MinimumSky5

The R-7 rocket family has non gimballing main engines, and smaller, highly gimballing vernier engines on the core stages and boosters. Beale is going for realism on that, but he hasn't yet made the smaller rockets, so you have to use the stock verniers.

Another thing I do with the characters, is I keep a list of them at the bottom of my master copy of the story, and I frequently check it to make sure that nobody is being missed out, and that I remember who works with who!

I start with the two base stats, but for me, Stupidity actually means Impulsiveness (because a stupid scientist just makes to sense!) That gives me some form of character to work with, and tells me where the kerbal will naturally want to be (Luddo and Tilotte were my most confident whitesuits, so they became Wernhers personal assistant and the head of Propulsion, respectively.) Other attributes I decide as I go along, making sure to try and keep diversity going (Hadcas is a little socially inept, most defiantly not a morning.... kerbal, and is incredibly stubborn.)

Because, after Spirit and Opportunity, there was no reason for NASA to send a rover to Mars again.

No, go on, tell me more about Aptur!

In my stories, Jeb isn't nutty, he's very impulsive (As there haven't been any manned missions yet, his character hasn't been explored much, besides, I wanted to introduce other kerbals that aren't part of canon first.) So, for example, on EVA he may decide to stay outside longer than planned because Kerbin is so beautiful, but he will go in when his life support begins to run low.

Aptur is half the size of Minmus, but has twice the gravity (0.1g compared to 0.05g).

Uranus also has a magnetic field that is generated in its mantle, rather than its core, and so the magnetic field is offset be half a planetary radius from the core. Its exosphere is extremely odd, it that it acts more like the suns corona than the other gas giants atmospheres. Uranus also has no internal heat engine, unlike the other planets.

KSK, I would be very surprised if someone could fault First Flight! But I also don't mind my own writing being pulled up, provided that your not going to complain about a random typo!

It takes time to get to jupiter, 2030 is the start of the science mission. Frida Space, the reason that the outer sold system isn't well explorered is that it not only takes a while to get there, it also takes a powerful LV.

Don't, just, just don't. I tried EVAing from low orbit, and even that was too much with Reentry heating at 100%. From Aptur, Bob wouldn't have a good time of it.

Betelgeuse doesn't have much apparent motion, and is very visible. Stars move so slowly, that apparent and relative motion have no effect on their visibility.

I think you are seriously underestimating how bright a red dwarf is. As has already been mentioned in the thread, a red dwarf would be visible to the naked eye at 1LY, and gravitational effects mean that we would defiantly know about it from the Suns motion. Also, infrared observatories find all sorts of things that they weren't meant to, like comets and asteroids. If nemesis existed, we would know about it.

Why don't you try reading it and seeing how much better yoursis!

I am genuinely annoyed, but only at myself for not being that good!

I assume it's to get triple redundancy, and because while Dawn may be able to power three engines at 1AU, it may only be able to power one engine in he asteroid belt.

What, 3.75m SLS's aren't enough!

It's really annoying that in four lines, you managed more character development than in the whole of my little series!

Just so there is no confusion, a Pingu is a cartoon penguin, and a Pingo is an ice structure formed during the freezing of permafrost. The thing is, if it is a pingo, why aren't there more of them on Ceres?

The license isn't like a driving license, it's not something you apply for. Its simple a declaration that you want your mod used in certain ways.

The only way a nanosatellite could conceivably find an exoplanet would be through the transit method, but to find an earthlike planet that would require keeping the satellite still for over a year to get enough readings. Also, I have a hobbyists telescope which if I connected it to a CCD, it might just find something. The thing is, being a 14in diameter Cassegrain-Schmidt design, it could fit a Cubesat inside itself! You'd probably need something closer to 100Kg in weight at least to run that on orbit.

Gravity assists. Use Eve, Laythe, heck even Atell could give you a boost or slow you down!

Athena Brrrrriiiiinnng, brrrrriiiiinnng, brrrrriiiiinnng, brrrrriiiiinnng! After the fourth trill of the alarm, Hadcas’s annoyance finally overcame his tiredness, and he rolled over to try and get up. Unfortunately, the beds at KSC were much smaller than back home in Zaroeka, and as a result he managed to roll over, and then out of bed. He landed with a thud on his back, which, while painful, did at least wake him up. Well, Bilfield is always saying that I need to wake up better, maybe this will work. He picked himself up, turned off his alarm, got washed and dressed, and headed to the canteen for breakfast. Dunmey and Luddo had emerged as the best cooks in the space program, and had happily taken it upon themselves to cook for the group, as well as their other duties in KSC (as a result, lunches were strictly do it yourself, so that Luddo and Dunmey could get some lab/workshop time in.) Hadcas loaded his plate up with steaming meats, eggs and vegetables, and sat down with Debbella and Mortimer, who seemed to be the only other kerbals up at this point. At the Eclipse celebrations last night, Hadcas really only stayed with Bilfield and Digee, as they all came from Zaroeka. This was the first time he had met Debbella or Mortimer, so he decided to at least try and be friendly! “So, guys, what’s the plan for today?†he asked, trying to break the silence. “Despair at Gene’s ability to understand basic accountancy.†Said Mortimer, in a way that implied that he had been despairing for many years. Debbella had obviously heard that reply before, as she was smiling at what Hadcas realised was a poorly delivered joke. “Me and Dilzer are going to talk with Werner about where our lab should be, and what he has already worked out about the control systems he has.†It was at this point that Hadcas realised that he hadn’t discussed todays work with Bilfield, which put him in a very awkward position in front of one of the original founders of KSC. Fortunately, Debbella was more than willing to discuss the intricacies of aerodynamics, and her theories about “The Wallâ€Â, saving him the stress of coming up with a cover story. She spoke for nearly half an hour, by which time most of the other kerbals were up and about, eating, talking, and working out what the days tasks were to be. Just as she stopped, Gene stood on top of one of the tables, got his balance, and started speaking. Gene wasn’t very tall, even by Kerbal standards, but his presence was enough to stop any conversations. Shocked at the very sudden silence, Gene paused briefly, which only succeeded in building the tension further. “Guys, this isn’t a big announcement! I just wanted to say that I need all of us to gather somewhere in the nest half an hour, to plan our first mission.†“Don’t we have a big meeting room?†asked Tilotte. “Yes, but the conference room is so poorly built that Bill and Bob are having to conduct major structural work on the roof, and that entire section of the Astronaut Complex may need to be bulldozed and replaced.†“How about here, we’re all here now, and it’s the only other big room in the centre suitable for it.†commented Luddo. “That’s…… actually not a bad idea! Alright, everyone, gather your thoughts, clear away the dishes, and arrange the tables in a circle. I want the conference starting in 25 minutes.†30 minutes later, the dishes were washed, the tables were moved, and the kerbals were restlessly seated. At the edge of the circle furthest away from the kitchen, was Gene, at what became known as the “head†of the table. To his right, was Jeb and Val, the pilots; and to his left, Werner and Luddo, the chief scientists. Clockwise from Luddo, were Bill and Bod, the chief engineers; Propulsion, made up of Tilotte, Lisna and Dunmey; Aerodynamics and Control, composed of Dilzer and Debbella; Capsule Subsystems, made up of Hadcas and Bilfield; and Command and Communications, composed of Digee and Derrigh. Mortimer was the final participant, between Derrigh and Jeb. “So, to our new recruits, we are sorry for the state of the buildings, but welcome to KSC!†said Gene. All of the new members of the team cheered at this, which made Gene blush a deep green! “Now, us founding members have decided to start the space program again, not that we had got very far, so each of you will begin working on something, but to work out what that something is, we need a mission plan. So, any ideas?†Tilotte spoke first. “We haven’t got the capacity to get to orbit, so it will have to be a suborbital flight.†“That is correct,†Gene replied, “but I meant what are the mission objectives, what data are we trying to collect, what height to we want to reach? Our problems before were that we were randomly bolting together parts with only a basic understanding of what we were doing. We need to have a good idea of our mission plans first, before anything else.†“What data exists for atmospheric readings?†asked Dilzer. “Very little,†Werner replied “we know that the atmosphere ends between 100 and 150Km, but that is from extrapolating data from high altitude aircraft, the readings themselves don’t go above 25Km.†“Well, it seems like a good idea to start from there, using sounding rockets to get upper atmosphere readings, so that we understand the flight profile of later rockets.†“Dilzer, that is an excellent plan, does anyone have anything to add?†said Gene. Hadcas was the first to reply “What measurements are required, exactly?†“At a minimum, temperature, pressure and radiation levels.†“Me and Bilfield have several instrument packages with us. We haven’t got a thermometer, but we could make one in….. under a day, maybe?†“Excellent Hadcas, that speed of construction isn’t required but it would be useful if you could create a small instrument package, working with the Command group of, maybe, 25Kg? So, we need a name for this project, does anyone have any ideas?†Lisna spoke up, for the first time since arriving at KSC. “How about Athena?†she asked, in a voice so tiny that Gene struggled to hear her. “Lisna, Athena is a brilliant name. Project Athena is Go!†And so, the first true project of KSC was born, Project Athena. The goals were to characterise the upper atmosphere of Kerbin using temperature, pressure and radiation measurements, and to finally work out where the atmosphere ends, and space begins. Dilzer and Derrigh were the leaders, as the data from this project would help them the most. Each team was given a specific part of the first rocket, the Athena 1, to work on. Dilzer and Derrigh would work on the fairings and fins; Propulsion would work, obviously, on the solid rocket motor, Command would build a probe core, and CapSys would build the instruments and launch infrastructure. Tilotte was exited and more than a little nervous about this. The Athena 1 was targeting a 25Kg payload to 10Km, as a practice run for later missions. The largest rocket that she had ever launched was an off-the-shelf hobbyist’s rocket, that itself weighed 25Kg! As the teams dispersed to their assigned labs, the Propulsion team were still in their seats, looking a little dumbstruck at their task. Werner, taking pity on them, beckoned them to follow him out. Seeing a quick way out of their predicament, they gladly followed him. Werner led Propulsion over to the main lab. The Research and Development centre (R&D for short) was composed of the main lab, a surprising well built, though not very clean building, two clusters of smaller buildings (Which, Werner noticed now, were military surplus bunkers), and a small fuel depot set far back from the other buildings. The main buildings was used by the Propulsion team and Werner, the larger cluster to the left was shared between CapSys and Communications, and the smaller right cluster was used by Aerodynamics. Inside the main lab, Werner sat down the propulsion team, to find out what was bothering them. “Right,†started Werner, as he eased himself into his chair,†What’s got you lot all flustered then?†“W-we’ve never made a rocket motor this big before, we don’t really know where to start!†Tilotte stammered, her voice getting louder towards the end. “Yeah, this rockets payload capacity is bigger than our last rocket!†Added Dunmey. “Well,†said Werner “let’s start with the basics. What fuel did that rocket use?†“The Zaroeka 6? Sugar and potassium nitrate, like most hobbyist rockets.†Answered Tilotte “Could you scale that mixture up to this size?†“Possibly, but the fuel isn’t our concern, it’s the rocket casing. Solid motors have the pressure of the combustion felt across the whole of the structure, unlike liquid motors where only the combustion chamber has to be extremely pressure resistant.†Explained Tilotte, briefly forgetting the Werner almost certainly knew this anyway. “So, build a stronger casing, how difficult can it be?†“We’d need much thicker steel casing than the fibreglass ones we used, as well as a stronger nozzle, possible made out of tungsten…….†Tilotte’s voice faded away, as Werner pointed out the steel plates leaning against one wall, the titanium nozzles arrange in size order on a set of shelves, and the metal rolling machine taking up one wall. “Tilotte, this is your lab,†explained Werner “use all of the machines and materials in here, and don’t let Mortimer tell you not to, for example, use the titanium nozzles up there that I specifically made for solid boosters, as prototypes.†Tilotte was staring in awe at her lab, only just grasping the gravity of the opportunity in front of here. Dunmey was already measuring the steel and testing its strength, and Lisna was examining the new nozzles. Werner decided that the Propulsion team would, in time, understand that this place isn’t where dreams are acted out, but where dreams are made.

The pellets would be in a nice straight line, as the Moon and Mars move in their orbits. Also, there would have to be breaks in the line to allow the earth to pass through.