Vat

Ambitious, I'll give them that. The third book, as the tech becomes increasingly speculative, won't be easy or cheap. There will be a lot left out.

Finally rescued two crews who were victims of underfueled, overambitious missions with my first proper asparagus rocket attempt. Still got to go and get Bill, who's floating just outside Kerbin's SOI.

Complex numbers are an important component in AC electrical theory.

Construction Worker: "Good news, there was a decoupler left over from that Eve lander build, so the money saved will go into the Kerbmas party" Engineer: "Oh, okay - I thought we'd ordered the right number, but whatever". Some time later....

Oh, and some fail shots:

With exams over, I can post an update. VAT Aerospace has made some enormous strides since the last update. Advances in science points saw the program develop larger engines and fuel tanks, allowing development of the Dresden launch platform, which allowed Mun and Minmus landers that were able to return to Kerbin. Small improvements were made to the Dresden series, initiating the St Petersberg platform, and a single manned capsule substituted for the probe head on the lander. And so, this platform completed major local system objectives for VAT Aerospace - to land a Kerbal on the Mun and Minmus, and safely return them to Kerbin. To wit... Jebediah - first Kerbal on the Mun Bob - first Kerbal on Minmus With these landings completed, the program is developing other priorities. A small probe was successfully landed on Duna, and adoption of the ScanSat technology has allowed full mapping of Kerbin, the Mun and Minmus, with a mapping probe sent to Eve, which has mapped around two thirds of the planet around the equator (insufficient fuel was left for polar regions - a later mission with a polar insertion is planned to complete mapping). A landing attempt with a probe was made but was ultimately unsuccessful due to the omission of a seperator between the de-orbiting stage and lander, but a lot of science was gained on the descent - a second lander, properly configured, is planned. Immediate priorities: - mapping of Eve and Duna, and their respective moons - unmanned lander on Eve - unmanned lander (as opposed to probe) on Duna - three man capsule landings on the Mun and Minmus, with an eye to investigating biomes on the Mun, and establishing more permanent facilities on the Mun and Minmus - investigation of anomalies On a side note, my flying skills are definitely improving. I'm getting much more accurate with my insertions now, with aerobraking used for the Duna and Eve probes (adjust early, adjust often...), and unmanned/manned missions returning from the Mun and Minmus. Landing skills are on the improve, with the manned Minmus landing being particularly smooth (although the flat areas make for a pretty easy time of it). Jeb's landing on the Mun was somewhat fraught, with the landing ending up on its side but able to be righted with gyros. I need to make a habit of landing in daylight - the lights aren't really powerful enough for someone of my skill to safely put on in sloped regions at night. I have installed two mods - Kerbal Alarm Clock and as mentioned above, ScanSat. The KAC mod is particularly helpful - I've been able to study and have the game run, setting the alarm and time warp to coincide with study breaks, as well as negating my unfortunate habit of warping past mission critical moments.

Yeah - got lucky in that I overengineered the first sat (which was literally just throw some parts together and put it up there) which had plenty of fuel to adjust the orbit to run the terminus (figured that out on my own ;D). Second one had enough battery to last the night after solar top up so I wasn't worried about adjusting it, plus I wanted to ensure I had enough fuel to deorbit them.

Downloaded SCANsat and did full scans (other than the BTDT) of Kerbin. With initial landings on the Mun and Minmus, now looking to expand the program into more landings and potentially base placement. This also makes interplanetary probes more useful so the fairly limited program that's been run so far (with a successful probe sitting perched on Duna and one failed landing at Eve) will get a kick along. Which reminds me, must get the Alarm Clock mod...

First go with it this evening - damn, only thing was power use but I got both sats into polar orbits with better sun exposure and it was fine. No issues to report - it's brilliant. Got Kerbin scanned for biome, altimeter and slopes very quickly. With landings made on both the Mun and Minmus I was hoping to find some more landing sites, and now I can get a SCANsat up and scope them properly. Feel sorry for Insewerants - the excellent ISA project has been dead in the water with the 0.22 update and his own personal issues, but tip of the hat, damny, this is a mighty fine replacement.

With my 'Mechjeb-less' reboot for 0.22, first proper aerobrake (not counting Kerbin) was Duna - had a probe that didn't have enough fuel for braking into an orbit and then descend, it was 'drop 'er in' and see what happened. Got an approach that put the probe in at around 10-15k and it worked a treat. Now that I've managed manned landings/returns from the Mun and Minmus, I'll be investigating aerobraking into orbit for interplanetary missions.

A proud day for VAT Aerospace. Working my way through Career Mode in 0.22 sans Mechjeb, which has been an interesting experience, and one well worth it. I'm getting a much better grip on landing now - particularly killing horizontal speed to get the lander to descend vertically. Still getting the odd close shave - Jeb's landing ended up on its side, but I was able to right the ship with gyros without breaking anything off. Insertion burns are getting much better - better with the initial burn, and learning to adjust early to fine tune approaches. As my science has progressed I got to the various probe bodies allowing unmanned flights, and used this to develop large lifting bodies and landers. My Williams platform managed to parachute a probe onto Duna, allowing expansion into the bigger engines and development of the Dresden platform which when combined with a larger lander proved capable of landing on both the Mun and Minmus, and then returning home. The decision was taken to develop the lander into a manned one, with the single Kerbal capsule substituted in, and thus the St Petersburg launcher/manned lander platform was created. So today, history was made... Jebediah was first - he's been the mainstay of the manned program and was rewarded by being first Kerbal on the Mun. Bob's unfailing dedication and not complaining about being second to Jeb was rewarded by being first on Minmus. Both boys were returned home safely for good science returns. Bob's Minmus mission went particularly smoothly - daylight landing was smart (!) and the lakes make for nice targets.

Two further launches of revised versions of the Dallara series saw the Vat Aerospace program take some further big steps. Lehto - as per 1.0b (the de Cesaris), except solid fuel boosters mounted via lateral decouplers, and aero parts (nose caps, wings) added to the solid fuel boosters. This ship proved successful, boosting the capsule and upper stage comfortably to a orbit height of over 150,000 metres and easily returning. Electricity supplies continue to be an issue Caffi- As per 1.1, but with additional fuel capacity for the final stage. This vessel was enormously successful, orbiting the Mun and seeing the upper stage travel to approximately halfway between the Mun and Minmus before safely splashing down on Kerbin after using aerobraking assist to supplement reverse thrust (the vessel was low on fuel). The Dallara "Caffi" sits on the launchpad Caffi at its furthest point from Kerbin

The Chaves series proved to be the last of the Coloni series, and with new parts having been invented it was decided to retire the core platform and commence the Dallara series, which would combine the experience and lessons of the Coloni platform and the new parts to hopefully achieve orbit and advance the program. Of particular interest is the ability to decouple vertically now, which should assist considerably in shedding weight in the final climb to orbit The Dallara series kicked off with the de Cesaris, a three stage platform, with four Rockomax BACC Solid fuels attached via structural pylons to a second stage of two FL-T400 tanks and an LT-T45 engine, and final stage of a capsule, an FL-T200 tank and LV-909 engine. Initial launches carry a Communotron 16 and Goo containment unit. The initial configuration was amended with the structural pylons dropped after the vehicle developed uncontrollable rotation after lift-off. Thanks to the ability to jettison lower stages, this 1.0b version comfortably achieved orbit with Jebediah Kerbin able to conduct an extended EVA (well....let's just say it took a while to get things under control and a few attempts to safely get him back to and inside the ship) and perform Goo observations. The vessel completed four orbits before making a parachuted landing on dry ground. The Dallara 1.0b "de Cesaris", which successfully launched Jebediah Kerbin into orbit. Note the two Goo canisters are mounted to provide symmetry Further developments have been made in the area of decoupling, with a new lateral decoupler now available. This will be incorporated into the next update for the Dallara series. Of particular concern at the moment is the inability of the craft to produce sufficient power to allow Communotron transmission once the vessel is in orbit.

The Coloni series is the first very basic set up of rockets under the limited parts available at the start. Raphanel – configuration of eight RT-10 boosters attached via structural blocks to two stacked FL-T200 tanks fuelling a single LV-T30 liquid fuelled engine, with capsule equipped with a Communotron 16 and Mk16 Parachute. Vessel proved uncontrollable in testing, configuration abandoned. Larini - configuration of four RT-10 boosters attached via structural blocks to two stacked FL-T200 tanks fuelling a single LV-T30 liquid fuelled engine, with capsule equipped with a Communotron 16 and Mk16 Parachute. Vessel successful launched on sub-orbital trajectory to a height of 82k (with insufficient fuel to achieve orbit) and during period in space brief EVA performed. Vehicle successfully splashed down north east of the Space Centre. The VAS Coloni "Larini", the most successful of the Coloni platform's models Tarquini - three stacked FL-T200 tank version of the Larini. Additional structural blocks added to improve platform rigidity. Vehicle achieved a suborbital flight of 70.000m in Jebediah Kerbin's hands, but benefit of additional stage marginal if of any benefit. Additional set of four RT-10 boosters added to upper stage on a testing version made the vehicle impossible to control. Chaves - the four RT-10 solid fuel boosters were replaced by four two stacked FL-T200 tanks and engines. Tested in basic form, this unit was unable to achieve 10,000 metres before running out of fuel

With the release of 0.22, I decided to reboot VAT Aerospace by starting from scratch in career mode. This thread will act as a journal of VA's missions. It should be noted that I have been reliant on Mechjeb for the vast bulk of my achievements in 0.21, so the new frontier of doing my own piloting is somewhat daunting. As the company motto goes, "Cheap Laugh Engineering Meets Poor Piloting Skills"