Duna Space Program: Part 24: Epilogue

[Angelo Kerman]

 

Unfortunately for me, the savegame with my Pathfinder test base on Minmus suffered from a corrupted file due to moving mods in and out of the game, so I had to start over. Then I thought, what the heck, and decided that my new test base would be placed on Duna, and that I’d create a mission report for the effort. I’ll fill out the mission report as I have time, this is more of a test base than a storyline, and I still have a lot of work to do on my mods, but I have the first four parts of the mission report done. Here's Part 1.

Part 1

The first half of Duna I’s flotilla took to the skies a few weeks before the Duna transfer window opened. First up was the Colony Drop containing elements of the base. Next came the Cargo Buffalo with resources needed for the base, and finally, the Crew Buffalo lofted into orbit. Both trucks could be remotely driven and had enough room for the crew should their landing craft arrive off course.

Several months later, the flotilla arrived in Duna orbit. Each delivery vessel took its turn aerobraking in Duna’s atmosphere. While the Colony Drop had a heat shield, neither truck’s transfer stage had one, and ultimately heat shields proved unnecessary. With each craft safely in low Duna orbit, one by one they began their descent. The Colony Drop found what looked like a good spot and landed safely. The trucks had a more difficult time; both suffered damage upon landing but they were still mobile. Some careful driving later, they parked themselves next to the Colony Drop and went dormant, silently waiting for their explorers.

The second Duna transfer window was fast approaching, so KSC began launching the second half of the Duna I mission. The Duna Tug went up first, followed by the Duna Flyer (landing craft), and finally the TERRAIN satellite. Mule went next. The robot cargo truck- really just a self-propelled trailer- had a supply of rocketParts needed for base assembly. Finally, Pegasus, the crew transport, took to the sky on autopilot. It flew straight up until its Supernova fusion engine- the world’s first- had enough thrust to reach orbit.

With just a couple of days to go before the launch window opened, Space Shuttle Sparrow blasted into the sky with Mitch and Isaxy at the controls. Jeb felt awkward as a passenger, but his responsibility as the Duna I mission pilot kept his nervousness at bay. Val, the mission commander, could care less about being in the pilot seat. Bill, Bob, Surina and Gerbles rode in the shuttle’s passenger pod.

The trip to orbit proved uneventful, and the crew quickly got to work after their ride left for home. The Pegasus needed a few minor repairs after its trip to orbit but she had enough fusion pellets and liquid hydrogen left for her trip to Duna. Or so the crew thought.

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Edited February 16, 2016 by Angel-125

[Angelo Kerman]

“And that’s MECO,” Jeb said triumphantly. “How far off are we, Bob?”

Bob ran the numbers through the navigation computer, then frowned. It wasn’t looking good at all. “Uh, we don’t have an encounter with Duna. None in the fleet does. We definitely will need mid-course correction burns. Ours will be in 78 days, The tug’s will be in 128 days, and Mule in 158.”

“Ok, that’s not too bad,” Jeb acknowledged. “Do all the ships have enough fuel to orbit?”

“Oh yeah, we’re still ok if we all aerobrake.”

“Uh Bob,” Valentina chimed in, “Check those numbers, they’re not going to work. We’re going to run out of snacks.”

“What!?” My juice boxes, Jeb thought to himself.

“Our course correction is in 78 days, then it’s another couple hundred to reach Duna,” Val explained. “Our snacks will run out ten days before we reach Duna’s SOI. We’ll be on emergency rations.”

“Oh man,” Bill said, “I hate those things. I will not be a happy space camper.”

“Can we just speed up?”

Bob ran some numbers. “Not really, Jeb, no. It’s a balancing act between getting there faster versus getting there in one piece. Even if we could get there faster, we have to wait for the rest of the fleet. And they won’t have enough fuel to reach Duna, or they’d have to dig so deep into the atmosphere that they’d be forced to land, and who knows where they’d end up.”

“Swell,” Jeb responded. “Any other good news?”

“Actually, we have a problem with the fusion reactor and Supernova,” Bill chimed in.

“Oh?”

“We’re burning through our fusion pellets pretty rapidly, Jeb. If we leave the engine idling and the reactor running, we’ll burn through our supply in a few days.”

“Well that’s just peachy. Ok, Val, what do you want us to do?”

“She’s your ship, Jeb, so this is just a suggestion. I’d shut down the reactor and engine, then lock the reactor’s battery- we don’t want to run into the problems we had trying to charge the batteries to start the reactor and then the engine like we did when we came aboard. Then we rely on the solar arrays for the rest of the trip. We can’t do much science without the extra power, but at least we won’t freeze.”

“Ok, so there’s nothing we can do about the snacks *sniff* because we don’t have the fuel,” Jeb lamented. “Bill, let’s get the reactors offline.”

“On it,” Bill responded. “Mandarin is offline, and I’m locking its battery. Ok, Supernova is”¦ not responding.” (author’s note: I have another bug in DSEV to fix). “I sent the shutdown command but the engine won’t respond. Oh, now it’s in some weird state.”

“Uh”

“One sec, Jeb, I’m gonna try something.” Bill hacked into the Supernova’s operating system and issued a diagnostic reboot. A few seconds later, the fusion engine rebooted and shut itself off. “Got it,” Bill said, smiling. “Only downside is that we can’t restart the engine or shut it off remotely. Once we leave the Pegasus, we’ll have to come back to get things going again.”

“Ok, I can live with that. Val, you want to inform Mission Control?”

“Yeah, no problem. Hm... Gerbles, can you do a diagnostics check on the high gain?”

“Yup! Let’s see” Uh, my panel says 'you must install a high gain antenna to continue.’ I think that’s bad.”

“Oh you’ve got to be kidding me,” Val said, astonished. “First we are supposed to make the whole trip in freefall because we have no centrifuge, by design. Next the contractor left off the RCS thrusters, then we find out that we’ll run out of snacks before we even get to Duna, and now this! What was Mission Control thinking! You know what? I’ll ask them. Switching to low-gain. This is going to take awhile.”

“Better do it before we’re out of range of the Minmus Relay,” Gerbles warned. “Once we leave Kerbin’s SOI, we’re on our own until we can build an antenna.”

Val said nothing as she fumed and tapped out her message.

Many months later, Duna Flotilla 2 reached their target, with Pegasus arriving first. Aerocapture simulations showed that the solar panels, which could not be retracted due to budget reasons- would sheer off at altitudes below 17km, so Jeb performed the braking maneuver at approximately 20km. The crew struggled with the fusion engine's troubles, periodically running diagnostics and rebooting its operating system, but they still managed to bring the craft safely into Duna orbit, albeit in a retrograde orbit. The crew would have to wait a few more days for the rest of the fleet- and their beloved snacks.

The Duna Tug arrived ten days later- also in a retrograde orbit- but it took another two and a half days to aerobrake and stabilize its orbit.

Wasting no time, Jeb maneuvered Pegasus into the vicinity of the Duna Tug, undocked the Flyer, and remotely piloted it to Pegasus' nadir docking port. Finally, the Duna Flyer docked with Pegasus, and the grumpy, hungry crew immediately broke into its food stores.

Its primary delivery mission complete, the Duna Tug had one last mission to perform: deliver the TERRAIN satellite to polar orbit. It had plenty of fuel to do the job after ditching the Flyer, and might have enough left over to return to an equatorial orbit after dropping off the TERRAIN should it be needed again. For now, the tug remains docked to its last cargo.

Edited December 1, 2015 by Angel-125

[Angelo Kerman]

“That’s the last of the closeout procedures,” Bill said. “We can leave at any time. Since we fried the low-gain on the way in, we’ll have no way to control the Pegasus when we leave, but since we have to have somebody here to restart the reactor and engine, I guess that’s a non-issue for now.”

“We’ll cross that bridge when we get to it,” Val replied. “But good work, Bill. I’m headed over to the Komet to get her started up. Finish up what you’re doing, everybody, and head over. I want to be on the ground before lunch.”

“I hear that,” Surina answered, packing away the last of her personal belongings. After surviving on emergency rations for a few weeks, she was always hungry and ready for snacks.

Jeb was the last to leave the Pegasus. He strapped himself into the Komet's cockpit and pulled out his kPad.

“Say cheese,” he said, taking a quick snapshot of Val.

“No fair, I wasn’t ready!”

“Too late, Val, I already took it. Ready to take the controls again?”

“I was born for this, Jeb. I have the spacecraft.”

“Roger that, I stand relieved.”

Valentina transferred flight control to the Komet’s cockpit and undocked from the slumbering Pegasus. Half an orbit later, she performed the de-orbit burn.

The glide down from orbit was uneventful. Komet’s landing point would be well short of the base, but the rocket plane’s glide profile would more than make up for it. As it was, the Komet overshot the base by a few kilometers.

“She doesn’t turn too well unpowered,” Val noted. “It was fine on Kerbin. I guess the lighter atmosphere is playing with the aerodynamics.”

“Want me to try?”

“Nah, I got this, Jeb. I’m going to goose the engine for a bit to help us turn.” Komet’s engine flared to life for a second or two. It was just enough to help the rocket plane complete its turn.

“That worked. We’re still a few clicks out, so I’ll hit it again and boost-glide.” Again Komet bucked in response to the engine’s thrust. Just as quickly, the g forces stopped.

A few minutes later, the rocket plane was less than a kilometer away from the awaiting Colony Drop and Buffalo vehicles. Valentina edged Komet ever lower, paying attention to her instruments.

“Woah, terrain,” Jeb said excitedly. The rest of the crew looked pretty nervous.

“I got it, don’t worry about it.” Val flared the rocket plane to avoid the hill and simultaneously slow down as much as possible, then dropped the nose before she stalled.

“Terrain is really rough,” Val said. “Crew, brace yourselves for impact.”

Nobody expected the rough terrain, and designers could only guess at the Komet’s aerodynamics on Duna. The Komet landed hard and then bounced into the air, sliding sideways before Val recovered and got the plane flying straight again. It slowed down more as the hill dropped away, then set down again.

The rocket plane rocked slightly on the uneven ground and slammed her wings into the ground. She lost her outer elevons almost immediately. If it weren’t for Valentina’s expert flying, the plane would’ve rolled on the ground and broke apart. Instead, Val straightened out and slowly applied the brakes until the plane came to a stop.

Nobody breathed for several seconds, not sure if they actually set down safely.

“Any landing you can walk away from,” Jeb quipped.

“Can it, Jeb,” Val retorted, “think you can do better? Don’t answer that. We’ve got a couple hundred meters of delta left, easily enough to taxi to the base from here. You guys ok back there?”

“Uh, we’ll let you know in a few minutes when our guts catch up,” Bill called out. “We’re ok, just shaken up.”

“Yeah, that was rough. Sorry. But hey, we’re on Duna! Ok, lighting the engine, time to taxi.”

A few minutes of taxiing later, Komet came to a stop next to the Colony Drop and awaiting trucks. It was all very surreal.

Val extended the plane’s ladders and the crew filed out. Valentina planted the flag and Jeb set up the selfie camera as the crew lined up for a photo op. Even though the crew hadn’t had contact with Mission Control for months, they wanted to record the event for posterity.

“We take these first steps on Duna on behalf of all Kerbalkind. We wouldn’t be here without the herculean effort of everyone in the Kerbal Space Program. We’ll make you proud.” And curse Mission Control for all the gaffs, Val thought. “Let’s get to work.”

A few hours later, Bill had the initial base set up. It was a good thing that the Cargo Buffalo brought along some rocket parts; the original plan was to recover the Mule before setting up the base, but it was 30 days late. That gave Bill plenty of time to effect repairs on the Buffalos.

At last, the Mule arrived in Duna orbit and performed its aerobraking without incident. Unlike its predecessors, Mule's transfer stage had the potential to soft-land on the surface. If successful, Duna I would have additional resources to scavenge and utilize. If not, at least they tried.

Navigational problems resulted in the Mule overshooting the landing site. Trying to slow down, its autopilot fired the main engine at full thrust.

When the altitude reached below 1km, the stack separated and the chutes deployed. Trying to land 20 metric tons onto the surface is a tricky affair; both the Mule and its transfer stage landed hard. While the transfer stage lost its main engine, the rest survived.

The Mule damaged all of its tires, but at least its vital cargo made it safely to the surface.

Edited December 1, 2015 by Angel-125

[Angelo Kerman]

Jeb and Bill set out to retrieve the Mule sitting just 4.1km away in the Crew Buffalo, newly renamed the Dunamobile. The compact RoveMax wheels proved to be quite slippery on the surface of Duna; Jeb kept the Dunamobile upright while Bill occupied himself by designing new wheels. "They should be able to rotate 180 degrees," Jeb said. "That would make surface docking much easier."

The drive took what felt like hours to complete, but eventually they reached the landing site.

While the Dunamobile- recharged, Bill hopped out to repair the Mule's tires. No luck, the Mule was too overloaded. Unfortunately, removing the parachutes didn't help either. And worse still, a fully loaded Buckboard MC-3000 massed more than the two kerbals could lift. They needed help.

Fortunately, the Duna I expedition brought two Engineers, two Scientists, and two Pilots, not to mention two trucks. Back at Lowlands Base, Val made an executive decision to send Bob and Gerbles out to help retrieve the Mule. Some creative stacking enabled Gerbles to unload the Cargo Buffalo before heading out.

After a trip up a few slippery slopes, the Cargo Buffalo arrived at the crash site. All four kerbals hefted three of the Buckboards onto the flatbed. It still wasn't enough; Bill simply could not repair the wheels.

Undeterred, Bill and Bob hauled the loaded containers back to Lowlands Base while Jeb and Gerbels took a break in the back of the Dunamobile.

The duo made a quick turnaround at Lowlands Base after precariously stacking the three containers onto a Saddle.

After returning to the crash site and unloading the Mule completely, Bill successfully repaired its wheels and all three vehicles linked up for the trip back to base.

The first train on Duna burned through its batteries fairly quickly, requiring it to stop periodically to recharge. It was late afternoon by the time it arrived back at Lowlands base.

While Bob and Surina finished up their soil analysis, the rest of the crew shifted boxes around and set up the remaining base elements.

A couple of hours later, the team regrouped to hear the bad news. The Lowlands had ample metal ore and a mediocre ore concentration. But it was bone dry and its mineral content was next to nothing.

“This is why you send the resource scanning satellite BEFORE your expedition," Valentina Kerman screamed in frustration. Without water and minerals, there would be no crops. Without crops, the team would have to break out the emergency rations- again- after about a year. Even those would run out eventually. Nobody wanted that.

There was no doubt that the base had to move.

Edited December 1, 2015 by Angel-125

[DMSP]

This looks quite cool!

I'm gonna stick around to see what happens.

[Gumby1973]

“On it,†Bill responded. “Mandarin is offline, and I’m locking its battery. Ok, Supernova is… not responding.†(author’s note: I have another bug in DSEV to fix). “I sent the shutdown command but the engine won’t respond. Oh, now it’s in some weird state.â€Â

“Uh…â€Â

“One sec, Jeb, I’m gonna try something.†Bill hacked into the Supernova’s operating system and issued a diagnostic reboot. A few seconds later, the fusion engine rebooted and shut itself off. “Got it,†Bill said, smiling.

Yeah, once I switched on the Supernova in my career game, I had to use the diagnostic bug reset button to turn it off. Every time I come back to the ship, I have to stop it from recharging the capacitor on its own. It's a minor annoyance.

[Dafni]

Nice mission report and some cool writing too. I´ll keep an eye on you

[Sanic]

Interesting.

But I think you need a more extravagant title.

Just sayin...

[Angelo Kerman]

This looks quite cool!

I'm gonna stick around to see what happens.

Thanks!

“On it,†Bill responded. “Mandarin is offline, and I’m locking its battery. Ok, Supernova is… not responding.†(author’s note: I have another bug in DSEV to fix). “I sent the shutdown command but the engine won’t respond. Oh, now it’s in some weird state.â€Â

“Uh…â€Â

“One sec, Jeb, I’m gonna try something.†Bill hacked into the Supernova’s operating system and issued a diagnostic reboot. A few seconds later, the fusion engine rebooted and shut itself off. “Got it,†Bill said, smiling.

Yeah, once I switched on the Supernova in my career game, I had to use the diagnostic bug reset button to turn it off. Every time I come back to the ship, I have to stop it from recharging the capacitor on its own. It's a minor annoyance.

Definitely on my list of things to fix, now that I got the latest Pathfinder/Buffalo done.

Nice mission report and some cool writing too. I´ll keep an eye on you

Interesting.

But I think you need a more extravagant title.

Just sayin...

Thanks, it's starting to shape up. I appreciate the feedback on the title, I changed it to something more fitting...

Edited October 30, 2015 by Angel-125

[Angelo Kerman]

Surina began pouring over the TERRAIN scanner’s resource maps while the rest of the crew worked out a temporary solution to their dilemma.

“If it weren’t for the juice boxes in our snack packs, we’d be pretty lost,” Jeb said.

“Don’t get in the way of Jeb and his juice boxes,” Val joked.”

“Hey, I like my juice boxes!” That got a chuckle out of the group.

“Ok, so this place is bone dry. How do we get water,” Val asked.

“The Watney,” Gerbles blurted out.

“The Watney?”

“It’s one of the configurations for the Doc Science Lab, Val,” Gerbles responded, “but that’s not important right now.”

“Actually, it is,” Bill pointed out.

“Guys, no nerd debates right now, ok? Just tell me your plan for the Watney.”

“Yes Ma’am,” Gerbles obliged. “Ok so the Watney is a chemistry lab, right? We get Bob and Surina to reconfigure the Doc into the Watney, and use it to make water.”

“Thanks for volunteering me, pal,” Bob said sarcastically.

“Hey, no problem, you-”

“Guys!”

“Sorry, Val,” Gerbles said sheepishly.

“I see where he’s going with this,” Bob said. “We use the lab equipment to combine monopropellant and oxidizer into water.”

“We’re in short supply of both,” Bill said as he looked at the base’s inventory. “But”¦ we can set up the other Hacienda and turn it into the Brew Works. Then we drill for ore and use the Brew Works to refine it into monopropellant and oxidizer.”

“Won’t that take a long time to do with the Gold Digger?”

“Sure Gerbles,” Bill answered quickly, “so we build a bigger drill and a mining rig to hold it.”

“That will need a lot more power-”

“Which we get by making more Ponchos,” Bill finished for the younger engineer. “The Solar Flare needs fusion pellets, which we can’t make without minerals and water, and the Hot Springs needs water. That leaves us with Ponchos, at least for now. We drill by day, then shut down the drills and go to batteries and RTGs for the night.”

“OK,” Val said, nodding. “So we can make water if we drill for ore. What about the minerals?”

“Simple,” Jeb replied. “Once Bob and Surina find us a good spot, we finish the DAV and use it to make a suborbital hop, dig up what we need, and hop back.”

“And lose our only option off of this rock? No way, Jeb. We can’t risk it where we’re at right now.”

“Fine, Val, we modify the Komet to-”

“We’re taking it apart to use its fuselage for the DAV, remember? You can’t have the Komet. You’ll have to make the trip in a rover.”

Jeb blanched at the prospect of spending hours in a rover. Then the cavalry arrived.

“Not if we build new crew modules, Val,” Bill pointed out.

“That’s a complicated piece of equipment,” Val retorted. “We haven’t built something like that yet. I’m not convinced we can.”

“So? We made screwdrivers, not to mention a couple of Chuckwagons.”

Val looked annoyed. “Those are a long way off from kerbal-rated, flight-capable cockpits, Bill.”

“Val, I can do it. We can do it. Just give me a shot. I’ll show you.”

Val took a breather, thought for a moment and then sighed. “Ok, if you can prove to me that you can build a cockpit, fuel tanks, and a working engine- and launch it successfully- then you can have the Komet.”

“Thanks Val,” Bill said excitedly, “You won’t regret it!”

“Ok, ok,” Val tried to calm the engineer down. “But first thing’s first. I need that other Hacienda out of storage and hooked up. Then I need you and Gerbles to show us how build a bigger drill, and finally, we really should re-establish contact with Mission Control”¦”

By nightfall, Bill and Gerbles had the remaining base elements set up and the antenna and drill deployed.

Edited December 1, 2015 by Angel-125

[Angelo Kerman]

Bill frowned. He checked and rechecked the connections on the high-gain, and everything was working as it should. He also double-checked the plans to see if they’d missed anything during 3D printing. It all checked out. “I can’t figure out why we’re not getting through,” Bill finally concluded.

“All we get is static.”

“I know, Gerbles, but why is the Ku band a mess? Actually, all of them are.”

“Beats me. Maybe it’s related to the increase in radiation? The sun seems to be a little brighter lately”

“I think that’s a question for Bob and Surina. Unfortunately, I don’t think we have the facilities to answer that question though.”

“Hm. Makes me wonder if Kerbin is experiencing the same problem”¦”

***

“I hope the new KSP Administrator works out better than the last one did,” Mitch said. “The last guy treated us and the entire program like some kind of expendable testing ground. I am not a lab rat to be experimented on and then crossed off along with the rest of the universe for the sake of some new feature!”

“Well, we are a research and development organization,” Aldbur answered. “But when the previous Administrator threw things together haphazardly- with the exception of his beloved space shuttle and Skylab- I can see what you mean. The new guy seems to be taking time to plan things out like, uh, like”

“Like writing a story,” Mitch finished for him. “Well, hopefully the new Administrator has his head screwed on straight. Anyway-”

“Alright folks,” Gene interrupted, “let’s get this mission briefing started. As you all know by now, the sun’s recent increase in solar activity has been wreaking havoc with long-range communications and has increased the radiation danger all the way out to Kerbin’s orbit- and a bit beyond, actually. Unlike typical solar events, which usually pass in a few days, this one is sustained for some reason that we can’t yet determine. In short, our star is grumpy and throwing a temper tantrum. What’s odd is that it just suddenly started happening. The science team is working on it. I’ll have answers for you when I get them.

“So far, Kerbin is mostly safe from the geomagnetic storms- plural- due to our powerful magnetic core, but our astronauts aboard Skylab pass through the radiation belts once per orbit. They’re ok for now, but cumulative exposure will be lethal. We need to launch a rescue mission to bring them home since somebody decided not to include lifeboats aboard Skylab.

“Given Skylab’s age and current condition, the new Administrator has elected to de-orbit it in favor of a newer, radiation-hardened facility. Space Shuttle Sparrow’s mission is to rendezvous with Skylab, retrieve the crew, and attach the de-orbit module. Once Sparrow returns home, Mission Control will fire the de-orbit module. Questions?”

Isaxy was the first to speak up. “How will the increased radiation affect Duna I?”

“By now,” Gene responded, anticipating the question, “the Duna I crew should be setting up their base and likely have been trying to contact us. Given their distance from the Sun and their built-in radiation shielding, they should be ok as far as their health is concerned. The contractor’s omission of a high-gain antenna on any craft in the flotilla really set us back, but even if they built one, the disruption of long-range transmissions makes it impossible for them to communicate with us, or vice-versa, for the foreseeable future. They’re on their own for now but-”

“How are we going to contact them,” Isaxy pressed. She really wanted to know that Gerbles was ok.

Not missing a beat, Gene continued. “The Administrator has a plan for that. It will take some time to put in place, however. For now, we have to abandon low orbit until we develop the technology to overcome the radiation hazard. But we’re getting off topic, let’s discuss the mission at hand...”

***

Space Shuttle Sparrow lifted off the pad early in the morning, her engines roaring against the pull of gravity.

As expected, the lower-stage guidance fins began heating up soon after breaking the sound barrier.

A few minutes later, Sparrow dropped the outer boosters. They suffered from low-speed collisions with each other a few tens of meters away from the stack, but they were expendable so it didn't matter.

Mitch pulled Sparrow into a dive to use Kerbin's gravity as a boost as well as to maintain the target orbital apoapsis. By the time the shuttle reached 68 kilometers, the booster's guidance fins were dangerously hot. Fortunately, the core booster ran out of fuel, and Mitch simply jettisoned it. Sparrow's Poodle engine finalized the orbital insertion burn, aided by the extra fuel tank in the payload bay.

Not long after achieving orbit, the Isaxy opened the payload bay doors and extended the solar panel.

It took just over a day to rendezvous with Skylab, and careful maneuvering with the RCS thrusters brought Sparrow in for a docking at the station's forward port. Lisa and Lengas were already packed and ready to leave the aging station; with its snacks running low and its frequent trip through the perturbed radiation belt, it just wasn't a fun place to hang out anymore.

Mitch undocked from the station but left the shuttle's nose port open for the next task. As Isaxy released the deorbit module, Mitch expertly guided Sparrow to its aft docking port, and then re-docked with Skylab.

Everything was going according to plan; Isaxy fired the deorbit module's decoupler, clearing its rocket nozzle while again separating the shuttle from Skylab.Half an orbit later, Sparrow performed her deorbit burn with just a couple hundred meters of delta-v to spare.

Not long after, Mitch performed a pitch maneuver and released the docking port and decoupler, flinging it away from the Shuttle, and then buttoned up the craft for re-entry.

Sparrow's trip through the atmosphere was uneventful, though the shuttle came up a bit short to glide home. Fortunately, her jet engines had more than enough fuel to reach the runway at KSC.

Since they knew it would be awhile before the next manned mission, the crew exited the shuttle for a photo op.

By coincidence, Skylab was in a perfect position to fire its deorbit motor not long after Sparrow landed. The solid rocket motor performed flawlessly.

The station careened through the atmosphere and its solar panels were ripped away by the airstream. Parts on the truss exploded due to the heat as well.

Unfortunately, deorbit predictions were a bit off; instead of landing in the water as intended, Skylab smashed into an uninhabited desert outback. KSC expected to receive a fine for littering at any moment.

Edited December 1, 2015 by Angel-125

[Sanic]

Yay! The Flea is finally useful!

[Angelo Kerman]

Sanic said:

Yay! The Flea is finally useful!

Yup! I barely used it, but realized that it would make a nice deorbit motor.

Anyway, here is Part 7:

“Last time I made a homebuilt rocket was back when I still owned the Junkyard,” Jeb reminisced as he admired the first rocket built on Duna.

“As I recall,” Bill added, “you nearly blew yourself up and then hired me and Bob to make it work. Then you very nearly achieved orbit in the Vulture. Sometimes I miss our old Salvage One space program...”

“And we would’ve kept going if it weren’t for the Kerbal Space Program bringing us onboard to stop us from making them look bad. How long has it been, Bill?”

“Oh, easily 20 years, Jeb.”

“Yeah. Long time, old friend. Anyway, she’s a beauty.”

“Yup! Welcome to the Duna Space Program,” Bill said proudly, admiring his design. “We build rockets from printed parts and space junk. Except ours actually work”¦”

Valentina studied the craft. The guys had been keeping it a secret as they worked on it. Or tried to. Since it was her base, she already knew what they came up with. Still, she decided to play along.

“Wait, is that the Appaloosa?”

“Good eye, Val,” Bill said triumphantly. “It’s a throwback to the early days of the space program, but I figured that would be a good place to start. We deleted the heat shield and just bolted it to the fuel tank, then replicated the Swivel engine from the Komet. Gerbles scavenged parachutes from the Colony Drop, and we recycled other spent parts to make landing gear. I made a small probe core out of backup parts from the Colony Drop’s core as well, since I knew you wouldn’t let Jeb fly it.”

“You know I would,” Jeb said.

“You’re kraken right I wouldn’t let him fly it,” Val retorted. “Not for the first flight at least.”

“Anyway,” Bill continued, “the plan is to wait for the TERRAIN to fly overhead so we can use it as a relay satellite. Then we launch the Appaloosa on a sub-orbital hop to what we hope is a better site for our base. If all goes well, then the Appaloosa becomes a beacon for us to aim for when we move.”

“What about the static? Will it affect communications?”

“It might, Val, so we’ll do some unplugged tests before we launch. If there’s a problem, then we abort and go with plan B.”

“Which is?”

“We step up our timetable to build the Bird Dog GPS satellites and fly them before launching the Appaloosa. It’ll take longer and we may need to recycle a few more things but with enough Bird Dogs in orbit with high-gains, we can overcome the static.”

“Great. Let’s get back inside and begin the countdown.”

***

It took luck and some computer hacking to cut through the static and talk to the overhead TERRAIN, but launching a Bird Dog proved unnecessary. At least for now. The team made their final checks before giving Jeb the final go ahead to light the candle and remotely pilot the world’s first 3D printed rocket. Appaloosa 1 separated from the decoupler and began to tip over. Jeb immediately lit the engine and blasted off of the launchpad. A few frantic seconds later, the home-built rocket pointed skyward. Using the sun as a guide, it headed east towards a promising patch of ground.

Appaloosa 1 arced over at 68 kilometers and headed back down again. A couple of short engine bursts ensured that the craft set down in the intended target area. Jeb extended the landing gear to help slow it down, and once again there was no need for a heat shield. At 3,000 meters above the ground, KSP’s most experience pilot popped the chutes. It would’ve landed hard were it not for a last minute engine burn to slow down.

“Touchdown,” Jeb said matter of factly. The rest of the crew cheered. “Not bad for a home-built, how’d I do?”

Surina checked the resource map overlay with the rocket's calculated position. Valentina stared at the location for a few moments while Bill read the rocket's telemetry data. The cabin interior was textbook perfect, showing no sign of leaks.

"Perfect," Val proclaimed.

Edited December 1, 2015 by Angel-125

[Sanic]

20 years?

Well it doesn't matter since kerbals are biologically immortal.

Lobsters are too, apparently.

[Angelo Kerman]

 

[quote name='Sanic']20 years?

Well it doesn't matter since kerbals are biologically immortal.

Lobsters are too, apparently.
Yeah, at this point in the save, about 20 years have gone by. Anyway, been busy working on mods, but here's the latest:

The Bird Dog 1 lifted off of the Launchpad, severely damaging it in the process. Once it cleared the tower, it straightened up vertically to begin its ascent. After settling its gyros, the satellite angled 45 degrees to simultaneously gain altitude and orbital speed. It didn’t take long for Bird Dog 1 to reach apoapsis, immediately deploy its solar panels and high-gain antenna, and circularize its orbit. Despite the sun’s radio interference, the high-gain was able to cut through the static and talk to Lowlands Base.

It still couldn’t talk to Kerbin, however.

***

“And we have water,” Bob said excitedly. “We even get some electric charge out of the process. I can pretty much do the same thing with liquid fuel and oxidizer.”
“Great job, Bob,” Val acknowledged. “Between this and the successful test flight of the Appaloosa and Bird Dog, we’re on our way to salvaging the mission. Ok, Jeb, you can have the Komet after we build another Iron Works. Appaloosa landed in what looks like a decent spot. Outfit the Komet, take Bill and Bob, and get us some minerals. And while you’re out there, confirm the TERRAIN’s findings. If it looks good, then we’ll make plans to move the base. Resources are tight, so you can raid the Mule’s transfer stage for whatever you need.”
“We need better wheels for the terrain,” Jeb said. “The existing ones are too slippery.”
“Can we build new ones?” Bill looked hopeful. “We can recycle the old ones, and whatever else we’re not using.”
Val gave it some thought, but it didn’t take long. “Go for it, Bill, we’ll need them at some point so let’s get it done now.” The veteran engineer immediately grabbed his younger counterpart and got to work.
***

With the rovers refitted, Bill and Jeb drove out to the Mule Transfer Stage to grab what they could. Jeb parked right next to the spent stage, and Bill wasted no time bolting ladders onto its sides to simplify the salvage operation. Soon, the explorers had what they needed and headed back to base.
A couple days later, Bill and Gerbles finished repairing and refitting the Komet for her new mission. After the team said their goodbyes, Bill, Bob, and Jeb posed for a picture before launching into the sky.
***
“She’s a bit sluggish,” Jeb noted as the Komet lifted into the thin air, “must be all the weight we’re carrying. I’m going ballistic-”
“And with me sitting next to you? Great,” Bill quipped.
“Not like that, heh! Ballistic arc. We’ll boost for as long as we can, then glide the rest of the way.”
Komet arced over at nearly 20 kilometers up, then headed downward. Despite Jeb’s piloting, the plane wasn’t going to reach their destination. Not wanting to give up, the veteran pilot waited until the last possible moment to deploy the chutes, but fourteen chutes proved inadequate for their load.
Jeb gripped the controls like a vice, this was going to be a hard landing. “Brace for impact!” Komet’s wings flexed as the craft slammed into the ground, but she held together. The only thing screeching louder than bending metal were Bill and Bob. They landed 31 klicks east of their desired landing zone, well short of their target.

And without fuel, they were stuck.

At least it didn't take long to setup the camp. Not long after, Jeb figured out why they came up short and landed hard.

Edited November 30, 2015 by Angel-125

[Angelo Kerman]

The next several days consisted of painstaking drilling for resources followed by 3D printing new components to expand Komet Outpost. Bill took some time to modify the Komet’s wings so that it could hold a variety of different resources, while Bob set up a Watney lab to create water as well as a Sunburn lab to make fusion pellets- Bill and Bob needed them for a project.

Jeb didn’t have much to do as usual, so he played fizzbin over the communications link with Val whenever it was available. “I want to fly like a bird,” he said after one frustrating hand. “Just strap on a pair of wings and go.”

“What pilot wouldn’t,” Val responded. “Maybe when we’re finally settled we can build one.”

Despite having an army of Gold Diggers working whenever there was daylight, resource extraction proved to be slow. Over the radio, Gerbles proposed a heavily modified version of the Hot Springs that would rapidly dig up resources. It would be ready by the time the trio got back along with something able to handle the increased heat output.

On Day 9 of their mission, Bill and Bob introduced their project: a micro-fusion reactor! The small, portable fusion reactor was every bit as good as the Solar Flare, but available in a much more compact form. With the Gold Diggers now running continuously, Komet Outpost became a proper supply depot. All they had to do is wait for their resources to accumulate. To pass the time, Bill refitted the Komet with some additional components.

Thirteen days after they left, Bill, Bob and Jeb left the newly renamed Supply Depot on automatic and launched into the sky with a hold full of minerals, rocket fuel, and even fusion pellets for their new micro-fusion reactor. They landed 1.3km from Lowlands Base and got stuck on a hill- the M1A1 wheels couldn’t handle the weight. Gerbles drove out with a tank of LFO, and Komet shot up the hill and parked next to the base without issues. After a reunion with all the expedition members, they got to work unloading Komet’s valuable cargo.

***

A couple of days later, Bill and Gerbles refit the Komet once more, this time giving it an aerospike engine for better efficiency and some additional chutes. Jeb and Bill set out to the Supply Depot again with their new Claw Marks strip miners and a Smoke Pipe cooling tower. All they had to do is produce enough organics before their snacks ran out.

Despite the additional chutes they still landed hard, and Jeb realized that they need a better way to slow down. Bill pointed out that the VTOL jets just need some action group reprogramming to make it easier to use them for landing, but he added some retro rockets to the ship’s nose to help it slow down.

Bill also restructured the base to make it more stable and installed two Claw Marks and the Smoke Pipe. With the increased drilling rate and continual power, it didn’t take long to process the raw materials into the organics that they needed. A short hop later, Komet returned with a load of organics and more minerals just as a sandstorm arrived. At last, Lowlands Base had enough supplies to make the move to a better spot.

[DMSP]

That was excellent!

I am glad to see that you are still up and running.

Are you going to move Lowlands Base to the site of Supply Depot? You could "Print" a craft with KIS/KAS to get it there with a Sub-orbital hop.

 

I'll be waiting for some more.

[Angelo Kerman]

8 minutes ago, DMSP said:

That was excellent!

I am glad to see that you are still up and running.

Are you going to move Lowlands Base to the site of Supply Depot? You could "Print" a craft with KIS/KAS to get it there with a Sub-orbital hop.

 

I'll be waiting for some more.

Thanks. I'm more a mod maker than storyteller, so my reports aren't as sophisticated as a graphic novel. My updates are slow as well, gotta make sure that the mods work.

I'm debating whether or not to move Lowlands Base or just leave it in place. Part of my goal with this mission report is to keep testing Pathfinder's base building aspects in a variety of different terrains, and making a new base might help ferret out the issues that other users are experiencing, so I'm leaning towards leaving Lowlands Base and just moving the vehicles and resources. I might just leave a few foundation pieces behind instead.

I actually have a better spot than the Supply Depot: Appaloosa 1 landed in a resource rich area, and the Komet set down in a respectable spot, but not as good as where Appaloosa is. Here's a screenshot showing the Appaloosa (far right), Supply Depot (slightly left of Appaloosa), and Lowlands Base (far left):

I do plan to 3D print parts via OSE Workshop (now that Pathfinder is updated to the latest OSE Workshop) and build a heavy hauler via KIS/KAS. I'd rather build a flyer than drive the 100km to the new spot...

[Mister Dilsby]

This is good stuff--must go back and read the whole thing again.

[Bev7787]

On 2 November 2015 6:29:48 am, Angel-125 said:

 

Bill frowned. He checked and rechecked the connections on the high-gain, and everything was working as it should. He also double-checked the plans to see if they’d missed anything during 3D printing. It all checked out. “I can’t figure out why we’re not getting through,” Bill finally concluded.

“All we get is static.”

“I know, Gerbles, but why is the Ku band a mess? Actually, all of them are.”

“Beats me. Maybe it’s related to the increase in radiation? The sun seems to be a little brighter lately”

“I think that’s a question for Bob and Surina. Unfortunately, I don’t think we have the facilities to answer that question though.”

“Hm. Makes me wonder if Kerbin is experiencing the same problem”¦”

***

“I hope the new KSP Administrator works out better than the last one did,” Mitch said. “The last guy treated us and the entire program like some kind of expendable testing ground. I am not a lab rat to be experimented on and then crossed off along with the rest of the universe for the sake of some new feature!”

“Well, we are a research and development organization,” Aldbur answered. “But when the previous Administrator threw things together haphazardly- with the exception of his beloved space shuttle and Skylab- I can see what you mean. The new guy seems to be taking time to plan things out like, uh, like”

“Like writing a story,” Mitch finished for him. “Well, hopefully the new Administrator has his head screwed on straight. Anyway-”

“Alright folks,” Gene interrupted, “let’s get this mission briefing started. As you all know by now, the sun’s recent increase in solar activity has been wreaking havoc with long-range communications and has increased the radiation danger all the way out to Kerbin’s orbit- and a bit beyond, actually. Unlike typical solar events, which usually pass in a few days, this one is sustained for some reason that we can’t yet determine. In short, our star is grumpy and throwing a temper tantrum. What’s odd is that it just suddenly started happening. The science team is working on it. I’ll have answers for you when I get them.

“So far, Kerbin is mostly safe from the geomagnetic storms- plural- due to our powerful magnetic core, but our astronauts aboard Skylab pass through the radiation belts once per orbit. They’re ok for now, but cumulative exposure will be lethal. We need to launch a rescue mission to bring them home since somebody decided not to include lifeboats aboard Skylab.

“Given Skylab’s age and current condition, the new Administrator has elected to de-orbit it in favor of a newer, radiation-hardened facility. Space Shuttle Sparrow’s mission is to rendezvous with Skylab, retrieve the crew, and attach the de-orbit module. Once Sparrow returns home, Mission Control will fire the de-orbit module. Questions?”

Isaxy was the first to speak up. “How will the increased radiation affect Duna I?”

“By now,” Gene responded, anticipating the question, “the Duna I crew should be setting up their base and likely have been trying to contact us. Given their distance from the Sun and their built-in radiation shielding, they should be ok as far as their health is concerned. The contractor’s omission of a high-gain antenna on any craft in the flotilla really set us back, but even if they built one, the disruption of long-range transmissions makes it impossible for them to communicate with us, or vice-versa, for the foreseeable future. They’re on their own for now but-”

“How are we going to contact them,” Isaxy pressed. She really wanted to know that Gerbles was ok.

Not missing a beat, Gene continued. “The Administrator has a plan for that. It will take some time to put in place, however. For now, we have to abandon low orbit until we develop the technology to overcome the radiation hazard. But we’re getting off topic, let’s discuss the mission at hand...”

***

Space Shuttle Sparrow lifted off the pad early in the morning, her engines roaring against the pull of gravity.

As expected, the lower-stage guidance fins began heating up soon after breaking the sound barrier.

A few minutes later, Sparrow dropped the outer boosters. They suffered from low-speed collisions with each other a few tens of meters away from the stack, but they were expendable so it didn't matter.

Mitch pulled Sparrow into a dive to use Kerbin's gravity as a boost as well as to maintain the target orbital apoapsis. By the time the shuttle reached 68 kilometers, the booster's guidance fins were dangerously hot. Fortunately, the core booster ran out of fuel, and Mitch simply jettisoned it. Sparrow's Poodle engine finalized the orbital insertion burn, aided by the extra fuel tank in the payload bay.

Not long after achieving orbit, the Isaxy opened the payload bay doors and extended the solar panel.

It took just over a day to rendezvous with Skylab, and careful maneuvering with the RCS thrusters brought Sparrow in for a docking at the station's forward port. Lisa and Lengas were already packed and ready to leave the aging station; with its snacks running low and its frequent trip through the perturbed radiation belt, it just wasn't a fun place to hang out anymore.

Mitch undocked from the station but left the shuttle's nose port open for the next task. As Isaxy released the deorbit module, Mitch expertly guided Sparrow to its aft docking port, and then re-docked with Skylab.

Everything was going according to plan; Isaxy fired the deorbit module's decoupler, clearing its rocket nozzle while again separating the shuttle from Skylab.Half an orbit later, Sparrow performed her deorbit burn with just a couple hundred meters of delta-v to spare.

Not long after, Mitch performed a pitch maneuver and released the docking port and decoupler, flinging it away from the Shuttle, and then buttoned up the craft for re-entry.

Sparrow's trip through the atmosphere was uneventful, though the shuttle came up a bit short to glide home. Fortunately, her jet engines had more than enough fuel to reach the runway at KSC.

Since they knew it would be awhile before the next manned mission, the crew exited the shuttle for a photo op.

By coincidence, Skylab was in a perfect position to fire its deorbit motor not long after Sparrow landed. The solid rocket motor performed flawlessly.

The station careened through the atmosphere and its solar panels were ripped away by the airstream. Parts on the truss exploded due to the heat as well.

Unfortunately, deorbit predictions were a bit off; instead of landing in the water as intended, Skylab smashed into an uninhabited desert outback. KSC expected to receive a fine for littering at any moment.

For 400 credits?

[Sanic]

I can't imagine your shuttle being that economical. The rocket looks really expensive.

[Mister Dilsby]

On 12/3/2015, 10:24:04, Bev7787 said:

For 400 credits?

We don't know the exchange rate of credits to roots. It could be like 6.02e23 tonnes to furlongs^3/hr or something.

[Angelo Kerman]

On 12/3/2015, 7:24:04, Bev7787 said:

For 400 credits?

 

1 hour ago, Kuzzter said:

We don't know the exchange rate of credits to roots. It could be like 6.02e23 tonnes to furlongs^3/hr or something.

Don't worry, some radio station will pay for it.

1 hour ago, Sanic said:

I can't imagine your shuttle being that economical. The rocket looks really expensive.

The booster costs 119,622 funds (total shuttle and booster cost is 172,803 funds without payload), so probably not economical but it's fun. I blame the previous Administrator, who threw stuff together, didn't plan, and treated his Astronauts like test subjects for some new feature. Besides the real shuttle wasn't that economical either, and I've yet to design something with the performance and economics of the stock Dynawing. The closest I got was the Komet, but it is just a crew transport:

[Sanic]

The real shuttle wasn't economical, so why should mine be?

"Best logic ever. Seriously." -IGN 

[Angelo Kerman]

Part 10

While the expedition members waited out the worst of the sandstorm, Bill led the effort to 3D print components for more Bird Dog satellites. Once the storm abated enough to become a non-issue, Bill and Gerbles assembled them one by one while Jeb and Val took turns remotely piloting them into orbit. After realizing that they had enough fuel, the pilots maneuvered the satellites into orbits of various inclinations and altitudes. Finally, with the Bird Dog constellation complete, the team could be anywhere on Duna and know exactly where they were. And while they still couldn’t talk to Kerbin due to Kerbol’s strange radio interference, at least they now had global communications coverage around Duna.

The team hammered out a plan to deliver non-essential resources to Midlands Site One (the potential next base location where Appaloosa-1 landed) via a scout craft. The team would take turns remotely piloting the craft, known as the Catepillar, and determine the best way to reach Appaloosa-1. Once val approved the plan, Bill and Gerbles assembled the rover from components produced in the Clockworks.

It took two days of careful driving, but the Catepillar finally arrived at Supply Depot. It lost several tires on route and flipped over several times. Bill resolved the software glitches it experienced along the way as well so that the main expedition’s trip would be much easier.

“It really helped to have the fusion reactor aboard,” Val commended Bill and Gerbles on the design. “We never had to stop to recharge.”

In the pre-dawn hours of Sol 61, The team split up again as Bill & Jeb took the Komet out for a short hop to Supply Depot. There they would wait for the rest of the team to make their trek, but not before repairing the Catepillar for the last leg of its journey. Several hours of remote-driving later, the scout craft arrived intact at Appaloosa-1.

Val and the rest of Duna Expedition 1 piled into their packed transport dubbed Big Rig 1. The team hauled 70 metric tons of hardware and supplies to the new site. Fortunately, their route proved to be much smoother, and they arrived at dusk two days after heading out, traveling just over 110 kilometers.

“We’re no Elcano,” Surina noted, “but between the Catepillar and Big Rig 1, that was a long trip.”

Before nightfall, Gerbles had the Pathfinder geology lab assembled. Bob and Surina quickly took soil samples to confirm the TERRAIN satellite’s findings. The numbers definitely looked promising. Wasting no time, the team worked through the night to assemble Midlands Base.

By the time Bill and Jeb arrived at daybreak, everything was up and running.

Author’s Note: Originally I wanted to fly all the supplies to Midlands Base, but decided to drive there once I realized that I wouldn’t have the new parts ready for awhile- IVAs just take too damn long, and I got sidetracked with MOLE. But I’m glad I made the trip over land, it helped me work out the bugs in the Grizzly and Mountain Goat wheels. Now I just have to fix a few bugs in Pathfinder…

Edited December 30, 2015 by Angel-125