DMSP

Ok, ETA for the next chapter is probably Friday. I have three exams tomorrow and Friday we have the whole afternoon for a 4K running event. I'm feeling sick already... Otherwise, prepare yourselves, I really think the next one is a big one.

Oh my...

That's it! I'm anxiously awaiting a new chapter. Stay cool!

@valens, I'm making a serious announcement. Has @TheGuyNamedAlan passed on the save? Stand by for a PSA.

Hmm. I'm trying to figure out what these notes mean. It's too late to play my trumpet to catch the tune, but I do not know the song for the life of me. I hope it's a haunting chill that a long lost civilization left behind. Got the tune now. Still no idea. Not that haunting.

It's amazing, Mars, even in a modded video game. Thank you so much for making this all happen, @UnusualAttitude.

I think Gletrix is going to have the time of her life.

I don't know why, but that just made me laugh so much! Now I'm imagining a Texan Space Program and what that would look like. Thanks again, Cydonian Monk!

This is a nice series! I'm looking forward to Texas rockets. Strap a cowboy hat onto one and we can all go home.

I'd also like to thank @purpleivan for taking this screenshot and turning it into something wonderful. He's an amazing artist.

Oh, I'm totally going to be using this in my story. Those Javelins are going to be important. I may have missed something, but can they track? Would I be able to get a config form BD Armory if they don't?

Yes. I'll ask him to PM the save straight to you.

I apologize. I'm currently unable to give it to you but I can in 3 or so hours.

Like it? This is incredible! I love it!

These shots are amazing! I hope we will one day see this stuff in real life.

Oh, enjoy your golf, Bartdon, enjoy your Golf. You earned it. Also, another excellent chapter!

Well, it can't outmaneuver them, but at top speed those missiles would be left in the dust. I just hope we never have to see...

Alright! The project is going to be later in the year but I'm sure I can get it to work. I also now have a new background.

Hey, @Cydonian Monk, I'm thinking of painting the image of the Aluminum over Laythe for an art piece that's coming up. May I have your blessing to do so?

In this chapter, I have to thank @Cydonian Monk for the Aluminum structure and @Raptor9 for the nice little ATV. Chapter 4-Take to the skies. Launch day. The spacecraft was ready. 5 tons of fully fueled Munar probe, meant to be a marker for bases, and a test for satellites and precision of orbital calculations. Meant. The launch crew sat hunched in the control center. Some spectators clung around the building, watching the rocket's engines swivel as a test. The launch crew, confident with the launch checks, gave the ok to the controllers, who then began the launch countdown. At zero, the engines of the rocket ingited. The rocket stayed on its course for less than a second. It then proceeded to loose thrust in an engine, and came smashing into the tower and tumbling off the edge. The structure began to fall onto the launchpad. The rocket then nosedived into the ground. Dozens of tons of rocket fuel exploded, spreading to the fuel tanks nearby. The water tower toppled, and instead the fuel burnt brighter, reactive compounds spreading around. The launch crew shuffled the spectators inside, watching the cloud of burning toxic smoke head towards the building, sealing the doors and heading to the emergency downstairs bunker. Others, further away from the launch center, ducked into hangers or the ATC tower at the airport. The flames continued to burn for 30 minutes before dying due to lack of fuel. Dusting themselves off, with emergency gas masks on, the Kerbals regained themselves at the airport Terminal, and waited for assistance. The launch site was ruined. The days after the explosion, it was quiet at Lake Dermal. Some were working hard, at the launch site to repair the pad, which would take weeks after the disaster. Some of the people still behind included Marmy and Megra, the latter called to fly out to Irandenburg again, with another pilot called Matner who had caught a transport from the launch site that morning. The unrest in Irandenburg had declined dramatically, the country being moved into by Katax ground forces from the south, with the Ratest States pushing down from the North. The remaining Kerbals had headed to the mountains, which soon were surrounded, but they kept "throwing" arrows down at the forces, causing the defenders to be bombarded for a few days. They mostly surrendered. There was an airfield by the Doranelle River, up a couple kilometers from Boostershire. Three large aircraft had departed that morning, and despite attempts to be shot down, they had all escaped towards the Darfax Commonwealth. As such, the airfield was abandoned, and it was decided to send these two North to capture it. Coming up above the river, the typical Kerbal runway sat on the cliff's ledge. It was long and skinny, with buildings and a control tower on one end. The aircraft, the newest version of the Aluminum, was landed perfectly by Matner, who, with assistance from Megra, had successfully made it into this territory in one piece. The aircraft taxied to the parking zone, and Matner stepped out. Megra unlatched the window of the crew cabin, and, with a rifle in hand, prepared for anybody or anything to come out of the building. The door opened. Megra focused the weapon. Matner put his hand to the side of his bulky suit, where he had his emergency flare gun. Anything would be better than running slowly in the bulky suit. But, to their surprise, the figure stepped out of the doorway with her hands above her head. Matner signaled her to switch to her suit's short range communications, as the suits were nearly identical, being modified mining and exposure suits. As soon as she got on the frequency, Matner ordered her to keep her hands in the air. "Will do." She responded, taking a few steps forward. Watching her closely, Matner searched her figure for any weapons. Nothing he could see. "Make your way slowly to the aircraft. I need your name and why you are here." He looked back at Megra. "No games. We will fire." "I'm here because I led the evacuation of those aircraft you tried to shoot down! My name is Theresa Kerman. I am unarmed!" Theresa then proceeded to step towards the plane. After stripping her of her suit and checking her down, Theresa boarded the Aluminum with the other two and they took off towards home. Megra kept the rifle pointed at Theresa the whole flight, interrogating her. By the time they landed, the crew knew that they had just successfully scored a new science member. With no working launchpad, KUSA's directors talked to Rufred about the plan for the next weeks. Rufred promised them that he would develop a shuttle prototype and test it over Dermal. It took two weeks, but the construction was completed swiftly and firmly by the team of scientists and engineers at Dermal. Getting one of the two stationed Aluminums, they bolted it on top and talked once more to Matner, tasked with flying the untested strap on flying spam can. Gleya Kerman was set as pilot for the mission. They were silent as the mission started, listening to the wind go by in the prototype shuttle was enough to keep Matner quiet, knowing that the walls were about as thin as the outside of a plastic home storage box. Gleya followed the flight plan. Gaining speed and climbing over the updrafts around the lake, she then sped away from it, and looped back for the drop. "Matner!" She called over the intercom. "I'm going to drop you!" Matner shuddered at the thought. "Do it." The shuttle was released. Matner clenched the controls and immediately saw the Aluminum shoot away through the front camera. He was alone. The shuttle began to fall. The couldn't keep his eyes off the screen. He saw, on the right of it, his vertical velocity become greater than his horizontal velocity. Matner... He thought. Matner... Suddenly he was shaken back into reality. "Matner! Matner respond!" "Matner, you're dropping far too fast! Pull up! You'll slam into the runway!" Matner took a second to understand what was going on, and then recognized the danger. The shuttle on the verge of tumbling, he took control a few dozen meters above the airfield, cut the drop, and aligned with Lake Dermal's airstrip. He then slowly eased the controls, and the shuttle touched down at a mere 30 meters per second, slowly drifting to a halt. Gleya, waiting in the air, proceeded to put the Aluminum behind Matner on the runway. The airport's ATV then came to drag the aircraft away. The next day, Theresa led the construction of a new Aluminum at Dermal, thanks to the plans she had of the "Whiplash" engine, built by Kolonia and apparently used on their aircraft. Marmy was given the "honor" of testing the aircraft first. "Holy SQUAD! This is a monster" Were the words she spoke as it roared down the runway, drawing the attention of every single Kerbal at the airfield. Spinning around, she gracefully turned the rocketing aircraft, and then pulled straight up. She got to 34 kilometers, higher than any manned aircraft had gone before. On the way down, she reached one kilometer per second. Flying to Irandenburg in less than a minute, she looped around, and headed home. The aircraft landed softly, as if it hadn't just broken 4 world records and gotten halfway to space, and had burnt a trail in the sky so bright it was visible for a sphere of a hundred kilometers. Marmy walked over to Theresa after the flight and said one line. "There's more about you than we know."

That. Is. Incredible. I wish my computer could run RSS! Thanks for giving me a preview! I wonder what surprises (possibly lethal ones) Mars has in store.

Yes, it's the mount just west of the point. Imagine seeing that thing rise above you... No, it's something different, and If I'm right it's like when a meteor hits the surface and there's water all the water gets vaporized and then condenses and makes a mark on the surrounding area. Something like that. And I sure do hope you get to Tharsis!

Ok, here they are: -61.6, -3.67. There is a mound in the middle of the Chasma that seems quite interesting. A good lookout point through the whole place, may be useful. Thanks for doing this! Another thing is, I'm wondering (And maybe you are) if RSS recreates the "splash"/"splosh" that you find around Martian craters. There's one overlooking Juventae, and had a pretty big "splosh-mark" too. Another thing, will you get as far as Pavonis Mons? I'd love to see that beautiful mountain.

Wow. What about Juventae Chasma?

Yes, sorry. Sent.