TheSaint

Y3 D325-Y4 D169 - Jool Explorer So, hot on the heels of the departure of Draco, we have another historical event taking place: The arrival of Jool Explorer at the Jool System! If you recall, Jool Explorer was launched all the way back in the middle of Year 1, almost two and a half years ago! Heck, that was all the way back when Jerry here was an intern! Ha ha! What's that, Jerry? You're still an intern? Oh. Well. Talk to KR about that. In any case, as Jool Explorer is approaching its goal, this is a good time to review its mission objectives: Minimum Objectives (If we don't accomplish at least this much, we'll wind up sitting in front of a Kongressional hearing.) One flyby of Jool One flyby of Laythe Primary Objectives (These are the objectives that the probe has been designed to achieve.) Two flybys of Jool Two flybys of each of Jool's large moons: Laythe, Vall, and Tylo Deploy one atmospheric probe on Jool and one on Laythe Secondary Objectives (Once the Primary Objectives have been completed, if the probe has any capability left, we will attempt to accomplish these additional objectives.) Flybys of Jool's minor moons: Bop and Pol Additional flybys of Jool and its large moons. So, this morning, Jool Explorer crossed over into Jool's SOI. Our first task is to adjust its trajectory coming in to the Jool system. The folks over in Orbital Dynamics have worked up a plan for us that will let us use a gravity assist at Laythe to capture Jool Explorer into the system rather than burning fuel, which will help extend the life of our propellant load. If you're unfamiliar with the concept of gravity assists...well, go ask the guys in Orbital Dynamics. There's a reason I'm in management. This maneuver will also check off our first minimum objective with a flyby of Laythe. So Jool Explorer burns at the very edge of the Jool system to set up its capture maneuver. However, as we all know, the Jool system is huge. It's going to be almost sixty days before the Laythe flyby. So, back to work, everyone. We'll get back to this in a couple months. ---------- Well, here we are back with Jool Explorer on Day 384. The Science team has been hard at work over the last several weeks getting preliminary readings from the experiments on board Jool Explorer, and they've already been releasing some stunning photography. Today is the day we discover if our burn two months ago was good. Jool Explorer is rapidly approaching Laythe. And, so far, it appears that we are right down the middle of the slot. Science has all of their instruments and cameras ready to go for our first flyby. We'll be passing about 140 kilometers away from the surface. And we have our first successful flyby! Flight just got back and let me know that their numbers indicate that Jool Explorer has successfully captured into an elliptical orbit around Jool. Excellent work! So now Orbital Dynamics is getting to work on plotting the next burn, which should be at JEs first apoapsis in a couple of days. ---------- Day 387 now, and Jool Explorer is getting set to burn at its Jool apoapsis. This burn will set us up for releasing our first atmospheric probe into the atmosphere of Jool. The burn was successful, so Jool Explorer is now on a sub-orbital trajectory for Jool. We'll get back to it in a couple of days for the probe separation and burn. ---------- And now we're back on Day 389. Jool Explorer is about an hour away from entry to Jool's atmosphere, which we obviously would like to avoid. So, first up, we trigger the separation of the Jool Atmospheric Probe. Then Jool Explorer immediately turns and burns to increase its periapsis above Jool's atmosphere. This would not be the time for an engine failure. <nervous laugh> But, thank goodness, that burn was successful. Now we can turn our attention back to the atmospheric probe. This is an important milestone of the mission, so obviously we hope that the periapsis was set to the correct height to ensure proper entry. <glances nervously over at the Orbital Dynamics folks sweating in the corner> The probe enters the atmosphere and is almost immediately enveloped in plasma, entering radio blackout. It's a long five minutes. But eventually, radio contact is restored. The probe survived atmospheric entry! It immediately begins radioing back data from its instruments. When it reaches about 200 kilometers below entry, its parachute deploys. It continues to sink deeper into the Joolian atmosphere, sending back pressure, temperature, and spectrographic data as it goes. However, although the probe is tough, it is not indestructible, and the Joolian atmosphere is unforgiving. Finally, after sinking an amazing 500 kilometers into Jool's clouds, the probe stops transmitting. That was an incredible outcome, and I'm sure the Science team will be parsing through that data stream for a long time. Meanwhile, Jool Explorer's instruments have not been idle, and they have recorded their data from their first flyby of Jool, meeting our second minimum mission objective. So, we have met the minimum mission requirements! Now JE is headed back up to its apoapsis above Jool, and OD will be plotting our next move. ---------- Back at periapsis on Day 393, and Jool Explorer is burning prograde this time to set up another flyby of Laythe. This is a pretty major burn, but it will set us up for the release of the Laythe Atmospheric Probe, which is a major milestone of the mission. So the fuel expenditure is justified. See you back in five days for the flyby. ---------- Back now on Day 398. Jool Explorer is approaching Laythe once again, this time on a suborbital trajectory. An hour away from entry, the atmospheric probe is released. Jool Explorer immediately burns to raise its Laythe periapsis...and its Jool periapsis? Or so the OD guys tell me. I don't get it either. I just keep pressing the "I Believe" button. In any case, Jool Explorer is safe now and recording data from its second Laythe flyby. Meanwhile the atmospheric probe is burning its way through Laythe's atmosphere and we're all holding our breath. The probe hurtles tantalizingly over a couple of major land masses... ...deploys its parachute... ...and settles into the ocean. That's fine. The probe floats. We'll probably get better data from Laythe's liquid water than we would from dry land anyway. In any case, another successful probe deployment, and a second Laythe flyby checked off of our primary mission objectives. Jool Explorer passes out of Laythe's SOI and then sweeps down to its Jool periapsis. The probe's orbit is very low now. The good news is that this gets us a very close flyby of Jool, which marks our second flyby of Jool itself and makes the Science team very happy. However, the low orbit will make it very difficult to perform flybys of the other Joolian moons. We could just burn to raise our orbit, but the Orbital Dynamics wiz kids have a better plan. They want to use another Laythe flyby to raise the probe's orbit with a gravity assist. So, here we are now, just a couple of hours out of Laythe's SOI, and we're burning at Jool periapsis to set up another Laythe flyby. I guess we'll see how that turns out in a couple of days. ---------- Well, Day 400 now, and Jool Explorer is swinging by Laythe again. After the flyby, Flight confirms that the gravity assist has raised Jool Explorer's orbit by a considerable amount. And Science has collected their data from Jool Explorer's third Laythe flyby. So now JE is back on its way to Jool apoapsis and we're setting our sights on the rest of the moons. ---------- Four days later now, Day 404, and we're back at Jool apoapsis. Orbital Dynamics has another burn scheduled that should set Jool Explorer up for its first Tylo flyby. Exciting! ---------- In other news: As Jool Explorer is coasting down Jool's gravity well, Draco reaches its mid-course correction burn on Day 406. The crew of Draco have been following the progress of Jool Explorer with great interest. (Because, let's face it, they don't have much else to do.) As they look out their windows and see Jool as a sparkling green gem in the sky, the Kerbol System doesn't seem so large after all.... ---------- Three days later, Jool Explorer is approaching Tylo for the first time. The probe swings by in a close pass and collects its data. It then exits Tylo's SOI and carries on. The next day, 410, Jool Explorer is back at Jool apoapsis. Orbital Dynamics assures me that a small burn here will set it up for another flyby of Tylo in a week or so. ---------- Day 419. We're back for our second Tylo flyby. This, unfortunately, is a more distant flyby. Science is disappointed. But OD assures me that there is a method to their madness. After Jool Explorer has exited Tylo's SOI, the probe burns again. And this burn sets it up for its first flyby of Vall next week. As an aside: Once this burn was completed, Flight sent me a notice letting me know that Jool Explorer has reached 50% of its initial fuel load. Good to know. ---------- It's Day 425 now, and we're excited that we're passing through our first Vall flyby! Science has all of their data, so Jool Explorer is just going to keep coasting for now. ---------- It's Year 4 Day 4 now. Happy New Year, everybody, hope you all had a good holiday. Jool Explorer is approaching Jool periapsis, and OD has a burn planned that will bring it back for its second flyby of Vall. That went well, Flight tells me everything is in order. It's a long haul back to Vall, but we'll see you back in a couple of weeks. ---------- Okay, Day 24, and Jool Explorer is flying by Vall for the second time. So, for everyone who hasn't been keeping score, this means that Jool Explorer has successfully deployed both atmospheric probes, and completed two flybys of Jool and all three of its major moons. This means that Jool Explorer has successfully completed its primary mission objectives! Since we still have almost 50% of our fuel load remaining, we've given the go ahead to start into the secondary mission objectives. Orbital Dynamics should be getting us some flight path options for those any day now. Right? <Orbital Dynamics guys look startled for a second, then run back to their offices.> ---------- Day 27. Jool Explorer is back at Jool apoapsis today. And Orbital Dynamics has given us a flight path that is...ambitious. The plan is this: Jool Explorer is going to make a minor burn at apoapsis today that will put it on a course to flyby Vall. It will get a gravity assist from Vall that will put it on a course to flyby Tylo. It will get yet another gravity assist from Tylo that will put it on a course to flyby Bop. I am pounding that "I Believe" button today. So Jool Explorer makes its burn. ---------- Day 28, we have our third flyby of Vall... ---------- Three days later, we have our third close flyby of Jool... ---------- Four days after that, on Day 35, we fly by Tylo for a third time... And after we exit Tylo SOI...well, I'll be damned. We will need a course correction burn, but not a major one. I guess that worked. Good job, folks. ---------- Now on Day 40 we have our course correction burn for Bop. We're right on target. Things move even slower here in the outer reaches of the Jool system. See you all back in two weeks. ---------- It's Day 54 and... Heerree'ss Bop! Science is very excited, although all it appears to be is a captured asteroid. Jool manages to look small from out here. So our next target in the extended mission is Pol. Unfortunately, there are no large moons out here to provide gravity assists. So we will just have to burn for it. Orbital Dynamics is working on a plan for that. ---------- So, did I mention that things move slowly out here? It is now Day 131, two and a half months since we left Bop, and we have finally reached the burn for Pol. Now we have to wait more than two weeks for the flyby. All for just another captured asteroid. <yawn> And Flight has just informed me that this burn brings Jool Explorer below 25% of its initial fuel load. ---------- So, it's Day 148 and we're getting the first pictures and data back from the Pol flyby... ...aanndd...that is not just another captured asteroid. I will be very curious to see what Science has to say about that one. ---------- So, after the Pol flyby we have some hard decisions to make concerning Jool Explorer. The probe has accomplished all of its primary mission objectives, and all of its secondary objectives. It has roughly 22% of its initial fuel load remaining. It is in the outer limits of the Jool system, with no gravity assist targets available, so any destination we pick for it will require a large expenditure of fuel. And there is a possibility that if the probe is allowed to orbit uncontrolled in the Jool system it may crash into Laythe, possibly contaminating its surface with the radioactive contents of the probe's radiothermal generators. So KSP management have decided that the probe should use its remaining fuel to achieve a controlled disposal in the atmosphere of Jool. Day 155, a week after the Pol flyby, Jool Explorer performs its final burn. ---------- Two weeks later, Day 169. Jool Explorer is a couple of hours out from entry now. Still sending back data. The probe is hurtling towards Jool's atmosphere at over 9,000 meters per second. This is the closest it has ever come to Jool, still getting good data on the planet. And as the probe enters the outer limits of the atmosphere...end of transmission. What a mission! Atmospheric probes deployed on Jool and Laythe! Four flybys of Jool, three flybys of Laythe, Tylo, and Vall, and flybys of Bop and Pol! A staggering amount of data! We'll be turning our attention to Draco and Duna here in just another week, but after this it will be hard not to be imagining what a kerballed Jool mission would look like. Eh?

Well, back before WWII, bolt-action rifles were prevalent too. We don't use those anymore either. There's a reason why Jack Weaver kicked everyone else's asses in the Leatherslap matches. My dad shot duelist or cup-and-saucer his whole life. And he went to the NRA state matches back in the 60s. That was how I learned to shoot handguns when I was a kid. When I started shooting with my LAPD buddy in the 90s he was all, "Dude, what the hell?" He taught me Weaver stance, and it was like night and day. (Now my buddy I go shooting with is all, "Weaver is old school, old man. You need to learn isosceles!" But I'm a bit old to start undoing 30 years of muscle memory. When I start wearing body armor I'll start worrying about isosceles stance. LOL) And, see, in my mind, having to rely on a brace of flintlock pistols across my chest makes dual wielding even less appealing. If the idea behind dual wielding is to use my abundance of ammunition to my advantage against a greater number of opponents, then drawing two six-shot revolvers and firing both makes a bit of sense, especially if I've trained to shoot with my off hand. But if all I have is four or five shots from four or five single-shot pistols (which may or may not actually fire when the trigger is pulled), that is not what I would call an abundance of ammunition. I really need to make every shot count. Remember, "You can't miss fast enough to win." We have some of that. (Not that exact one, but some uranium ore.) Wife bought it on Amazon for an experiment in physics class at the homeschool co-op a couple of years ago. It's not as exciting as you think it is.

I don't know if the pizza place is any good, but my buddy swears by The Haunted Hamburger. I've never been.

I've been rereading a lot lately. I just finished rereading a ton of Neal Stephenson. I read The Baroque Cycle, then Cryptonomicon, then Reamde, then Fall, or Dodge in Hell. It took, two years, I think? I referred to it as, "The Saga of Enoch Root". IYKYK. Going back now and rereading The Gap Cycle by Stephen R. Donaldson. I haven't read it since he finished it, which is 28 years now. Figured I would dust it off again. I've got a ton of new Tim Powers that I've bought for my wife that I haven't read, probably move on to those next.

IRL? You don't. Dual wielding is a Hollywood myth. Nobody trains to shoot two firearms at the same time. As you pointed out, it makes it completely impossible to reload without simply dropping one of the weapons. And it's impossible to properly aim two firearms at the same time, so the only thing you can do is aim by impact or by muscle memory, both of which are much less accurate than aiming properly with the sights. And your most accurate grip on a firearm is always going to be one using two hands, such as the Weaver grip. So unless you're just trying to look cool while turning money into noise, there's no point in dual wielding. Use one gun at a time, and make every round count.

I concur, they are both worth seeing. But it's a seven hour round trip drive to the Canyon, six hours round trip to Meteor Crater. That's a lot of driving. If you want to drive to a geological destination, Sedona is a bit more doable. That's about four hours round trip. It's not the Canyon, but it's very pretty. Red Rock State Park is awesome to hike around in. There are some great four-wheel trails there, but I doubt you're renting a 4x4. Just don't go on a Pink Jeep tour. Those guys are jerks.

Yeah. We live about an hour-and-a-half away from Phoenix. Was sitting here on the couch with the wife racking our brains trying to think of things to do there last night, couldn't think of anything. There's a bunch of stuff to do if you're a kid. But as far as cool stuff to see if you're an adult we were just drawing a blank. You could go shoot at Scottsdale Gun Club, I suppose. They rent everything, including full auto. That could be fun. Never been, but I hear it's nice. There's a zillion golf courses, if you feel like spoiling a perfectly good walk. There's an indoor aquarium out on the res, but you can see those anywhere. Now, if you want restaurant recommendations in Phoenix I can chew your ear off.

In Tucson, you want to see the Pima Air and Space Museum and the Titan Missile Museum. Kartchner Caverns is pretty cool too. Tombstone is okay, but if you only have one day I wouldn't bother, unless you're really into the Old West or something. I second the Musical Instrument Museum. If you're into architecture, Taliesin West is cool. Really, for as large as it is, there's not a lot to do in Phoenix.

Well the kids wouldn't be walking on it anymore, that's for sure.

That I don't really know. I was a nuke, not a sonarman.

I don't know how far it has gone, since I've been out of the submarine force for thirty years, but when I was in I know there were discussions about using drone subs to carry active sonar away from the main sub. So you would launch a drone sub out of your torpedo tube (swimout launch, obviously, since an impulse launch would give your location away), drive it a good distance away from the sub, and then the drone would start pinging active sonar which the parent sub would use to pick up contacts. As for two subs communicating underwater, the only way, currently, to communicate would be with acoustic communications, like Gertrude or JANUS. The problem with those is that they can be detected by passive sonar, so by transmitting information between two friendly submarines they would be giving their positions away to enemy submarines. In a science fiction scenario you could be communicating using a tight-beam blue laser communicator, but that isn't reality yet.

Those docking ports are supplied by the Near Future Construction mod our sub-contractor, Clamp Depot!

I'm glad you asked! If you look on page 4 of the press packet you'll find a description of the bi-modal nuclear propulsion system. In addition to propulsion, the nuclear reactor is also used to generate electricity to power the spacecraft. I hear it also makes a pretty decent cup of coffee.

Y3 D232-313 - Duna Mission Assembly and Departure So, as you all know, the last six months have been pretty busy. We've reworked the crew rotation schedule to annual instead of semi-annual. Then we had the recruiting drive and station and base crew rotations. And that brought us to our first Kerbin-System-wide resupply event, with all of the associated hiccups and hi-jinks. Once all of that was done we had a month of stand-down, just to give everyone a break. But while we've been busy, CKAI has been busy as well. They performed a full Duna dry run with the Project Draco design in the test save took the data they received from Nuclear Prototype - 1 and used it to finalize the design of Project Draco. They have delivered the modules for the initial vessel, dubbed fittingly enough, "Draco", and we have been given the greenlight to proceed. So as the next departure window to Duna approaches we are going to begin assembly of Draco in anticipation of launching our first kerballed mission to another planet! Here is the final design: As always, the vessel is broken down into modules that can be flown in the cargo bay of the spaceplanes. A marvel of engineering! Additionally, they have also delivered a lander and habitat for the crew which will support a one-year surface mission on Duna. The lander uses new advanced engines that burn methane and liquid oxygen. Methane is denser and easier to store than liquid hydrogen. And, based on the initial results from the chemistry experiments coming back from the Duna rovers, we believe that we may be able to synthesize it from compounds available on the surface of Duna once we establish a permanent base there. So we're just around two and a half months out from the departure window, and we're set to begin the task of assembling Draco at Kerbin Station. First up, we'll be lifting the operations module and spin habitat with ArToo. ArToo, like the rest of the spaceplanes, has undergone a full maintenance cycle during the stand-down. So it is ready to go as it ignites its engines at the end of the KSC runway. Soon, Captain Kennedy at Kerbin Station takes the handoff from Mission Control and guides ArToo in to dock. Once there the engineers deploy the operations module, and Assistant Pilot Kenyon uses Cargo Drone 2 to bring it over to dock on the station docking complex. He then brings the drone back over and uses it to move the spin habitat over and dock it with the operations module. One last detail: The adapter used to mate the operations module to the cargo erector in ArToo's cargo bay is actually a docking adapter that will be used in the final assembly of Draco. Kenyon uses the drone to bring it over and dock it at a different port on the docking complex for now. He then returns the drone to its docking spot. Now that its cargo has been delivered, Kennedy undocks ArToo and turns it back over to Mission Control, who guide it back to land at KSC. Back on the ground, the hangar gang is preparing the next payload. Robby will be doing the honors this time, carrying up the laboratory module and the propulsion module. Robby takes off, carefully lifting the most advanced nuclear engine ever created. Look! There goes our reactor! <nervous laugh> Thankfully, Robby reaches orbit safely, and is soon being guided in to dock by Kerbin Station's XO Krauss. Once docked, the crew gets to work deploying the cargo. Then Assistant Pilot Kirkwood brings CD1 over and extracts the propulsion module. The propulsion module will actually be attached to the core module, which will be flown up next, so for now it will be docked to an empty port on the docking complex. Then Kirkwood brings the laboratory module over and docks it with the spin habitat. She then returns CD1 to its docking spot. Then XO Krauss undocks Robby and Mission Control flies it back to KSC. The next module to be flown is the core module. The core module provides all of the basic functions needed for the vessel to operate: control, communications, and guidance. It also provides the core fuel tankage, and a docking hub to allow attachment of a wide variety of modules and cargoes. It also contains a drone computer core, allowing the ship to operate without a crew. This means that if in the future it is decided that Draco is no longer needed to transport personnel, it is simply a matter of removing the crewed modules, and the core module will allow the remainder of the ship to operate as an interplanetary drone cargo ship. Flexible! In any case, Gort is flying the core module, which is too large to allow any other cargo. Gort lifts off into a bright, beautiful morning sky and is soon docked at Kerbin Station. There the crew quickly deploys the core module for installation. Captain Kennedy is handling Cargo Drone 2 himself for this delicate operation, and soon he is threading the core module past the station structure towards the growing Draco. Once the core module has been installed, he brings the drone over and picks up the propulsion module, installing it on the aft end of the core module. He then brings the drone over and carries the docking adapter to the core module's docking hub. Draco is really beginning to take shape here! Captain Kennedy takes a breather and quaffs a much needed BAR, so AP Kenyon undocks Gort and sends it home. Next up we will be adding Draco's fuel tankage. These tanks are bulky, but not heavy, even when filled with liquid hydrogen. So the spaceplanes can easily carry two of them on one erector. Because power on the spaceplane is a concern, the tanks' cryogenic cooling systems will not be turned on until the spaceplane is docked to the station. This will result in some boiloff, but the tanks will be refilled at Minmus before Draco departs for Duna, so there should be no mission impact. The first pair of tanks will be flying up on Marvin. Night launch! Thrilling! Soon XO Krauss is guiding Marvin in to dock. The tanks are stored in the cargo bay with the radial docking adapters against the bay walls for clearance. This makes it awkward to dock the drones directly against them when the tanks are erected in the bay. So we're going to remove the tanks from the bay and dock them to the docking complex first, then move them radially to Draco. There we go. Ohh, that was kinda tight... And the first tank gets mounted on Draco's dorsal port. Going back for the second tank...in the dark...really close to the observation cupola.... ...okay, I can start breathing again. I think this procedure needs more work, folks. The rest of the maneuver is uneventful, and the tank gets installed on Draco's starboard port. Since we're just going to be installing more tanks on the next trip, we decide to leave CD1 docked there on the tank with the radial adapter in order to save monoprop. XO Knauss undocks Marvin and it burns for home. ArToo is back up in the rotation with the last two tanks. It's a bright and sunny day as ArToo lifts the last two modules for Draco! And two hours later, Captain Kennedy brings it in on final approach. So, we had some discussions of how we could make the tank transfer procedure easier and less stressful. First up, let's move Orbital Tug 5, which is docked next to Draco, to the other side of the docking complex. Then, when we extract the tanks from ArToo's cargo bay we can dock them to the port the tug was docked at, which is closer to Draco and further away from ArToo and all of the other station modules. And we can align the radial docking ports on the tanks perpendicular to the docking complex, rather than parallel to it, which makes clearing other objects docked on the complex much easier. Much better! Clear thinking to the rescue! Makes it much easier to grab that second tank and maneuver it over to its port. As Kenyon maneuvers CD1 over to put the radial adapter away and park the drone, let's take a second to survey our handiwork. Draco is complete! Inactive, but complete! Captain Kennedy undocks ArToo and hands it off to Mission Control who fly it back to KSC. The next flight will be Robby flying up the Duna habitat. The habitat provides living space, supplies, and a laboratory for the use of the crew while they are on the surface of Duna. There is also a rover for extended science operations. After studying the results of the Duna Explorer missions, it was determined that, with the proper reentry profiles, vehicles entering Duna's atmosphere don't require heat shields, or even aeroshells. So none have been added to the Duna habitat or lander. Robby lifts off with the habitat and soon reaches orbit. About an hour later it is docked at Kerbin Station, and the crew is deploying the habitat from its cargo bay. After the ordeal of the fuel tanks, moving the habitat over to Draco's ventral docking port seems like child's play. And then, after a single orbit, Robby is on its way back to KSC. Turn and burn! So now the seventh and final flight. This flight will see Gort carry up the Duna lander, Olympus, and the personnel pod with the crew for this historic mission aboard. The crew selected are the most experienced kerbonauts on our roster. All of them have flown multiple missions on both stations and bases. They are: Mission Commander Rolando Krueger Command Pilot Lincoln Kline Chief Engineer Kermit Kirkpatrick Assistant Engineer Rocco Kirk Chief Scientist Crystal Kovach Assistant Scientist Penny Kohl The crew is sent off with a hearty breakfast and much fanfare. They board the pod in the hangar, Gort's cargo bay doors are locked shut, and the spaceplane is towed out to the runway. As Gort's wheels lift off of the runway, our intrepid crew won't touch down on Kerbin again for over two years. A couple of hours later, Gort is safely docked at Kerbin Station. As the crew of Draco move their gear over to their quarters and begin to take stock of their new vessel, the crew of Kerbin Station have one last task to accomplish: moving over the lander. However, this is not as easy as it seems. Due to the fact that you can't attach parts to the shielded docking port in the VAB reasons known only to God design choices made by CKAI, the lander is docked engines first in the cargo bay. So we need to turn it around so that it can dock properly to the docking adapter on Draco. This will require both of the cargo drones working in concert with each other. First, AP Kenyon uses CD2 to extract the lander from the cargo bay. Then Captain Kennedy brings CD1 over and docks it with the engine end of the lander. Once the lander is completely under control, Kenyon undocks CD2 and moves it back to its docking spot. Then Kennedy brings the lander over and docks it to the docking adapter on Draco. Then he uses the drone to remove the shroud from Olympus' engines. He takes the shroud and replaces it in Gort's cargo bay for return to Kerbin. After CD1 is safely back in its docking spot, Commander Krueger and his crew begin the process of bringing Draco online. First they jettison the shroud surrounding her nuclear engine. Then they extend the ship's radiators and bring its cooling system online. In addition to providing propulsive thrust, the reactor will also provide electrical power for Draco, eliminating the need for solar panels. As can be seen in this closeup, the propulsion module has two radial docking adapters, one on each side of the support structure. This will allow the propulsion module to be removed from the vessel in the future for replacement after the reactor has used up all of its nuclear fuel. CKAI has specifically designed this reactor to be easily overhauled and refueled in space in anticipation of their semi-automated nuclear fuel reprocessing station which is still in development. The next step is to inflate and deploy the spin habitat. The crew go through and inspect the ship, double-checking her systems and performing all of the little tasks necessary to bring it 100% online. Meanwhile, Captain Kennedy undocks Gort and Mission Control guides it through reentry back to KSC. The next day, the crew of Draco has finally completed their checklists. Draco is ready to depart for Minmus! The crews share a final meal together in the Kerbin Station wardroom. Then the crew of Draco take their stations on her command deck. They close the hatches and undock, and Commander Krueger fires up the RCS thrusters and backs Draco away from the station. Once Draco is well clear of the station, Chief Engineer Kirkpatrick flips the switch and takes her reactor critical. After evaluating all of the ships systems, Commander Krueger gives the GO, and Command Pilot Kline initiates the burn for Minmus. The burn finishes flawlessly, and the crew settle in for the trip to Minmus. They have a minor course correction burn about four hours later, and then they power up the spin habitat to test it out. They spend the next week testing out every single system on the ship, and everything appears to be in order. Eight days later, Draco arrives at Minmus. The crew secure the spin habitat, then burn to circularize in Minmus orbit. A couple more hours and a couple more burns later and Draco arrives at Minmus Station. The engineers shut down the reactor, then Commander Krueger expertly guides the massive ship in to dock. So now the ship and crew have been proven ready. The departure window for Duna is still just under two months away. One task that must be completed is refueling. Draco used up almost half of its liquid hydrogen climbing up to Minmus. This may seem alarming, but it is all part of the flight plan. Thankfully, the crews of Minmus Station and Minmus Base have been busy, so the two hydrogen tanks docked at the station are full. However, one more fuel run down to Minmus Base is required. In addition to liquid hydrogen, Draco is restocked with monopropellant and life support supplies. Once these tasks are completed, her crew spend their days relaxing, communicating with their families back on Kerbin, and keeping their skills up to date for the mission ahead. Finally, on Year 3, Day 300, the planets align. Literally. The nerds in Orbital Dynamics have decreed that this is the day. Draco's crew share a farewell meal with the crew of Minmus Station, then close the hatches and climb into their seats. They undock and back Draco away from the station. This is is, folks. The Big Event. We're actually gonna do this. <nervous chuckle> Krueger backs Draco a respectful distance away from Minmus Station, then Kirkpatrick starts up the reactor. It won't shut down again until they arrive back here in two years. Then when they reach the departure point they burn to leave Minmus orbit. Once they have left Minmus' SOI, they plot their course. First they burn to zero their inclination, then they plot their departure burn for Duna. Their Kerbin periapsis is only 140 km, which is the lowest we have ever set for a Minmus maneuver before. And it shows. The Duna departure burn is projected to be only 161 m/s. The total dV for Draco's departure, including the Minmus escape burn and the plane change, is about 335 m/s. This validates everything we've been working on perfecting this escape maneuver. Extra pizza for Orbital Dynamics tonight! In any case, now that the crew has performed their burns and calculations, they can relax again for eight days as they fall down the gravity well towards Kerbin. Once they reach Kerbin and are approaching periapsis, break time is over. They gather on the command deck and buckle their seat belts. They give the ship's systems one final check. When everything is GO, Commander Krueger gives the final order, and Kline burns for Duna. The burn is successful, and Draco is on her way. Three days later Draco leaves Kerbin's SOI and her crew makes history. They spin up the centrifuge and settle in for their long journey. They will have a course correction burn in about three months, and then they will be entering Duna's SOI about six months after that. God speed, Draco.

Been on FF for almost a decade, even through the "sluggish" times. Never had a complaint. Highly recommended.

Waste not, want not....

Well, I don't really have the time to calculate terminal velocities, but remember that terminal velocity varies based on the density and geometry of the object that is falling. A streamlined AP bomb made of steel and TNT has a much higher terminal velocity than, say, a feather, or a human being. So in order to reach that terminal velocity the bomb would have to be dropped from a very high altitude in order to allow gravity to accelerate it for the required amount of time. During WWII, bombs were aimed by optical sights, or (in the case of high altitude bombing) by electro-mechanical aiming computers such as the Norden bomb sight. These were not sophisticated aiming devices by today's standards. In high-altitude bombing their CEPs were hundreds of yards. So, in general, dropping your precision AP bomb from extremely high altitudes wasn't really an option. This is why most naval bombers during the era were dive bombers: they were much more accurate, and used a power dive of the aircraft to accelerate the bomb towards the target to increase its penetrating power. So, precision bombing during WWII was much more limited by the ability of the bomber to hit its target than it was by the penetrating power of the bomb itself. If someone would have suggested dropping a bomb on a battleship from 20,000 feet to increase its penetrating power, the counterargument would have been, "Yes, but we'll never hit the damn thing."

Short answer: Not really, no. Long answer: TMI2 was, at its core, an accident caused by operator error. Yes, it was exacerbated by some poor design choices. But even with the plant as it was designed, if the operators had been properly trained, if they had not been ignoring the relief valve leakage, if they had quickly recognized and responded to the loss of coolant accident, then the accident would never have happened. Manual position indicators on the primary relief valves would have made that easier for them, but that wasn't impossible technology, that was just a design choice. I can't think of a shiny new technology that can prevent operator error, aside from robotic operators. Screenwriter's answer: If they're going to say, "We invented a new technology that prevented Three Mile Island from happening," it's an anachronism, which is crappy writing in that sort of genre. Because if Three Mile Island never happened, then nobody is going around saying, "We prevented Three Mile Island from happening." Because it never happened. There have been lots of "almost" nuclear accidents. You've never heard of any of them. They aren't household words. If we suddenly woke up in a world where a certain German dictator had instead gone to art school, then going around bragging about how you had stopped him with a time machine would be pointless. Because you would be the only person who would remember who he had been.

I think the only case in which making the robots use human weapons would be if they are going to fight alongside actual human troops. In which case having hands would work better, since then the weapons and all of the associated logistics would be interchangeable. Otherwise I would build the weapons into the robots themselves. That would make it much easier to design the robots to aim, handle recoil, protect the weapon against the elements, etc. If you want to be able to change weapons for different mission profiles, make the weapons modular. Matrix did it. Honestly, I think that IRL this would not be a great idea. Dropped weapons on the battlefield are nowhere near as convenient as you imagine them to be. If you're doing it right, they tend to be far away from you, in holes, behind walls, in buildings or vehicles, and they may or may not have a decent supply of ammunition with them, or even be in working condition (explosives tend to be pretty hard on equipment too). Designing your robot specifically to use dropped weapons would probably be a waste of payload mass and money that would be better spent just putting more installed weapons on it in the first place.

Live and Let Die is the best Bond theme ever. But we watched Casino Royale (the 2006 version) with the kids the other night, and it reminded me what a great job Chris Cornell did with that theme. RIP, Chris. As an aside, my wife and I watched this documentary a while back, and it was really worth the time. The Sound of 007

Belly laugh!

Oh, don't worry, kids today are dumb. My sixteen-year-old is going to college. He's Student-of-the-Year. He regularly comes home with stories along the lines of, "You won't believe what I had to explain to this guy today...." Not complicated stuff. Stuff his mom and I explained to him at home. As far as marketing goes: Well, yeah. That's been true since marketing became a discipline back in the 50s. The problem we have today is that nobody is explaining to these kids what is being done to them. When I went through high school back in the 1980s, I had a teacher who sat us all down in our U.S. Government class and explained to us what propaganda was. He pulled out the movie projector and showed us Triumph of the Will, Battleship Potemkin, The Birth of a Nation. He sat us all down and explained how to sort propaganda out from fact. Today, everybody is being bombarded with propaganda. From governments. From corporations. There is hardly anything that is straight fact anymore. And nobody is telling kids how to sort it out anymore. They're just telling kids that the propaganda they like is fact.

Going to go put some Johnny Cash on in the truck tomorrow.

Y2 D210-364 - Eve Explorer Arrival NP-1 arrives at Minmus Station about eight days later. Once it is there, the crews at Minmus Station and Base get to work. First they use the docking adapters to remove the external tanks and get some experience handling the tanks radially. Then they dock the cargo lander with one of the LH2 tanks and land it at Minmus Base so it can be refilled via the ISRU refinery. Then the lander lifts off with the refilled tank to return it back to Minmus Station. These exercises provide vital experience and proof of concept for procedures that will be used once we begin sending nuclear-powered missions to Duna, Jool, and beyond. However, once all this has been accomplished, it is decided that Nuclear Prototype - 1 has outlived its usefulness, at least for now. The crew of Minmus Station removes the two external tanks for future reuse, then undocks the prototype and backs it away from the station. They then then fire up its reactor to place it in a 100 km parking orbit around Minmus. Once there the reactor is shut down and the vessel is placed into hibernation. A couple of weeks later, we have one more housekeeping task to undertake: We finally expand the docking complex at Kerbin Station. That should help relieve some of the overcrowding we have been experiencing there, especially as Project Draco starts to pick up in the upcoming year. Now, however, we get to the highlight of this report: The arrival of Eve Explorer. It has been in transit for about six months and now it has finally arrived. As the probe approaches periapsis, it burns to enter a highly elliptical orbit. It reaches its apoapsis about a day later. Here it makes a very precise burn to adjust its periapsis. This will select the landing site for the Eve Lander after it has been released on this orbit. Almost a day later, about half-an-hour before impact, the probe is instructed to release the lander. Then the Eve Orbiter burns to raise its periapsis above Eve's atmosphere, since we obviously don't want it to reenter. Now the lander is in free fall towards Eve. Not an enviable position. It strikes the upper atmosphere at almost 5,000 meters per second. Let's hope the heat shield does its job. Four minutes later, the lander makes contact with the orbiter again. It has survived reentry! It is descending on its parachute, and appears to only be a few kilometers off of its projected landing point. And touchdown! Eve Lander has made it! As dawn breaks a couple hours later, the lander has deployed its solar panels and antennae and is beginning its science mission. It remains to be seen how long it will last in the brutal, unforgiving environment of The Purple Planet. (Intern Steve is starting a betting pool, if anyone else is interested.) Meanwhile, back in orbit, Eve Orbiter is also getting settled in for its science mission. At its next apoapsis, it adjusts its inclination to about 45 degrees to increase its coverage of the planet's surface. Then when it reaches periapsis again it burns almost all of its remaining fuel to circularize its orbit. Now it is set to begin studying the planet in earnest. Eve Explorer is the last of the major interplanetary probes to be launched as part of our exploration program. And with its successful arrival we will be drawing Phase 6 to a close. The next report will be the announcement of the exciting new phase in kerbalkind's exploration of space!