JNSQ Gilly on Kerbalism (Looking for program names!)

[Clamp-o-Tron]

1020-273: 

The Kerbal Space Administration of Cape Town has submitted a formal budget request of the MacKerman parliament for an ambitious plan to follow up on their successful and still ongoing Triton landings on the Mun and Minmus. Says director-general Cernan MacKerman, “The completion of the first round of kerballed landings has allowed the technology to catch up. Using this the plan is to test long-term habitation in space with a visit to Gilly, as well as gather important scientific information to share with the space international group.”

Critics of the plan and Cernan’s abandonment of first-generation Triton landings say that the wide reaching plan is trying to do too much, too quickly, and not for enough scientific gain. Amberger Kerman, a science journalist and leading skeptic, claims that the plans involve “both too much legacy hardware and too many new components. They threw out the stuff [Triton first-generation] that was working well, and want to replace it with equipment that have never been tested.” Many also express the opinion that the program cost too much, more than the barely acceptable Triton program, when that money could be used for safer, cheaper, and more investigative unkerballed craft, or just used on Kerbin instead of shot into space.

Skeptics of the wide-reaching plan in the parliament that have expressed their opposition do not number enough to strike down the budget request. However, many are wary of Cernan’s decisions after the KSA decided to abandon Triton Munar landings in favor of service to Munar-orbiting space stations which will be supplied by a much-delayed Pegasus lander. 

Nonetheless, members of the scientific community and KSA are excited about the possibilities of this proposal.

Edited March 5, 2021 by Clamp-o-Tron

[Clamp-o-Tron]

Year 1021, Day 24

Construction of the GLSSDR spacecraft (Gilly Landing Site Scout and Data Return) has begun in the KSA’s spacecraft assembly building. Shown above is the final design, which will be attached to a large 2 km/s dV hypergolic insertion stage, and finally mated to a Wyrm-4LC rocket for its transfer window in about a year.

The spacecraft is designed to test orbital navigation around the Eve-Gilly system, land on Gilly, take samples of soil and dust, stabilize for 20 days of rest on the surface, return to orbit, and burn home with the collected samples. Most important for a crewed mission is the stabilization on the surface, as previous Gilly landers had serious problems remaining stationary after touchdown.

Year 1021, Day 26

Coincidentally, another event important for the voyage takes place just a few days later. Kerbin Orbital Materials Sciences Station launches on a Wyrm-4LH rocket for a 203x197 km 0 degree Kerbin orbit.

When deployed and met by crew a few days later, it will become the most advanced scientific laboratory in history, running experiments on protein crystals, micro-gee construction, robotic manipulation, materials exposure, as well as biological  reactions to micro-gee and vacuum, well after the crew of the two scheduled visits leave. The results to those experiments along with fire-suppression, gas recycling, and other experiments meant to push the boundaries of a spaceship will be sent back to the ground in an integrated capsule.

The two crew rotations will spend a total of more than a year in space, exceeding the previous record by several times. This will test the strain on a Kerbal’s body and all the other challenges that come with a multi-year mission in deep space.

In approximately 2 days a Triton Block II with an extra consumables module in the fairing and three crew will launch on a Taranis-22 rocket to LKO and rendezvous with the station.