Pathos 1 - Extraplanetary Exploration and Colonization

[LukesWorks]

People, any of you who might be still following this!

The concept I was developing here was reformatted and is now on a new thread, Pathos 1 - The Story

 

 

Extraplanetary Exploration and Colonization

Welcome to the Pathos 1 Extraplanetary Exploration and Colonization programme. This programme's concept was created in 2032, and after twelve years of bureaucratic issues to solve, it was finally started in 2044. It's main premise is to grant Kerbalkind the expansion out of Kerbin into the main celestial bodies of the Kerbol System at start, soon to be followed by expansion towards other planetary systems.

It's current objective is to setup bases or colonies in the Mun, Duna and Laythe, as well as setup infrastructure to grant quality-of-life improvements to the colonists who will be inhabiting them.

Being such a large programme, it will be recruiting large quantities of kerbals and developing large amounts of hardware... as such...

Crew Roster:

Hardware Roster:

• Alpha-04 Launcher:
  Spoiler

  

  Designed for Project Apophis, the Alpha-04 Launcher is a rocket capable of carrying medium-size payloads in Low Kerbin Orbit (mass not an issue) and medium-weight payloads into the Mun, weather orbiters or landers. Not tested on interplanetary trips.

   

 

With the aim of fulfilling the programme's premises, Pathos 1 was divided into smaller, more accessible projects, listed, so far, as:

• Project Apophis; Project Apophis aims at establishing Pathos 1's basic technological framework, to provide a base to which future projects will hold themselves on. It consists of the establishment of a functional base on the surface of the Mun, as well as a network of permanent ships in space to sustain it.
  • Spoiler

    Mission Roster:

    ScanSAT 1: A satellite to search the surface of the Mun for large ore deposits - likely landing sites for future missions.

    ScanSAT 2: A satellite to upgrade the images provided by ScanSAT 1.

    Site Rovers: A set of rovers to be landed at the most likely landing sites, scouting the area and finding topologically viable landing locations.

    Seagull Spaceplane: A spaceplane capable of carrying a crew of eight, not accounting pilot and copilot.

    Tuna Ferry: A spaceship capable of ferrying a crew of sixteen to and from the Mun, with a shuttle to land and return to orbit;

    Apophis Base:

    • Communications and Command Module;
    • Engineering Module;
    • Power Module;
    • Mining and Refining Module;
    • Crew Module;

     

     

• Project Borealis: Project Borealis's aim is to setup, around the inner Kerbol planets (Moho and Eve, primarily Moho), a way to supervise Kerbolar weather so that missions won't be launched during high Kerbol activity, when storms are imminent. This monitoring is already made from Kerbin, but due to limits in both technology and physics, it is neither greatly accurate or delivered in a timely manner - Borealis will fix it. Mission Roster to be developed.

 

 

 

 

Final words, mods and stuff...

Spoiler

Well, that's what we have for now. I'm greatly invested into this though, so more should be coming.

For those who got the reference, the name Pathos 1 is not entirely my creation. It was heavily inspired by a game that came out recently, SOMA, by Frictional Games, where the main action happens in the Pathos 2 complex. It's a Survival Psychological Horror game I fell in love with and as such, if you're into the genre, I highly suggest you play it.

Also, the logos for the Projects were not my creation either, they are originally made by Unistrut, but I took them because they looked cool and I thought they'd fit.

I am using a few mods, mostly quality-of-life improvements to the game, and not in any way too disturbing from the stock experience: Kerbal Engineer Redux; Kerbal Joint Reinforcement; Kerbal Inventory System; RCS Sounds; Stock Clamshell Fairings; Trajectories; TweakableEverything; TweakScale; Ven's Stock Revamp; DangIt!.

 

Edited December 23, 2015 by LukesWorks
Discontinuation of the Thread

[LukesWorks]

Project Apophis aims at establishing Pathos 1's basic technological framework, to provide a base to which future projects will hold themselves on. It consists of the establishment of a functional base on the surface of the Mun, as well as a network of permanent ships in space to sustain it.

 

ScanSAT 1:

 

The ScanSAT 1 satellite was designated to be put in an polar orbit around the Mun, so that it analyze it's surface and detect the largest ore deposits present there. It was launched atop an Alpha-04 Launcher, whose upper stage was deorbited and crashed into the Mun surface after decoupling from the payload.

The satellite was put in an orbit with the following specs:

• Apogee: 501 km
• Perigee: 496 km
• Inclination: 90.13º
• Eccentricity: 0.00
• Period: 4 h

It detected eight ore deposits over 80% concentration, of which two were selected, Alpha and Beta, with over 90% concentration.

 

Rocket Diagnosis:

• MS-SRBs - performed as expected
• Beta-class Booster - throttle failure on engine
• Alpha-class Core - performed as expected
• Alpha-class Upper - performed as expected

Probe Diagnosis:

• Probe core - performed as expected
• Solar array - performed as expected
• Ore scanner - performed as expected
• Main/Backup communications - performed as expected
• Attitude control - performed as expected

 

Mission designation: Success

 

ScanSAT 2:

 

The ScanSAT 2 satellite was designed to pick up where ScanSAT 1 left us - by upgrading the imagery of ore density on the major sites, Alpha and Beta. To achieve such goal it was placed on a fairly inclined orbit, so it would pass over both sites at some point in its orbit. It was launched atop an Alpha-04 Launcher, whose upper stage was later deorbited and crashed into the Mun's surface. The information was gathered over the course of 39 days in Mun orbit.

The maps in files 5 and 6 were created by overlapping the images the M4435 Narrow Band Scanner provides while flying over the mentioned sites. The coordinates displayed are NOT 100% accurate, but extremely close, serving as a great guideline for future landings.

 

The satellite was put in an orbit with the following specs:

• Apogee: 252 km
• Perigee: 250 km
• Inclination: 43.87º
• Eccentricity: 0.00
• Period: 2h 04m (info in file 1 is wrong)

 

Rocket Diagnosis:

• MS-SRBs - performed as expected
• Beta-class Booster - performed as expected
• Alpha-class Core - performed as expected
• Alpha-class Upper - performed as expected

 

Probe Diagnosis:

• Probe core - performed as expected
• Solar array - performed as expected
• Ore scanner - performed as expected
• Main/Backup communications - performed as expected
• Attitude control - performed as expected

 

Mission designation: Success

 

SRA Rover A01

 

SRA Rover A01 - standing for Surface Reconnaissance and Analysis Rover designated for Site Alpha - is a probe equipped with the best in terms of surface analysis. It has a very acceptable cruising speed of roughly 10m/s on flat ground and good responsiveness to commands. It carries, as any probe, a main communications array and a backup, in case of failure, but, in this case, also carries a Surface Scanning Module, as the constant contact with the surface allows for the most optimal use of the gadget, as well as four deployable "Land Marks" designed to mark potential base sites. Launched atop an Alpha-04 Launcher, it landed on the Mun with the help of a Skycrane, that later crashed itself on Munar soil.

The flight was near flawless - the probe core's battery in the Alpha-class Upper Stage failed, not affecting the mission in any meaningful way. Skycrane landing was flawless. While nearing a crater, the brakes "failed" (we call it that, definitely not my error) and the rover rolled downhill, destroying all the solar panels in the deployable Land Marks, effectively rendering them useless after batteries ran out. Consequently, the mission was not concluded (the crater was also extremely steep, getting out of there would've been even more painful) to it's maximum extent, but a suitable base site was indeed found, allowing the mission to be classified as: Partial Success

 

Rocket Diagnosis:

• MS-SRBs - performed as expected
• Beta-class Booster - performed as expected
• Alpha-class Core - performed as expected
• Alpha-class Upper - battery module failure

 

Rover Diagnosis:

• Probe core - performed as expected
• Power Generation - performed as expected
• Surface Scanner - performed as expected
• Main/Backup communications - performed as expected
• Rover Controls - "braking failure"

Land Mark Diagnossi:

• Probe Core - performed as expected
• Solar Panels - destroyed due to previous "braking failure"
• Communications - performed as expected

 

Mission Designation: Partial Success

Edited December 8, 2015 by LukesWorks
Programme Update

[DMSP]

Cool stuff, you got a subscriber follower.

 

Good luck, can't wait to see more!

[EvilPanda]

Looking good! I'd love to see more!

[LukesWorks]

Thanks all! I'm working to update this as soon as I can, but some of the images take quite a while to make and this week's going to be a busy one, so it'll be slower, but hopefully it'll pick up pace afterwards.

[Thalamask]

Looking good, Lukes. Love the custom imagery, keep it up! 

[LukesWorks]

New mission report out - Check Project Apophis thread reply!

I'm kind of sad about this one (also just noticed this and won't do this ever again (bumping), first few times in the forum, forgive me please ): )... because I attempted to make both a topographic map of the landing site I found and a panoramic picture of it... however both revealed too time consuming and with little to no effective reward (both were looking awful).

Give me your thoughts, I'm open to suggestions specially this early on, when a slight change can make a huge difference

Fly safe!

Edited December 8, 2015 by LukesWorks