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Taking flight

 

In the years prior to this moment, whereby a private entity attempted the launch of a liquid fueled rocket into orbit around Kerbin.   Space had always been the dream of the masses, yet the playground of the very few governments who had the resources to haul massive chunks of cylindrical metal filled with explosives into space. The tempo of the space development dance had reversed.  From sending Kerbals to the Mun, governments of Kerbin had went back to sending Kerbals into Low Kerbin Orbit.  The plans to go onto Duna had stalled to a halt.  

 

Jebediah Kerman, a retired astronaut who had walked on the surface of the Mun, always dreaming of the day tourists and private citizens of Kerbin could walk the stars.  Decided to take things into his own hands, initially he wished to purchase retired assets from the Viscian Military, these were too expensive however.  He decided to build his own rockets.  It had only been a matter of months since the first Chorus 1A Liquid Fuel Rocket Engine had rung out its first harmony.  Now stood on the test stand, a fully fueled rocket, standing by for the launch timer to hit 0.  It had been a long journey up to this point. Many minutes of testing and guidance simulations had been performed to check to the best of a Kerbal’s abilities that this would be a success.   The Tempo of the Space Flight Technological Development Melody was about to get faster.

 

After the first successful test ignition of the engine.  The Chorus 1A Engine used a pintle style injection, similar to the Munar Landers of the Kerbin 5 era.  The turbopump of the engine was used to allow for 3 axis control of the vehicle.

 

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The Engine recorded a peak thrust output of 170,600 Newtons at T+1 minute into the test the Chorus 1A Engine started testing a gimbal profile, the systems gimballed to 2 degrees, the turbopump exhaust 

 

A little while after the successful test ignition of the Chorus 1A (C1A), the engine was taken down and refurbished to be put upon the first launch attempt.  Meanwhile the initial test of the Chorus 1A Vacuum engine (C1AV) was attached to the test stand, preparing for its first ignition. 

 

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The engine ignited without a hitch, however in actual flight the C1AV would be pressure fed.  The test recorded a thrust of 7,000 Newtons under 1 atmospheres of pressure.

 

When the success of the engine testing regime had been verified and looked over, the tests moved onto qualifying the flight hardware the first and second stages flew through their qualification tests. But now it was time to see if the Melodia 1 Rocket would fly itself.

 

The guidance algorithm had been programmed to follow a turn based upon the apoapsis of the rocket, pitching it over to a pre-designated minimum pitch angle as the rocket reached a predetermined apoapsis during the ascent.  Upon the detection of flameout by the Chorus 1A Engine on the First Stage, then would command separation from it.  Revealing the second stage’s Chorus 1AV Engine to the vacuum of space, or the upper atmosphere.  At around 64,000 meters above sea level the fairing will deploy, revealing nothing to the vacuum of space as this is a test flight.  Upon reaching a targeted altitude the second stage engine will shut down, and coast until reaching the apopapsis, relighting to perform an orbital insertion.

 

At 5:28 Kerbal Time, the Melodia 1 Rocket took flight after a countdown which had began at 4:48.  

 

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Throughout the flight the data coming from the vehicle looked nominal.  As the vehicle began to pitch over the mission control center, composed of 8 Kerbals erupted into a multitude of high fives and cheering.  Yet they knew they wouldn’t know if Melodia 1 had reached orbit for another 20 minutes.  As the vehicle headed outside of the range of mission control silence echoed through the room, they knew the ringing of a telephone would inform them of a success or a failure, just they didn’t know what. It was 10 minutes into the flight, the vehicle should still be coasting towards a short insertion burn, little over 54 meters per second.  

 

The phone rang in the room, carefully Jebediah picked it up.  He jumped with joy as the communications downlink center confirmed the Melodia 1 had reached Kerbin orbit.  Yet however they were lucky, the fuel tanks had been run dry.  This indicated that the maneuver for orbital insertion failed in some way.  Additional guidance checks would need to be added in the next flight.  But yet orbit had been achieved on the first attempt, the team celebrated through the day and night of the achievement of “getting half way to anywhere”  Yet Jebediah knew he had to create an even bigger rocket to succeed in his goal of making space interesting again, he needed to inspire the world in an effective way to further his goal.

 

Authors notes:

Spoiler

This Mission Report/Story takes heavy inspiration from SpaceX.  I used a website (http://www.spacelaunchreport.com/) to gather technical specifications of the Falcon 1, Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy.  I take a heavy inspiration from the amazingly crafted KSA mission report/story.  Most aspects of missions will be done using Kerbal Operating System to automate as many actions as possible.

Instead of writing a story or a mission report, there is a balance between technical description and story. 

 

Edited by kerbinorbiter
Added small mod list for now
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With the success of the first demonstration mission for Melodia 1, Jebediah hosted a live webcast on VidKerb, a well known video sharing website on the prospects of the future for Viscan Space Technologies.   Within the webcast he stated the Viscan Mission: “To place Kerbals on the surface of everybody within the Kerbol system, have them return to Kerbin or colonies on planets whereby they are able to.  To take Kerbalkind’s next big leap, taking society interplanetary”.

 

He unveiled the next step in that journey, the Melodia 9.  The Melodia 9 will be a two stage Liquid Fuel rocket, able to carry at least 9 tonnes into Low Kerbin Orbit.  4 tonnes into Keostationary Transfer Orbit.  The Melodia 9 first stage will be powered by nine upgraded engines, The Chorus 1C.  The engine will power the rocket from lift off to stage separation, the stage will also include elements of the Space Transportation System, such as the parachute to attempt to splashdown the first stage in the ocean after lift off if possible.  The second stage of the Melodia 9 Rocket will be powered by 1 vacuum optimised Chorus 1C (C1CV).  This will propel the second stage from separation with the first stage to orbit.

 

Jebediah also stated the modularity of the first stage boosters, hinting at the possibility of strapping multiple cores together to create a heavy lift variant.  Potentially allowing for fuel crossfeed for maximum efficiency on launch.  The Melodia 9 will be a much bigger rocket than the Melodia 1 so Viscan has applied for a plot of land within the Kerbal Space Center to build their own launch pad.   The media had many questions for Jebediah during the webcast, specifically on the timing of the next launch for the Melodia 1 rocket, he stated that MS1C.2 - Melodia Stage 1 Core, flight 2 was currently being integrated with MS2C.2 and would be moved to the launch site once M9S2PFT-1 (Melodia 9 Stage 2 Prototype Fuel Tank 1) had completed its testing.  This testing includes pressurisation with inert nitrogen gas beyond its expected flight pressure for redundancy.

 

screenshot17.png 

 

The customer for the next launch of the Melodia 1 will be The Kerbal Communications Company, the satellite is to be launched into a low kerbin orbit.

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Melodia 1 - flight 2

 

The aftermath of the successful Melodia 1 Demonstration mission gained Viscan Space Technologies a platform to work on, a platform for space access to widen for the masses.  But yet Jebediah knew that if he were to open up a tourism business in space, it would go under quickly.  Government agencies had long offered launch slots to commercial customers, it was lucrative as slots were minimal.  After the launch the CEO of a well known communications provider, Bill Kerman, Kerbal Network Communications (KNC) approached Jebediah asking him if Viscan would launch an engineering test article into orbit for the price of 20,000,000 funds.  Jebediah immediately accepted.  However the condition was under that the guidance issue was fixed prior to the next launch of the Melodia 1 Rocket.  

Spoiler

The kOS function I used for the maneuver node didn’t realise when the node flipped - the acceleration was too high for it therefore it just spun and spun much like what happens when you use MechJeb with a space shuttle.   

 

I attempted to fix this by adding a check, should the angle of the maneuver node vector change to beyond 90 degrees of the current ship’s facing it will mark the node as complete.  This is also due to the way I coded the guidance system, once SECO occurs there is no correction for the existence of the thin upper atmosphere.

 

The Satellite would be placed into an orbit of around 150 kilometers above Kerbin where it would begin sending data down to the ground.

Dawn broke upon the launch pad as the KSC personnel were evacuated bar the Viscan mission control team safely in the firing room.  The countdown clock ticked down to T-0. with the engines ignited and at full thrust the ground hold downs once again released the Melodia 1 rocket into the skies.   Gracefully lifting into the air against the backdrop of the recently laid concrete for the first Viscan launch site for Melodia 9.  This launch site was closer to the rocket processing facility, meaning that the Viscan team wouldn’t have to roll the rocket out as far than they did for the Melodia 1 flights.  This was alongside the arrival of ground propellant supply tanks which are to be used fueling the Melodia 9’s tanks.  The launch of the Melodia 1 rocket went smoothly up until the time when orbital insertion began.  This was the part of the flight which was a partial success during the first mission.   Just before the burn was scheduled Melodia reoriented to the burn vector, prior to ignition the engine spooled up once more to begin the insertion burn.  Yet the rocket almost failed before a mission controler manually commanded the shut down of the Chorus V1A Engine.  This meant that all the burns scheduled would be commanded manually from the ground however.  At T+21:30 in Kerbin's shadow, the Melodia 1 released the KerbComm Satilite into Low Kerbin Orbit.

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The Melodia 9 was currently in the final phases of development prior to its maiden flight from Viscan Launch Complex 0 at the Kerbal Space Center.  The Melodia 9 was a much more capable rocket than the Melodia 1, which was undergoing preparations for its final flight, the guidance control computer had been reprogrammed to hopefully solve the maneuver issue.  This would be the same segment of software used within the Melodia 9’s maneuver guidance computer.  The Viscan Space Technologies Corporation had also developed a flight fidelity test article for their contribution to the recently launched Kerbalkind Space Station, a cargo vessel designed to berth with the station in Low Kerbin Orbit.  

The first flight of the Melodia 9 vehicle wouldn’t go to waste with a slab of concrete, it would be a test of both the Melodia 9’s system and the cargo vessel, named Harmonia.  The Melodia 9 will be launched using the first stage of the rocket, which will be attempting a splashdown in the ocean after lift off through parachute.  The first stage is powered by 9 Chorus 1C engines, these are expected to run out of fuel approximately 3 and a half minutes into flight.  By this point the Melodia 9 launch vehicle will have used 30% of its take off weight in fuel.  Just prior to the separation of the two stages, the parachute systems will be armed and the 2 Stage 1 retro propulsion rockets will be activated, these pull the first stage away from the second stage.  At this point the entire vehicle weighs just under 20,000kg.  Stage 2 is powered by a vacuum optimised Chorus 1C Engine (C1CV).  This will power the payload and the second stage into a trajectory intersecting the target orbit, at which point the vehicle will shut off its engine and coast to the highest point in its trajectory. At this point the vessel will wait to relight into an insertion burn.  After the Melodia 9 is in orbit it will release the payload at the designated time.


 

On the launch pad proudly standing was the Melodia 1 rocket, awaiting to grace the skies of Kerbin one final time.  Atop the second stage was a duplicate test article by the previous launch’s customer.  They had also announced a contract to launch an operational satellite on the Melodia 9.  This satellite will be orbiting at geostationary altitude, meaning that the Melodia 9 will need to perform two burns during this mission, consequently the software handling this will be tested during the last flight of Melodia 1.  The countdown of the booster went smoothly, with the rocket lifting off as normal, during launch it became apparent that the payload had broken free from its separation device, upon the occurrence of SECO-1, the payload drifted away from the vehicle.  Yet all eyes were glued to the orbital insertion burn, hoping that it would succeed.  With grace the orbital insertion burn functioned correctly, with no issues with the launch vehicle other than the premature release of the payload.  Yet the objectives of the mission were to test the systems that failed during the past Melodia 1 flights, this had been achieved with complete tolerance.

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It was a sunday, a calm morning as the Strongback supporting the vehicle of Melodia 9’s maiden flight rolled out of the vehicle integration building, gingerly making its way across the 200 meters or so distance between the integration building and the launch pad.  All 33.8 meters of the strongback and rocket inched out of the building slowly so the engineers and technicians could check clearances and ensure that the rocket was supported by the strongback itself.   Following closely was Jebediah, founder of Viscan Space Technologies.  Melodia 9 was to be a reusable system, rather than a system whereby the rocket was expended every time it flew.  This would hopefully save costs and further increase the “access envelope”, as jebediah called it, for space access.

The launch was scheduled for that Wednesday, with a static fire the day before on tuesday.  This soon arrived with the static fire performing nominally.  Dawn rapidly approached and the Melodia 9 Rocket began to exhale a concoction of Liquified Oxidizer, the Oxidizer was cooled into a liquid to improve the capacity of the tanks.  The countdown was set to launch the rocket approximately 2 hours after propellant load had begun.

At T-2 minutes the strongback erector which had transported the rocket from the vehicle integration building to the launch pad retracted slightly.

screenshot52.png

 

After this the next event was vehicle startup which occurred nominally, at T-3 seconds the vehicle commanded the 9 Chorus 1C engines to ignite, all 9 responded within parameters allowing the Melodia 9 to take flight.

screenshot54.png

 

At T+1:10 the vehicle became supersonic, it was at this time the plume began to expand into the lack of atmospheric pressure.  At around this time the acceleration of the vehicle exceed 3 times the force of gravity, at this point the throttle began to reduce to keep a steady 3g on the Harmonia capsule.

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Stage 1 began throttling back according to its predefined program, keeping 3gs of acceleration on the vehicle.  About 1 minute after the throttle down process began the 9 Chorus 1C Engines shut off.  The vehicle coasted as planned.

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After this the vehicle separated the first stage from the second stage, retro motors on the first stage were activated just prior to this.

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After the interstage was pulled clear of the second stage the Chorus 1CV Engine fired up

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Engineers noted that the guidance system hadn’t reset the throttle value it was requesting from the engine was lower than planned. Regardless of this the rocket was still within nominal parameters of flight and could still make orbit, the second stage engine cut off as planned and the rocket began coasting to Apoapsis to do its insertion burn.  This burn had never been successfully completed by a Viscan Rocket, all failing to reach a nominal parking orbit.  The engine ignited as planned and shut off 27 seconds later, the orbital insertion maneuver was a success.

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Next up was the separation of the Harmonia capsule from the launch vehicle.  This was to occur at T+10 minutes however the guidance system hadn’t been configured correctly causing it to crash completely.  The computer was restarted and a command was sent to the Melodia 9 Guidance Computer to separate the Harmonia, it did so swiftly.  The Harmonia then began its deployment sequence.  Jettisoning the side panels which kept the solar arrays covered from the atmospheric ascent and then deploying its wings.  

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About 20 minutes later the thrusters fired on the Harmonia capsule to bring it out of orbit and to a controlled splashdown. This brought the capsule into re-entry.

 

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After re-entry the capsule deployed 2 druouge chutes to slow its descent into the atmosphere.

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At around 10km one of the druouge chutes cut, the main chutes didn’t deploy until 8km

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About 10 minutes later Harmonia Splashed down from its test flight.

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Viscan Update 1.

 

In the years leading up to the formation of Viscan Space Technologies, the world embarked on an international space project, the Kerbin Orbital Lab.  The Orbital Lab was composed of a Viscanian Section and an International Section.  Throughout its life and construction it was mostly built using the Viscanian Space Shuttle, this however had been cancelled by the government of Viscania.  The last shuttle took flight just after the first Harmonia Capsule test took place.  Viscan offered the Viscanian Government a proposal for Viscan to launch Viscanian  Astronauts from Viscanian Soil on a Viscanian vehicle.  This proposal was accepted.  On the condition that the safety criteria for a potential space capsule was met.  This was to be discussed internally.

 

The last shuttle flight delivered an International Docking Adapter, fitted to PMA-1.  This would allow the nation of Keruvia to launch their Bobodus Capsule and dock it with the Station.

 

Jebediah, speaking after the first launch of a Melodia 9, stated that there were many improvements in the tunnel such as streamlining the manufacturing process with multiple changes to the first stage and the second stage.  Mainly he wanted to switch from a 3x3 square of engines into a circular octoweb arrangement.  This would allow for better aerodynamic properties on ascent.  He also addressed the failure of the Melodia 9’s capability to be reused.  He stated the first stage burned up on entry, therefore Viscan is looking into using the engines to land the first stage. Jebediah has also stated that he no longer wishes to launch the Melodia 9 in its current state, the development of what can only be referred to as “version 1.1” is currently in the works.

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