't look like a wall of text.

So let's begin the Grand Tour!
01-lift off.jpg
I've named that ship the Trident. I guess you'll easily understand why.

The problems begin before I even reach LEO:
02-close to LEO.jpg
I have to separate the 2 branches of the trident to get rid off the fairings and reassemble the ship, but I can't left debris in orbit!
So, as soon as I pass Karman line, a race against the clock begins to do this before the ship falls back to Earth!
Finally:
03-reassembling.jpg
Now I can finish the satellization, and watch the debris raining on Earth:
04-debris rain.jpg

Now I'm a bit cooler to make more reassembling:
05-reassembling again.jpg
As the big fuel tank was empty, it was separated and it deorbited itself (it had a probe, a few RCS, and 1% of remaining fuel for that purpose).
That ship is compound of a propulsion unit, a lander for Venus (the coloured part), and the rest are refuelers that will be sent everywhere I need them.
The small lonely ship above is the refueler for Mars, unlike the others, it will go to its destination by its own means.

The transfer to Venus
06-transfer Venus.jpg
The big ship goes for Venus, and then the refuelers are separated. From now on, they will follow their own path:
07-module separation.jpg
That small ship will head to Jupiter, while the rest of the ship will aerobrake in Venus atmosphere.
There's also a tiny refueler that will make a fly-by of Venus on the opposite side, to slingshot towards Mercury.
08-fly-by.jpg 09-slingshots.jpg
That double encounter is really epic :cool:
If you ever wondered if a prograde or a retrograde fly-by could really make a difference, you get the answer :p
10-reaching LVO.jpg
The main ship starts to satellize while the refuelers head on their way. This is where our paths split!
Take care of you guys, we won't see you again before a very long trip!

To be continued...
 

Altaïr

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#2
Now I can put my lander on a reentry trajectory, while the rest of the ship (actually there's not much left now) satellizes:
11-Landing Venus.jpg
And I'm done with my first destination, one of the most difficult!

Now I can lift-off and dock with the ship left in orbit to refuel:
12-lift-off Venus.jpg 13-refuel LVO.jpg
I don't even need to refuel the ship at 100% capacity. With the last fuel drops in the main propulsion unit, that part will deorbit itself, and I can go to my next destination.

Mercury
14-To Mercury.jpg
I head on Mercury and start a series of gravitational slingshots to save fuel. You may also notice the refueler that follows a similar path, it's still not arrived.

During this time, the refuelers for Jupiter are on their way:
15-Earth assist.jpg 18-Second Earth assist.jpg

The refueler for Mars finally had its transfer window:
16-Mars transfer.jpg 17-Mars arrival.jpg
Ironically, that one will be the last I need, but it still arrived the first :)

Finally, the refueler for Mercury arrive, quickly followed by the ship itself:
19-Mercury arrival.jpg 20-Dock in LMO.jpg

To be continued...
 
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Altaïr

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#3
I pump out roughly half of the fuel left in the refueler, and now it's time to land on Mercury:
21-Mercury landing.jpg 22-Return form Mercury.jpg
Yeah, the zone I landed on was very dark...

Next destination is Jupiter, but the refuelers are still not in place there, so I'll show that part first. Actually, I handled the refuelers' insertion and the ship transfer at the same time, but that was a nightmare o_O
So for clarity I'll present those parts separately.

So the refuelers insert themselves in a highly elliptical orbit to perform a bi-elliptical transfer:
23-Refuelers captured by Jupiter.jpg 24-Refuelers on their way.jpg
At that point a tiny refueler separates from the rest; its destination is Callisto while the rest heads on Ganymede for a slingshot.
25-Slingshot with Ganymede.jpg
The ship is splitted again. One part will satellize around Ganymede on the next encounter, the other part will perform a second slingshot. Its destination is Io, the most inner moon:
26-Second slingshot.jpg 27-Close fly-by.jpg

After an additional slingshot with Io (and one with Callisto for the concerned refueler), everybody is finally in place:
28-Ganymede insertion.jpg 29-Io insertion.jpg 30-Callisto insertion.jpg

To be continued...
 
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Altaïr

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The road to Jupiter

Now it's time for my ship to head on Jupiter. Because I couldn't afford to spend a lot of fuel on that transfer, I had to work out a whole new trajectory to go from Mercury to Io without spending too much fuel. Very long way, little resources, no room for mistakes... Welcome to the death road! :eek:

It's compound of 7 slingshots in total, so I'll only show the most noticeable one, otherwise I would need a post just for this:
31-Leaving Mercury.jpg 32-Encounter with Venus.jpg 33-Encounter with Earth.jpg 34-Encounter with Jupiter.jpg

Now I'm in the Jovian system, I can follow a path similar to those of the refuelers.
One of the slingshot on Ganymede allowed me to say hello to the refueler waiting there:
35-Fly-by Ganymede.jpg
I'm just passing by, but don't worry I swear I'll come back very soon ;)

Finally, I manage to encounter the refueler on Io orbit:
36-Io insertion.jpg 37-docking.jpg

The Galilean trip

Now I'm ready to chain all the galilean moons! Let's begin with Io:
38-landing Io.jpg

Then I come back to orbit, empty the refueler (I just leave 1% of fuel so that it can deorbit itself), and next destination:
39-Transfer Europa.jpg 40-Landing Europa.jpg

To be continued...
 
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Altaïr

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#5
You've surely noticed there was no refueler around Europa. This is because this moon is very light, and with enough fuel, my ship can directly go to Ganymede. That's why the refueler on Io was bigger too.

41-Transfer Ganymede.jpg 42-Docking in LGO.jpg 43-Landing Ganymede.jpg

Now Ganymede is done, I empty the refueler again, and let's go to Callisto, the last destination of the galilean trip:
44-Refuel Callisto.jpg 45-Landing Callisto.jpg
Again, the refueler is emptied and crashed. This is the end of the galilean trip!

The Martian system

Now, the last important destination is Mars. I'll leave the Jovian system with a very efficient bi-elliptic transfer followed by an Oberth maneuver:
46-Leaving Callisto.jpg 47-bi-elliptic transfer.jpg 48-transfer to Mars.jpg 49-Reached LMO.jpg

And finally, I get a rendez-vous with the Mars refueler:
50-Refuel Mars.jpg
That one carries two sets of parachutes with him. This will come in handy.

To be continued...
 
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Altaïr

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With a parachute, the descent to Mars is very easy. I just had to make sure I avoided the Olympus Mons. If you already tried... You'll understand why ;)
51-Landing Mars.jpg

Then I come back to orbit, refill my ship for the last time of the mission, and take the second parachute (it starts smelling the return to Earth :p) before crashing the refueler. In case you wonder, the parachute I used on Mars was dropped during the ascent.

Phobos and Deimos are really a piece of cake after all those trials...
52-Transfer Phobos.jpg 53-Landing Phobos.jpg 54-Landing Deimos.jpg

Coming back home!

Finally it's time to get back to Earth... I'm impatient to have a cup of tea as a reward.

55-Oberth maneuver.jpg 56-transfer to Earth.jpg

Oh wait a second... I didn't land on the Moon! How ironic, that's the closest body, and still the only one I didn't visit...
57-Moon transfer.jpg 58-Moon landing.jpg

Nothing difficult to be honest. Now I can get back home!
59-Finally home!.jpg 60-The end.jpg
The achievements list is definitely too short! :p

That's over, I hope you liked it guys! :cool:
 
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#10
*claps*

Incredibly efficient, that must have taken a lot of DV planning. Awesome dude.

It really is more fun to do these kinda of things without ions isn't it? I think their thrust should be cut in half, at least. Or we just need 2 versions, a weak realistic version and a sci-fi ion with large energy requirements.
 

Altaïr

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*claps*

Incredibly efficient, that must have taken a lot of DV planning. Awesome dude.

It really is more fun to do these kinda of things without ions isn't it? I think their thrust should be cut in half, at least. Or we just need 2 versions, a weak realistic version and a sci-fi ion with large energy requirements.
Thanks :cool:

Yeah that was a lot of planning and optimizing. I always landed on a body with just enough fuel (plus a small margin) to be as light as possible, I compared several different trajectories...
Even assembling that ship was truly an engineering challenge, the refuelers had to be disposed evenly to make the launcher balanced, I reused the main stage for the propulsion, so that I didn't need a new set of engines...

But what really makes that mission possible is the use of small autonomous refuelers, instead of a massive mothership that carries all the fuel. That last concept is the most obvious but it's incredibly inefficient! That would make you bring to Mercury the fuel you will need on Jupiter! o_O

And yeah you're right about ion engines, they are so overpowered that it kills the fun. From what I know Stef wants to nerf their thrust, but only if he's able to make them work while time-warping.

I remember a few months ago when I told I would probably be unable to perform a full Galilean trip in one launch (without ions), I didn't realize how wrong I was :rolleyes:
 

Blazer Ayanami

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#12
You've surely noticed there was no refueler around Europa. This is because this moon is very light, and with enough fuel, my ship can directly go to Ganymede. That's why the refueler on Io was bigger too.

View attachment 14984 View attachment 14985 View attachment 14986

Now Ganymede is done, I empty the refueler again, and let's go to Callisto, the last destination of the galilean trip:
View attachment 14987 View attachment 14988
Again, the refueler is emptied and crashed. This is the end of the galilean trip!

The Martian system

Now, the last important destination is Mars. I'll leave the Jovian system with a very efficient bi-elliptic transfer followed by an Oberth maneuver:
View attachment 14989 View attachment 14990 View attachment 14991 View attachment 14992

And finally, I get a rendez-vous with the Mars refueler:
View attachment 14993
That one carries two sets of parachutes with him. This will come in handy.

To be continued...
Incredible!!!
 
#13
I also appreciate the no space debris rule :p. Career mode or no career mode it's a rule I always have in place. Things always need a means to deorbit themselves.
 

James Brown

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#15
It is what? Land on every planet or flyby every planet?
 

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#16

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#17
I thought it's not possible single-buildscreen...
 

Horus Lupercal

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#19
It just requires a level of planning and tolerances down to very small levels. There are a few other factors as well.
 

Altaïr

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#20
Ah yes, the good old Grand Tour...
Undoubtedly the most difficult challenge. Especially in 1.4 (since 1.35 didn't have Jupiter). That one took several weeks of preparation and optimization. Gravity assists are mandatory here, climbing from Mercury to Io with a half fuel tank only was a crazy challenge in itself.
 

James Brown

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#21
Whoah not everyone can do this!
 
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TtTOtW

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Some say, Venus is upside down in orbit because she lost her bearings over him, and that she follows him around desperate for a gravity assist every single time he mentions it... all we know is...
 

James Brown

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#25
Can't imagine…… the mission can be successfully done……