Arcadia - Permanent Kerbrazilian Minmus Base (pic heavy)

[Parkaboy]

Arcadia - Part 1

- Mission Control to Porreta I. This is Glauber speaking. Severino, do you copy?

- Copy, Glauber. Sitting nice and cozy here on top of all these tons of explosive rocket fuel. Are we clear to take off?

- Just a few more seconds, Severino. I was told to go over a few details about the mission with you again. I understand you were a last minute addition to the crew, right?

- Yep. My little brother was the designated pilot, but he fell with this girl and now isn't available to comit with a long duration mission such as this.

- And is was very nice of you to volunteer to take his place.

- What can I say? I was getting restless down here. Space is my one true love, after all.

- Very poetic. Are you getting along with you colleagues?

- Sure, we're already best buds. Right, Marcos? Right, Viridiana?

- Um, okay.

- ...

- Ain't Viridiana such a talkative girl? I know she's going to spend most of her time in the new base taking care of plants, so the greenhouse is sure to be full of loud conversation.

- Don't tease her, Severino. We have your clearance for launch. We go over the details later. You may start the countdown now.

- Woohooo! Low Kerbin orbit achieved! The Porreta I is ready for transminmunar injection!

- Well done, Severino! While we wait fpr the transfer window, let's go over a few more bits. Not only you'll be on charge of getting this bunch safely to Minmus, but you will also be landing by remote control the equipment we have already sent to orbit the little moon. Are you familiar with this equipment?

- Sure, there's a probe on the surface that's going to be part of the base, right?

- Yes, that would be Turquoise I, which we sent a couple of weeks ago. I'm sending you pictures of that mission.

- Nice! That is one huge-ass rocket, I must say.

- Yes, that's the Hecatomb I model. We launched three of those to get all the equipment you'll need in orbit. This was the first one. Notice the probe is a lot larger and heavier than would be needed for a simple landing on Minmu's small gravity. That's beacuse it carries a kethane-fueled power generator and a fuel reserve. You'll need that fuel, if the whole system we rigged to extract kethane from that deposit under the surface fails.

- I also noticed they landed the ship too. What was that?

- We decided to leave the nuclear ship a few kilometers away from the base site, as another fuel reserve, and maybe even as an emergency return vehicle. The ship was very efficient and we had lots of fuel to spare, and we're not taking chances with this mission.

- Other than having me as a pilot, you mean.

- That's the rest of the equipment, which we sent a few days ago. In the first pic you have the Extraction Module, with the robot lander and the manned rover. The second one shows the Habitation Module and the Hydroponics Module. Both were sent by the same rocket model as the Turquoise I probe. We plan on leaving those nuclear stages in orbit, as another fuel reserve. We'll need that fuel until we get the kethane refinery running.

- Neat. I hear that little rover is quite a marvel.

- Yes, we're quite happy with the project. A very useful little vehicle. You won't be able to put the base together without it. Okay Severino, your transfer window is coming up. I'll let you do your work.

- Thanks, Glauber. Minmus, here we go!

[zombiphylax]

Those are some pretty nice Minimus launch systems. How much fuel do the nuclear stages have left in orbit?

[Parkaboy]

Those are some pretty nice Minimus launch systems. How much fuel do the nuclear stages have left in orbit?

Roughly half, I think. I'm glad I added docking ports of all sizes to them, it would be a shame to waste so much fuel.

[Cashen]

That glassed in piece about mid-way up, what mod is that from?

Great post by the way. I love Minmus, I think it's much more fun to go to than Mun.

[RockyTV]

Holy sheit a Kerbrazilian that lives in the same city as me (Belo Horizonte)! Niceeeeeeeee!

[Parkaboy]

That glassed in piece about mid-way up, what mod is that from?

Great post by the way. I love Minmus, I think it's much more fun to go to than Mun.

That's from Lack Luster Labs.

[LaydeeDem]

Woah. Are you Parkaboy from Spore? Your creations are awesome!

Nice Minimus base!

[Parkaboy]

Woah. Are you Parkaboy from Spore? Your creations are awesome!

Nice Minimus base!

Yes, that's me. Next part is coming soon, by the way!

[Parkaboy]

Arcadia - Part 2

"Hi, Mom!

I know I promised to write soon, but we have been very busy during the first couple of days. Don't worry, I'm fine. We're all fine here: me, Marcos and the near mute girl, Viridiana. I told you I was going to send you pictures, so I'm sending a few annexed to this e-mail. I'm afraid there isn't much to see here. It's not a vacation, after all, so all the pictures I have are all about the mission."

"I undocked the Porreta I, which is the name of our lander, from the rocket that borught it to Minmus. The rocket was just a big tank with a detachable thruster. We got rid of the atomic engine, and voilá: we had an orbital fuel reserve, which the guys at the space center decided to call "Minmus Station One". I know, they don't have much imagination."

"A few minutes later we were landing on the chosen spot, right next to the probe. It was a very easy landing, a lot nicer than landing on the Mun. Going out and stepping in a new world... I thought I would never have that sensation again. It's a real rush! I can't believed Juca passed this opportunity for a girl. Good for me, now I'm not only the first kerbrazilian in space and on the Mun, but also the first one to step in Minmus."

"We didn't have time to enjoy the low gravity though. There was work to be done. After my two colleagues enjoyed their first visit to the surface I got back to the lander, where I remotely controlled one of the modules in orbit. It was time to land the extraction module. Again the landing was easy, and Marcos and I went check if nothing was damaged."

"That's me checking the controls of the Cambito, the little rover that came with the extraction module. That little thing is a marvel. Omni wheels allow it to move on any direction, and the telescopic suspension makes it possible to dock the modules together. Soon we were joining the extraction module to the probe, and we had the beginnings of our base."

"But we still had to bring down the living quarters. We couldn't sleep on a kethane drill, after all. Back at the remote controls in the lander, I undocked the robot lander that came with the extraction module and it took off back to orbit. Since the habitation modules, which were waiting above us, didn't have any thrusters, we needed the little ship to land them."

"And landing them was a challenge. Not only I had to bring two wobbly modules down, but also I had to drop them delicately on the ground separately, before landing the lander. No problem, though. You know how much I like challenges."

"Then Marcos and I were back on board the rover, speeding towards the modules. Another cool thing about the Cambito is the RCS propulsion system, which allows us to gain and loose speed more rapidly on the low gravity of Minmus. Soon we were bringing the greenhouse module back to the base. Viridiana lost no time, and went to take care of her little plants."

"And in no time we were docking the habitation module in the Base. And so was ready the first kerbrazilian base on Minmus. Well, not ready, but inhabitable. Arcadia still had much to grow. I promise to write you again soon, Mom. Until then, take care.

Greetings from Minmus,

-Severino"