RIP Radon "Spaceplane" NEW Pt.2: The Astatine Project

[Skyhawk]

It started off as what seemed like a good idea at the time: let's build a spaceplane! But without all the fiddly things, like landing capability! So Tritium Aerospace set it's finest engineers to work on solving the problem, and came up with an innovative solution: The Radon Spaceplane!

The idea was simple: once we're in space, we don't need tons of extra mass like wings, so why don't we just remove them in flight? The Radon was designed in such a way that just before the engines flamed out, decouplers would fire and remove these unnecessary wings. After that, a rocket motor would fire and boost the capsule into a sub-orbital/orbital trajectory. The plane was constructed and put on the runway.

Milden Kerman was chosen to be the first test pilot, and boarded the aircraft with a slightly nervous feeling, though he tried to be confident. He released the brakes, throttled up and began rolling down the runway, but a quarter of the way through, his wings started to collapse under the strain, and his aircraft rolled off the runway and exploded, tragically killing him.

The cause of the accident was determined to be a bad connection between the wings and the fuselage, and some reinforcement was added to those connections.

This time, Archibald Kerman was loaded into the test craft, and he seemed sort of excited by the new ship.

He sped down the runway, but on takeoff, he pulled up too high, stalling the aircraft, causing flameouts by the blocked intakes, and smashing back into the ground.

All tests were halted until an accident report was issued. The report found that the cause was pilot error instead of structural failure like the previous craft, and so the tests were allowed to proceed.

The next pilot chosen to fly the aircraft was Rosen Kerman. Rosen, a relatively new pilot, had done outstanding in the simulator for the aircraft, and was then chosen to fly it.

Rosen, however, suffered from worry, and lacked confidence in his vehicle after seeing the results of the previous tests.

Still, he managed to take the plane off and climb toward the sky. As it came time to separate, however, things went wrong.

Amazingly, his capsule managed to escape the disintegrating plane. Rosen then safely landed in the ocean.

Things would continue to go wrong for Rosen and the Radon. On one flight, the separation caused the vehicle to spin wildly and forced the separation of the capsule.

On others, separation would go fine, but then programming errors caused stages to fire two at a time, accidentally separating the capsule.

And finally, an unfortunate accident occured that drove the final nail in the coffin of the Radon program. Upon takeoff, the vehicle inexplicably veered of the runway. Rosen cut the engines and applied the brakes, but the front gear collapsed and destroyed the pod, killing Rosen and ending the Radon program.

Casualties:

Milden Kerman, RIP

Archibald Kerman, RIP

Rosen Kerman, RIP

We honor all these Kerbalnauts for their sacrifice for the dream of space.

Edited June 14, 2013 by Skyhawk

[tntristan12]

Sad! I would have liked to see the Radon succeed. Perhaps a heartfelt plea to the house services committee on the ethical treatment of kerbals will garner more funding and support!

[Skyhawk]

Yeah, it was disappointing. I do have an urge to revisit the concept now, though, so I may have a part two soon.

[Spaceisbeautifulul]

Very well written.

Also, that looks like a nice plane design, what was its flaw?

[astropapi1]

I had this same idea a couple of weeks ago. I managed to get an orbit, but then realised it's totally unpractical, useless, and difficult; so the project was abandoned. :/

[Skyhawk]

The only flaw was that it has a minor tendency to completely explode/spin/fall apart on separation.

I loved the plane, but it just didn't work.

[Skyhawk]

Disappointed by the cancellation of their project, the engineers of the Radon project got together one night to create a new vehicle. This vehicle would be better than the radon project, with redesigned separating sections and better engine pods. They labored long and hard on a design, working after hours for months and secretly using Tritium Aerospace's almost unlimited funding for their own research. One Saturday morning, they met in secret to test their project. One of the conspirators, Samguard Kerman, volunteered to fly the vehicle.

Samguard, excited for the new plane, was not only testing the Astatine's flight capabilities, but also the new push button staging system. The system would allow him to simply push a numbered button to advance him to the next stage of the flight. Samguard simply pushed one to fire up the turbojets, and the airplane started rolling. He rammed the throttle all the way forward, but the aircraft either didn't accelerate fast enough or simply had wings that were too small, but Samguard only got a few hundred meters off the runway before running into the ground and exploding.

Fortunately for the scientists, residents near the space center were used to explosions, and didn't think anything of a couple extra booms in the morning. The scientists, at that point not knowing the cause of the crash, simply rolled out a second test vehicle, the Astatine Mk. 2, and blamed it on the ASAS.

The new pilot, Bartrey Kerman, was a bit nervous about being told to fly a vehicle that was designed to fall apart, but he held a minor role in its design, and felt pressured to see it through. He therefore climbed in the capsule that fateful day, and began his preflight checks.

He too pressed the '1' button, and his plane began its run.

Unfortunately, he never made it into the sky. The plane couldn't gain altitude. Bartrey fired the rocket engine in hope of lifting it somehow, but it was too little, too late, and it crashed into the ocean only a few hundred meters past the wreck of Samguard.

The scientist were then scattered by Tritium employees, who had noticed the unauthorized testing from cameras on a station that was passing overhead. The scientists reconvened that night in a workshop on the disused island, revising their plan. They added more wings and wing surfaces, and though they considered robotic testing, they never went through with it, for fear of contaminating Kerbin with broken RTG's. Over the next week, they would build it in small pieces in their spare time, and came together to assemble it on another Saturday morning, this time when a station wasn't overhead. The Astatine Mk. 3, as they called it, had a greatly redesigned front wing surface, as well as major additions to the rear wing. They were more confident in this design, and they put it on the runway.

The new test pilot was Nelfrod Kerman, a relatively young pilot who had joined the project only a few days ago. Despite being a newbie, he was chosen for his excellent ability to pust numbered buttons in the "Kerbal Numbered Button Pushing Simulator" at Tritium Aerospace's crew facilities.

He stepped into the cockpit, and did what he was trained to do: push button number 1. He sped down the runway, and the new wing surfaces worked. The craft lifted off with about 100 meters left on the runway, and he climbed into the sky.

Delighted that it had gone so well, he then proceeded on to the second part of the flight: pushing button 2. Because of the previous failures, this was a system that had never been tested before, and all scientists squealed in delight when the landing gear ejected perfectly, crashing into the glassy sea below.

Nelfrod quickly pulled up to a high angle, climbing into the sky. He quickly went over 10,000 meters, and as the air got thin, decided to remove the wings. He reached out, and with a steady hand, pressed the number 3.

This action simultaneously shut down the turbojets and ejected the wing surfaces. Ejecting the wing surfaces separately from the engines proved to be a wise choice, preventing the engines from ramming into anything important. After waiting for the engines to shut down, Nelfrod was ready for button 4.

The jets separated smoothly, also igniting the rocket engine at the same time, which boosted the capsule into a sub-orbital trajectory.

Nelfrod Kerman went to space today.

Nelfrod decided to burn until he was projected to land over on the other side of the sea. He then separated his capsule and prepared to re-enter.

*Cue re-entry slideshow*

Upon landing, Nelfrod quickly exited his capsule, out of worry it would roll down hill, only to find that the ship was actually fairly stable. So he planted a flag instead, naming the place "Nelfrod Cliff".

Upon confirmation of landing, all the scientists at the space center cheered, celebrating their success, before being arrested by Tritium Aerospace Security Staff, who promptly carted them off to jail for misusing company funds.

Still, they got their flight data, and now had a lot of time to look over it.

A final tribute to all the Kerbals who lost their lives in the Radon and Astatine programs:

Milden Kerman

Archibald Kerman

Rosen Kerman

Samguard Kerman

Bartrey Kerman

May they rest in peace.