Jovian Tour

[vonneuman]

So I have decided to chronicle my mission to the Jupiter system. I am using the trusty Arrow with a DGIV docked to it. Once the arrow is in orbit of Jupiter it will act as a base for the DGIV.The DGIV will conduct four missions. It will land and set up a base on the four Galilean moons: Io, Europa, Ganymede, and Callisto. Then return home.
Here are some screen shots of the mission so far:
After arrival to Jupiter.

Loading cargo into the cargo bay of the DGIV.

Launching the DGIV on it's mission to Io.

Touchdown on Io

Home sweet Io.

One small step for UMMU kind.

Thanks for reading. More to follow.

 

[IronRain]

looks nice! I will definitely follow this thread :thumbup:

 

[dgatsoulis]

Nice job vonneuman.:thumbup:

I did almost exactly the same thing when i first got my hands on the Arrow. But i used an XR2 as lander.
If you haven't got these already, have a look at BigJimW's [ame="http://www.orbithangar.com/searchid.php?ID=1928"]Voyager to Jupiter / Jupiter moons enhancement pac[/ame] and mcwgog's [ame="http://www.orbithangar.com/searchid.php?ID=3107"]Level 8 Io texture with night lights[/ame].

In my run, i visited all four moons but established bases only on Europa, Ganymede and Callisto, due to the radiation.
On Europa i had a giand "igloo" made first and then created the base inside it. (A temporary outpost for experiments. It was powered by solar panels just outside the "ice" covering the base). Ganymede's base was a temporary one too. But i landed everything i had left on Callisto and then sent every probe at my disposal to every moon and around Jupiter itself.
It was a great Orbiter "session" and kept me for about a month, untill i was satisfied with the result and decided to head home. (with fuel manufactured by the base on Europa).

 

[vonneuman]

Thank you for your comments. The Arrow will be returning to earth with the DGIV. Those addons look realty cool I should defiantly check those out.

Here are two more pics:
The Arrow during a prograde burn to boost it's orbit

From left to right the bright stars are Io and Ganymede.

Here is a ummu using a turbo pack to get a good picture of Jupiter:

 

[vonneuman]

While the DGIV was on Io the Arrow raised its orbit and launched a probe to orbit Jupiter

The ummus explored the surface of Io. The low gravity of Io makes for some fun turbo packing. Although with no atmosphere to speak of you can't just ditch the pack and parachute to the ground.

After a short stay on Io the crew of the DGIV left their base to return to the Arrow.

The return trip was difficult because of the way that gravity works in the Jovian system. You have Jupiter and all those moons gravity messing with your orbit. Makes for a hard rendezvous. But eventually the DGIV made it back to the arrow with one tank of O2 almost gone, 12% left, and with very little fuel left in the tanks.

Next stop: Europa....