DDRocketsInc

A new chapter is in the making --- a standard crew of engineer, pilot and scientist have reached the Jool Orbital Science Platform. For the moment the KSC and DDRocketsInc engineers are trying to figure out how to get sufficient power storage on the platform to survive the 'night' when Jool occults the sol. Original platform had 5000 units of storage but KSC has already had to increase it with an additional solar/power truss. The 3rd launch will start the next chapter.

@Geschosskopf perhaps, what has not come out in the story yet is that the Jool station is generation 2, nothing to do with Katla. Did the generation 1 have a design floor or was it sabotage against her?

Chapter 13: The First Loss LOS “Not again” Picard cried “what about Katla, and Halcal, what about Zelsie he would have been sleeping in the habitation module. Is there any sign of them at all?” “No” the capsule communicator radioed back. Picard was in mission control as he had been for several days, he had just watched the Kerbin Observer scientific probe dock with the Sagan, and briefly glimpsed the smile on Katla’s face. The last thing he remembered before the deafening silence was her saying “finally something interesting to do” 2 days previous…. Excerpt from Mission Control Log conversation between Picard on the ground and Katla in orbit on the Sagan OSP:- Katla: “But I’m bored” Picard: “Have you completed your zero-g exercises today” “yes I have, every day while you guys down there have been playing with your Jool platform, Halcal and I have been up here, bored. At least Zelsie has been busy aligning the thrusters each day” “I already spoke to Kim and the other engineers to make sure we get a pack up there to balance platform out. That will help” “so he will be bored too!!?” “I know we haven’t sent any experiments up yet, can’t you go EVA again?” “What’s the point we have all the EVA reports for this orbit --- remember we went for a safe equatorial orbit” Picard: “ok Katla we are working on it. The Kerbin Observer is launching tomorrow, she will collect the first results from low orbit on the way to you, then we can send it out more once the start researching that.” Katla: “Good, looking forward to that.” End Excerpt. The science department were very pleased with the ‘Kerbin Observer’ when she was completed. The altitude and biome surveys that had been completed had shown that the landforms have change a lot. The observer is equipped with imaging cameras in infra-red and visible light. The observer is designed to dock with the Sagan station so the scientists can download the information and post-process onboard. The launch of the Kerbin Observer was very important to KSC not only to relieve Katla’s boredom but also to start gathering some science points. With Bop declared a ‘no go’ zone because of the loss of Enterprise-D platform the lack of available science points and interesting experience in the Kerbin SOI was really starting to affect the progress DDRocketsInc could make through the technology tree. Nobody could have predicted what would unfold next. Photo edit of “the incident” is below. Katla starts EVA to go and retrieve the data from the probe. Soon after returning to the science lab, while the experiments were being checked off, the Sagan OSP suffered a catastrophic failure. Katla, Halcal and Zelsie have all been lost in this terrible tragedy.

Chapter 12: Jool Orbital Science Platform / TPL - Triple Prometheus Launcher “Cerberus” [sorry for the delay due to RL commitments, I’ve been doing a lot of travelling, and in the interim built my son a nice new computer to run Assassins Creed Origins…..AMD Ryzen-5 1600X CPU, GeForce GTX-1050 Ti 4GB graphics card, 16GB ram and an SSD (for the first time). Alternis Trekking has been great relaxation! This report will mainly contain images because there have been many ups and downs (nee explosions) that have me having to redirect the story a bit.] Jeb and the KSC management team sat around the main console of Mission Control scratching their heads. Since Picard got back from Bop, the number of ‘station’ contracts being offered was incredible. Work on the Kerbin Orbital Science Platform was progressing well, contracts where available for platforms in orbit of Jool, the Mun and Minmus. The Kerbals had only 300 science points and therefore restricted to 2.5m parts. Not an ideal situation for launching large stations with sufficient life support to be so far from Kerbin SOI. So Bill, as the leader of the engineers had explained that any programme outside Kerbin SOI would require significant amount of funds to develop and launch multiple refuelling tugs “If you want to go from Jool SOI to one of the inner moons” he explained “we will need to send refuelling tugs into Jool SOI and then rendezvous with the platforms.” Fredgard had arrived at the meeting after also meeting with his team. Their priority was science points and so when Bill had finished, he was explaining that the science team preferred Minmus or the Mun over anything else “and we want landers” he was saying. Bill looked at the floor, clearly Fredgard was not listening to anything he had to say. Jeb flicked through the contracts on the desk. “how about this Bill? We have already accepted the contract to put a platform in orbit of Kerbin, young Katla and Picard told me at dinner that it is nearly ready, so we could launch that, your nerds can check the figures and then build a refuellable transfer stage. Don’t be concerned by the funds, KSC and DDRocketsInc have 6 million to play with thanks to your designs for the relays and scanning satellites being so efficient.” Bill relaxed his shoulders and smiled. Secretly this is exactly what he and the engineers at DDRocketsInc had been hoping for. He looked up “If we can do manage that then why don’t you accept a Jool platform contract and an moon platform contract, then if we can’t get the DV to enter orbit around a moon we can just orbit Jool.” The group stopped, stunned. Jeb smiled. “Bill, you are a sneaky so-and-so” He clicked accept on a contract for a platform in orbit of Minmus and one for Jool. Long Term Mun Contact Before Katla could complete work on the Kerbin Orbital Science Platform, Fredgard and the science team organised a contract for long term survey of the Mun. Preparation, they said for Kerbanauts to someday head to the grey dust ball. Mun Survey Mission launching on Prometheus 2.5-B launch vehicle Mun Survey Mission transferring and setting up into a polar orbit to support mapping unit. Katla’s Kerbin Orbital Science Platform Picard and Katla did not make whole scale changes to the Bop OSP to create the Kerbin OSP. Therefore it was possible to use the same Prometheus 2.5-B 4 SRB as was used previously. Because the Kerbanauts only had single Kerbin shuttles like Calypso, Katla said she was sufficiently confident in the engineering nerds – many of whom were her best friends, to launch inside the station. She also used it as a checkout to ensure that none of the experiments broke loose. Her good friend Halcal agreed to join her. Katla’s OSP “Sagan” in orbit with life support operating Soon after reaching orbit Halcal and Katla were joined by Zelsie Kerbin a pilot on a test ride of the shuttle. Jeb requested the shuttle stayed locked onto the platform as a lifeboat in case any of the Kerbanauts has to be evacuated for a medical reason. With the Kerbin Orbital Science Platform successfully in orbit Bill and DDRocketsInc looked at the DV numbers, the transfer stage had less than 300m/s. Not enough to do anything reasonable with. Bill pulled everyone into a meeting. “Not good enough, if we are going get platforms, heck, even shuttles into orbit around Jool and her other moons we need to go back to the drawing board” The engineers’ looked at him confused. “We need a new booster and we need new transfer stage, just adding a docking port to that – he pointed out to the 2 transfer stages in the workshop – is not going to cut it.” So the engineers started working on the Triple Prometheus. This new booster took 3 Prometheus size boosters, all reusable mounted each with 4 new Vector engines and strapping them together. “It needs a new name Triple Prometheus is a nerdy engineers name” said young, male pilot Jayne with his southern drawl while he played with his knife. “Triple, three, what about Cerberus” (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cerberus) suggested Ripley Kerman, “that’s the god with the 3 heads, very fitting for a triple core booster.” Below are a series of images taken from KSC and the orbital camera platforms of the new Cerberus booster launching the Ganymede Platform. There was much cheering in KSC Mission Control, the younger Kerbals who had looked out at Jool with longing eyes in the old solar system never thought such a large station would ever be in Jool orbit. Bill looked at Jeb and Fredgard “I’m not sure why everyone is so happy, it took us 3 refuels to get to a stable Jool orbit, how are we ever going to orbit another moon?”

@Geschosskopf thank you, amazingly following instructions on the original post solved the problem! I removed scatter and now can see the planet, yea. Trekking Through Alternis can now continue. Interestingly in trying to solve the problem I loaded an old save file before Picard tried to link with the Bop station. This time just by selecting it to look at made the space craft explode into a million pieces!

Can anyone assist with this? Anyone familiar with my Mission Post Trekking Through Alternis will know that when I installed the modification over a 1.2.1 game the clouds of Jool were the wrong colour. Yesterday in an effort to fix that I copied the Scatter files over for Alternis. The Jool clouds are now blue as they should be but the view of Kerbin is a mess, as per the images below. In the tracking station Kerbin looks correct with the ground visible through lovely clouds, however from orbit the planet - day and night side looks like a Blue Titan! Can anyone let me know what I have done? Thanks,

@Geschosskopf you are right, the monopropellant tanks are clipped into the structure. I have done this before and got away with it but could be considered Kraken bait....Next model has them sitting on a sub structure of their own.

Chapter 11: Getting Picard home Picard sat quietly in the Calypso, he looked out of the capsule window, he could not believe what had happened. Once second he was looking forward to stretching his legs in his new space station and then next it had…..well he was not sure what to call it…..Enterprise-D had not exploded like so many rockets he had seen explode at the KSC……he thought…….it had rapidly disassembled…..instantly. “Katla was right” he thought to himself, “Bop is cursed, no Kerbal should ever go back.” The flight controller in mission control called to his staff “I’m not interested if you can hear him or he can hear you, the medical telemetry is constant and live, we know Picard is alive, and he did speak. I would think he is in shock now. What I need to know is how the spacecraft is? Based on what he said and those images up there, there is a lot of debris around the shuttle. Is it alive? Any leaks? Any warning lights?” “Communication?” “Ok, flight” came the response. “Power?” “Ok, flight” came the response. “Life Support?” “Ok, flight” came the response. “Service Module? Any fuel leaks, can you tell if there was any engine damage?” “Everything looks ok , flight, wow Picard is a lucky son…………” The service module controller’s response was cut short by Katla streaming through the door, Halcal and several of the Platform build team following behind her. “Picard, is he alright? Is the Calypso all right?” She bounced up to the flight controller’s station. Katla looked at the telemetry screens, like everyone else she realised that Picard was safe. The flight controller moved the microphone and said in a voice only she could hear. “I think he is in shock, he is very quiet, we think the spacecraft is operational so were thinking of bringing him home as soon as there is a reasonable chance.” Katla thought for a moment, then pulled the microphone over and pressed the ‘talk’ button. “Hey” Picard thought to himself, “Jool has changed colour, it looks blue from out here now, that did not show up when the probes were out here.” Picard continued to look through the capsule window as Jool slipped away. “I must be rotating”……………….”Where is that station”……………”Oh, eh, that’s right it disappeared”………….”I wonder if mission control”……………..it was at that moment that Picard looked down at the controls again and realised that the mute button was depressed on the radio “Why is there a mute button?” he pondered as he reset it. “Picard!” Katla screamed into the microphone “wake up you useless physics graduate” Picard came to his senses in a flash and upon hearing Katla’s voice simply responded “I owe you an apology Miss Katla, it seems you were right not to ignore the perils of Bop” The KSC erupted into cheers, “Geez Picard” the mission controller called after grabbing the microphone back “you frightened us all down here” “Sorry Legerchel, radio was on mute but to be honest I think I checked out for a spell, how long has it been since………well…………whatever happened, happened?” “about 4 orbits for you, long time for us!”….”how about we see if we can get you home” “Well, I did pack a lunch but it seems there is nowhere new for me to eat it, so why not” Picard chuckled to himself finally feeling that the panic was subsiding. “Since I have snacks” he continued “feel free to though me into a high orbit I don’t mind doing some more EVAs for the science points” “Roger that Picard, but safety first there is every chance your Calypso there suffered some damage” “If there is I can’t tell, all green up here mission control, but I agree safety first.” Picard’s “Calypso” Shuttle falling towards Kerbin after his epic flight. Thankfully the closer Picard’s shuttle got to Kerbin more confident the Kerbals got that it sustained no damage. He splashed down safely and was soon back in the R&D building of the KSC. He received a warm welcome from all before they all went home for the night. Halcal was the only one who saw him quietly wonder over to the Space Plane Hanger – now called by most Kerbals the “Orbital Science Platform development building”. Halcal followed, when he opened the door he was very happy to see Katla and Picard working together on the second Orbital Science Platform.

Not sure, possibly just the normal Kraken. Makes for a good part of the sorry I hope! Certainly going to stay away from Bop in the future, like you have found there is no luck there!

Chapter 10: [The short life of the] Bop Orbital Science Platform “Kerbin first, all we need to do is put it in orbit” Katla had been arguing with Picard Kerman the options of an Orbital Science Platform (OSP) in Kerbin or Bop orbit for 2 hours, she continued, “that way we only have to get to Kerbin orbit” “But, if we try for Bop first then we prove all technologies, reaching orbit with an approximate 15 Tonne load, refuelling, booster recovery and robotic deployment of the station” “It’s a platform not a station” “Whatever you call them, if we want to get science from all Jool’s moons and beyond then we need to prove the technology that Bill and the engineers have been working on. A Bop station will prove that in a single flight” Picard raised both hands in a prayer like move towards SRide, Asign and Bill the engineers on the other side of the table, all three shrunk away from the gesture. “Have you all forgotten about the failed missions we have had to Bop?” “Have you forgotten that both the altitude surveyor and current Biome scanner have found absolutely nothing of interest on Bop? Why do this? Why put a Kerbal in danger?” “We were going to test the robotic launch to test it” young robotics engineer Asign responded without realising she was doing it. From the look Katla gave her she realised it was a big mistake. Picard sighed, “for that and all the reasons I have just said, 1 shot, all tests, good or bad we learn. Isn’t that what science is for?” Silence. Fredgard, who had allowing the argument to continue so young Katla could defend her ideas finally stepped in. “Katla, I understand your concerns, Jeb has provided us with 1 million funds from the treasury, as the engineers appear confident I am willing to back an non Kerbal mission to try and launch an orbital platform to Bop. All we risk are the funds, the knowledge gained could really help the development of the platforms as Picard suggests. We don’t want to minimise your concerns but I think they can be managed.” Katla stared at Picard who to his credit looked more sheepish than proud. “Ok” Started SRide Kerman “what we have found in simulation is that the standard Prometheus-B-2.5 with 4 recoverable solid rocket boosters will be sufficient to get the station, oh I mean orbital science platform into orbit with about 500 DV remaining in the upper stage.” “How are you getting to Bop then?” Katla asked “We have a refuelling shuttle planned using the original Prometheus-B-2.5 booster.” Katla was quiet. “When will they be ready?” Picard was getting very excited that his plan was coming together. Asign took over the conservation for the engineers, she has been looking at the progress. “Well as you all know Katla has an Orbital Science Platform ready to go into Kerbin orbit, we have several core boosters on the assembly line that were planned for the biome mapping of the Jool Moons. One of the could be redirected towards this project, by the time the booster is checked and refuelled the refuelling shuttle should be assembled.” All the junior Kerbals at the table had squirmed when Asign mentioned Katla’s platform. They had all noticed that following her historic flight and the approval of her plans for science stations that she had not been back to the junior dorms for more than 2 hours sleep a day. Katla herself looked passive. “If it is a robotic launch do you want to pack more supplies?” “We had not thought of that Katla, not a bad idea, we would need to make sure they don’t move around through. We only have the 1.25m stability unit. We just can’t wait until we have the 2.5m version.” “That is why we need the science points.” Janeway, who had been working with the engineers on communication integration to make sure the platforms, can communicate with Kerbin. 1 month later….. The now familiar voice of the launch controller rang out over the tannoy system. “Kerbanauts all, today is a special day indeed. The launch of a new booster, and atop the launcher a space station for the first time in this universe, the scientists tell me that they want to call this new breed of ship an Orbital Science Platform. Picard, the lead scientist got to name it as is the way now, and has called it Enterprise–D whatever that means, I have no idea, HSolo do you know?” HSolo Kerman was sitting next to the launch controller with his feet on the desk, playing with a set of his pilot’s wings “Nope, but I know when I get my hands on my hunk of junk she’ll be known as the Falcon” The launch controller looked at HSolo for a second, confused, then continued. “Anyway Kerbanauts, the launch is set, the static fire test went well and I am told that the robotic guidance system has been programmed for a morning launch into lightly clouded sky’s tomorrow morning. I look forward to seeing the 4 solid rocket boosters on this new Prometheus-B 2.5-4 SRB fall away on their parachutes. It should only be a few kilometres from the KSC.” The following morning….. “Wow, they have a kick, I forgot how the SRB’s throw boosters off the pad” Bill commented as he watched the launch of the first orbital science platform from the comfort of Jeb’s office above the VAB. The launch controller’s voice cut in, “Clear of the tower, folks, the booster is climbing rapidly, does not seem to have a problem heaving that 12.5 tonne station into orbit.” The engineer’s at their consoles smiled at each other satisfied. Katla sat in the bar, white wine in hand, surrounded by her friends, MReynolds, Kim, Scotty, Ripley, Paris, and Annika, the bar keep had turned all of the KSC feeds off. If he thought that would stop Katla being affected by the launch, that, naturally was a waste of time as they all looked down at their glasses shaking as the Prometheus thundered off the pad. The Enterprise-D made it to a 100km parking orbit, with as calculated by the engineers it has 555 m/s of DV in the transfer stage. “We could save some weight next time, if we go for Kerbin orbit, or perhaps hold it for transfer to shuttles” Billy-Bobrey Kerman pointed out to the other engineers. “That is great news for sending the platforms to Jool’s Moons through” Haitina added. With the Station in Kerbin orbit, Mayweather Kerman was tasked with guiding the booster down to a safe landing, it so happened to be a beautiful sun rise as the decent started. Upon landing the KSC checked the booster over and prepared it for another launch. This time it would launch to add fuel to the Enterprise-D so it can safely transfer to Bop. Picard Kerman fussed over all the details, generally getting in the way, so it was a relief to all when the Head Doctor quarantined him to the Kerbanaut’s preparation area so he could prepare to join his baby at Bop. There had been a lot of discussion whether Picard should join the station in Kerbin orbit and be on site to manage the transfer or to join it in Bop orbit after it arrived. The decision for him to join Enterprise-D in Bop orbit was made by Lagerchel with the logic being all other shuttles would have to join it there so it was smart to include into this ‘testing phase’ as she called almost every launch these days. How smart that decision was would be evidenced within a few days…… Several of the Kerbals had laughed when they saw the refueller stacked up on the top of the booster, they said it looked ‘fat’. Nobody was laughing with Mayweather Kerman assisted by Bowman expertly rendezvoused the ship with and docked onto the Enterprise-D. So with the second stage of the booster refuelled the pilots plotted a course to push the Enterprise-D out to an orbit of Bop. With a DV of ~1,300 m/s there was plenty of fuel onboard to safely enter orbit at an altitude of 8km safely above the surface. Picard could not sit still during the pre-flight briefing. The engineers were explaining that to get his Gagarin Shuttle “Calypso” out to Bop they had to add a transfer stage within the aerodynamic shell. The pilots in the briefing were explaining to him the procedure to escape from the capsule should the launch fail. “yes yes I read that procedure, leave me alone.” The following morning Picard was in his Calypso, atop a modified Prometheus B-2.5 booster. Picard, a veteran of 4 flights, having orbited Kerbin, Minmus and the Mun in the original solar system should have been more dignified than he was acting. He giggled to himself as the booster’s engines spooled up and lifted him gracefully away from the pad. Calypso entered orbit, Picard had time for an EVA while the pilots remotely programmed the flight computer to transfer the craft to Bop. While he was at it Bowman was heard remarking to HSolo “the sooner the engineers get the plans for the 3 Kerbal capsule the better, I want to get back to flying not programming.” “I hear you Bowman” The transfer to Bop and retro burn into orbit was perfectly programmed and the engineers commended themselves on putting the right size transfer stage onto the tiny capsule. Picard felt the decoupler release when the readout showed just 1m/s remaining on the retro burn. Calypso complete the burn while also pushing the transfer stage out of the ships way at the same time. Safely in orbit of Bop, Picard grabbed the controls and moved the capsule the only way the pilots allowed him to do, rotate so he could see the satellite through the window. “It is small, KSC, I can actually see right across it through the window” “Picard, are you prepared for the docking? Telemetry shows you are 2km from the Enterprise-D, can you get a visual on your radar scope and select as a target? Once that is done we will start the process from here and bring it in. Do you remember at least that bit of the training?” Bowman called over the distance from Kerbin to Bop. “Yes I remember, priming the radar now” came the somewhat garbled response. “Found it, assigning target now” The flight team in mission control were watching the screens ready to follow the progress of the docking operation. These screens showed telemetry for both ships. While they watched, the telemetry screen for the Enterprise-D changed. LOS All eyes move the Calypso’s telemetry, that was still reading correctly. “Wow, did you see that?” Came the call from Picard “What happened? Picard” “The Enterprise-D, it’s gone, it exploded, all I did was selected it on the radar and then I felt a pressure wave, wait, no it’s ok I’m still in orbit I thought the wave might have moved me out.” “We have no telemetry down here” “Makes sense, all I can see on the radar is a debris cloud, guy’s can you give me RSC control? I’ll point the telescope and see if I can get a shot.” “Don’t worry we have you on telescope in the tracking station” Katla was working in the spaceplane hanger on the 2nd Orbital Science Platform, her Platform that was going to be launched into Kerbin orbit soon with a handful of engineers. Suddenly the door to the hanger slammed open. “Katla, have you heard?” It was Halcal one of the young scientists. “Have I heard what?” Katla called from the elevated platform she was standing on while she was installing the communications antenna. “The Enterprise-D, it’s well it’s gone! It exploded or something just as Picard was trying to dock with it. Luckily he is ok.” Katla flew off the platform heading as fast as she could towards mission control.

Chapter 9: Back in the Saddle --- Rendezvous and Planning for Orbital Science Platforms The Kerbals were excited. Kerballed flights were going to commence again. Bill and the engineering team pulled out the Gagarin designs and began upgrading it to accept more science experiments. “We need it include a docking adaptor for to dock 2 ships for this contract, Bill” Katla Kerman pointed out when they were going through the design “could you add some robotic control so we can get a scientist up into orbit?” “Yes, actually as we do for probes we should be able to get a remote pilot module in the capsule to fly for the scientist. Paris is working through docking protocols now.” Valentina Kerman, head of the pilot division responded. She continued “Jeb, let’s get a pilot up in the first capsule, then we have options, they can take over docking control of the scientist’s capsule while in orbit or steer their own capsule into dock if required.” “Great idea, Val, who do you have in mind?” Jeb logged into the Kerbanaut database so he could check the selection for himself. “MReynolds Kerman, he’s a bit of a space cowboy but he knows how to rendezvous and dock from all that space station work in the Kerbol solar system.” Planning for the Rendezvous flight progressed well, Katla Kerman buried herself in the work, in doing so she also argued for the scientific experiments, Katla is only a 1 star scientist with only 3 flights she often found herself arguing with her heroes, Janeway, T’Pol and Picard Kerman, scientists with 4 or 5 flights and hundreds of days logged on the former Scientist platforms that orbited Kerbin, the Mun and Minmus. So when Jeb and Fredgard asked her to meet in Fredgard’s office she was sure that she was being removed from the crew list. “How are you Katla, how do you feel things are going?” Fredgard asked her as she sat down with a cup of coffee. “Well, the science bays of each capsule have a mix of new and old experiments, I know Janeway wanted to minimise duplication, but I am sure the redundant units will prove to be a good idea. The engineers can’t tell me with absolute confidence if we will reach a high orbit or not, just in case I think it is a good idea to have redundancy to try and get as much science we possible……” Katla stopped at that realising she had allowed herself to ramble on. “Sorry sir,” “No problem, Jeb what do you think?” “I think you were correct, Fredgard, definitely one to watch” Jeb was flicking through some pages on the desk ahead of him, not really appearing to be paying attention to the meeting. “Look, if you’re going to take me off the flight list, just tell me so I can go and drown my sorrows” Katla hated when Kerbals got off topic in meetings. “Is that why you think we called you in here?” Jeb finally looked up and started laughing “Fredgard, more than ever now mate” Katla stood up to leave, kicking the chair into place as she did so. “Katla, sit down, we called you in to tell you that you are on the crew list. In fact Jeb just showed me a contract for an orbital science platform” Jeb held up the same piece of paper as Fredgard spoke, Fredgard continued “we believe you’re the right Kerbal to lead the new generation. Of course you need to work with the more experienced scientists like (the ones you’ve been fighting with his eyes said) Janeway, T’Pol and Picard Kerman. All three of them have said they would like to stay out of orbit for a while with their families, they all recommended you to step up.” Katla simultaneously jumped for joy and collapsed in a heap onto the chair. “oh, wow” Jeb passed her the contract form, when she started reading Fredgard began “Janeway and Picard have started working on getting the new science laboratory module fitted out in the Space Plane hanger because it is not being used and it is quiet. Kim and Scotty Kerman are getting the life support modules incorporated. This means the laboratory will not rely so heavily on the accommodation module like before. When you come back from the flight we want you to fit up the experiments.” As planned, the first capsule to be launched was a Gagarin Mark 2 that MReynolds had nick named “Serenity”….. “Yep, cowboy I told you” Val said to Jeb as they watched him get strapped into the acceleration couch, he appeared to not be paying attention to the instructions that the engineers were giving him about the abort sequence. Over the Capcom radio…..through the static “If you….feel anything unusual….or if the dials go dead….you’ll have to release the capsule and clear the booster before hitting the parachutes……” the lead engineer was saying. MReynolds just responded “Yup should be a sweet ride dude, Can’t wait to beat HSolo’s EVA record, oooohhh yea…..sweet” the engineer rolled his eyes as he finished and closed the capsule door. “Whatever dude, see ya when you get back” “Cooooooooooool” MReynolds breathed as the door locks clicked into place. “Here we go Serenity, I don't believe there is a power in the verse that can stop us now.” MReynold’s Launch was perfect, despite the whole way up no Kerbal could hear themselves think as MReynolds chanted that he would “…..beat HSolo’s record today, eh eh eh I’m going to beat HSolo’s record today”. Paris Kerman, himself with days more experience on EVA than MReynolds gave up when the capsule broke through to space, left Mission Control and headed back to the Kerbanaut complex, he was not surprised to see HSolo at the bar. “You alright?” “Of course I am, this is a coffee, and I just can’t listen to that guy anymore” “I know what you mean, perhaps when we get him back we should put him through some more Tylo simulations, 3 months in a capsule might shut him up.” HSolo smiled “That is a brilliant idea my friend” “You have to like the name he used for the ship, though” he continued. “Yep, perfect, with that odd colour Jool so close it must be great up there.” Paris mimed a drink to the bar Kerbal and she bought over his usual beer. “Do you know how far away the science team is away from unlocking the 3 Kerbanaut capsules so a few more of us can play?” “Lagerchel told me last night the whole reason she is supporting those Orbital Science Laboratories is that she and Fredgard sat down to plan for them but also some larger solar panels and other parts we will need to support them.” “Great, I have had enough of programming and flying probes” HSolo decided it was time for a beer as well. They sat sipping on their beers and chatting about the progress the Kerbals where making in the new solar system. They were able to watch the progress of ‘the cowboy’s’ flight on the large telemetry screen in the bar. MReynolds managed to get the orbit almost perfect. 0.1° inclination, 120km x 118km orbit. “think we can hit that?” Paris asked as he pointed to the screen. “Easy” “I’m glad to hear that, I don’t want that MReynolds anywhere near my controls, bad enough I have to spend some time on EVA with him” Both Paris and HSolo jumped. They did not realise that Katla had walked in behind them. “Have you finished programming the flight computer for me? I have done that emergency pilot training but I am definitely a scientist not a pilot” Paris reassured her, “we just needed his actual orbit data to ensure the rendezvous goes perfectly, now we have it we will be able to complete the sequence.” “Good” Katla said as she ordered a water. “tomorrow will be a big day for me.” All of Katla’s three previous flights had been in 3 Kerbanaut capsules and always with a pilot on board. As much as she trusted the science of the programmed probe in the nose of the Gagarin Mark 2 capsule she was being strapped into, and trusted Paris Kerman would programme a smooth ride, she could not help a few nerves still sitting at the surface. The other thing that really did not help was the aeroshell on the Prometheus booster preventing her from seeing out of the small window in the door. “Ok, then Katla, really to go?” Paris’s voice from Capcom boomed over the intercom over the hum of machinery around her. “I think so” “We are just waiting for MReynolds capsule to get into the right position to allow you to boost straight up into rendezvous” “yep.” “Say” HSolo, back up pilot said from the seat next to Paris. “What is the deal with the name you put on the capsule Katla?” HSolo, has been a shuttle pilot long enough to know that the best thing you can do for the scientists at this point is to distract them. “Um, Saga (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/S%C3%A1ga_and_S%C3%B6kkvabekkr) reminds me of wisdom. This is a science mission first, no matter how long MReynolds talks about records. Oh, sorry HSolo.” “No problem Katla, you just don’t let him try and steal your supplies up there, you are right, we need the science points so your EVAs to collect the data are more important than his swanning around” “I heard that” Katla heard MReynolds voice in her left ear, clearly he had cleared the horizon. She was just about to answer when Flight Director Lagerchel cut in. “Paris get ready to check the systems on lift off” “Yep” “T minus 10 seconds, Serenity is lined up for the rendezvous” Lagerchel. ……………..”great distraction HSolo” Katla was thinking to herself when the world changed colours…. “Zero, lift off, in your hands Mr Paris” “Roger, looking good, launch sequence has run, probe has acknowledged the acceleration and the Thuds are compensating for movements.” “Katla, you ok?” Paris scanned the dials as he asked, he pointed to the readout from Thud 4, to HSolo he said “watch that one will ya, this is the 3rd launch we are getting out of this booster, I’m not sure about the fuel flow there.” “Got it, looks ok now but I have my eyes on it.” From Saga Capsule Katla called back “all good, there is a lot of movement up here, it is really hard to rationalise without visual cues” before one of the pilots could respond she added “and the Nav ball doesn’t count, that might make you guys feel comfortable but to me it is just three well calibrated and positioned Gyros….” “Roll programme initiated, heading for Max Q” “Roll programme complete, all booster engines running 5 by 5” “Ya baby, get up here Katla, I need some more EVA propellant to break this here record” “MReynolds, shut up during launch or I’ll leave you up there” Flight Director cut in as MReynolds went to say something else. HSolo smiled at Paris “see if he likes that record!” Katla’s Booster coasting up to the Apoapsis “I can see outside, wow, that is beautiful” Katla exclaimed as the aeroshell peeled away. “Stop, you’re making me jealous” HSolo radioed up to her. “MReynolds, can you see Katla’s capsule on your radar?” Paris said from his console “it looks to me like she should be getting close; I would like to hand over the control to you for the docking” “Roger, Paris, I have the Saga on my scope, Katla please prepare for some sharp movements as the RSC aligns us. I have been thinking that I’ll align us perpendicular to Kerbin, that way you can watch the clouds of Jool as we move into position.” After listening to his jokes and quips for months during the planning of the mission Katla could not believe how professional MReynolds sounded. “Paris, whenever you are ready to hand over I have the Saga telemetry online and already have a visual of Katla. Nice launch mate, line ball.” MReynolds clicked switches to confirm acceptance of the control as Paris handed over. Paris pushed the ‘handover’ button and then ‘confirm accept’ when he saw that the link to Serenity was complete. “Handover complete, all yours MReynolds”. “Uh, you were right MReynolds, this is not very smooth” “Sorry Katla, there is a fair bit of inertia in these capsules with all the science on board, I’m not having a go, I noticed it yesterday when I reached orbit and played with the controls. There was nothing that could have been done to your capsule so I just quietly mentioned it to Scotty Kerman the engineer. He might be able to smooth the controls for those shuttles we need for the Orbital Science Platforms you’re planning” “How do you know about them?” “I play darts with Scotty, he is very proud tis all”, a heartbeat, “Ok, moving into final position now.” “Nice work MReynolds” the Flight Director commended, very very nice. MReynolds and Katla completed 10 orbits of Kerbin while they checked the systems “are we going to call our little station Saga Serenity or Serenity Saga?” MReynolds wondered. “The later reflects the flight order” “Eh, what about SS?” Katla called back as she readied her EVA suit. “Did you manage to open the science bay on both capsules?” “Yes, I did you are good for EVA, break, Mission Control, can you check the fuel numbers? I think we have enough fuel to reach that high Kerbin orbit that Katla wanted.” Paris, back on shift in Mission Control “you read my mind MReynolds, we confirm DV of 400 m/s in each capsule, as long as you can confirm the fuel can be transferred then the Flight Director will approve a move to high orbit before the burn back to Kerbin.” “Roger Paris, please check the log from last shift I completed fuel transfer calibration, transferred 20% of the fuel from Serenity into Saga, there were no issues but if you want me to repeat it I can.” “Standby 1, MReynolds” Paris opened up the log and checked “sorry about that mate, I can see the notes now, looks good to me.” “Hot dog” “Make sure I’m inside when you do it!” Katla said as she started to exit her capsule and move towards the science bay. “No problem Katla, would not be much point in leaving you in LKO if the science is in HKO!” Katla Kerman completed EVA walks in LKO and HKO gathering science points from a range of experiments on board. The Kerbals had 24 days of supplies and life support. They spent 16 days in orbit collecting science. The burn to HKO had used 300m/s of DV from MReynold’s capsule so before deorbiting he transferred fuel sufficient for 200 m/s back into Serenity. Katla looked at the telemetry screens “wait you have left me with too much fuel” MReynolds responded in a typical space cowboy way “Nope, want to make sure you have a smooth ride with no input needed. If I am a little short then I’ll adjust before the fuel runs out and aerobrake in on the shield, pilot style” They were coming up on the entry window for landing close to KSC, so before Katla could complain he punched the ‘disconnect’ button on the docking port and set Katla’s automated probe to bring her in. “Mission Control, you got Katla if things go off the reservation?” HSolo was manning the desk “Roger that MReynolds we have her 5 by 5, you get home safely too.” “Why, HSolo, want to congratulate me on breaking the EVA record?” HSolo was quiet, “Well MReynolds, if you could see what the nerds in engineering had on the drawing board down here, you would realise that no EVA record will ever be the same again, they are planning to build in space!” “Yeeeehaaaaa” was the only response he heard. Katla and MReynolds returned to KSC to heroes welcome, snacks and a well-earned rest. When they had recovered, MReynolds and Katla met up with engineers Kim, Scotty, Valphe, Ripley, Billy-Bobrey, pilots Paris, HSolo, Bowman and scientists Annika, Halcal, Picard. In the Kerbanaut complex bar; “What have you been planning down here?”

Chapter 8: Among the Moons of Jool “I’m sorry, but even with 2.5m parts we can’t even think of stacking contracts when we have no idea the DV requirements to play among the moons of Jool.” Bill was fielding questions from the scientists of KSC, he and Fredgard had selected a couple of nice contracts for long term surveys (90 to 120 days in length) round Kerbin and Jool. Their logic was these would provide When he work up the next morning, the scientist had also accepted contracts for science missions to the Mun and Minmus. “But what about gravity assists?” one of the junior scientists, Halcal asked, in our orbital mechanics class we learnt they can save fuel. “They can, but in the old solar system it took us all years to work out the values, now you just want to, what? Estimate?” Tasha started backing up her boss, Bill. “Alright, that’s enough, with the advances we received we can probably launch the first mission towards Jool and gather data for the other missions. How is the design of the new probe coming Bill? What did you call it, Discovery?” Jebediah, sitting at the head of the conference table broke in. He had a spreadsheet open on this palmtop with the figures for all missions in it. “That is what I was thinking yes, but it sounds a little odd now that we are talking about it. Like it has an unusual drive to it……since this new series will be on the first long range voyages we are doing in this system, I thought of calling the series Hokule‘a (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hōkūleʻa) in honour of historic voyages.” “Um, if you want!” Jeb shook his head thinking of the number of times he was stuck in a capsule with Bill, watching him reading historic texts. He thought to himself he should not really be surprised at this. “Hoookooola?” Several of the younger Kerbals tried to pronounce the name, “Can I call it the Hook?” Kim asked. “If you want to clean the warehouse for a year, go ahead.” Bill did not look amused. “Can I go now? I’ve got a lot to do.” “Sure” Smiled Jeb “Say hi to the Hokoooola for me” “Humph, You’ll keep old man” Bill was already out the door. Kim, SRide and the other engineers in the booster team stayed behind. The drawings they spread on the table showed several configurations of 2.5m boosters, with and without solid rockets boosters. “Like the 1.25m Intrepid we wanted to create a class of boosters that would provide modality to the space program.” SRide was explaining. “Here” she pointed to a simple single core booster, “this one, has a lifting capability to LKO of 14 Tonnes even with Kerbin tidally locked to Jool if we steel 300 DV from the transfer stage then the booster is recoverable. We can save a lot of funds that way.” Jebediah and the other Kerbals looked over the drawings, “that lifting capability is an impressive increase over the Intrepid 1.25m, will it lift Bill’s new Hook? (Kim’s name was catching on)” “To LKO, yes, I think he is trying to keep around 2600 Vacuum DV in the probe to be able to search the moons.” Kim piped in, smiling that the director would use his reference for the new probe. “Not sure just how heavy it will be, that is why we were aiming for a high target.” “How far away the boosters, Bill are seems keen to launch” “The new printers we purchased for the 2.5m parts are 8 times faster than the 1.25m ones so even with the larger template we should be able to launch the first booster in a couple of months.” 4 months later….. 5…. 4…. 3…. 2…. 1…. Liftoff…. “The Hook is streaming skywards.” The KSC announcer said over the station intercom. “It’s Hokule‘a!” Bill yelled from the back of the Control Room where almost all of the Kerbal engineers had gathered to see the first of the new 2.5m boosters lift off. “This is the Series 1, it has 4 Reliant engines for main thrust and 2 thuds for steering” Kim was describing to the assembled scientists, who were more interested to see if the engineer’s new toy did not self-destruct and take their brand new probe with it. “We were waiting for some 2.5m engines but could not build them in time” Kim continued. “What are you nerd’s calling this one?” Pilot Riker Kerman asked. “Oh, Prometheus A-2.5, the A means we can build more, just like SRide’s idea. It will be the Prometheus family of boosters.” “Can I call it the Prom?” Bill sneered just loud enough for Kim to hear. “or, Theo?” Kim turned from green to red. Maybe Bill will give him that broom after all…. Much to the delight of all the assembled Kerbals, the first Prometheus climbed straight and true, the core stage coming down harder than expected “More parachutes next time I think” murmured several engineer. With the new expandable solar panels and large dish antenna the Hokule‘a I certainly looked different to the other science probes that the Kerbals had built so far in Alternis. This first model had science experiments for reading temperature, magnetic fields and radio signals required by the first of the long term Jool science contracts. The hope was by moving into orbit around Jool data could also be gathered about fuel requirements for transfers to the Moons of Jool. Hokule‘a I boosted out of Kerbin’s SOI approximately 5 hours later to great cheers in Mission Control Room. The probe then transferred from a circular orbit of the gas giant into a highly elliptical orbit of Jool over the next few days lowering the periapsis in 4 burns of the transfer stage before that was released. “Wow, we had more than enough DV in the transfer stage didn’t we?” Bill said proudly. The orbital telescopes capturing the probe against a wonderful sunset showing the many colours of Jool’s think clouds through the atmosphere. The elliptical orbit allowed science to be collected “near” Jool and “high above” Jool, keeping all of the scientists busy and happy. The first flight of the Prometheus A-2.5 and Hokule‘a was hailed a great success for the KSC. The management team, Jeb in particular considered that first flight as no more than a proof of concept, he was sure that one of the elements --- the 2.5m booster, aero shell, communications dish or of them together. For it to work so well was fantastic. The KSC had great confidence, over the next several months they launched Hokule‘a series probes to orbit Jool, the Mun and Minmus. Each probe achieved orbit around the target body. As most were sent as part of long term science contracts two versions of the probe were built, one without a science junior and the other with. The science collected was impressive. Close up look at the Hokule‘a I probe Hokule‘a I series probe enters orbit around Minmus The first Hokule‘a series probe sent to the Mun did not have very much science experiments on board, it’s main task was to act as a relay when Kerbin was on the opposite side of Jool. It did that effectively. When the Kerbals received another contract for a long term survey of the Mun, Goddard Kerman who was given the lead of the Jool Moon exploration by Fredgard the head of science department, approached Bill and SRide about probe weights. “I would like to know if we can combine the Science Junior into a long term Hokule‘a series probe so we can increase the science return but still complete the long term analysis of the Mun. We only have 1 contract though, so I don’t think Jeb will authorise you to make a new booster. Do you have any ideas?” Valphe and Kim Kerman looked up from their printer. Kim started “Sride, we might have an idea” -- “an upgrade of the Prometheus 2.5 using – this” Valphe pointed to the printer “It’s a new 2.5m engine”. The Kerbals collected around the new engine nozzle. They could not believe the size of it. “What performance increase do you think you can get?” Bill asked. “Here are the printouts from the computer, sir, Prometheus B-2.5 has left TWR at lift off but several seconds longer burn time on the core stage. We hope this will increase the parking orbit from 100kkm to 100km so we can calculate better transfers to the Moons of Jool. It remains recoverable too.” Prometheus A-2.5 Prometheus B-2.5 “Will that allow me to add a science junior to the Mun exploration mission?” Goddard asked. “Should do Goddard, best way to see is to test it right?” Valphe smiled. The Prometheus B-2.5 retained the 2 thuds for steering but replaced the 4 reliants with the new 2.5m engine that the engineers had called a ‘Skipper’ The Prometheus B-2.5 launches for the Mun with revised Hokule‘a series II. Beauty shot as the probe transfers from high Jool orbit to intersect with the Mun, from left Kerbin, Mun, Laythe and Jool. Telemetry from the Hokule‘a series II showed it successfully transferring to the Mun and then braking into orbit. The Kerbals were then delighted to also see that they still had connection to transfer to a polar orbit. This satisfied the initial requirements for the contract. The probe was then set for it’s 60 day survey of Kerbin’s old friend. Hokule‘a series II in orbit of the Mun, heading towards periapsis. Now that the Kerbals have several probes in orbit of the Moons of Jool the pilots were getting bored. With 5.9 million funds available, they petitioned Jeb for Kerballed flights to start again. To their surprise he agreed. “First” he said, “let’s get 2 capsules in orbit and rendezvous. I want you pilots to get some EVA experience so we can truly explore this system” Next chapter out soon I hope. DDRocketsInc.

@Geschosskopf Yes, as you suspected, Bop is hard to land on!

Hello, Kerbanauts, RL has been getting in the way of Alternis Treks, but hopefully you will enjoy Chapter 7. Chapter 7: Controlled? Landing & Science Return While the Kerbals were trying to work out how to get satellite into retrograde orbit, the engineering team focused on the next contract, one that had been missing from the whiteboard because Katia had felt it could not be mixed with any of the others. The contract was to land on Bop. Ever since Tasha and Phoemma Kerman come up with the idea to crash land into Bop, the engineering team knew the landing parameters that had to be met, so they designed a small landing probe with legs(!) to try and make a more controlled landing on the tiny satellite of Kerbin. Together with the science collected the new seismometer and other instruments that would provide data from the surface and pulled together a new design for the lander. Bop “II” Lander --- now with legs! Soon after the engineer’s at KSC had completed the lander a contract came through to bring science back from Bop. So, the scientists Dunburry and Seanley teamed up with engineer Kim to renew the Kerbin science return probe (Pioneer X) with new parachutes, heat shield and renewed science experiments. Jebediah was so happy with head of engineers Bill’s work on recovering stages that he suggested trying to reuse some of the previously flown hardware. The earlier flight of the Pioneer X had also proven that the Intrepid Beta 1.25_SRB booster had more than sufficient DV to get to Bop, so the science orbiter and the lander were stacked on top of a recycled Intrepid Beta 1.25 core stage, with a new upper stage (so far no upper stages had been recovered from orbit) and 2 recycled solid rocket boosters within only a few days. The booster lit up the night sky over Kerbin and streaked into a 100km x 100km parking orbit allowing telemetry to be verified and Mission Control to confirm that both space ships were operating correctly. Bop Science Venturer climbs into a parking orbit Within a few hours, the Bop science Venturer had established orbit of tiny Bop and the Bop “II” lander disconnected. Dunburry Kerman, a scientist with no flights to his name but an insatiable love for space since childhood had secretly attached a camera to the orbiter. So, rather than the usual telescopic images from the Tracking Station, the Kerbals were able to see a fantastic image of Kerbin, Jool and Bop with the lander preparing to decent to the surface. The Kerbal’s confidence was sky high, not only had the mission reached Bop but now it looked like the lander was actually going to make it to the surface. The rocket fired several times, thrust and duration based around the last “crash” landing into the small satellite. Everything seemed to be moving along perfectly. The legs extended ready for a soft landing – and the orbiter was even able to take another photo of the lander on it’s next orbit, though the quality was not quite as good from the longer distance. Then….. “lost contact with the lander, sir” Bowman Kerman, the remote pilot flying the mission called out to flight director Legerchel. “Communications, did we lose a relay link?” Legerchel called to communications director Kathbel – her first time in the seat. “No ma’am, I’m still showing green across the network, just no up link from the lander” “Ok, let’s check the telemetry for the time period just before we lost contact” Kim Kerman, who has been the senior scientist suggested. “I’ll put the coffee pot on. Looks like it will be a long night.” “Is the orbiter still functioning?” He added, just as he got to the Mission Control door. “Yes, green across the board” Bowman responded. “Ok, Legerchel, how about we see if we can get the imager working better and snap a photo on the next pass?” Kim had now stopped at the door, and seemed to have forgotten about the coffee. “Good idea. Where is my coffee??” “On it.” “Me too, I’ll get that imager working” Dunburry started scrolling through the orbiter’s telemetry readouts looking for the reason the last shots were so grainy. By the next orbit of the orbiter, Kim had managed to buy coffee for all the Kerbals in Mission Control and Dunburry said he got the imager connected to the telescope to take some better photos. He patched the feed into the main screen and they all looked up. Initially the screen showed the black and white lines typical when the imager was not operating, then, slowly an image of Bop appeared on the large screen. “Look, there, looks like the telescope has focused in on something ½ way down that hill.” Kathbel pointed at a red box on the screen. “I tied in the magnetometer to see if the telescope would find the lander” Dunburry said, “looks like it worked” “either that or we have found something interesting on Bop” Suggested T’Pol, who had arrived to start her shift “what do you mean ‘find the lander’ what happened?” “Long story, I’ll fill you in soon” replied Kim. “Focus in on it” Kathbel turned to Dunburry trying to get him to focus himself. “All right, let’s see” he pointed the mouse at the receptacle and commanded the telescope to zoom in. The screen changed as the imager collected a series of more focused shots. “Oh, wow” Exclaimed T’Pol “What did you guys do? Didn’t that have a rocket engine when it took off? Why are the legs up?” Kim grunted, “Like I said boss, long story, here have some coffee” The rest of the day shift soon joined T’Pol with comments like “Sure we can bring that orbiter home better than night shift landed – can’t do any worse” and “let’s see if we can keep the probe in 1 piece shall we?” The night shift were not too impressed…… “Ok, so let’s get this puppy home” Paris said, sitting down at the controls. “Wait” exclaimed the experienced scientist on dayshift, Annika Kerman. “it looks like the night shift forgot to run the experiments” T’Pol checked the science telemetry for herself. “Ha, you’re right, they were so worried about their failed lander and getting images…..” “Looks like free coffee’s for dayshift to me” Paris licked is lips in anticipation. “I’ll SMS Legerchel and order them, how long will the science take?” “Done” Annika looked up “remember we are returning it no need to transmit this time” “ok, then, like I said let’s get this puppy home” Paris already had the return trajectory in the computer and was lighting the main engine. The return run was uneventful. The recycled probe with it’s new heat shield and parachutes worked perfectly and the probe made a perfect landing in a very surprised farmer Kerbal’s field. Despite their recent activities being "hit and miss" the Kerbals of KSC were really gaining confidence. When the management team went back to look for more contracts, there were multiple contracts for long term surveys of Jool's 'moons'. ………..”hummmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm” murmured Bill, studying the options “going to need a bigger booster. What do you think Fredgard?” Fredgard smiled, “funny you should say that Bill, look what we found in the R&D lab, 2.5m parts….” “Oh, yes, they will do nicely” Bill pulled out his sketch pad.

@Hast5250 bernam kerman may come up in another alternate universe..........however, please look out for Chakatoy Kerman in honour of the best (in my opinion) Star Trek iteration "Voyager", you would have already seen (I hope) that [Cpt.] "Janeway" Kerman is senior scientist in the KSC team.....

Chapter 6: Contract Stacking The excitement that was generated by Mayweather’s flight was extreme amongst the pilot corps. The KSC had 3.8 million funds available but there was a lot of science and exploration to be done, so Jeb, Wernher and Gene did not want to spend too much of the reserves on developing and flying Kerbal rated ships without contract’s to pay for them. So together most of the pilots exploded into Mission Control and grabbed exploration contracts for experiments around Kerbin, Bop, and Jool, 9 in all. Then they run over to engineering warehouse to ask the engineers for robotic satellite and boosters to fulfil the contracts. Paris was first through the door, followed closely by over excited Mayweather. The first engineer they saw was new graduate Scotty Kerman. They grabbed him and went over to a large table where more experienced (each with 4 flights) Billy–Bobrey and Kim Kerman stood looking at the drawings of the Gagarin capsule. “Guys, guys, we need help” Paris shouted – far too loudly – as he threw the contracts on the table. As a group they looked up “what with?” Kim enquired. “we need to make as many funds as possible as fast as possible” Mayweather said “then I can go back into space!” “not before I do, young one” retorted Paris. By now the remaining pilots and many engineers had gathered around the table and were all interested in what was going on. The engineers and pilots went through the contracts, trying to work out how to divide them up. They first collected all of the high fund ones together thinking they could do them first and leave the rest, then 1 of the engineer’s suggested they could leave some for pilots to do when they had funds but it did not seem like the contracts aligned well. Then they put them together in terms of destination, it seems logical until an engineer pointed out they could probably get the Bop contract fulfilled while getting a gravity assist enroute to Jool. Nothing seemed to line up. Eventually 2 scientists, Katia and Dilmund pulled over a whiteboard, without asking for a contract they wrote on the board “Contract Stacking”, then Katia added on the left side of the board “Kerbin, probe core, heat shield,” and Dilmund added on the right “Jool, probe core, antenna, magnetic sensor” “ if you want to make funds we need to build as few probes as possible with that each satisfy as many contracts as possible” pretty soon the engineers worked it out and bought contracts up 1 by 1 so there requirements could be added to the board. At 1 stage Scotty had a thought of brilliance that if they made the Jool probes have detachable science/experiment modules then as long as the main bus had sufficient batteries and a relay dish rather than return to home communication, it could remain in orbit to act as long term communication relay. Several hours later the white board contained outline for 5 ships to complete the 9 contracts. “If only we had larger boosters like before” queried young engineer Valphe, we could boost several into orbit together. Probe core, antenna, heat shield, parachutes, materials bay, telescope, solar particle, goo, hard drive Contracts: Probe, coming home. 1.25 m heat shield test. Kerbin survey -solar Kerbin survey - materials Probe Core, antenna, Kerbin, MAG, RPWS Contract: Orbital study of Kerbin 60d, 22° Probe Core, Jool, Relay, MAG, RPWS (drop away science) Contract: Orbital study of Jool 125d, 40° Gravity around Bop – send it home Probe Core, Jool, Relay, telescope, RPWS, solar particle, goo (drop away science ) Contract: Synchronous orbit Jool Probe Core, Polar orbit, thermometer, Relay, (drop away science) Contract: Polar orbit With the outline of the probes complete the engineers along with staff from DDRocketsInc started on configuring a booster to take the 1st package aloft. They selected the Kerbin return probe with the heatshield as the starting point. With an all up weight of XXT with manoeuvring stage (a terrier because it is the smallest available) it was clear that Intrepid Alpha 1.25 booster was not going to cut it. Taking the Alpha core booster and 2nd stage they walked about the warehouse looking for power options. “Moar Boosters” called Kim. While the probe engineers worked with a 10 Kerbal strong science team to work out how to wire the recoverable hard drive through a decoupler to be able to retrieve the science experiments, Kim, Bill, Valphe and Align all worked the maths and slide rule calculations to work out how to recover the core stage and solid rocket boosters – they had to save as many funds as possible. So came the bright happy day when recoverable probe Pioneer X was mated to the new booster Intrepid Beta 1.25_SRB. The first flight of the new booster could not have been better. Without separation engines to push the side boosters away from the core stage the engineers were concerned that they would be destroyed in the main engine exhaust. They were not and drifted down on the parachutes beautifully. The core stage was also recovered after delivering the Kerbin research probe into a polar orbit. It wasn’t until it was in orbit that the team realised that the contract for long term Kerbin survey orbit required an orbit inclination of greater than 22° so 90° polar inclination meets the requirements! After reaching the polar orbit, the recoverable science module was disconnected from the main section that will become a relay satellite and descended into it’s eccentric orbit to remain in place for 60 days fulfilling the contract requirements. Now for Jool The next test for the engineering team was to design a probe that would reach an orbit close to Jool. The Kerbals had observed in the tracking station that along with Kerbin a planet that looked like Laythe and 2 other moons, 1 that looked like the Mun were all in orbit of the mighty gas giant. The thought was even if they did not reach the required orbit in the contract getting something “out there” would bring back helpful science and be a great Trekking adventure. The engineers decided to design a probe with as much DV as possible available to it after the new booster placed it into parking orbit. They visited the R&D building and searched through the Technology Tree with the scientists for helpful parts that would replace the 1.25m fuel tanks and terrier engine (in particular) to get parts that were helpful for small light ‘interplanetary’ probes. With the scientists they worked out an affordable path through the tree to get 0.625m ‘Oscar-B’ fuel tanks, and the good old ‘spark’ engine to replace the heavier terrier that they had relied on thus far. In previous launches in the Alternis system the 2nd stage of the Interpid Booster had stayed with the payload long into the flight, for Bop flights it had completed the transfers. The engineers knew that to push the new explorer, dubbed “Wanderer I“ by Billy-Bobrey within the title block of the blueprint before he even started the design, all stages if the Intrepid Beta 1.25_SRB would be required. In line with the Contract Stacking philosophy the new ‘Wanderer’ has an upper core section that will remain in orbit as a relay. The larger secondary section houses scientific experiments and propulsion. The scientific team lobbied that since the engineers could not guarantee how far the fuel would take the probe, better leave the science with the propulsion and use it all up getting data even if the primary contract can’t be fulfilled. For the same reason they requested the engineers include the hard drive so experiment data could be stored for later transmission or retrieval. By stacking 8 x Oscar-B fuel tanks around a central one great fuel load could be created without any fuel pipes. The engineers were hopefully of massive DV but when the weighed the nearly complete Wanderer and realised it was 3T they thought it might be better to fit the terrier rather than more efficient spark. “Good chance that Blue Jool will have similar gravity to the Green one” explained Kim, “we had better have reasonable thrust as well as efficiency” Even with the terrier the main computer in the VAB confirmed an impressive 2,448 DV for the Kerbal’s first probe to venture outside the Kerbin – Bop system. All were in agreement that they should see how it goes. “and no need for an interplanetary transfer window to wait for, may as well just see how it goes” Kim suggested. Hadfield, scientist and orbital mechanics wonder looked at his student Paris, “Mr Kim, if one wants to be precise then one must always wait for the window. We will need to do so, for instance if we want to go to Laythe, even in this system were you can see it from Kerbin.” “I know” Moaned Kim, “I just want to try this baby”. Just as Kim had hoped, Jebediah approved launching Wanderer I the next morning. Reasoning with the others that they can put it into a 100km parking orbit, check systems and then plan the transfer based on real time data. Everyone in the KSC, now excited like Kim. The launch went well, the booster performing without fault. Unfortunately the plan to use boosters and 2 core stages of the booster to reach orbit fell short by ~400 m/s DV, as this was effectively an experimental launch for the Kerbal to see if they can orbit Jool nobody was too concerned. Since the Kerbals still had 50 odd days before they needed to look at the polar satellite again, they did not wait too long to boost the orbit outside the Kerbin SOI. Wanderer I became the first Alternis Kerbal probe to do so. DDRocketsInc is so proud that their equipment could be used by the Kerbals in such a historic mission. As the tracking data was received showing that the Wanderer I had escaped Kerbin SOI, every Kerbal in the Tracking Station cheered --- every Kerbal except Hadfield and Paris. “No need to check the transfer window, eh, Kim?” said Hadfield over the din as he pulled the data from the printer. Kim, Jebediah and several others stopped cheering and looked at him “What?” Hadfield showed them the printout “Did anyone think to check that the required orbit is retrograde?? We should have perhaps checked that, eh?” “Dude, be cool, we have heaps of DV, and even if we don’t have enough we can aim for polar orbit to improve long term relay activity” Kim smiled. “It launched, it escaped Kerbin, Wanderer is my new hero” Jeb, the whole management team and most of the other Kerbals could not hold back a snigger that ended up a true, Kerbal, belly laugh. Hadfield did not look impressed. Next chapter watch the Kerbals as they land a "proper" lander "with legs" on Bop, bring back a science package for Kerbin orbit and then realise that there is a contract in Mission Control to do the same thing from the orbit of Bop!

Regarding the colour of Jool from a distance, I am not sure what is going on. For visual enhancements I'm running EVE and distance object, when I first loaded the Alternis mod the clouds on Jool on the main menu screen were green rather than the retextured blue colour therefore I removed some of the cloud config files for Jool. that sorted the main menu but left the screenshots with a red Jool. I'm going to keep trying to work it out for the moment in Trekking through Alternis I guess the Kerbals don't know any better so live with it!!

Actually Mayweather come from Star Trek Enterprise - the main pilot of the starship who was born on an early warp freighter as far as I remember

Chapter 5: Kerbals back into Space The pilots were getting restless. Programming flight data into probe cores and monitoring them from the Tracking Station was not what they were “built for” as Paris put it. So when Lagerchel Kerman came past and said that the KSC management thought there was sufficient funds in the budget to attempt the 1st Kerballed flight in the Alternis system without a contract to pay for it. Most nearly fell over each other to get into the action. There was no budget for test flights using automated/remote pilots and none of the pilots wanted to do that anyway so Lagerchel put all pilot’s names into an aerodynamic cowling, shook them up and asked Jebediah to pull out a name. “Mayweather Kerman” called Jebediah as he read the name, then “who is that?” “Me sir, I am a new pilot out of training, I was hoping for my first flight when the solar system busted” Mayweather said breathlessly as he ran up to the front of the group. “now my first flight will be our first flight” he added full of enthusiasm. 2 hours later “Do you really think it’s a good idea? Surely a more experienced pilot would be better, we know very little about the atmosphere here and how a new capsule will handle.” Jebediah asked Lagerchel as he thumbed the blueprints of ‘Gagarin’, the new orbital class capsule that Bill had bought in. “I mean, Mayweather might be keen but keenness will not help if all hell breaks loose up there”. Bill quizzed, “what’s wrong boss, all of a sudden my Kerbal’s can’t design a simple 1 Kerbal capsule?” “He’ll be fine, Jeb, I reviewed his file from the old solar system, he did exceptionally well in training.” The KSC Engineering team looked had been looking forward to the Kerbal’s returning to space. One of the main drivers for using parachutes to recover the first stage boosters on all of the probe launches was to create a pool of funds to develop the “new” first Kerbal approved booster. So sitting around the engineering table they took Bill’s Sketch of the “new” Kerbal capsule and added to it a sketched of the new Kerbal booster. Gagarin Capsule Intrepid Alpha 1.25 Booster modified to be Kerbal Rated The meeting took a whole day. They risk assessed power generation options, life support requirements, rocket engine possibilities (there were not many available in the warehouse) always relating to the development completed before the Alternis (the name they had given to the new solar system) destroyed so much of their history. They deliberated over DV for each stage, possibility of recovering the second stage and even how many science modules to be added to the capsule. After the meeting Bill, along with T’Pol Kerman took the results to the operations team of Jeb, Valentina and Fredgard. Bill was confident that what the engineers had come up with would be approved. He was surprised when Valentina completely rejected the addition of the science instruments. “the safety of this Kerbal has to be the only priority for this flight……there is no reason for us to try and cram science into the plan. Why not wait for a contract to earn funds and science using another probe. All you are doing is eroding safety margin.” So most of the science units were removed. They left the electronic charge experiment onboard to allow for internal testing of the service stage, the weight of the capsule fell by several ton and gave the booster a break as well. The day arrived. Mayweather Kerman could not hide his excitement. With a strange colouring of Gas Giant Jool, Mayweather strapped in, looking more pensive. The countdown began….. 5. 4. 3. 2. 1. “Launch, Mayweather Kerman becomes the first Kerman to enter space……………this time………in the Alternis systems…………yea, right……….” The launch announcer seemed equally excited and confused as he wondered what to say. “CapCom, how is Mayweather?” “Mayweather, this is Capcom, your away and in the boost phase. How does it feel” Capcom asked over the communication channels. “…..eessdfer……rewffg……It feels smooth, how are you reading me…..over?…rtregfvfdv.. fv"” the speakers within Mission Control boomed. “Wow, that is rough, can you clean that up?” Jeb covered his ears, that was rough man! “Working on it, sorry” Bowman Kerman, the pilot on Capcom said as twiddling the dials to clean up the transmission, we have all seen that the DV to orbit is different here, are we really confused that the atmospheric interference is different? The Intrepid Alpha 1.25 booster, on her 5th flight performed flawlessly. The first stage burnt out on time and was recovered on the parachutes to the recovery barge on time. The 2nd stage lit and then relit to push the Gagarin capsule and Mayweather Kerman into a 100 x 100km orbit perfectly on the equator. “yea, baby!” Mayweather screamed over the com channel as the capsule engine shut down and his instruments showed he was in orbit. “ouch, I am glad you cleaned that com link up Bowman!” SRide said as all Kerbals in the room covered their ears to protect them. “Do you really mean for me to apologise?” Bowman looked embarrassed. “Weeeeeeee……………..eeeee…………….eeee” Mayweather was continuing over the radio. Bowman turned down the main volume “Mayweather!” He yelled “Pull it together man!!” “You’re meant to be a professional!” “Weeeeeeee……………..eeeee…………….eeee, I’m upside down now!!! Jool looks odd through this telescope, it is a different colour up here.” Mayweather barely stopped screaming. “Mayweather! You have work to do” Valentina broke into the com system. “Yes, Ma’am I’m on it” Bill and the engineer’s asked Mayweather to complete a set of check lists to ensure that the Gagarin capsule was operating correctly. This took 2 orbits. Meanwhile the science team members were lining up in Mission Control, finally when the engineers looked like they were relaxing, Janeway leapt forward “Right, Mayweather, time to earn your money” she pulled out a clipboard with a large stack of science experiments. “Time for sweet science!” Over the next several orbits Mayweather really did earn his salary, at 1 stage after 2 consecutive EVA’s without a break he had to tell the science team to leave him alone for an hour to get some sleep. Janeway started to protest but Valentina stopped her “I think we’ve all had enough for a while, go and have a break, he is getting one.” Several orbits later, the scientists had a crew report, 5 EVA reports and 2 Ionisation & electrostatic reports to keep them happy. Considering the capsule was confirmed in an equatorial orbit the fact that Mayweather managed to get an EVA report over the Ice Caps was very confusing indeed! Paris replaced Bowman at Capcom and talked Mayweather through the deorbit burn and re-entry process. His capsule was recovered from a smooth splashdown. Jeb and the others wondered how they might mark the occasion. Surely a party was called for!

Chapter 4: Unexpected landing For the Engineers in research and development the next few days were quiet. With the Pioneer Class Probe, Chimera Class Relay Satellite and Intrepid Alpha 1.25 recoverable booster proving their reliability, for the launch team and Mission Control it was anything but quiet. Loud to the point of bleeding ears would be more like it. Jebediah spent most of his waking hours with Gene Kerman in Mission Control. Together they looked through contracts that would both net some funds, get some Scanning satellites up to work out the topography of Kerbin and also allow the Kerbals to get much needed communications network up and running. Another few days later, Jebediah was thumbing through more contracts when a young scientist, Phoemma and young engineer, Tasha wondered in. The two of them waited until Jebediah acknowledged them. “Ladies, what can we do for you” Phoemma started “sir, the orbital telescope on ‘Bop 2’ has broken, Tasha said from the data coming back a meteor much have impacted the mirror so it is not recoverable.” Tasha nodded her head. “yes sorry sir, there much be more debris in the system due to whatever happened………….we will have to add shielding in the future.” Jebediah “Well, that’s alright we are still learning, do we have any fuel on board? Can we move it into a higher orbit and use it as a relay” Tasha “well, since we already had the relay antenna on Bop SCAN we used one of the smaller direct antennas instead. Your idea would have been good though because all the other scientific instruments are still working. Thermometer, barometer etc” Jebediah “ok, what should we do?” Phoemma pulled out some papers from her bag, “we had a thought, the probe actually has ~200 DV left on board, from the readings we have about Bop and the lightweight of the probe there might be enough trust to weight to make a controlled landing. The information gained would be helpful if we want to send Kerbals…………..” She heard a snigger, stopped and looked up from the page, Gene and Jebediah were both looking at her with massive grins. “What did I say?” Gene handed her a piece of paper that she remembered he and Jebediah were both looking at when she and Tasha walked in. She read it, it was a contract to land on Bop. “We were just wondering if any Kerbal had the right stuff for this” Gene said when she finished reading. “You two have impressive timing. Have you spoken to anyone else?” “No sir” the women answered in unison. Jebediah “Are you worried about the engine nozzle Tasha?” Tasha “We calculated that with the fuel on board and minimal gravity we might be able to get as slow as 0.2 m/s so it will actually be already, I might get you to tell that to Bill, through! In any case with next to no fuel left who cares?“ Jebediah “True” After a moment’s thought “ok, Gene, lets accept this contract, ladies since this was your idea, you take the contract and arrange a meeting with the heads of Science, Engineering and Pilot Corps. Tell them I have already endorsed your plan. Make it happen.” With that he turned to Gene, “I’m inspired mate, let’s go to that big blue Jool like thing” Gene opened the computer “funny you should say that.” Tasha and Phoemma held the contract together and felt quite lightheaded. “What will Valentina and Fredgard say?” Phoemma asked as they left, “I don’t have to think of what Bill will say, but I know he will be yelling it at me!” Tasha whispered almost to herself. Two days later “It’s your baby ladies, you should be very proud.” Paris Kerman clasped his hands together with relief. “All I did was programme the decent and landing sequence.” Tasha and Phoemma stood, stunned as the images came through from Bop SCAN Sat in orbit of Bop to confirm what the telemetry had showed, Bop 2 had landed on Bop with 77DV left. Landed.

Chapter 3: Communications & Scanning and reaching for Bop “Contract Accepted” the Mission Control computer’s automated voice stated. The Kerbal Space Centre’s management team read through the paperwork again. “flyby of Bop, it looks like it is closer than the Mun was, should be a piece of cake, good funds with reasonable amount up front” SRide read it to the group. “We have a small launcher, simulations with the data that we found from the previous Jool probe has indicated it is a light moon, should not have a problem slinging by it.” “What about the solar panel efficiency problem?” Billy-Bobrey asked. SRide, still looking at the contract paper answered “Well it’s a flyby, make it as cheap as we can, if it runs out of power gravity will do the rest.” “Should we get some communication relays up first?” Jebediah asked. “Again, as long as we have signal to throw it at Bop, it will get there.” SRide was quick to respond. “This way we get some public interest and confidence that things will be ok – didn’t you see the riot last night? Kerbal’s all around Kerbin are frightened that there is an alien artefact or something out there that caused the whole planet to move, and be demoted to a Mun! This contract will prove we can get something up and out into the solar system. The funds will provide Bill’s engineering team time to solve this solar efficiency problem before we need really long duration battery life for the relays.” “Fair enough” Jebediah smiled, “go for it, get Bowman to programme the probe and be pilot support, says in his file here that he has experience from the Jool Discovery mission.” “5. 4. 3. 2. 1. And there is launch of the first probe in this new solar system, Bop Pioneer, on the new, tiny, Intrepid Alpha 1.25m launcher.” The launch communicator’s monotone voice filtered out throughout the KSC. “We’re on our way again” 2 minutes 15 seconds later, Bop Pioneer, was above Kerbin about to circularise a 120km parking orbit on it’s way to Bop. Billy-Bobrey walked into the control room, holding the photo “Why does this photo show that Bop Pioneer has a Low Resolution Mapping Unit?” Gregfry looked up from the data feed screen, distracted, “Um, XX said by the simulation we might have enough Delta V to get into orbit, and a contract for scanning Bop came up on the computer.” “and you don’t think it is a bit ambitious? Low efficiency solar panels, no communication network, our first launch into this solar system!” “Um, the funds were good, more funds, more fun, eh? While we sort that stuff out the scanner can run by itself, then we will get the data water.” Billy-Bobrey shook his head and walked off. One hour later; Mission Control, Probe Pilot Control Room “explain that to me again?” Valentina asked as she passed behind Bowman. “The probe that you were remote flying impacted the surface of Bob at 100m/s and it’s not your fault?” Bowman straightened in his seat. “Yes, I have flown to the Mun many times as you know, I would not have thought that getting to Bop in this solar system would be so hard!” Claubeth added, “yes Valentina, Ma’am you need to understand we, none of us in the space programme have ever got close to Bob. All we know is the data that Jool Discovery beamed back, a few dimensions, some images and the gravitational readouts when she was in orbit of Jool 3 years ago. Nobody could have realised that the sphere of influence would be that small. By the time we realised we were entering it and were on a collision course there was no time to programme the change and have it transmitted to the spacecraft.” “so, what’s the fix?” Valentina enquired. “We need to get those polar communication relays up above Kerbin so we can communicate faster with probes, then we might have had a chance to divert it. At least Bop Pioneer, maybe we should call it ‘Bop Basher’ beamed back some data we can use to adjust the simulation model. Perhaps we won’t enter the SoI on a collision course next time.” SRide who up until this point had been quietly sitting in the background thinking how nice it was to not be in the hot seat for a change felt 3 pairs of eyes looking at her, “right, yes, the relay satellites, we are still having that problems calibrating the solar panels to the change in solar intensity. I was easy enough for your ‘Bop Basher’…..he he I like that…..um, urm, I mean, yes solar panels, you see because your probe was completing a ‘fly by’ contract, the batteries did not have to last long, just enough for you guys to put it into the SoI and let gravity do the rest. Ha, guess you let gravity do too much, eh?.....he he….” SRide stopped as he heard Valentina’s finger nails tapping the desk faster and faster. “Well the relays will be no good if they only last a few days right? Anyway we think we have a solution to the problem. We need some time to check. In any case the first Chimera Relays will have some extra batteries just in case Kim got it wrong.” Thump, SRide reeled back as Kim balled fist caught his shoulder “Ouch” “Didn’t think I was listening did ya?” Kim smiled, it was not a hard hit, just a little fun. “How long? We are on a time line for this contract” Bowman enquired. “2 weeks, then we will have 2 Chimera relays ready to go.” Kim came in closer to the group as he spoke, “and we managed to keep the weights down so the same 2 stage Intrepid Alpha 1.25 launcher we used for ‘Bop Basher’ (smiles between the engineers) should have no problem getting them into Polar orbits.” Three weeks later; Kerbanaut Complex, central bar SRide, Kim, Bowman and Claubeth where sharing a drink, thumbing through the latest lots of readouts from the probes in orbit. “Not bad eh?” Kim pointed to the radiators in the Intrepid launcher’s 2nd stage “these radiators sure helped prevent large loss of the fuel on launch. These little launchers are great. When DDRocketsInc said they were going to scale down the ‘Thud’ LFR I never would have thought they would be good for first stage boosters. Saving that fuel means we can recover the booster stages earlier and closer to the KSC.” “What about the solar panel efficiency?” SRide was looking through the stack of pages. “Better than we thought, we think this series of Chimera relays will last for 4 to 5 years. Hopefully all those scientists will get something done soon and we can unload the next level of panels. We have already included the repairs into the production system.” Kim found the pages as he spoke to prove the point. “Give me a look? You’re says we have 2 relays over Kerbin, the scanner made it to Bop and then you sent another to act as a Relay there too?” Paris was looking through the launch pictures. Bop Pioneer 'Bop Basher' just prior to impact. Bop Pioneer 2 reaches "LOW" orbit Communication Network started, Orbit of Bop achieved.

@GeschosskopfI am unsure if the Alternis mod is causing issues with other mods in my game or if it is caused by me running 1.2.1, but as you can see below, Duna is "not where she should be!!". Makes for a good story I think.....

Chapter 2: Starting Over Ripley Kerman, one of the Colonists who signed up for a trip to Duna was screaming in the corner of the room “Where are we? What’s going on?” “Ok, ok”, Janeway Kerman slowly, thoughtfully. She continued “Everyone’s alive, we can be thankful for that, we just need to be calm and think about this” Sigming, Seanely and Asign who had walked outside as soon as the orbital traces were on the screen, bowled back through the door. “Everyone please listen” panted Asign. “We have been up to the top of the VAB, the” she stopped, tears in her eyes, Sigming, the only colonist to fly so far, continued “the orbits are the only change, normally from the VAB on a clear day you can see something of the Island Runway and the structures we built there – the lights at least, but now,…..nothing”. “That’s not all” Seanely had been moving closer to the control desk and bought up the CCV camera controls. “Look at the warehouse in the basement of the VAB”. As he moved the camera feeds onto the large main screen, the Kerbals looked at each other in disbelief. Where up to only a few minutes ago the warehouse had been full of rocket parts all the way up to the mighty 3.5m parts, all the Kerbals could see were a few 1.25m parts, some basic science parts and probe bodies. As he swung the camera around, Bill, Director of Engineering yelled “Stop”, “Jeb, look, even the 3D printing equipment and robotic construction equipment is missing. It is like the Tech Tree was never finished”. Bill moved to the controls and pulled up the R&D system, sure enough when he selected the Tech Tree, only 4 levels were complete with 2 nodes on the 5th level researched. Jeb moved around the room, his hands moving like he was flying the 1st Minmus shuttle to orbit, mimicking the stick movements. “Fredgard, take Janeway, Hadfield and the other scientists to the R&D building, let’s work out if this is an instrument failure or if we have a real problem.” Another step, “Bill, take as many Engineers and Colonists you need, I want a full inventory of that warehouse, to solve these problems we are going to need to put some rockets up”. Fredgard, Bill and the majority of the Engineers, Colonists and Scientists moved away, out the main Tracking Station door and into the afternoon light. The Pilots wondered what Valentina, director of pilot corps and Jeb were planning for them. Jeb waited for the room to clear, then scanned the Tracking Station, “Paris, come over here”, Paris Kerman, veteran of 5 flights, 2nd in charge of the proposed Duna mission, was well known throughout the KSC as the best rendezvous pilot and orbit calculator. He practically ran over to his leader “Yes Sir”, “Paris, we need to get a feel for what the solar system looks like now.” Jeb started as the others moved in to listen to the conversation. “What I would like you to do is to look through the Tracking Station data and try to understand what launch windows are open for us, we need to get some probes out there to try and understand what has happened. Are the changes natural or did our launching the Duna mission cause a rift in time-space?” HSolo, a pilot with more stories from the local drinking establishments than flights said “I’ll help Paris”. “Me, too” Added Billy Bobrey, and engineer with a Kerbal pilot’s licence who preferred to hang around with the pilots than the engineering team in the dusty warehouse. “At the same time perhaps we should look at launching some aeroplanes to conduct searches and understand what has happened to the landscape” “Us, um, three, we can help” said Colonists Sigming, Suenna, Heruki “Just tell us what to do”. “Good” Jeb called, walking towards the doors “Make it so”. “Valentina, meet me in 3 hours in my office at mission control” “I am going to ask Bill and Fredgard to meet there also so we can devise a plan” 2 Hours later, Jeb’s office in Mission Control “Valentina, how did Paris and the other’s do?” Jeb asked, sitting down with a cup of hot coffee. It was well after sundown now he needed all the help he could get to stay alert. Valentina waved her hand over the holographic emitter to bring up the slide package that her team prepared. “Well, the solar system has been given a real shake up. We all saw that Kerbin is now a moon of a gas giant that has similar characteristics to Jool but is a different colour. What Paris’s calculations also show is that the orbital mechanics of the system are very different also.” Valentina opened the slide package “look at this, using the original System alarm software we used to wait years for launch windows to open, now, to get with the ‘Jool’ system we can launch every few days.” “There are fantastic opportunities to visit moons and planets that we could never reach before” Jeb scratched his chin. “I wondered if that would be the case walking around this afternoon. It is clear that we are out at Jools original orbit relative to the original System, do you believe the predicted times?” Valentina looked serious “Paris is not sure about all of them, we need more time to observe orbits to be sure. With no probes in orbit that is pretty hard though.” Jeb looked at Fredgard. “Fred?” “We started looking at the Tech Tree. While we all have the memories of how to great and use the technology high up on the tree, it seems that the manufacturing equipment, patterns and raw materials for them were lost when ‘whatever happened, happened’.” Fred moved the holographic interface, showing the Tech Tree image that the group saw in the Tracking station. “I would like to think there is some good news however, remember when I told you not to convert the last lot of science into funds?” “Yes” Jeb leaned in. “Well, that was good news because we have 2786.9 points we can use now.” ”and 2.6 million funds I see” Bill pointed out. “steady Bill, we can’t go building parts willy nilly” Fredgard held up his hand. “Anything else” Jeb asked Fredgard. “well, more good news I think, though it is confusing.” Fredgard moved to the next slide. “the science archives have been cleared. Look at the slide, all of the science we collected before is available again. I don’t know if the results change or be the same. Good thing is it looks like the points are available again.” “Well, should at least keep the scientists happy!” Jeb exclaimed, Fredgard had a way off look that Jeb knew meant he would not get anything else helpful out of him today. He turned his attention to the director of engineering, his old ‘orange’ friend, Bill, “Bill, what did you find in the warehouse?” Bill, an old school engineer, handed out pieces of paper with very detailed drawings on them of each part currently available to the Kerbals. “Here you can see a snapshot of what is available to us for control, communications, fuel tanks and utility equipment. It is a hotch botch of equipment from many manufacturers, but lines up fairly well with the science status that Fred explained” “Within the fuel tanks are some live support modules. How effective they are I can’t say. Many of the upgrades that we worked on with DDRocketsInc and @Roverdude of Umbra Space Industries have disappeared.” Bill was pointing to the paper in front of him. The assembled Kerbals looked at him, then their paper, then at each other. Thankfully, SRide Kerman, who came to the meeting with Bill, secretly predicting this would happen. She started up the holographic generator and transferred the slides up to it. Jeb, Fredgard, Valentina all relaxed. Fred gave her a thumbs up. With a furrowed brow, Bill looked up at the hologram and continued. “The expandable modules that @Tokamak from TokamakIndustries produced that we really did not try until launching the Percival Lowell” PV in orbit of Kerbin in the original solar system, habitat expanded while ship was undergoing in orbit tests. PV Engines connected, just prior to the crew arriving. “Thank you all for your time. Please pass on my thanks to your teams. Go back to your families, rest and tell them that we are working to try and find out what has happened.” Jeb sipped his coffee, now 3 hours into the meeting wishing is was something with a little more kick. “Before you arrived I had gone through the contracts in Mission Control database and had been trying to communicate with our suppliers and our communication stations around Kerbin.” “How did that go sir?” Valentina asked. “Not well, I think communication will be priority number 1, but I have to think first. Please go home, be with your families and we will reconvene at lunchtime tomorrow for some supplies”. In the next Chapter we will see how the Kerbals adapt to the new Solar system.

When I installed the mod there was no Duna, I am not sure why but it could be because I am still using KSP1.2.1 or that the mod competes with OPM. I need to do some more investigating to understand what happened.

Background After reading the great feedback about the Alternis Kerbol mod and working within the vanilla/OPM solar system for a few years I was excited to try the new solar system out. I am still working in KSP 1.2.1 because it takes a long time in RL to get anything done. I was not sure if the latest download of the mod would incorporate into the old version of the game. After making a copy of the KSP 1.2.1 folder I copied in mod files and tried to start the game up. It did start ok, upon inspection Duna is missing completely. I’m unsure whether I’ll be able to copy it in from another version but for now I thought might be interesting to take the Kerbals from my previous save who were just launching their first Kerballed Duna mission after working towards it for 7 years (career mode) and ‘start again’ in the new system. Once I get the story going I’ll post in Mission Reports. Chapter List Chapter 1: Discovery Chapter 2: Starting Over Chapter 3: Communications & Scanning and reaching for Bop Chapter 4: Unexpected landing Chapter 5: Kerbals back into Space Chapter 6: Contract Stacking Chapter 7: Controlled Landing? and Science Return Chapter 8: Among the Moons of Jool Chapter 9: Back in the Saddle Again Chapter 10: The short Life of the Bop Orbital Science Platform Chapter 11: Getting Picard Home Chapter 12: Jool Orbital Science Platform/ Cerberus Launcher Chapter 13: First Losses Chapter 1: Discovery