A concept for a near-future crewed mission to the Jupiter System and back, using advanced plasma propulsion and Starship, simulated in Kerbal Space Program. The mission is based on the HOPE study by NASA (resources linked below).
Timestamps:
0:00 Cargo Vehicle Construction
4:02 Flight to Callisto
5:55 Payload Deployment
7:33 PCTV Construction
9:28 Crew Launch
11:13 Crewed Flight to Callisto
13:04 Surface Operations
14:58 PCTV and Cargo Vehicle docking
16:05 Return to Earth
19:40 Earth Landing
Running KSP 1.8.1 with Realism Overhaul + RSS
NOTABLE MODS:
- Tundra Exploration (Starship, plumes to be released soon)
- Planetside Exploration Vehicle (Rover, mod is still pre-release!)
- Waterfall (Mesh-based engine effects)
- Near Future Construction (structural parts)
- Near Future Propulsion (VASIMR® Engine)
- Near Future Electrical (Nuclear Reactor)
- Interstellar Extended (Hydrogen Fuel tanks and radiators)
- SSTU (Orion capsule used in the lander)
- Stockalike Station Parts Expansion Redux (Habitation modules)
- RSSVE (visuals)
- TUFX (post processing, profiles by Zorg)
- PersistentThrust + SolarSailNavigator (necessary for low thrust engines)
- Katniss's Cape Canaveral (LC-39A/B and surrounding area)
NOTE: I adjusted a lot of parts in these mods to work the way I needed them to in RO, so don't expect all parts to behave the way you see in this video (especially Waterfall configs, don't ask why your plumes don't look like in this video).
Additional material and links:
Overview of the HOPE study: https://ntrs.nasa.gov/citations/20030063128
HOPE Paper with a bigger focus on propulsion technologies: https://ntrs.nasa.gov/citations/20030062121
HOPE Mission with MPD thrusters: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/24289559_High_Power_MPD_Nuclear_Electric_Propulsion_NEP_for_Artificial_Gravity_HOPE_Missions_to_Callisto
Progress in the development of the VASIMR® Engine: http://www.adastrarocket.com/Ben-JPP-2014.pdf
Beautiful animation of the HOPE mission by @fragomatik : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6MfNp-HRrzQ
VASIMR® is a registered trademark of Ad Astra Rocket Company
http://www.adastrarocket.com/aarc/history
The following music is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/):
Torley Wong - LUCID COMPLIANCE (https://music.torley.com/album/dream-journal-2)
Torley Wong - Post-Apocalyptic Tourist (https://music.torley.com/album/watermelon-visions)
Torley Wong - San Juniperan (https://music.torley.com/album/watermelon-visions)
The following music is licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/):
Torley Wong - Under The Affluence (https://archive.org/details/Torley_Wong_-_The_Final_Selection/Torley_Wong-Under_The_Affluence.mp3)