ARGUS - a somewhat realistic career diary

[garwel]

Foreword

I couldn't wait for 1.3 and started a new game where I plan to reach and, hopefully, colonize the entire system. I'm playing a heavily modded (CKAN lists 113 mods) game on very hard difficulty: i.e. hard settings with some additional challenges. I use KCT, CommNet (and RT 2.0 for signal delay when it's out), life support, etc. I never quicksave or revert flights (except maybe if there was a kraken), so it's nearly as realistic as it gets without becoming too tedious.

This is not one of the artsy and beautifully written fanfics with a rich story and carefully scripted drama. I enjoy reading those, but I'm too lazy (or let's call it busy) to make one myself. This is going to be just a sort of a glorified what-did-you-do-in-KSP-today thread, which may or may not coincidentally be an interesting reading. I may get bored of it at any moment, decide to start a new game again or anything.

Anyway, without further ado...

First Things

ARGUS opened its doors on day 1 of what they called "the first year of space era". At the press conference, they revealed that the full name of the company was Argus Flying Things Corp.^*  Gene Kerman explained that this pretty simplistic name (and also slogan) was a necessity because words like "rocketry" or "spaceship" were yet to be invented. The new company's mission was to become the biggest and most successful space program on Kerbin. This was a great challenge, but the creativity of Argus' engineers and courageousness of its astronauts gave grounds for optimism as well as the fact that there were no other space programs on Kerbin.

The first missions were very usual and even boring, with occasional fun moments when the rockets went bang. On day 117, Argus managed to launch the first satellite into low Kerbin orbit.

A relay satellite was successfully launched some 80 days later. Then an argument arose between Wernher von Kerman and Jebediah Kerman about the nature of the next mission. Wenher wanted a fly-by of the Mun while Jebediah was eager to fly to space himself. After a heated discussion, several broken plates and an intervention of Gene Kerman, it was agreed to do both historical missions simultaneously.

Still, the Mun mission was to be launched earlier. First, all the necessary technologies were already in place for it while the engineers were still developing a manned (or kerballed?) pod for Jeb. Second, it would take several weeks to build each craft and the prepare for launch.

Mun Visitor, officially designated P004, launched without problems and entered the parking orbit while Argo (the manned ship) was still under construction. The Argo's launch was further delayed a day because the engineers had to fix an issue with its on-board computer systems. While they were working, Mun Visitor left the orbit and went toward the Mun.

Finally, on day 232 of year 1, Mun Visitor reached the Mun, provided valuable scientific data and crashed into its surface.

At the very same time, Jebediah climbed into the small command pod of Argo, waved his fellow kerbals goodbye and made a speech, apparently, about importance of space exploration or something (Jeb forgot to switch on the microphone and nobody heard what he said, but no one dared to ask).

The Argo took off, but the launch was marred with issues. First, the antenna was torn off by the incoming wind. Then the rocket failed to make the correct gravitational turn because its only "Reliant" engine lacked a gimbal and command pod's controls were not strong enough to steer the craft. But Jeb's prowess and coolness allowed him to turn the rocket in the opposite, western instead of eastern, direction, drop the first stage and reach space. The mission control room burst in applause when Jeb reported, over the auxiliary radio transmitter, "Periapsis seven-two kilometers, orbit established, cutting engine".

After one orbit, Jebediah was instructed to burn retrograde and lower periapsis to 55 km. The Argo reentered atmosphere and began burning. Something was apparently off because, even after expending all the fuel on the second stage the heat was excessive. Ship's external systems burned one after another: thermometer, the rump antenna, and the solar panel. Fortunately, the parachute and the capsule itself were much more heat-resistant and survived the reentry without a problem.

The Argo's command pod opened its chute and slowly descended into the sea near the KSC. Jeb would later brag about his skillful navigation that put the ship "next door" to his living quarters, but the truth is, it was a pure coincidence.

Thus ended the day 232 of year 1 of the Space Age. New discoveries await!

* The rocket image was created by Freepik

Edited April 14, 2017 by garwel

[garwel]

Crescent Disaster

Gene and Wernher sat at the biggest table in the KSC Administration Building, which happened to be in the cafeteria. Opposite them sat members of the Kerbal Investigation Commision on Undesired Deaths of Astronauts (KICUDA).

"This was just the second manned flight and you already lost an astonaut", said the Commission head. "Tell us what happened to the Crescent mission. What was the plan?"

"The goal was to have a kerbal fly by the Mun and return home. The death of Valentina was unplanned", admitted Gene. He looked upset.

Kerbals generally take death lightly. They believe that the entire universe is just a computer game and even if you die, you will resurrect again in another playthrough. But losing an astronaut and a friend was still an unpleasant, perhaps even tragic event.

"Ok, let's start from the beginning. How did the launch go?" asked one kerbal at the table.

"The launch was nominal... Almost", Gene replied. He continued, "There were some issues with the first stage control and we could not recover the second stage as planned. It was traveling too fast and burned in the atmosphere."

"We shouldn't have used these SRBs", interrupted Wernher. His voice was angry. "They are uncontrollable. I said it from the beginning, but I was told they were cheaper!"

Gene ignored this comment and continued calmly.

"The orbital ejection burn was a little late. Val couldn't take her eyes off Kerbin. We still reached Mun's SOI, but..."

He abruptly stopped and looked at the cafeteria's fridge, full of snacks. Gene wanted one. Badly.

"What was the problem?" asked the KICUDA head.

"Um, yes. Sorry. The first problem was that Crescent arrived ahead of the Mun. We need to eject from Mun's sphere in its retrograde direction for the optimal return trajectory."

"But couldn't you correct it?"

"We tried. But it required a lot of fuel. And then, we made a navigational mistake." Gene stared at his fingers and tried not to think about snacks.

"A mistake?"

"Yes. When correcting the trajectory, the ship ended up outside Mun's SOI, but again on the wrong side of it. Her orbit was higher than the Mun's, not lower. Val then had to burn even more fuel to lower the periapsis to Kerbin's atmosphere."

"What happened in the reentry?"

"The velocity was too high and fuel level too low. Val burned all the fuel to slow the ship down, but was still traveling too fast."

"Have you run tests?"

"Yes, but only a launch simulation," replied Wernher. "We didn't run reentry sims at such high velocities. It was also considered too expensive."

"So, did the ship burn up?"

Gene responded after a pause.

"It went into the atmosphere three times. In the first reentry it spent all the fuel and lost the last stage. Without propulsion, there was almost nothing Val could do. In the second contact, we lost the thermometer and the main antenna. In the third entry we lost the ship."

"Why only the third time?" kept asking the commissioner.

"At every reentry the craft lost some speed and some ablative shielding of the command pod. Unfortunately, ablating was happening quicker than decelerating," answered Wernher.

"That's it", Gene shrugged.

After a pause, a commissioner asked:

"So, we'll never be able to come back from the Mun?"

"Of course, we will!" shot back Wernher, sounding angry. "Progress cannot stop!"

"We need a better ground navigational system," said Gene. "We started upgrading it even before that flight. There will be no manned missions to the Mun until it's finished."

"And we'll do testing. More testing!" added Wernher.

Gene nodded and added impatiently: "Can I have a snack now?"

At this moment, all the kerbals at the table jumped up and rushed for the refrigerator.

Edited April 18, 2017 by garwel