UnusualAttitude

I arrived at a place that could really do with some more love. Not surprising, seeing that it's quite hard to get to, even by RSS standards. A small gravity well to aim for, no atmosphere to capture in, and once you're there it lacks the awe-inspiring views of the Solar System's giant planets. Luckily our probe, Fontanes Two, packs some serious delta-vee thanks to her nuclear electric propulsion. Ladies and gents, I give you Ceres. Or at least Pozine's version of it. I know, it's a bit hard to get excited by a small rocky world orbiting in one of the more unfashionable districts of the asteroid belt. Particularly when its main distinctive feature consists of some mysterious white spots (faculae) that eventually turned out to probably be salt containing hydrated magnesium sulfate. The most striking example of these white spots can be found within a crater called Occator, which can be seen on the night side in the picture above, near the limb of Ceres. Unfortunately, it was winter in the northern hemisphere during my stay (RSS exaggerates the axial tilt of most bodies) and I failed to get a single good view of the crater in daylight. Fortunately, Ceres boasts many other interesting... uhm... craters. Such as Kerwan, the largest on this dwarf planet. It is an impact basin 280 km across, and is probably one of the older features. Also visible in this shot, Dantu, with additional faculae around its rim. Yalode is the second largest impact basin, separated from Urvara by a series of Catenae (crater chains). Despite its cratered initial appearance, Ceres does in fact present a deficit in larger impact features, which suggests that some sort of active geological process has reshaped the surface of the body since the end of the major bombardment episodes. Note that Ceres is suspected to have an icy mantle, and that hydrothermal activity in the past may have contributed to erasing traces of impact, with the eruption of volatiles flowing across the surface. The mountain, Ahuna Mons, constitutes possible evidence of more recent cryovolcanic activity. It is situated in the top right corner of the image above but was not visible from the altitude of observation. Lots of info and (better) pictures on NASA's Dawn mission site. The Mission Director, Marc Rayman, is a particularly interesting character, and his blog is well worth reading.

YEAR 12, DAY 199. BARTDON. So, it looks like we'll be going home after all. Although I sure as hell have absolutely no idea what home will be like when we get there. That's assuming we arrive in one piece, and I for one wouldn't like to bet on our chances of enjoying long drinks on the beach at Omelek any time soon. Naturally, I had Karanda and Mitzon make a complete inspection of our remaining hardware, and they didn't find any further signs of foul play or instruments of sabotage hidden on board either Laroque, Cadrieu or Quissac. Then again, the obviously intentional explosion in the lander's oxygen tank and the meltdown of Laroque's reactor had occurred without us having any idea that such well-dissimulated failure modes were even possible. I therefore live in fear of the Board having further tricks concealed up its vast, shady sleeve, and I will continue to do so until I have both of my two feet planted firmly back on Terra Firma. And even if I do live to play another round on the links of Tanegashima, what then? The Board has made it both officially and surreptitiously known that they don't want me around any more. Will we be safe, even if we do make it back home? Damn them all to hell and back! The worst thing is that I'm starting to think that they're right. I've made one poor decision after another, and I haven't even proven my self capable of keeping my own crew out of danger. How am I supposed to expect anyone to follow my leadership if I can't bring the team home safely? My thoughts drift back to those three dreadful days that followed the explosion on Phobos. The capsule had been tossed clean off the ground and somersaulted twice in the moon's low gravity. It came to rest on the surface with a sickening crunch. None of us had been strapped in, of course, and Munvey had dislocated his left shoulder when he fell against the hull. Mitzon and I got off lightly with just a few bad bruises each. But our very first inspection of the damage told us that Cadrieu had reached her final resting place, and when I finally managed to raise Laroque we learned that it would probably be ours too, unless we could come up with something wonderful. I remember wrenching Munvey's arm back into position as Mitzon busied himself with reconnecting the drilling rig and solar panels. “Don't worry, lad,” I said with false cheer to our pilot as he gritted his teeth against the searing pain. “We'll come up with something. We still have power, so there is hope.” But as we slumped on the sloped wall of the capsule that had now become our new floor, and rested from our ordeal, I began to look for practical solutions and yet I could see none. Whether our solar panels continued to provide enough power or not was irrelevant. We couldn't eat electricity. We were three fragile living creatures, trapped in a small tin can of air on a dusty rock hundreds of millions of miles from the nearest source of sustenance. Three bags of green meat shot into space in order to prove that such a folly was possible. But our tin can had failed us, and we would starve, if madness did not take us before the end. And there, lying in the darkness and cold that was all our life support system's backup mode could provide, I felt despair. I, Principal Investigator Bartdon of Omelek Space Centre, conqueror of Mars and the first Kerbal in history to set foot on another planet, swore that if I was lucky enough to make it back to my home world alive I would be eternally grateful, and never be foolish enough to leave it again. As we lay there waiting for nothing, I was intimately convinced that we had no place beyond Earth. Anything more adventurous than cowering beneath the comforting blanket of our life-giving atmosphere was nothing short of insanity. We would never make it to the blasted stars. The dream was over, old boy. It had all been just a selfish publicity stunt leading to this inevitable disaster. And so we began ticking off the days until our demise. But on the third day we got a message from Karanda in Laroque. With no other choice, she had re-established communications with Earth and, against all odds, someone in Froemone's team had come up with a plan. The idea sounded pretty far-fetched to me, and although our Senior Engineer took credit for it, I could tell that it wasn't his own. Too outlandish. You need imagination to come up with something like that. But it didn't matter. The point was that we had something to peel ourselves off the capsule wall and work for. Somewhere, someone had granted hope to my crew. And that Kerbal wasn't me. I had been lying there shivering with the others, and I was a mere spectator of our possible salvation. Get up, Bartdon. Help Mitzon make enough fuel to get everyone home. Stay strong, work hard, and try not to die of hunger before rescue arrives. And arrive it did, just over thirty days after disaster had struck. Quissac drifted down from the dark heavens, an improbable silhouette against the pale glow of the Red Planet. The vessel that, by rights, should simply not have been there. But there she was indeed, and as she settled cautiously onto the small plateau where we had been shipwrecked and we made our way over to the more spacious accommodation of the shuttle, all I could say was, “Hullo gals. About time, too. I hope you brought some snacks with you.” With hindsight, I can only assume that it came as something of a shock to Karanda and Lisabeth to see their fearless leader as a gaunt, half-starved wreck of his former self. There was no time for our crewmates to feel sorry for us, however, as the race to be ready for our transfer window home had only just begun. Our first task was to recover Desfal, our brave Assistant Investigator, who had been volunteered to stay behind on Laroque and crew the remote command station. He was still there, sitting on top of a damaged nuclear reactor with only a few cubic metres of water and a big tank of natural gas as a shield. If we were to salvage our crew accommodation for the trip home, we would have to get down there and start hauling Laroque back up Mars' gravity well. Quissac's internal fuel supply would be nowhere near sufficient for her to act as a tug for an interplanetary transfer, so we would also need to recover one of the large fuel tanks that had been abandoned in LMO. We would park it in orbit above Phobos and use Quissac to ferry the fuel we produced on the surface up to fill it. This would take four or five trips if we wanted to leave the moon with a full load of propellant. Karanda had reclaimed a set of radiators from our Martian ISRU rig. This would improve the efficiency of Cadrieu's experimental equipment somewhat, but extracting the seventy tonnes of fuel we required to make it home in the three months that remained before our window would be a challenge. There was no time to lose. I left on Quissac with Karanda and Munvey as soon as we had transferred the fuel we had produced while waiting for them to arrive. I didn't like abandoning Mitzon and Lisabeth on that blasted moon, but I couldn't bear the thought of spending another hour there when I could be actually getting something done. Quissac kicked out onto a suborbital trajectory and aerobraked into LMO for the most dangerous part of this complex mission: recovering Laroque. We spent many orbits coordinating our approach with instructions from Desfal, in order to rendez-vous and dock with our crippled transfer ship whilst remaining in the shadow of the radiation blazing from her stern. Quissac then nosed up to Laroque and docked. Desfal, who was giddy with relief from seeing an end to his solitary confinement, joined us in the shuttle, and then came the moment of truth: detaching the big ship's crew quarters, and backing slowly away from the drifting radioactive debris, ever so slowly. If the manoeuvre unsettled the drive unit and it began to tumble, then we would get the dose of our lives. Despite all that he had been through, Munvey's hand was as steady as ever, and he pulled it off cleanly. Soon we were drifting several kilometres away, free to turn and rendez-vous with the vital transfer stage. With all this extra dead-weight in tow, we would lack the fuel to make it back to Skyresh crater. We used Quissac's engines once more to boost this whole menagerie into a 700x700 orbit where we parked Laroque, planning to return and fetch her once our fuel tanks were full. Then it was back to Phobos, towing our oversized fuel bowyer behind us. Leaving anything in Phobian orbit is a bit of a gamble. Your blasted gear has a tendency to wander off on its own business when you're not looking and end up on the other side of Mars. But it was a risk we would have to take and besides, we would be making regular trips back up to meet it and transfer the fuel we would be extracting on the surface. Two more tedious months had passed, as we toiled to coax the most out of our drilling rig, and shuttled to fruits of our labour back up to orbit. Somehow, we endured, and eventually the transfer stage was topped off. It was time to go home. Boosting Laroque back up out of Martian orbit was a tricky process, as our ship was now a laughable combination of crew habs, a shuttle being used as a tug, and a large drop tank with a useless engine still attached to its tail. Dragging so much useless equipment, Quissac's small engines were lacking in thrust for this sort of work. It took us two long twenty-minute burns to get up to escape velocity and escape from the Red Planet for good. As the luck of orbital mechanics would have it, we swept past Phobos one more time on our way out. Gazing through the thick glass of Laroque's bridge, I could see the prominent features on the surface, even from several thousand kilometres away. Stickney, Skyresh, Filmnap... all these craters that had been our prison for the past long months. And, in the end, almost a death trap. “How much bang do we have left in this damned ship?” I asked Karanda, once the empty transfer stage had been dumped, and we were drifting out into interplanetary space. “One-point-three klicks per second, PI.” Dammit! Capture at Earth would be a close thing. Once more, our chances of success were not the sort I would like to bet on. And once more, we would be dependent on assistance from our home world if we were to ever see the blue skies of Earth again. The eight-month trip home would not exactly be a serene one. “You might want to see this, PI.” My thoughts were interrupted by Desfal, who had just received a transmission from Omelek. Displayed on the screen in front of him, the first images from all three Fontanes probes. Data and pictures that had winged their way across billions of kilometres back to Earth, before being passed on to us. Vistas that were so alien and exotic that Mars and Phobos seemed like just next door in comparison. Our robotic envoys to the outer solar system had arrived. We still had a deadline, and it would be our duty to go after them.

And just imagine how many pairs of boots you could put on Mars for the cost of the F-35 program. Looking at military budgets really puts things into perspective...

Fontanes One just hours from threading the needle between the Bringer of Old Age and the D Ring. We have nuclear electric dual-stage 4-grid ion propulsion, 36 km/s of dV, and many moons to explore. This is going to be awesome.

Wow, nice of you to say so. Thank you. Like the excellent mission storytellers you speak of, I attempt to make your loss of sleep interesting and meaningful.

Ike, sub-Duna side. Nice views.

Well, they weren't there when she made her complete inspection of the BL-4 before taking off (I assume a pro like Val wouldn't have missed something like that). So the damage must have occurred in flight. Were the rebels taking pot-shots at her ship? Or is it something more sinister? The damage caused by the attack on the HNSC was repaired, right? Is there any reason why they shouldn't get him home using conventional means (rocket or spaceplane)?

Yes! Wanderfound is back. In stock aero?! Ess-ess-tee-anywhere, bro!!! Where next?

Certainly. Both these solutions are more viable, and now I am wiser I would certainly choose one of these if the goal was to just get more fuel to LEO for traditional rockets. Soon, however, we will be aiming for the outer planets. Water fuelled solid core NTRs and chemical methalox just won't cut it. Hohmann transfers won't do at all. I may need some advice as to what is the most plausible near(ish)-future solution for such missions. Stick around, guys. Well, I did drop some hints a while ago. Right???? "Mitzon wants to examine Espedaillac and see if any of the components of her propulsion system could be salvaged if something on our own shuttle fails. It turns out that she is in perfect condition and would only require refueling in order to be able to take off again."

That gives me an idea. Working on something along the lines of a membership card or seal of the "Camwise Unorthodox Engineering Society." Gimme a couple of days. Now that is dredging up the past. This is one of the many things I intended to include in one of the logs at some point, but just didn't get round to finding a way to write about it in any shape or form that would be remotely entertaining for the reader. Now you mention it, it's a shame, because it is one of those classic cases of KSP RO/RSS teaching me some of the harsh realities of real space flight, as well as some good basic science. And it was a real slap in the face in terms of gameplay. My in-game experience was as follows: in a previous stock-sized game, I had captured a Class-E asteroid and relocated it to Low Kerbin Orbit to serve as huge fuel depot packing more than two thousand tonnes of "ore" that could be converted directly into fuel and oxidiser. In a single stroke, my fuel requirements were drastically diminished and I could cut down on the size of my launchers dramatically. Anything I sent beyond LKO could be refuelled for free, just above the atmosphere. Launching stuff to Low Earth Orbit is much harder in RSS, so naturally I attempted to repeat this trick when I started playing in the real world. With a big rock circling just above the Earth, I thought, my problems would be solved and I would have boots on Neptune in time for a late supper. Well, as Camwise would say, not quite. I built a probe mining rig with a claw, drills and a liquid hydrogen powered NTR and launched it at the first Class-E that came our way. I did some research. A typical C-type carbonaceous Near-Earth asteroid should consist of (we're being optimistic here) about 20% water ice and/or hydrates. That is still 600 tonnes of precious fuel if it's a big one, right? Nope. You see, if you extract the H2 from H2O, you're left with only a fraction of the original reaction mass. The hydrogen (the "lightest" element) in water makes up just over 11% of its molecular mass. Your 3,000 tonne rock contains barely 60 tonnes of useable fuel for your hydrogen NTR. That certainly won't be enough to relocate a Class-E to Low Earth orbit. Even if you mine it in-situ and bring it back to LEO as liquid H2 in a tank, you're still going to have to cope with shedding more than 3 km/s of delta-vee to get your hydrogen into a low circular orbit from escape velocity. Any future asteroid mining operation is going to have to come up with some pretty novel solutions in terms of aerobraking to get rid of that excess velocity and get any useful mass from NEO objects to LEO. TLDR: mining asteroids for propellant will be hard. This, with the additional difficulty of boiloff (liquid hydrogen fuel leaking out of your tanks into space) killed any of my ambitions as an RSS asteroid miner. I chose a name for this whole fiasco: the FFF or Froemone Fuel Fallacy. A typical case of one of the characters taking the blame for the author's ignorance. Now, however, we have active cooling systems that reduce boiloff, and Froemone is on the verge of developing propulsion systems with much higher ISP. We will see how this affects asteroid mining plans in the coming episodes.

Exactly. It's an awesome feeling, and that's precisely what motivated me to accomplish a 10,000 km rover trip across the surface of Mars. Candor Chasma. The caldera of Pavonis Mons.

Consider me biased, but I couldn't recommend RSS/RO more. Beyond all considerations of difficulty (and I understand that you have been playing 64k for a while, so the gap won't be too hard to cross), there is the inestimable wonder of exploring a system that actually exists out there, even if it is a rough approximation. For those of us who play with their imagination but are also inspired by reality, it is a source of endless fascination.

After disaster struck and stranded half of the crew on Phobos, and the other half in Low Martian Orbit, Camwise came up with a brilliant plan to save the day. By returning the crew shuttle Quissac to the surface, and using the abandoned rover shuttle as a booster to get Quissac up to Phobos, everyone will get to go home. About to begin refuelling ops on the surface: Believe it or not, it flies! Staging... Quissac is free to continue to LMO with fuel to spare... ...and make it to Phobos to relieve Bartdon and his team, a place she was never designed to visit. As always, full story here...

Sorry SFC, but I don't like leaving those cliffhangers hanging too long, or it defeats their purpose... However, you can count on someone in this story getting into trouble again, before long.

So there you have it. Cam's stupid plan seems to have worked. Now all they have to do is produce about eighty tonnes of hydrolox fuel from that tiny rig on Phobos, fetch Desfal and Laroque's habitation modules from LMO (leaving the damaged radiation-spewing reactor behind, of course), and they can go home. Good job they still have nearly four months to go before the transfer window back to Earth. Congratulations to @NotAgain (who was quickest on the draw) and @OrbitalBuzzsaw (who was a close second) for their awesome powers of deduction. Your Bartdon Old Boy Network badges are in the post. Hail! And thanks to everyone who took time to participate. You guys rock. Most of you guessed that re-using Espedaillac was the key to the whole operation, but I suppose that the trick of taking Quissac back down to the surface and using Espedaillac as an expendable booster to get her to orbit with more fuel than when she started was counter-intuitive. Now if you will excuse me, Bartdon needs to be fed, and y'all know he gets cranky when he's hungry...

YEAR 12, DAY 74. MARS MISSION RESCUE OPERATIONS BRIEFING. This execution of this plan will require exceptional skill and commitment on behalf of the six kerbonauts stranded on Phobos and in Low Martian Orbit. There are many unknowns, and any mistake could jeopardise the whole process and lead to the loss of the entire crew. It will take endurance and devotion, as it involves lengthy refuelling procedures. Indeed, we cannot be sure at the present time that the required amount of propellant can be produced in a short enough timeframe. And the crew of Quissac will need to trust that the unorthodox and untested procedure used to boost her up to Phobos will work as intended. Most of all, it will require nerves of steel and sheer guts to pull off. But the six kerbonauts sent to Mars represent the absolute best Kerbalkind has to offer. And we must trust in their ability to accomplish this, just as they will have to put their faith in the feasibility of this plan. The first step must be carried out immediately. The rovers that were left on the surface, on Lunae Planum, must be driven 80 kilometres to the South where the second shuttle Espedaillac came down. They can be controlled from Laroque's remote command station. Since the crew ship's reactor appears to be stable, for now, we advise that AI Desfal should remain on board Laroque in order to be able to relocate the Arcambal crew rover, should Quissac come down off course. If he doesn't, the shuttle's crew will be permanently stranded unless they land within walking distance of the rovers. Of course, it is up to the crew and Desfal himself to make this call. Once the rovers are in position, CE Karanda and STP Lisabeth should EVA over to Quissac, taking great care to stay close to the ship's hull in order to remain shielded from the high radiation levels emitted by the damaged reactor. They will then undock from the mothership and back off along her centreline, putting distance between the two ships as quickly as possible. Quissac will make her de-orbit burn on the night side of Mars and will land on Lunae Planum just after dawn. There will be no fuel margins. STP Lisabeth will have to fly most of the way down using just airfoils for attitude control, and fire the shuttle's engines just seconds before impacting the surface in order to avoid running out of propellant during final approach. The next re-entry window does not line up with the landing site correctly and will require high-alpha manoeuvring once dynamic pressure is sufficient in order to bring Quissac's trajectory into line with Espedaillac's position. These manoeuvres will occur over Hebes Chasma. Lisabeth, I'm not going to start giving you lessons on how to fly that thing, but we all know that on Mars, it is the last few thousand metres to the surface that can kill you. Save your fuel. You'll need every last drop of it to make it down. Wait until you can see the ground through the bay doors. Wait until you can see the rocks on the surface. Then wait some more. And then pull up and slam that throttle to the firewall. You can do it. And if my cousin starts screaming, just tell her to shut up and hold on tight, from me, OK? It is unlikely that Quissac will land perfectly on target, so CE Karanda and STP Lisabeth will have to manoeuvre her over to Espedaillac on her own wheels without any propulsion. This will be accomplished by using Arcambal to push the shuttle to the top of each rise in the terrain. She will be able to coast downhill. We've run some tests and this doesn't appear to cause any critical damage to either vehicle, if carried out carefully. This repositioning of Quissac must be accomplished swiftly and, ideally, the solar farm and drilling rigs should be up and running before sunset. But first, CE Karanda must make a complete inspection of Espedaillac and make sure that the second shuttle's propulsion and fuel systems are still salvageable after many more weeks unattended on the surface. To streamline the refuelling process, and to allow the active cooling system fitted to Quissac to keep the propellant in a liquid state, the two shuttles should be docked together straight away on the surface. AI Desfal will have to take control of Espedaillac from the remote command station on Laroque and let the crew on the ground guide him in. Efficient ISRU operations will be vital, since the next part of the operation requires that both shuttles be fully fuelled. Almost twice the previous amount propellant must be produced in about thirty days. This will require the utmost vigilance on behalf of CE Karanda, who will have to improve the rig's output and avoid any overheating of the drills, despite the benefit of additional solar panels and a second electrolysis unit provided by the rover, Arcambal. Karanda, you must keep those drills going, OK? Every sunrise beyond that thirty-day deadline is one they spend starving up on Phobos. I know you won't believe me after everything I've ever said to you, but I believe in you. You can do this, cuz. Keep watching those gauges, keep pumping that H2O, and everyone comes home alive... Once refuelling operations are complete every hour will count, even in the most optimistic of scenarios. The ISRU equipment can be packed away, although it will see no further use. Arcambal should be parked permanently at a safe distance. Both shuttles must be completely stripped down, and any extra weight discarded. This will include the main landing struts. The only ISRU components that Quissac will be able to carry up to Phobos are the radiators to improve the efficiency of Cadrieu's drills. That tiny rig will have to shift a huge amount of propellant in the coming weeks. CE Karanda will then load the new control algorithms into the flight computer, as well as the fuel transfer program that will ensure that Quissac retains full tanks when the booster is released. Quissac and her booster will be taking off shortly before sunset towards the Southeast, so as to launch into the plane of the Martian moons. Lisabeth, Froemone has developped the flight control algorithm, and he ensures me that it will work, but not for long. As the fuel drains out of the rear tanks, the vessel will quickly become unbalanced, and even the shuttles' powerful attitude thrusters won't be able to hold it. You need to pitch over into horizontal flight and get the engines firing along the centre of gravity as soon as possible. Keep the thrust straight on that docking port and it will hold. Follow a shallow path to orbit. I wish I was there to help out with this stupid idea of mine, Lis. If Karanda causes any trouble or starts freaking out, just yell “Ferme-la!” at her repeatedly until she stops. I guess we'll hear from you once you're in orbit, then. I won't say “Fly safe...” That would be unfair, given the circumstances. But please, take care. I... look forward to seeing you safely back on Earth. For orbital insertion to be achieved with sufficient remaining fuel to reach Phobos, separation of the booster should occur at ten thousand metres above the surface and a speed of 1.5 km/s. The minimal aerodynamic testing we were able to perform has shown that the chances of Espedaillac colliding with Quissac after separation are below 25%. After booster separation, Quissac will continue to a low parking orbit and perform a transfer burn to Phobos at the first available window. If a safe transfer does not appear feasible at any point, Quissac should hold her parking orbit and await further instructions. However, if our calculations are correct, the shuttle should be able to reach Cadrieu's position and land safely. From there, fuelling operations should begin immediately to allow recovery of Laroque's crew modules in time for the transfer window home.

Doh... You, sir, have some common sense. Unlike old me.

If you really can't get through via PM (do try again), go ahead. I won't be able to comment on your prediction, however.

So, I've had lots of wonderful and crazy ideas via PM, but so far, only one of my readers has found the solution that will allow Quissac to reach Phobos to save Barton and his crew. Thanks to all of you for sharing your ideas and trying to crack this. You still have a few days before I post the next part if you want to give it a shot. @MadRocketScientist, did you come up with anything? @Geschosskopf, surely this is right up your street, or would the Boffins just leave them there to rot?

Wow, flying an airship into a potential combat zone. Now that is bad*ss. Interesting. I would love to see some pictures of your vessels and station.

Flights beyond Sonnah's SOI will certainly be interesting, with the added complication of transfer windows departing from Kerbin, a moon of a gas giant. Especially if you are discovering delta-vee requirements as you go. A life support mod might spice things up for crewed mission, and balance out the Near Future tech. Transfer Window Planner should work even for a scaled up system, allowing you to calculate round trip times. But each to his own, of course.

New Horizons at 64K? Sounds like a most worthy challenge. Count me in!

That may be useful. I've even dropped a couple of hints in there a while back if you look closely. EDIT: by the way, no jetpacking to orbit either. I've never found an effective way to nerf the ludicrous Kerbal KMU with it's 600 m/s of dV. But, since this an RSS game, I only use jetpacks for on-orbit EVA and mobility assistance on very low-g worlds.

I'm sure you can figure it out. You will kick yourselves if I tell you, it's literally that simple. Take a look at the hardware. All of it. No KIS/KAS trickery (apart from setting up the refuelling rig), no new launches from Earth, and certainly no cheaty hyperediting. Send me a PM if you think you've cracked it and you will earn the right to be part of the Club, and wear this badge with pride... "Thanks, old gal..." version also available on demand, naturally. Please use spoiler tags if you wish to speculate on this thread, although do not be offended if I don't reply. Answers next week. To work, boys and gals!

YEAR 12, DAY 74. CAMWISE. At some point during the small hours of the morning, I eventually fell asleep at my desk. My dreams were horrific. The crew of Cadrieu. Gaunt and skeletal figures, huddled together inside a toppled capsule lying on its side on a dark plain beneath the blood red disc that fills the sky. Bartdon still raging and cursing on into eternity as hunger melts the flesh from his bones. Laroque, and the atomic nightmare that is attached to the ship. They hold the deadly snake by its tail. If they remain docked, the reactor eventually burns through the shadow shield and the fuel tank bulkhead, causing their only protection against the invisible nuclear fire to leak away into space. If they attempt to discard it, the uncontrolled drive section of the ship begins to tumble, it's damaged aft section spewing radiation at them like some sort of hellish flashlight as it cartwheels slowly past. Lisabeth moves forward out of the shadows of my dimly lit office, her beautiful face covered in burns and sores, the erythema of radiation exposure. Her look is pleading. She reaches out to me... Never give up. Find something, Camwise... Karanda stands next to the desk, yelling at me in that shrill voice that I hate. “What are you waiting for? Do something!” She draws back her arm to slap me in the face and shrieks, “Espèce de c...” Her hand connects with my cheek with a crack... I awoke with a start. A pale dawn was creeping in through the window of my office, and with it an idea that might just save them all. I looked around through bleary eyes for my logarithmic slide rule. Where had I kept it, again? Second draw down. It was still there. It had lain unused during all these years, but it was now about to perform its most critical computation ever. A pencil. Please. Now! I rummaged and finally found one buried under the mass of papers. I began furiously scribbling delta-vee calculations on a corner of one of the pages of Froemone's report. To my immense surprise, the figures added up. A nervous chuckle escaped from the back of my throat. It would be stupidly risky. It would push Lisabeth to the limits of her flying skills. It may require Bartdon and his crew to go for days without food and endure nonetheless. Karanda and Mitzon would have to work day and night for weeks to produce enough propellant in time for the transfer window home. So many things could go wrong, but it was the best I had to offer. I grabbed the phone and dialled Froemone's number. He answered immediately, but his voice was a tired rasp. “SE Froemone speaking.” “Froe, it's Cam. I've just had an idea.” “Uhm...what..?” his voice trailed off, too exhausted to hope. “We've been going about this the wrong way,” I blurted out excitedly, “they can get Quissac up to Phobos.” “Uhm...How?” “It's simple. They just need to use more boosters.”