Apollo Applications Challenge Report

[loch.ness]

After a hiatus from the game yet again I'm getting back into my orbit by restarting my AAP challenge with a new save and modlist.  

Important mods are:  Kerbalism, KIS, ModRocketSysm, Planetary Base Systems, Stock Size Real Solar System, Space Y lifters, Surface Experiment Package, MOLE, Buffalo Rover, Ven's Stock parts Revamp.

Current project plans include the Apollo core mission, a short term lunar base, a long term lunar base, Skylab, Viking missions to Moon, Mars, Titan, and Europa, Long range probes to the outer solar system, and hopefully manned missions to both Venus and Mars (Titan and Europa if I get really ambitious).

For the time being I plan to be using KSP 1.22.

Format:  I'm most comfortable with prose writing interspersed with pictures.  I will likely alternate between formal reports, diary like entries, and audio transcripts depending on what the mission itself requires.

 

 

Mission Report AS-201.  compiled by: Gene Kerman.

Summary:  AS-201 was our first successful suborbital test of the Saturn 1B launch vehicle using a dead weight payload exceeding the estimated weight of the Apollo Command and Service Module.  The first and second stage engines performed well within expectations.  Analysis of the burn times reveals that the Saturn 1B does not currently possess enough delta V to put a fully fueled Apollo Command and Service Module into low earth orbit without use of the Service Module’s engine and fuel.  Plans for addressing this are currently being debated with ideas ranging from orbital refueling to a cry of “more boosters!”  At this time no one is recommending more struts.

Details: 

The Saturn 1B rocket is our newest heavy lifting Rocket.  The lower stage uses 8 powerful engines to provide the lift necessary for payloads as heavy as the proposed Apollo Command and Service Module.  The upper stage uses as “Skipper” rocket engine for a good balance between upper atmosphere an vacuum operations while also providing large amounts of thrust.  The upper stage also houses the Saturn IB's flight computer systems.

Pre-launch checks revealed small surges in electrical systems in the Saturn 1B’s flight computer.  Bob Kerman is at work attempting to isolate the cause of the power spikes.  The surges were well within our pre-set safety margins so the launch continued though ground crew was advised to remove themselves from the immediate area earlier than planned.

Ground crew reported healing metal groaning when the eight [Engine type]s fired with their combined [number] thrust.  Linus Kerman reports that it would be impossible to hear anything other than the roar of those engines, and even then the sudden rush of sound would leave Ground Crew temporarily deaf.

Flight control reported a steady climb with all numbers looking good.

Linus Kerman reports that the Saturn IB splashed down hard and broke apart.  His team of environmental scientists have prepared a number of recommendations to prevent damage to the oceans on subsequent launches which we will be implementing.

Next Mission – Our next mission with be AS-202, an orbital test of the Saturn 1B rocket with a reduced payload.  Mission will include obtaining earth orbit and multiple firings of the upper stage engine.

[loch.ness]

Mission Report AS-202.  Compiled by: Gene Kerman

Summary:  AS-202 was our first successful orbital test of the Saturn 1B upper stage engines.  Tests included multiple shutdowns and reigniting of the engine as plans for project Viking call for multiple burns from the upper stage for Orbital maneuvers and mid-course correction burns.  All engines continue to perform within expectations.  Early simulations suggested that aggressive gravity turns presented a danger of launch failure leading to an overly conservative turn on AS-202’s launch and a longer than hoped orbital insertion burn.  Corrections will need to be made to the flight profile for Project Viking.  It has been determined that The Saturn 1B launch vehicle will only be used along side the Apollo Command and Service Module for Near Earth testing and missions.  A larger and more powerful rocket is being designed for the lunar missions themselves.  Wherner is advocating for something he calls “Nova” while Bill is proposing an upgrade of the existing Saturn hardware with a separate lander that will return itself to orbit and rendezvous with the Command and Service Module.  Both are working on their designs. Bill’s recommendation has a lot of moving parts but is cheaper.  Wherner’s is more expensive but safer.

Details: 

Electrical surges continue but remain well within safety guidelines.  Bob Kerman and Bill Kerman have been fiercely debating how the surges might interact with textiles in the Command Module.  Bob Kerman insists that the wiring insulation will prevent any issues while Bill is concerned about the quantity of flammable textiles used in the Command Module such as Velcro and Nylon.  Apart from the debates no issues arose during countdown.

Launch went smoothly with no issues to mention.  Flight reported that with the lighter payload the Rocket needed a gentler touch for future flghts.  Updates to the flight profile for Viking flghts were made by Val and Jeb during the post-flight.

The rocket’s first stage separation is a complicated affair as the explosive decoupler cannot engage without its payload faring being discarded and that presents a high risk of debris striking the control fins.  Temporary loss of control at staging requires quickly firing the Stage 2 engine and using its gimbals to maintain course.  Flight recommends delaying the separation until the rocket has reached the upper atmosphere.

After obtaining orbit the engine was fired three times to ensure reigniting it did not present a problem.  After that Flight made the decision to de-orbit over the Arctic against the protests from the recovery team.  Flight claimed that they wanted to ensure communications would not be lost for the planned Antarctic landing of Viking 1.

We did experience a communications blackout with the Saturn 1B as it re-entered the earth’s atmosphere.  This was determined to be because of the atmosphere converting to high energy plasma through the friction of a high speed re-entry.

At Linus’s recommendation we used a parachute system to recover the upper stage of the rocket.  Further analysis suggests that we might be able to design a re-usable lifter vehicle in the future which could replace the Saturn 1B for near earth operations.  Any plans for such a lifter will be proposed following success in our primary goal of a Kerbaled moon landing.  Our flight crew did not plan their decent with recovery in mind however instead they attempted a landing in the Arctic regions.  A disciplinary review revealed that boredom induced by a lack of kerballed flights was responsible.

Next Mission – Our next mission AS-203 will be a very dull and routine crewed test of the Apollo Command and Service Module’s on board electronics and life support systems.  Jeb has complained that the rocket will not be going to space and therefore the test is not worth doing.  He has agreed to participate mostly because Bill and Bob threatened to ground him from future missions if he did not participate.  Jeb finally agreed to take the mission seriously but only if it had a more official sounding name than AS-203.

Transcript of Kerbgressional Testimony by KSC director Gene Kerman and staff about the AS-203 “Apollo 1” incident. 

Apollo 1 used the now decommisioned Block 1 Command and Service Module and the Saturn 1B launch vehicle.  The mission was an on pad electronic and environmental systems test.  15 minutes into the test the crew reported a fire in the Command Module.  A transcript of the KSC team's testimony before the Kerbgressional Review Panel follows.  Kerbgressional representatives Walt and Mortimer presided over the review with Director Gene Kerman, Dr. Linus Kerman, and Ground Crew team lead Gus Kerman speaking for the KSC.

Walt:  Director.  Please walk us through the events leading up to the incident.

Gene:  Following the successful tests of the Saturn 1B rocket we felt encouraged to pursue manned missions as early as this fall.  With that in mind we ordered both boilerplate and fully functional Command and Service Modules.  Our science and Engineering teams were at odds in the weeks leading up to the pad tests about a number of issues.

Mortimer:  Your previous report indicates that this was over the excess of Nylon and Velcro in the command module.

Gene:  That is one of the two debates yes.

Mortimer:  Can your associates explain the two sides of the argument?

Gus:  I can speak to the engineering team’s concerns while Linus can speak to the science team’s concerns.

Linus:  Thank you Gus.  The Block 1 Command module made heavy use of Nylon fabrics for seats, safety belts, and webbing which allowed for easy storing of the Kerbonaut’s suits and gear.  By design nearly every surface that could accommodate it had small Velcro patches to help reduce the constant annoyance of objects drifting while in microgravity.  The Engineering team raised several concerns over our use of these materials because they were highly flammable.

Gus:  The Saturn 1B launch vehicle’s systems had a history of minor electrical surges.  Our team was uncomfortable with the amount of flammable material which was in close proximity to the electronics of the Command Module.

Linus:  It was ultimately our conclusion that the Command Module’s insulation should prevent any fire from being started through contact with the textiles that the Kerbonauts had contact with.

Gene:  I would also like to add that we found the source of the fire to have been a piece of electrical insulation which had been cut too thin during the many repairs.  The thin insulation cracked, allowing a spark to start a fire in the all oxygen environment and then burn the insulation itself.  As such the fire originated in the environmental systems and not in the crew cabin.

Walt:  But It did spread.

Gus:  Yes it did.

Mortimer:  Was the poor insulation responsible for the bad smell reported by Dr. Bob Kerman prior to the incident?

Linus:  We have not found the source of the smell in our reports yet, though our working theory comes from Bill’s report that Jeb had had a very fibrous lunch and had already hooked his suit’s atmosphere to the ship’s when that smell was first reported.  We do not think it is related to the fire.

Mortimer:  Can you be certain of that?

Gus:  Bob is an electrical expert, he is well familiar with many smells common to electrical fires such as burnt rubbers and plastics.  In the audio tapes he sounds less frightened and more frustrated at the smell.

Gene:  Jeb’s chuckling while he complains also led us to think the Smell was not connected.

Walt:  Why was an all oxygen environment used for this test?

Gene:  The test was supposed to be an hour long simulation of the environmental and electronic systems.  We had previously decided to use all an Oxygen environment on the ship due to concerns about weight.

Gus:  The science and Engineering teams went over these concerns several times.  Ultimately we felt that the danger of a fire was low due to our previous assessments about flammable materials in the Command Module and that the continued presence of those materials made the reactivity of Oxygen a lesser issue.

Linus:  We were also concerned with medical issues that can arise from the Nitrogen/Oxygen levels getting unbalanced during the flight.  We did not want a situation where the crew were suffering from the bends immediately after Extra Vehicular Activities on the moon.

Gus:  The science team felt that the all Oxygen environment posed a danger to the command modules systems because of the highly reactive and corrosive nature of the gas, but the engineering team noted that no command module was planned to fly long enough for those concerns to be realistic.

Walt:  Director, the last thing we want to hear from your team today is the status of the three Kerbonauts on the mission.

Gene:  Jebadiah Kerman was in his seat and strapped in when the fire broke out.  Somehow the explosive decouplers had not been disengaged and he was able to use the ship’s staging systems to break the command module free.

Gus:  A previously undetected weakness in the systems diverted part of the fire into the ship’s RCS systems and threw the command module clear of the rocket where Jeb was able to use the recovery parachute to ensure a safe landing.

Linus:  Bill had been attempting to open the hatch and received a heavy blow to his head while Bob was in the process of unstrapping himself form his chair and got his arm caught in the fall.

Gene:  All three remain in critical condition.  Jeb has severe burns and is being kept in a medical comma while he heals.  Bob has both burns and broken bones but is awake and helped work on the report.  Bill is recovering from his fall and has the least amount of clear damage, though it is unclear how badly he hit his head.  Currently the doctors are optimistic about their recovery but they will not be ready for active duty for some time.  We have decided to proceed with several unmanned missions while they recover.

Walt:  what plans do you have to restore our faith in your program and its projects director?

Gene:  Our next launches will be the start of Project Viking which aims to send unkerballed landers to sites of interest throughout the solar system.  Viking 1 will be a test of all systems here on Earth while Viking 2 will be a test of the system on the Moon.

Gus:  By the time we've got Viking 2's lander on the Moon my team will have drawn up plans for a new Apollo Command Module with Linus's team to prevent an incident like this happening again.

Mortimer:  See that you do.  Another near failure like this could mean the end of your budget permanently.

[loch.ness]

Mission Report Viking 1. Compiled by Valentina Kerman.

  

Summary:  So yeah, we landed in Antarctica.  Guess what?  It’s very cold there.  The landing thrusters were strong enough to do a powered landing which surprised me.  I was expecting a sudden loss of audio followed by a very anticlimactic orbital photo showing none of the explosion.  I guess it’s a good thing we didn’t crash the Viking Lander seeing as it would have leaked that plutonium all over that Antarctic mountain.  Still I’d been looking forward to an attack by a 30 meter tall fire breathing penguin in my twilight years.  Gene says that since I remote piloted the landing this time I get to help program the landing computer for the moon shot on Viking 2. This better put me in the driver seat for the real Moon Landing.

Details: 

Wherner gave me this schematic and said I’m supposed to explain it.  Um… the bottom part is a Saturn 1B which you should know about.  If not read Gene’s reports cause he studies this stuff.  I just know it’s a big fast rocket which I haven’t been allowed to ride yet.  I can’t really write a good review until I give it a ride.  Above that you’ve got Viking.  This cute little unkerballed ball of tech on top is our lander – affectionately known as the raiding party.  The cluster of solar panels and coms relays in the orbiter, or long boat.  You see the longboat carries the raiding party until its time to go Viking and then the Raiding party plants itself on a foreign shore and steals all the science.  Well, its only really able to measure temperature, pressure, radiation, and Linus threw some goo on it but we can’t transmit anything about that so its pretty much useless even though it looks cool.

 

The Launch committed the unforgivable sin of not having me on-board – other than that it went well.

 

Viking achieved a polar orbit with lots of left over delta V.  I tried to plot a course to the Moon when Gene wasn’t looking, but he was always looking.  I get that following the fire we needed to be on our A game but couldn’t we have gone straight for the moon with that game?

 

The Longboat started transmitting just fine and a remote systems check showed everything green.  We released the raiding party.

 

Raiding party Starts off with about 40 m/s of retrograde burn from we hooked up to the decoupling system.  With good aim that’s enough to put it on course.  If you aim is bad, not saying mind is, but if it is; there is a strategic monopropellant reserve hooked up through the heat shield system for fine tuning orbit and decent.  It doesn’t work great with the Aero shell up, but it does work.

 

Apart from the comms blackout due  to plasma build up during re-entry the decent was flawless.  The drogue chutes slowed things down a lot, but no-where near enough.  We needed to shatter the aero shell and deploy coms before cutting Raiding Party loose or it would have crashed and created the penguiny monstrosity known as Avianus Rex. 

 

Switching to thrusters we found that it had pretty impressive thrust – Wherner has told me I am not allowed to test ride the Viking probes because he’s a spoil sport – and enough Delta V to not only land, but to move over and avoid that canyon it was headed down to.

 

Science boys say the data readings are useful, but I mean, how useful can “cold” be when talking about a place permanently covered in ice?

 

 

Next Mission – Same thing but on the moon.  I don’t think the heat shield or parachute it going to be useful.

[loch.ness]

Mission Report Viking 2. Compiled by Bob Kerman.

Summary:  Even with a broken arm it feels good to be writing reports again.  This is report is for our second Viking Mission which put a communications relay satellite in orbit at the moon and a lander on the surface.  I'm told by the piloting team that the Viking performed above and beyond expectations though the lander's thrust is a little off center and that will need to be accounted for before Viking 3 and 4 are readied for celestial bodies further away.  Scientific results from the Viking will be helping Linus and myself design a Lunar Excursion Module for.  Linus is concerned about the radiation levels beyond near earth orbit.

Details:  Valentina was overseeing launch procedures again and her report shows no aberration in the early flight of the Saturn 1B rocket.  I crunched numbers with Wherner and if we could reliably launch the S1B into a properly inclined orbit it should have enough delta V to throw a Viking to Venus or Mars.  I don't think Viking would be viable out at Jupiter or Saturn though so I'll be making recommendations to Wherner for a probe that could make visual surveys of those more distant worlds and their moons.

Once you have a strong enough rocket and solid enough math, achieving an actual lunar insertion burn is rather dull.  That is unless you are a pilot or a mission controller.  A good deal of snacks were shared about mission control and Gene even tried on a new vest in honor of the occasion.  I joined in the celebrations, because of free snacks, but I reserved my real celebrations for once we'd achieved polar orbit.

For Vacuum operations we ditched the aero-shell and heat shield.  I'm not really sure why they were sent up on the mission.  It seems like a waste of funds really though I guess it is cheaper than buying a custom Viking for each mission.

No real surprise that we got the lander on the moon in one piece, I mentioned that in the summary before.  With more than enough thrust for a powered landing on earth with the atmosphere interfering there was no real danger on the moon.  Valentina's more colorful verbiage during the landing came from a failure of the radar altimeter to detect the distance to the surface combined with our lack of accurate maps of altitude across the lunar surface.  We're working to install better altimeters on all pilot-able crafts in the future but we've invested in swear jars for probe landing.  I expect that once we get to Europa landings the jars will be able to pay for a lunar do-over or two.

Next Mission:  Apollo IV - automated boilerplate mission.

[loch.ness]

Closed doors meeting at the KSC regarding Apollo IV and V.  Transcript provided for Kerbgresional Review.

Mortimer:  We've spent a lot of money on this program and would like to have something to show for it.  I've got a museum lined up to display one of these used capsules now.  Can you tell me where they are?

Walt:  Lets not get ahead of ourselves Mortimer.  Lets get a rundown of the missions in question.

Mortimer:  Those can be done in the usual boring mission report manner.  I need something with a bit more pazzaz if I'm going to get more funding at this point.

Gene:  Well, the dive teams have located the Apollo IV capsule and it is mostly in tact, so it should be recovered soon.

Walt:  Dive teams?  We do not need another public failure on this problem.

Gus:  Everything worked fine on our end, the launch went smoothly.

Gene:  We've got a nice glossy promotional picture of the new Saturn V on the launch pad.

Walt:  Let me see.

Mortimer:  I'm going to need more than that, but it is a start.

Walt:  Got any thing for launch operations?  These look like they involve a lot of jobs in a lot of different places and I can always sell that. 

Gus:  The Saturn program does employ a lot of people.  Between engine bells, fuel, pumps, tanks, decouplers.

Mortimer:  What did you use that behemoth for again?

Gene:  Apollo IV was a test of the Saturn V rocket and the Apollo Control and Service Module mark 2.  We launched the rocket into a medium earth orbit to rate the heat shield on the Command module for re-entry.

 

Bob:  Everything worked beautifully I might add.

Gus:  Except...

Bob:  That wasn't me.

Walt:  Nothing exploded right?

Gene:  Nothing exploded.

Mortimer:  Do we have to pay anyone?

Gene:  No one was hurt so I doubt it.

Walt:  Gene, be straight with me.  Does it make us look bad?

Gene:  We didn't have any receiving antenna on the Command Module for remote deployment of the parachutes.  A minor oversight since the crew would be handling that normally.

Gus:  We corrected that for Apollo V too so we know the parachutes work.

Mortimer:  Why wasn't the flight computer tasked with that?

Gene:  There was a small typo in the code, the computer thought that command was a programer comment and skipped it.

Mortimer:   How does a computer-

Bob:  Want the short or the long version?

Walt:  Short!

Bob:  We forgot to flip the on switch on that part of the code.

Walt:  I can spin this as a test for the event of a parachute failure.

Mortimer:  So, did the capsule for V return?

Gene:  Yes.  It most certainly returned to earth.

Mortimer:  This is the one that went to the moon right?

Walt:  Ooh, I like the potential for these publicity photos.  The launch loose rather impressive this time.

Gene:  The launch was pretty standard this time as well.  We got badly inclined in the launch though.

Bob:  Val said we launched at the wrong time of day.  Still there was plenty of fuel to get into the correct inclination.

Walt:  Flight still by remote?  It would do us a world of good to get some publicity shots with actual crews in space, even if its just orbital stuff again.

Bob:  Apollo VII will be the first crewed flight.  A low earth orbit test of the life support systems over 12 days.

Mortimer:  Tell me you aren't using one of the big rockets for that.

Gene:  No, VII will fly using a Saturn IB.

Walt:  What's the little blue thing in the background of this?

Gene:  Next to your finger?

Walt:  Yeah.

Gene:  That's Earth Walt.

Walt:  Is it a small world after-

Mortimer:  Don't finish that!  We can't afford the royalties.

Walt:  But I mean, that's tiny.

Bob:  Well, that was taken when Apollo V was out near the moon.

Mortimer:  Now these are photos we can use to drum up some funding and this is the capsule I want for my museum.  Where is it.

Gene:  About that.

Walt:  Also, where is Jeb.  He's suppose to be back at work by now.

Gene:  We had to send Jeb on a delicate mission.

Walt:  If it is delicate why did you send Jeb?

Bob:  He'll either succeed through annoying people, succeed by doing something incredibly stupid, or succeed by surpassing all expectations and being diplomatic.

Mortimer:  You've got a lot of confidence in Jeb.

Gene:  I can't count the time he should have died and managed to instead do something impressive and praise worthy.  

Walt:  We practically funded Mercury on getting people to bet against Jeb.

Mortimer:  Okay.  New question.  Why do you need Jeb for this task then, and where is that capsule?

Bob:  The targeting of our return was off by several miles.  We missed the south Atlantic.

Gus:  The parachutes worked though!

Mortimer:  Where is it?

Gene:  Its in Argentina.  It landed in some farmland there and Jeb is working on getting it back to us.

Walt:  Lets keep this part out of the news for now...

Mortimer:  Get Val working on better return targeting.

Gene:  Already on that.

Mortimer:  What are your next missions?

Gene:  We've a Saturn V launch of a long range probe headed for Jupiter.  It won't get there for years though.  And we've got the launch of Apollo VII.

Walt:  We need news crews interviewing the VII crew.

Bob:  Val's in charge of that, we'll get you introduced to them.

Walt:  Just so long as no one is talking about Argentina.

[CastleKSide]

Nice! Good dialogue. Looking forward to more.