Grogs

July 27, 2020

One of my Mun Buses hauled a load of tourists into Minimus orbit. Nobody was landing so I pulled it into a polar orbit where it collected gravioli scans from the poles before returning to Kerbin.

Spoiler

Here's another Mun Bus returning to Kerbin with the Minimus landing crew. The four deployable heat shields on the sides have worked really well on this design, but they do add a bit of mass and require a fairing on launch.

The mission brought back over 2000 science in addition to the crew/EVA reports that were already transmitted.

I have a contract to mine 150 units of ore on Minimus so I sent a scanner probe. It first fulfilled another contract to place a satellite in a retrograde orbit before going polar for the scan. I also included relay antennas so it can function as another relay after the scan is complete. The scan revealed a high concentration of ore underneath my Minimus surface base so I'll place the mining rig near the base.

I launched another probe, the Kerbsat LR-1.

I put the LR-1 (LR = long range) in orbit to fulfill a satellite contract, but its main purpose was to test the design for future interplanetary missions. This has enough range to visit most of the planets without the EC headaches of a xenon-powered engine.

Finally, I launched a crew shuttle with 14 kerbals onboard, almost my entire space program. The main ship is the orbital shuttle seen earlier, but with full fuel tanks on the upper stage to give it 3000 m/s dV once in orbit.

Once in orbit, the shuttle will pick up a 15th kerbal stranded there, then visit the Mun, Minimus, and finally make a quick trip out of Kerbin's SOI so that the crew can get promoted to three stars. After they return, I'll have to figure out what I want to do next with this career. The next world-firsts contract is to orbit Eve, but the launch window isn't for over a year. I'll probably start setting up a refueling infrastructure around Minimus to support kerbed missions to other planets.

July 27, 2020

5 hours ago, Selective Genius said:

Also, what is the best way to level up my crew? How much can I level up my kerbals (1 star, all of them) in the Kerbin system alone?

Two stars is the best you can do in the Kerbin system. You'll need to visit both moons. Plant the flag on one and flyby the other will be enough.

To reach three stars, you'll need to briefly pop out of Kerbin's SOI so that you're in orbit around the sun in addition to visiting both moons.

July 26, 2020

I tested out a new design for a crew-launch vehicle to get lots of kerbals up to orbit and back. I don't have the tech level to build a proper space plane SSTO, but I took advantage of the Mk3 passenger module to give a total of 19 seats. The upper tank is empty to keep the COM low for re-entry.

Here's the orbital shuttle docked at Kerbin Station. The ship to the left is the Mun Bus bringing a load of kerbonauts and tourists back from the Mun. The design is getting long in the tooth and I'll probably retire it soon and replace it with something more up to date.

Bringing the orbital shuttle back to the KSP. With the shape and fuel at the bottom, it holds rock steady on re-entry. I don't think I can land it reliably on land so I have to bring it in to overshoot and then fire the engines to get it close to the coast. It's also a little too aerodynamic and without the airbrakes it would smash into the ocean before chutes deployed.

Coming in safely just a few km offshore from KSC.

Over at Minimus, the fuel tanker arrived. Jeb flew the lander up and then left on one of the Mun Buses seen earlier. When the next group comes they can use it for further exploration of the surface.

July 25, 2020

I took a group of five tourists to the Mun as part of a contract. I landed two of them to the surface and returned them to the station. Pretty routine by now. The others only paid for an orbit. I'll send them back to Kerbin tomorrow on the Mun Bus.

Over at Minimus, things are beginning to get going. First, I landed a rover on the surface to complete a contract to scan an Olivine formation. I was going to detach the skycrane after landing, but I realized I could keep it attached and drive around with just the two rear wheels. I was able to cruise around at 12 m/s and the skycrane actually made for a decent roll cage.

After the scan was complete, I put the vehicle on it's rear to recharge the batteries so I would have enough juice to transmit the data home.

Over on the other side of Minimus, I landed a kerbed mission. I had a dedicated lander, but I realized contract also wanted me to return a vehicle from the surface. Since the lander had no parachutes I decided to just land the whole crew shuttle instead. I had to disable the gimbal on the Poodle because it kept leaping off the ground otherwise. After leveling up some of the crew in the nearby science lab the ship headed back up and prepared to return to Kerbin.

July 24, 2020

I've got three in my current career save. One around Kerbin, another around the Mun, and a third on the surface of Minimus. All were built/expanded as part of a contract.

Stations are convenient, so if someone is going to pay me to build one, why not? I actually have a Rockomax Jumbo-64 tank on the way to Minimus that will become a new station in orbit there. The contract said it had to have a probe core, generate power, and have an antenna. I think I had to add a thermometer to meet the terms of the contract. Once it's in orbit for 10 seconds and the satellite contract is complete I'll move it to the final orbit.

Details below

Spoiler

Kerbin Station was built in tho phases. The original was mostly crew modules and then the science lab was added later. I'm not using it for much ATM, but I'll probably detach the engine section and replace it with a large tank for refueling at some point. Then I can just launch to orbit and run a shuttle back and forth the the Mun/Minimus instead of going directly.

Mun Station has gotten quite a bit of use. The science lab was the original piece and later I added the cupola section with better solar panels and fuel cells so the science lab could run 24x7. Attached to the station are the tourist shuttle (closest), current 6-kerbal lander, and the original lander. The ship at the bottom is a fuel tanker that just brought in a (mostly) full Jumbo-64 tank for future landing ops.

Finally, Minimus Base is a new contract I just picked up. Given how easy it is to land I decided to put the base down first and I'll swing back around to pick the two scientists up later after they've generated a healthy dose of science.

July 22, 2020

I think my biggest one was the mother ship for my Jool-5 mission. It weighed in at 1414 tons.

The lifter mass was 11,354 tons. It had all the aerodynamics of a brick and I had to fly it like an Eve ascent - straight up until 20,000 meters before starting a gradual gravity turn.

Because of the steep ascent profile and low TWR of the Nerv engines, I put it into a 500x500 km orbit. The central booster had about half its fuel left (which I used for the first periapsis kick). Counting that, the total payload to orbit was 1586 tons.

July 21, 2020

I would say that 8 minutes is really pushing it in an 80x80 orbit. A rule of thumb I've seen about long burns is to not exceed 1/6 of an orbit, i.e., 60 degrees. At 80 km your period is around 35 minutes so you're well over that. It's probably doable, but it's going to be a less efficient burn. If I were planning the mission from scratch I would either aim for a higher starting orbit or else try to divide up the burn over multiple orbits (periapsis kicking). From an 80x80 orbit you could preburn around 900 m/s, leaving you a bit over 1100 to finish. Unfortunately the orbit would take you well over a month to return to periapsis so you'd have to plan ahead.

One thing you can do if your first stage has a higher TWR is to lower the thrust of the engines so that they match. This gives you a continuous thrust over the whole burn, but unfortunately in your case it would make it a good bit longer. For a more reasonable length of burn I'll often do that to keep the burn balanced.

As for your specific questions:

1. The maneuver nodes assume an instantaneous burn right at the node. The best way to approximate that is to start the burn when the time to the node is half the burn time, i.e., half the burn before the node and half after.

2. What I usually do is switch back and forth. Start burning towards the maneuver node and watch your periapsis. When it starts getting too low (say 71 km), switch to prograde. Once you pass the periapsis you can safely switch back to the maneuver node.

Anyway, Eeloo is a tough target. If you can pull off an encounter with the initial burn you're doing really well. I think I had to do two correction burns before I finally got an intercept. With this long burn it's going to be even harder. You need to allow a decent margin of extra fuel (10-20%) to make up for the inefficiencies.

I use MechJeb to do most of my interplanetary transfers. It seems to do a pretty good job most of the time. I also make frequent use of the info windows which display things like degrees to prograde and relative inclination with the target.

July 20, 2020

It's not all that uncommon unfortunately. I see it a lot with complex staging like asparagus setups. I usually keep the MechJeb Delta V stats up and it's not uncommon when it disagrees with the stock numbers. But sometimes both of them are wrong. In your case, I think it's the fact you're using crossfeed through the decouplers. It sees that there's no fuel in the outer tanks where the engines are and reports 0 dV remaining. If the fuel was in the outer tanks, or if there were actual hoses then I think the game would pick up on it.

July 15, 2020

I ran into this today trying to refuel my lander from the space station around the Mun. I refilled the center tank fine, but then nothing when I tried to refill the six external tanks. When I went to the tracking station and back I was at least able to highlight all six external tanks and the refill tank at the same time and finish the refueling using the OUT button on the refuel tank. Since I'll probably change focus between lander refills anyway it's makes this annoying, but not completely game-breaking to me. I just have to remember to refill all the tanks at once and not try to do them one at a time.

July 12, 2020

Ouch. Eve is really good at tearing up parachutes like that. I've learned the hard way to use drogues and not deploy the main chutes until the drogues are fully opened.

July 9, 2020

Heh, I just did something similar in my career game, and I should know better. I had a contract to put a base on the Mun and another to land 4 tourists on the Mun. I figured I would just kill two birds with one stone and land the tourists with the base. Since the base was meant to be 'permanent' I only sent enough fuel to get it down, planning to just send a regular lander down to collect everyone and take them home. Only problem - tourists can't EVA. Oops. Now I have to build something that can land next to the base, roll over, dock, and then reorbit. Those are the kind of things that make KSP what it is. :cool: It's frustrating at times, but still fun to try and fix your mistakes.

July 8, 2020

This tutorial has the parachute math that you can use to calculate landing speed. I used it in 1.7, and it was pretty accurate. As far as I know, they haven't changed anything in the model since then.

July 5, 2020

What asparagus staging (or any staging really) allows you to do is "cheat" the tyranny of the rocket equation a bit. The equation is

dV = g0 * ISP * LN(m_wet / m_dry), where g0 is the standard gravity (~9.81 m/s), m_wet is the mass of the ship with fuel, and m_dry is the mass of the ship with no fuel.

In KSP, most of the tanks are 8/9 fuel and 1/9 tank by mass. That means that even at the most extreme case where the mass of the engines and payload are negligible compared to the fuel tanks, the best you can do is ISP * 9.81 * LN(9) = 21.55 * ISP. For chemical engines, the Wolfhound has an ISP of 380 s => dV = 21.55 * 380 = 8188 m/s.

With the asparagus staging, you reduce the dry mass part of the way through. For example, let's say you have three tanks - a central core with the engines, and two side boosters. For the first stage (i.e., until the side tanks are empty), the rocket equation looks like this:

dV = g0 * ISP * LN(27 / 11) = 8.81 * ISP, or for a Wolfhound 3346 m/s. So you've added about 40% to your dV to get it up to 11,534, but you've also tripled you starting mass.

If you added another pair of tanks, it would only increase dV by another 1637 m/s, or about 14% over a single pair of drop tanks. A third pair of drop tanks would only give 1092 m/s extra, and so on. I don't know what the infinite sum ultimately converges to, but as a practical matter it's hard to do much better than doubling the single tank dV without an obscene number of radial tanks.

July 2, 2020

21 hours ago, Superfluous J said:

End of an era indeed! I've actually been following it so only had the last couple to read.

I'm sorry to say you missed out on a critical step way back at launch from Kerbin and...

Awww ;.;

21 hours ago, Superfluous J said:

... no just kidding YOU WIN! Great job! It was a great read. Welcome to the winner's circle!

I mean, yay! :cool: Thanks for the cool challenge. It was a lot of fun and it gave me a reason to visit some places I've never been to like Eeloo, the Mohole, the Dead Space Kraken, and Vallhenge.

July 2, 2020

2 hours ago, strider3 said:

Burning the Wolfhound is kinda like watching grass grow . SOooo, that didn't work. It seems that having part of the burn using the last Mammoth and part using the Wolfhound jacks with the start of burn time? I was down to 240 DV to finish the transfer and the required DV started going back up? If you look at the map image above, I show a "Node Burn Time (1/2)" of 2m 37s but a "Node Burn Time" of 18m 30s. I get the feeling I needed to start the burn at 9m 15s. I was going to totally miss Moho, at that point. I think it's back to the drawing board.

Well, in fairness you did ask for the most efficient engine. The price for bleeding-edge efficiency is, yeah, low TWR. I did a mockup of something similar to what you have with a probe core and 4 S3-14400 tanks plus and ADPT 2-3 adapter on top. (EDIT: Now that I'm looking at your total mass, maybe those are S3-7200s you have? Still, same principle should apply).

So with a single Wolfhound, you get 7900 m/s. That's pretty extreme for a single stage, but your vacuum TWR is only 0.11.

You could use an engine plate and stack 3 Wolfhounds. It would almost triple your TWR - so burn time down to 6 minutes or so. The trade off is your dV is down to 7384 m/s.

Or use a Rhino. Still pretty efficient at 340 ISP and gives 2000 kN vs. the Wolfhound's 375. dV is down to 6700, but the TWR is 0.58. That should get you down to about a 3.5 minute burn, which is pretty manageable IMO.

BTW, I've read that a good rule of thumb is that a burn should be less than 1/6 of an orbit to avoid big cosine losses. In your screenshot you're in about a 52 minute orbit so anything less than about 8 minutes should be OK.

July 2, 2020

@Superfluous J, I'm happy to report that Joolollo is now complete. You can find the details over at my mission report here:

I finished it up today before 1.10 came out so I could check it out. No worries if it takes you a while to review it. I've got a comet to visit! Maybe I'll pull Bob, Jeb, and Val out of retirement for a manned mission there after I send a probe.

July 1, 2020

1 hour ago, Bar2215 said:

Hello, so today I wanted to do a Duna mission but when I want to do my interplanetary burn, The closest approach markers constantly jump around and I can't get my encounter.(e.g. whenever they are close to each other they move) and when I do get an encounter, the burn isn't right and I end up not getting one. Do you know what the problem is? Thanks in advance!

I've found that flashing markers usually indicate it's on a later orbit. So you've probably plotted a course that will take you between Kerbin and Duna orbit, but won't actually get you near the planet until the 2nd (or more) pass of Duna's orbit.

Hope you packed a lot of snacks!

July 1, 2020

Chapter 11: Victory over Vall; Homecoming

FROM: KSC Mission Control
TO: Bob Kerman, KSS Victory Prime
DTG: 27:279:03:00
-------------------------MESSAGE FOLLOWS

Understand you've reunited at Jool Station and are now preparing for mission to Vall. KAS has detected another anamoly on the surface of Vall at 60° 5′ 10″ S 83° 46′ 48″ E. Please investigate if possible. Good luck on your final moon.

-------------------------END MESSAGE

Spoiler

Jeb: I've got a transfer to Vall plotted.
Val: For once, we couldn't get a good assist from Tylo. We'd have to wait quite some time for it to line up properly.
Bob: We've got plenty of dV left in the Victory. No need to wait.

Jeb: OK, plotting the capture maneuver as well. It's not too bad even without the gravity assist.

Val: Entering Vall sphere of influence.
Dashpont: I've got a good set of high orbit measurements.
Bob: Go ahead and jettison the telescope. We've collected data over all the moons now.
Val: Roger. Telescope away.

Val: Setting up inclination change to polar orbit.

Dashpont: I'll go out and collect EVA reports.

Diny: Meet me at the lander when you're finished and we'll head down.

Bob: Here are the coordinates for the anamoly the KAS sent us. Looks like we'll go over on the next orbit.

Diny: I've good the coordinates punched into the lander. Looks like I can get us pretty close.
Dashpont: Do you think it's another space monster like Bob found on Bop?
Diny: I guess we'll find out pretty soon.

Diny: Heading down. We'll let you know what we find, Victory.

Diny: Dropping the external tanks. No sign of the anamoly yet.

Diny: Got it in sight now.
Dashpont: It looks like some kind of geometric pattern. Try to bring us down close.
Diny: I'll do my best, but there's not a lot of extra fuel for maneuvering unless we want to walk home.

Diny: Coming in next to the structure, whatever it is.

Dashpont: Too regular to be a natural phenomenon. This must have been constructed by some intelligent species.
Bob: Make sure you get good photos. The science team back home will eat this up.

Diny: Planting the flag.

Dashpont: You can see how regular the shapes are now that the sun is up. Looks almost like marble or something. I'll take some measurements.

Dashpont: Might as well plant a flag on the top while I'm at it. This makes a good observation point.

Diny: You have what you need?
Dashpont: Yeah, I've learned all I can here. Maybe a team with better instruments can learn more about the origin.
Diny: We're on the way back up, Victory.
Bob: Roger. Good job checking that feature out.

Diny: This upper stage is really hard to control. With you mounted on the side it keeps dragging the nose down.
Dashpont: Well I'm not getting off! I'm sure you can manage.

Diny: I should be able to get us into a low orbit, but we won't have much fuel left.

Diny: Victory, we're in orbit, but almost bingo on fuel. Can we get a pickup?
Val: OK, we're on our way.

Val: We've got you in sight now. Can you make it from there?
Diny: Roger. Heading your way.

Diny: Almost there. We've got the docking ports lined up.

Diny: Contact. Transfer the science and head back to the Victory, Dashpont.
Dashpont: Roger. Thanks for the lift.

Bob: Before you finish, we have some housekeeping for you to do, Diny. First, refuel and then get rid of that Rockomax node. We don't need it anymore.
Diny: OK, pulling it away.

Bob: Now go grab the heat shield and install it on the nose of the Victory.
Diny: Roger. Maneuvering the heatshield into place now.

Diny: OK, got it lined up on the docking port. Attaching it now.

Bob: We can go ahead and jettison the rocket fuel tank now that we're done with lander ops.
Val: Tank jettisoned. Should we ditch the lander, too?
Bob: Let's keep it for now in case we need to reposition something. I can't imagine we'll need it, but I've grown kind of attached to it.
Val: I know the feeling. Come on back in, Diny. Good work out there.

Jeb: I'm plotting a course away from Vall and back to Jool Station orbit.

Bob: I guess that's it for the moons. All landings accomplished. Now we just have to get home.

Jeb: The maneuver computer says we have to wait over a year for the optimal launch window, but it looks like we can leave directly from this orbit in about a week.
Bob: How much more dV will that take?
Jeb: Less than 100 m/s.
Val: We've got plenty of fuel. Wernher really over-engineered the Victory.
Bob: Hmm, 100 m/s to shave over a year off the mission? Seems like a no-brainer. Make it so, Number one!
Jeb: LOL, aya aye, captain! Gene may be a little disappointed to start his retirement earlier, but everyone else will be happy.

Bob: The time has come, everyone. Time to leave and start heading home.
Jeb: It's a long burn, but our Pe is so high it shouldn't affect anything.
Val: Looks like the external tanks are spent. I'll go ahead and jettison them.
Jeb: We still have nearly 5000 m/s left in the central tank. You can really get around in this ship.

Bob: We've reached the Jool SOI. I guess that's the last we'll see of that little green dot.
Val: Time to go home now. We've got a long trip ahead.
Bob: It'll give everyone time to think about those experiences. It seems like we've been at Jool forever.
Jeb: About a year and 100 days. That's a pretty long time.

Jeb: Now that we're out of the Jool SOI, I'll plot an inclination correction. That will really clean up our approach.

Jeb: Maneuver plotted. I can get our pe on target for aerobraking from here.
Bob: I guess we'll just get comfortable and enjoy the trip home. Only 2 years and 240 days.

...

<Jeb, Bob, and Val are gathered in the rec area while the rest of the crew is sleeping or working>
Bob: Looks like we'll be reaching Kerbin tomorrow. I confiscated some of Dashpont's hooch so we could celebrate. It's pretty bad, but it's all we've got.
Val: It's not so bad when you mix it right.
Jeb: Tastes like rocket fuel. I like it.
Bob: We sure have been through a lot together. Eeloo to Moho and everything in between. It's kind of sad it's coming to an end.
Val: What do guys have planned for after the mission?
Jeb: I hear they're putting together a program to develop an SSTO. I'm sure they'll need a really good pilot.
Val: I hope they can find one.
Jeb: Heh, funny Val.
Bob: You don't ever quit, do you Jeb?
Jeb: If I ever slow down, I'll die Bob. I just want to go out with my boot on. Preferably not for a long time though.
Val: I think I've had enough flying. At least the high-pressure mission stuff. I've got my eye on a nice cabin up in the mountains. It's a very quiet and beautiful spot near a lake.
Bob: Sounds peaceful.
Val: You can come visit sometime if you'd like.
Bob: That would be nice. Maybe I'll take you up on that.
Jeb: What about you, Bob? What are your plans?
Bob: I may take a university job. It will give me time to continue researching all we've discovered. In my free time, I may join Gene out on the golf course.
Val: Well, here's to the three of us. It's been quite a ride!
All: Cheers!

Jeb: Coming up on Kerbin aerobraking.
Bob: Jettison the lander, open the heat shield, and prep for atmospheric ops.
Jeb: Right, I've got everything buttoned up.
Val: I sure hope Wernher's calculations were right. This aerobraking may be a little hairy.

Bob: There goes the lander.
Jeb: Picking up some heating. Nothing too bad, yet.

Jeb: Temps are approaching critical levels on the engines. Initiating a roll to try and distribute the heating.
Val: We're close to our Pe. I think we'll make it through unharmed.

Jeb: We made it! We're captured in a really high elliptical orbit now.
KSP: We show you captured, Victory. Good to have you guys back.

Jeb: We'll do one more powered aerobraking pass and then we can put into low-Kerbin orbit.
Val: Much less heating this time around. That heat shield on the top really holds us steady.

Jeb: We're in low-Kerbin orbit now. Getting ready to re-enter for real.
KSC: Good luck! We'll see you when you're on the ground.

Jeb: Jettisoning heat shield. Looks like we're on a good approach to KSC.
Val: I'll try to time the chutes to put us down close.
Bob: Good, I don't think they have a recovery vehicle in the budget and I don't feel like walking too far.

Val: Drogues are out. Looks like we're going to be very close.

Jeb: Main chutes are out. Final descent.
Val: It will be a fairly abrupt stop, but I think the ship can take it.

Jeb: Nailed it!
Bob: So how do we get down? Umm, KSC, can you send a ladder over?

Final science: 34,902.0

Bottom of the list. The only science collected was from Jool and it's moons.

Final science tree. There's an overflow of 53,863 science.

July 1, 2020

I did a quick test and I'm going to have to admit that I'm wrong on this one, at least in a specific case like Moho. I chose a scenario where we're inbound to Moho with a target orbit of 1 million meters (1 Mm). I launched from Kerbin, then had to make a correction burn to get a Moho intercept. I chose 2 different Pe's: 15 km and 1 Mm. In both cases, the capture was set for an Ap of 9 Mm, which is close to the Moho SOI. For the 15 km case, I then added a burn at Ap to raise the Pe up to 1 Mm. At that point, both orbits are equal and any subsequent maneuvering would be, too.

Case 1: Inital Pe @ 15 km: Capture burn is 3004.3 m/s. The burn to raise Pe to 1 Mm is 34.0 m/s. Total dV = 3038.3 m/s.

Case 2: Initial Pe is 1 Mm. Capture burn (and total) is 3504.2 m/s. This is about 466 m/s more than case 1.

Some caveats:

- This is a pretty extreme case dealing with such a fast approach speed and a very high target orbit. I suspect it does get into the gate orbit concept @OHara mentioned and that there's a cutoff Pe where it's more efficient to burn at the target Pe instead of as low as possible. I recall a really old thread where someone had calculated these orbits for each pair of bodies, but I can't find it now.

- In practical terms, you also have to consider that the maneuver calculator assumes an instantaneous burn. Coming in hot to Moho a lot of the burn will be far from Pe unless you have a very high TWR. Still, we're talking a savings of 13% of dV so even a fairly long burn should realize significant savings.

July 1, 2020

I think the cost of having to raise your Pe back up again is going to outweigh any savings from Oberth. I would choose a) for the first choice.

For the second situation I would choose a variation of c) for the same reason. Ideally, come in on the same plane as the station and set your Pe on its orbit. Then when you do your capture burn you could set your Ap so that you intercept the station the next time you swing back down to Pe. You don't really have to calculate to pull it off, just set the station as the target and burn until the two position markers come together. There's no reason you have to do it that way, but it feels like the most elegant solution.

June 30, 2020

Chapter 10: Bob's Tale - Red Shirts; What the heck is that thing?

Spoiler

Bob: Entering Pol Sphere of Influence.
Sanlin: Starting scientific analysis.
Raler: I thought it would be bigger. Looks like an asteroid.

Raler: Capture burn. It has a rather brownish hue, doesn't it.

Bob: Put us in a polar orbit so we can get gravity scans on all the biomes.
Raler: Roger, got the maneuver dialed in.

Sanlin: I'll start collecting EVA reports as soon as we get lower.
Bob: OK, have fun out there.

Sanlin: I've got everything I need. I'll head to the lander and we can start down.
Raler: OK, I'll meet you there. Undocking. See you in a few, Victory.
Bob: Good luck down there.

Raler: Making the de-orbit burn. This should be pretty easy.
Sanlin: Good.

Raler: You know, I think I've figured it out. We're red shirts.
Sanlin: What do you mean?
Raler: Like in Star Trek. Whenever there was some random security guy like "Ensign Taylor" he always died on the mission because he was just a throwaway character.
Sanlin: Well I certainly hope we don't die.

Raler: Nah, not likely. I just mean they gave us probably the least interesting moon. We're totally forgettable compared to Bob and Jeb and Val. And there's no real challenge to landing here. I could probably fall asleep and miss the suicide burn and we'd be OK.
Sanlin: Well at least the rocks are kind of pretty.

Raler: We're down. Piece of cake.
Sanlin: I'll start getting surface samples.

Raler: After this one little bit is over, I doubt anybody will even remember our names.
Sanlin: Well, our name is on the flag. Whenever anybody looks at Pol, this flag will always be here.
Raler: OK, good point. It's not a lot, but I'll take it. Ready to go?
Sanlin: Yup.

Sanlin: Oh oh, our lander tipped over.
Raler: No problem. The gravity here is so weak our reaction wheel will flip us over. Hop in your seat.

Raler: We're on our way back up, Victory.
Bob: Come on up. We'll be waiting.
Sanlin: You know, Bob, Jeb, and Val will probably retire after this mission. Then guys like you and Herdon will be running missions. That doesn't sound like a red shirt at all.
Raler: When you put it that way, it sounds pretty good.

Raler: Coming in, we've got the docking port lined up.

Raler: And contact. We're safely back from Pol.
Sanlin: Good job, fellow red shirt.
Bob: Refuel the lander for the next mission and come on back in. Well done down there.

Bob: Plot us a course out of here, Herdon.
Herdon: Roger. I'll just move us away from Pol first and then we'll find an intercept with Bop.

Herdon: OK, got an inclination change lined up ...

Herdon: ... and then an intercept with Bop. We'll be there in about 48 days.
Sanlin: I guess I have time to catch up on my reading.

...

Bob: Coming in on Bop. Collecting scientific data.

Herdon: I'll put us into a polar orbit.

Bob: I'll go out and collect EVA reoprts. These chairs sure do make it easier than drifiting away 10 km and having to get back with thrusters.

Bob: I've got all I need from orbit. You ready to head down, Herdon?
Herdon: I'll meet you in the lander.

Bob: I've downloaded the coordinates the Kerbal Astronomy Society asked us to check out. Apparently there's something strange on the surface there.

Herdon: I'm plotting a maneuver to take us down there next time we fly over.

Herdon: Coming down, I think I see something.
Bob: I can't see anything from this angle.

Herdon: It's huge. It looks like a broken watermelon or something.
Bob: Try to put us down close by.

Herdon: OK, no problem boss. Maneuvering is pretty easy in this low gravity.

Herdon: How's that? Close enough?
Bob: Uh, yeah. What the heck IS that thing?
Herdon: No clue, you're the scientist. Um, by the way, we seem to be sliding off the top.

Bob: Go ahead and let it slide off, then set us down on level ground. It doesn't seem to be a separate biome or anything so no harm done.
Herdon: OK, nice and level here. We're down.

Bob: It looks like some type of giant octopus.
Herdon: Are those supposed to be eyes?
Bob: I hope so. Better than if they're eggs.
Herdon: Just to be safe, I would stay away from them. If something jumps out and attaches itself to your face, I'm leaving you down here.

Herdon: I'll go ahead and plant the flag.
Bob: The exobiology department will go nuts when I tell them about this thing. Maybe they'll convince the brass to send another mission out here to study it.

Bob: I'm going to plant one more flag on top. Maybe I should get a sample while I'm up here?
Herdon: Are you crazy? You want to go chasing baby aliens all over the ship?
Bob: OK, good point. I'll leave it for the next mission.
Herdon: It'll be a lot funnier when it happens to someone else.

Bob: That's not something you see every day. Good thing we have the pics or nobody would ever believe us.
Herdon: You ready? This place gives me the creeps.
Bob: I've seen enough. Let's head up.

Herdon: Heading back up Victory. We'll be there in about 40 minutes.
Raler: Roger, come on back up. You find anything interesting down there?
Bob: You won't believe us until you see the pictures.
Herdon: And even then you might not.

Herdon: We've got the docking port lined up. Coming in.

Raler: I'll start planning our return to Jool station. First up is a maneuver to get us out of Bop's SOI.

Raler: And then an inclination change.

Raler: I got a good intercept with the station. We'll be there in about 9 days.

Bob: We're arriving at the station. Herdon, take the lander out so we can dock.
Sanlin: Where are the other ships? Shouldn't they be here already?
Bob: Jeb, Val, where are you guys?
Jeb: We're about 25 km away. Don't dock with the station or it will corrupt your scientific data. [Author's note: I had the same problem with ForScience moving all the data to the probe core and had to reload.]

Bob: We'll just set up next to the station. You guys get over here so you can transfer crew to the Victory.

Jeb: OK, we're here. I'm transferring all of our observations from Tylo and Laythe over.
Bob: Good. Jeb, move your crew over and then go dock with the station.

Val: We're docked, Victory. Transferring crew over.
Bob: Good, now go dock with the station. We'll leave the Titan and Leviathan here for future missions.

Val: We're both docked.

Jeb: I'm going to turn out the lights and shut everything down.

Jeb: Coming back over. You could have at least parked closer, Victory.
Bob: A crack pilot like you should have no problem with a little space walk, Jeb.

Jeb: OK, I'm in.
Val: Me, too.
Bob: OK, I guess we're all done here. Next stop is Vall.

FROM: Bob Kerman, KSS Victory Prime
TO: KSC Mission Control
DTG: 27:279:02:23
-------------------------MESSAGE FOLLOWS

Pol and Bop missions complete. Linked up with KSS Titan and Leviathan and consolidated crew. Preparing for mission to Vall.

-------------------------END MESSAGE

June 30, 2020

If you have Making History, the Wolfhound is a good long-haul vacuum engine for a fairly large craft. At 380 vacuum ISP, it's the best chemical engine I believe. I find it to be good for a transfer stage to move a relatively large payload a long way. I used 7 of them in an asparagus setup to move a 300-ton payload from low-Kerbin orbit to Jool. The stage gives about 4500 m/s dV.

For something mid-sized, the Poodle is a good engine. The ISP is a little lower, but it's half the mass which makes up for it. This was my Moho return craft and it had about 3500 m/s. That's not enough to make Kerbin orbit, but plenty to get back and make a direct re-entry.

If you need more dV, you can go with a Nerv setup. I think this one had about 5,000 fully fueled.

June 28, 2020

Chapter 9: Val's Tale, or Ladies' Night on Laythe. Also, Natalo gets a little hot under the collar.

Spoiler

Val: Coming up on Tylo flyby. Preparing for burn at periapsis.
Dashpont: There's the Titan on tracking. Looks like they put into orbit OK.
Natalo: Maybe we can spot them when we swing by.
Val: Not likely. They're a long way off and it looks like they'll be on the other side.

Val: Making the correction burn. This should send us past Laythe and then skimming through Jool's upper atmosphere.
Natalo: It's actually kind of nice being away from the boys for a while.
Dashpont: Poor Diny. She's stuck with Jeb for the next two months.
Val: Jeb's not so bad as long as you ignore everything that comes out of his mouth.
Natalo: That one's a bit cocky.
Val: He back's up the talk, but still, he takes risks I would never think about.

Val: We're on a good trajectory now. After we pass by Jool we'll figure out how to get into Laythe orbit.
Natalo: You can do all kinds of neat tricks using these inner moons.

Val: Flying by Laythe now. It's funny we've been by so many times, but haven't stopped. Maybe the next time around.

Val: Approaching Jool transit. I'm going to pull in the antennas and solar panels.
Natalo: I'm strapping into the external command seat to get some EVA reports.
Dashpont: I'll move down into the lander and take atmospheric readings as we pass through.
Val: I'll leave the bay doors open so you can get readings.

Val: Entering the atmosphere.
Dashpont: Looks like I've got a good set of measurements. Everything I need.
Val: OK, I'll close the bay doors to make sure the lander doesn't get damaged.

Natalo: It's getting kind of hot out here!
Val: Don't try to come in. You'll get pulled away from the ship. The worst will pass in a minute.
Natalo: I hope the worst doesn't include my suit catching on fire!

Val: Looks like we're heading back out of the worst of it.
Dashpont: You still OK out there, Natalo?
Natalo: Just a bit singed. Hopefully they don't withhold my deposit on the spacesuit when we get back.

Val: I'll make a correction to pull us above the atmosphere on the next pass. After that, we'll just wait until Laythe swings back around and we can get an encounter.

Val: Making the burn to raise Pe.
Natalo: Jool was fun to visit, but I hope to never see it like that again.
Val: Yeah, sorry. I took that pass a little too low. At least we went tail first so your face shield didn't melt.

Val: I've found a maneuver that will give us a flyby of Laythe to raise our Pe. Then several orbits later we'll meet Laythe again.
Dashpont: Why another pass?
Val: The first pass will slow us down. On the second we should be going slow enough to aerobrake to a capture.
Natalo: I think I'll stay inside for that one.
Val: Too bad. Your head would add some nice drag to help slow us down.

Val: Making the burn. This should be the last time we see Jool this close.
Dashpont: It's a pleasant green color, but I think I've seen enough of it for one lifetime.

Val: Coming through Jool Pe for the last time. Next stop, Laythe.
Natalo: That would be a neat trajectory. It's cool how we have Laythe, Vall, and Tylo encounters all lined up.
Val: Let's just put into Laythe orbit. I think I've done enough moon pinball for now.

Val: Coming up on Laythe aerobrake. Closing everything up for atmospheric entry.
Dashpont: Getting some heat warnings on the engines.
Val: We're near maximum pressure. They shouldn't have any issues.

Val: We got a free capture and now I'll put us into a polar orbit.

Val: Now I'll bring our orbit down and circularize.
Dashpont: Keep it above 200 km so we can get high orbit gravity scans.
Val: Will do.

Dashpont: I'm reviewing our measurements from during the aerobrake. It looks like the air down there is breatheable.
Natalo: Maybe if you land us on a beach we can catch some rays, Val.
Dashpont: Looks pretty cold though. I wouldn't go swimming unless i was in my spacesuit.
Val: The lander isn't exactly set up for water landings either. Unless we want to risk being stranded here we need to land as far inland as possible.
Natalo: Just as well, I guess. I forgot to pack a swimsuit anyway.

Natalo: Science is all done up high, Val. Take us down low.
Val: Roger, moving to just above the atmosphere.

Natalo: I'll go ride on the outside to gather EVA reports.
Dashpont: Try not to get singed this time.
Natalo: That's not even funny.

Natalo: EVA reports all done. Val, can you skim through the upper atmosphere for a while so we can gather atmospheric analyses?
Val: Will do, moving down. I'll avoid any serious heating, but come on in just to be safe.
Natalo: I'm in. I managed to grab an EVA report from the atmosphere on the way.

Val: This is rather tedious, but by adjusting the engine thrust way down I can almost maintain a stable orbit.
Natalo: The orbit seems to decay really fast considering we're less than 100 meters in.
Val: How many more readings do you need?
Dashpont: I have most of the biomes. Head on back up if you're ready.

Val: OK, I've got us back up to a 70-km orbit. I'm going to head over to the lander.
Natalo: I'm on my way, too.
Dashpont: I guess I'll mind the store while. What do I do if you get in trouble down there?
Val: You could call Bob and ask for advice, but most likely you'd have to leave without us.
Dashpont: Let's not even think about that.
Val: If I get into trouble on the ascent and need a pickup, I'll talk you through it. I don't plan to let that happen though.

Val: Taking the lander out of the bay. RCS handles well for such a long ship.
Natalo: Staging is all screwed up. Let me fix it so we don't jettison parachutes when we fire up the engines.
Val: Good call.

Val: Deploying A.I.R.B.R.A.K.E.S. Ready for deorbit burn. Staging set. Ready, Natalo?
Natalo: All set.
Dashpont: See you girls soon.

Val: Deorbit burn complete. Looks like we headed for the north pole.

Val: Lots of reentry heating. Temperature warnings on the A.I.R.B.R.A.K.E.S., but we're slowing rapidly.

Natalo: Drogues are out. Wow, that's an incredible view.
Val: You don't see this back home in Kerbalstan. Or anywhere else for that matter.

Natalo: Main chutes are out. I'm going to jettison the A.I.R.B.R.A.K.E.S. so I can do a brief EVA on the way down.
Val: Don't let go of the ladder!

Val: Touchdown!
Natalo: Good landing, Val. Wow, it's really stark out there, but it's beautiful in an alien sort of way.
Val: Reminds me a bit of the steppes back home. We didn't have a giant Jool on the horizon there though.

Natalo: This is amazing that we can run around without helmets out here.
Val: The air is thin, but it has a nice frosty feeling. Feels like a nice Spring day.
Natalo: I hope I don't ever visit your homeland. Sounds cold.

Val: Let's just sit here and enjoy the view for a while. This might be the highlight of your life. Try to take it in.
Natalo: Tylo rise, kerbol set. What a scene. I'll remember this when I'm old and gray.
<Several hours of quiet contemplation pass>

Val: Time to go. Let's prep the ship for launch. I'll jettison the science package and you push it off the top. Just don't fall off the ladder.
Natalo: That's silly. Who would ever do that?

Val: Jettisoning parachutes. What the heck do they put in those things to make them explode like that?
Natalo: I can't believe we were flying around with something that dangerous attached to the ship!

Val: Liftoff, dropping the lander legs.
Natalo: Goodbye, Laythe.

Val: Dropping lower stage. I've got you on the navball, Leviathan. On our way back up.
Dashpont: I'll be here. See you in a few.

Val: Heading looks good. Performing gravity turn. All systems nominal.
Natalo: Look at that view, such pretty lakes.
Val: Maybe they'll let me build a house up here after I retire.
Natalo: That would take getting away from it all to a whole new level!

Val: Lifter stage burnout. Heading to orbit on the Sparks now.
Natalo: Vall finally made an appearance. That's such a pretty moon.
Val: Hopefully we'll get to see it up close before too long.

Val: Out of the atmosphere. Setting up the final orbital insertion burn.
Dashpont: Guess I can stand down.
Val: Happy to say it doesn't look like we'll need a rescue today.

Val: We've got a good intercept with you Leviathan. We'll be there in about 40 minutes.
Dashpont: First round is on me when you get here!

Val: Coming in to dock. Just point the docking port our way and I'll do the rest.
Dashpont: Roger, got you lined up on the crosshairs.

Val: Solid capture, clamps engaged. I'll move the last of the liquid fuel back to the Leviathan. I doubt we'll need it, but no sense tossing it out.

Val: Goodbye, little lander. You served us well.
Dashpont: Marguaritas, anyone?
Val: Hey, how'd you manage that?
Dashpont: It's a little bit of Tang mixed up with a little fermentation "experiment" I've been working on in the back room.
Val: That's totally against regulations. Pass the pitcher or I may have to report you.
Natalo: It's a hard life being a kerbonaut. Cheers to all of you!
Val: Now I wish we had some nachos.

Natalo: Ugh, what a night. Laythe followed by marguaritas. What'd you put in those things, Dashpont?
Dashpont: I'm a chemist, but brewing ethyl alcohol isn't exactly my strong point. I probably made it too strong.
Val: Time to plot a course out of here. Looks like I can get a Tylo assist that will put us close to Jool station. I'll clean it up once we're en route.

Natalo: Buh bye, Laythe. It was fun to visit, but I prefer Kerbin.
Dashpont: I'm jealous I didn't get to go down.
Natalo: You'll get to visit Vall later. That looks like a really beautiful moon.

Val: I've plotted a course correction near Tylo. That will get us pretty close to Jool station about 17 days from now.
Dashpont: Do we have to go back? I really like it out here by ourselves.
Val: Unfortunately, yes. You need to get ready for Vall and Diny is back on the Titan.
Natalo: Poor Diny. I hope she's been OK cooped up with Jeb and Jim for so long.

Val: Making the correction burn.
Natalo: Sounds like Jeb landed successfully on Tylo. I guess we'll hear all about it when we get back.
Val: I usually just mute his mike when he starts on one of those stories. Just nod every once in a while and he'll never notice.

Val: One more burn to match inclinations and we'll be on our way back.

Val: Good intercept. We'll be there in about 4 more days.
Dashpont: Guess I'll enjoy the solitude while it lasts.

Val: Making the burn to match velocities with the station.
Natalo: I wonder why Titan isn't docked to the station? Did they just get here?
Val: No, they've been here for quite some time. I guess we should go link up with them.

Val: Titan, we're on approach. Point the docking port our direction and we'll link up.
Jeb: Come on in, Leviathan. The garage is open.

Val: Good contact. Engine shutdown. It's good to see you guys.
Jeb: Let me tell you about the Tylo landing. It was awesome. First I <click>
Val: He'll keep at that for a while before he realizes I have him on mute. Natalo, why don't you see if Diny wants to come over for a drink? Dashpont, you tend the bar. Maybe we'll share with the boys if there's any left over.

FROM: Valentina Kerman, KSS Leviathan
TO: KSC Mission Control
DTG: 27:223:03:35
-------------------------MESSAGE FOLLOWS

Laythe mission complete. Linked up with KSS Titan IVO Jool Station. Awaiting return of KSS Victory from Bop.

-------------------------END MESSAGE

June 28, 2020

Chapter 8: Jeb's Tale, or Tackling Tylo

Spoiler

Jeb: Coming up on our Pe at Tylo. Get ready for the capture burn.
Diny: This doesn't take much at all. I guess this moon's gravity nearly captured us all on its own.

Jeb: Welcome to Tylo. I left the Ap really high. We'll pull into a polar orbit with a pretty reasonable burn once we get there.
Diny: Why does it show the Leviathan in orbit?
Jeb: Beats me. That would be really weird. Probably just something screwy in the display.

Jeb: Doing the inclination change.

Jeb: There we go. 90.000 degrees. Will that do?
Jim: I should think so.
Jeb: It will take quite a burn to pull our Pe down and circularize.

Diny: Heh, look at that view on the external camera. Looks like we're holding up Vall and Laythe with our engines. They look so tiny.

Jeb: Burning. This is a long burn so I'll have to watch the Pe and make sure it doesn't get pushed down into Tylo.
Diny: That would be bad.
Jim: I'm not in that big a hurry to get down there.

Jim: Getting gravity scan data. Looks like there may be some hollow spots down there.
Jim: OK, got scans from all the biomes. Move us down.

Jeb: I'll move us down.

Jim: I'm going out to collect EVA reports. This is relaxing, but I feel dizzy staring down there.
Diny: Just keep your eyes on the horizon.
Jim: It's OK. I've got EVA reports for all the biomes now.
Jeb: OK, let's get ready to go down.

Jeb: Moving the Teardrop lander out of the docking bay. It's pretty sluggish on RCS.

Diny: I'll point the ship around so you won't have to maneuver around too much.
Jeb: OK, got it lined up. Moving in to dock on the modular science package.

Jeb: Solid capture. Get over here Jim. It's time to land.
Jim: OK, I'm in.

Jeb: Releasing docking clamps. Preparing for descent.
Jim: Maybe this isn't such a good idea? Are you sure we can land safely?
Jeb: Oh, be quiet you big baby!

As Jeb deftly maneuvered the lander into a retrograde position, he realized the insides of his gloves were slick with perspiration. "Sweaty palms? Really? What am I, some rookie on his first training mission?"

Jeb: The Grissom crater looks like a good spot to put down. I'll plot the descent.
Jim: I should have chosen Pol. Or Bop. This thing looks huge!
Jeb: Don't worry about it! You've got the best pilot in the KSA flying. Nothing will go wrong!
Jim: I hope you're right!
Diny: It'll be fine, Jim. Have fun down there, guys!

Jeb: Starting deorbit burn. Looking good so far.

There were hardly any outward signs that could have been detected. Jeb's heart rate, respiration, and blood pressure were all well within normal ranges. Truth be told, he had been doing this so long his body simply didn't show any abnormal signs of stress. But truth be told, he WAS nervous. No, not nervous. He was scared. But why? He certainly wasn't afraid of dying. Jeb's instructors had predicted he'd die in a fireball since his first day at the training academy. He had always prided himself on proving them wrong, doing those things they said were impossible. That had earned him a reputation as the best pilot in the KSA.

Jeb: Approaching vertical and main landing stage burnout.

That was it, really. It wasn't a fear of death. Jeb had none, but he was petrified of failure.

Jeb: Main stage burnout. Jettisoning. All systems green. Just going to coast for a while.
Jim: That ground is coming up fast! Fire the engines, Jeb!
Jeb: No worries, partner. I'll put her down soft as a feather.

Jeb had always had "the voice". That calm voice that pilots use to casually report that the wings just fell off, the parachutes have malfunctioned, but have no fear because they're working the problem. The voice was almost a requirement in this job. If you sounded like you were going to panic then evaluators would assume you WOULD panic at some point and ground you. Never let them hear the fear.

Jeb: Firing engines for suicide burn.
Jim: Do you have to call it that?

If he mistimed the landing and exploded, then everyone would know he wasn't infallible. Still, at least he'd be dead if that happened. The worst thing would be to survive, but disable the lander. They'd eventually send a rescue mission, probably with Val flying. And after she saved him, he'd live the rest of his life with everyone saying Val was a better pilot than he was. He wondered how hard it would be to set off the fuel tanks if that happened? Maybe he would wait until Jim got out of range, but he certainly wouldn't be here for a rescue mission.

Jeb: Final approach. Looks like I've got it timed perfectly. Maybe a little too perfectly.
Jim: We're gonna die!

With that, the lander slammed into the ground. The legs on one side compressed ominously, and time seemed to stop. Just when it looked like the legs would break, they bounced back and the craft steadied.

"Not today," thought Jeb. Today I'm still the greatest pilot who ever lived.

Jeb: We're down Jim. You can open your eyes now.
Diny: I read you down Teardrop. Good job! Titan out.
Jim: We made it? I mean, yeah. Of course we did. Once I stop shaking I'll start making some scientific observations.

Jim: I've finished with all surface observations.
Jeb: Plant the flag and let's pose for our selfie.

Jim: I'm ready to get out of here!
Jeb: I'll release the science package and you push it off the top.

Jim: Wait, it's falling towards me! Aww, crap. <Thud>
Jeb: Quit screwing around and get back in your seat.
[Author's note: I love that pic of Jim apparently flattened in the bottom right.]

Jeb: Liftoff. We're on our way back up, Titan.
Diny: Roger, Teardrop. I'll put some fresh coffee on. See you in a few.

Jeb: Jettisoning drop tanks. We have you on the HUD, Titan.

Jeb: Nearly up to orbital velocity. Still plenty of dV left.
Jim: Thank goodness!

Jeb: Since the ascending node is near the apoapsis, I'll match inclinations and put us into orbit with one burn.

Jeb: We've got a good intercept with the Titan. Just have to wait an hour or so to catch up.

Jeb: Got you locked in, Titan. Coming in on final approach to the front docking port.

Jeb: Good contact, we're securely docked. Head back over, Jim.
Jim: Gladly. I'm happy to be off that rock.

Jeb: I grabbed what little liquid fuel was left in the lander. Time to cut it loose.
Diny: It served you well.
Jeb: Yes it did. Goodbye, Teardrop.

And that seals it. Unless he did something really boneheaded on the way home, Jeb knew he wasn't going to screw up on this mission. "And this is the last mission!" He smiled knowing he'd go down as the greatest pilot of his era. Still, he had lost a step or two over the years. It was probably a good time to let the younger generation take over while he was still at the top of his game. That Herdon seemed pretty sharp. And Diny, too. The space program would probably be fine is their hands after Jeb and Val were gone.

If Diny and Jim wondered why their boss was smiling as he watched the lander drift away, they didn't say so. Quite some time passed in silence.

Jim: I think I'll review the scientific data. What? Oh, sure. Now you tell us that!

Jeb: I'll plot us a course out of here. Looks like we'll have to wait about three weeks to get a good window to intercept with Jool Station.
Diny: Good thing I brought a lot of movies.

Jeb: Making the burn. It'll be a direct transfer to Jool Station from here.
Jim: I won't be sad to leave this place behind.

Diny: Coming up on the station. Only about 1600 km now.
Jeb: I've got a maneuver node set for the encounter to match velocities.

Jeb: Burning target retrograde. OK, got it. Zero relative velocity. I'll just point at the target and thrust until we get a good intercept.

Diny: Good intercept. We'll pass within a km of the station in about 5 hours.

Jeb: Here we are.
Jim: It's been a long time since we left. Over two months.

Jeb: Moving in. I've got the station lined up.
Jim: I'm afraid the probe core on the station will corrupt our research if we dock. Maybe we should hold off.
[Author's Note: When I tried docking all the science reports got moved into the probe core and I couldn't take them back out. I didn't want to risk permanently losing them so I reloaded and skipped the docking.]

Jeb: Um, OK. I'll just bring us to a stop relative to the station. It won't move away too far.
Diny: Now I guess we just sit back and wait for the others to get back.

FROM: Jeb Kerman, KSS Titan
TO: KSC Mission Control
DTG: 27:214:04:00
-------------------------MESSAGE FOLLOWS

Tylo mission complete. KSS Titan now in orbit with Jool Station. Awaiting return of the other ships.

-------------------------END MESSAGE

June 24, 2020

CHAPTER 7: Off to the Moons, or Breaking up is hard to do

FROM: KSC Mission Control
TO: Bob Kerman, KSS Joolollo Victory
DTG: 27:145:1:30
-------------------------MESSAGE FOLLOWS

Victory crew, we're happy to hear that you arrived safely at Jool Station orbit. There are a bunch of smiling faces down here in mission control. We're sending you a small maneuver to match your inclination to the inner moons. After this burn is complete, you have the go-ahead to proceed with separation ops.

We received your recommendation to move the telescope off the Leviathan over to the Victory. We agree now that you've already flown by Laythe there's no need for Leviathan to carry it. Wernher did some calculations and mounting it on the ventral docking port of the Victory should have a negligible impact on your center of gravity. That will let you get observations around Vall, Pol, and Bop. Recommend you use the Vall lander to reposition it.

We're also including burns for the Victory, Titan, and Leviathan to transfer to their respective moons. Modify as necessary to meet mission objectives.

BTW, Rich set up a special two-burn maneuver for the Leviathan to get a close-up look at Jool's upper atmosphere. We hope you like green because you'll be seeing a lot of it.

-------------------------END MESSAGE

Spoiler

Jeb: Here's the inclination change. Looks pretty standard, and only 15 m/s.
Val: I guess we did a good job getting it lined up on the way in.

Bob: They sent a picture of the simulation Wernher ran showing the CG with the telescope mounted on the ventral port.
Val: Wernher's really cautious. That thing only weighs 0.1 tons. I can't imagine it possibly throw off the CG of a 100-ton shuttle enough to matter.

Bob: We've got a day and a half until that inclination burn. We may as well reposition the telescope. Any ideas on who should do it?
Jeb: How about Herdon? He seems pretty sharp, but could definitely use the docking practice.
Herdon: Oh, boy! This is going to be fun!
Val: Just make sure you're careful. If you damage the lander or some other part of the ship, we could fail the mission. If you get in trouble, jettison the telescope. It's not mission critical.
Herdon: No problem. This will be a cinch!
Val: Great. A younger version of Jeb. Just what we need.

Herdon: Taking the shuttle out of the cargo bay. That sure was a tight fit. I'm glad I don't have to redock in there.
Val: I don't think there was room to put a docking port in the bay.

I'm well clear. Boy, I sure do feel tiny out here like this.

Val: We'll swing the docking port on the telescope in your direction. Just point at it and move in slowly.
Herdon: Moving in.
Jeb: Don't move in too fast. You only have lateral RCS thrusters. You'll have to turn around and use the engines to slow down.
Herdon: Everything lined up. Moving in 0.28 m/s.

Herdon: Got it! Solid capture with the infrared telescope.

Val: OK, when you're ready undock the telescope and move it to the ventral docking port on the Victory.
Jeb: This one will be tough because the docking port is angled 90 degrees to your centerline. You'll just have to work slowly to line it up.

Herdon: Got it!
Jeb: Wow, that was... um, pretty good for a rookie.
[Author's note: Maybe it's just me, but it seems like docking is more forgiving in the latest version. I was still trying to line up the ports, not doing a very good job IMO, and suddenly I got a capture.]

Val: OK, last one. Just redock the lander to the science package on the nose of the Victory. Use the lower docking port on the lander.
Jeb: Pointing the docking port towards you.
Herdon: Lined up. Moving in.

Herdon: Got it.
Val: Shut down the engines or else they'll throttle up when we do our next maneuver and screw thing up.
Herdon: Shutting them down. Wish they were on an action group. I have to do them one by one.

Val: Refuel the lander and then come back in. Don't forget to top off your monopropellant.
Herdon: All set. Coming back over.
Jeb: Pretty good work for a noob.
Bob: Three years into the mission, I don't think anybody is a noob anymore.
Herdon: Thanks, old guy.

Jeb: Coming up on the inclination correction. Burning.
Jeb: Got it down to 0.03 degrees. I think that's as good as it gets unless we want to wait another half orbit.
Bob: I don't want to wait another week for that. Even I'm not that OCD.

Bob: OK, crew. Time to get ready for separation. Everyone transfer to their respective shuttles.
Jeb: I'll be on the Titan with Diny and Jim.
Val: And Natalo and Dashpont will be with me on the Leviathan.
Bob: OK, that leaves Raler, Sanlin, and Herdon with me on the Victory. Everyone moved over?
All: Yes.
Jeb: Bob, how come you get to keep the crew compartment and we're stuck with just a Mk3 cockpit for the next few months?
Bob: Seniority I guess. We'll try not to enjoy the extra space TOO much.

OK, go for separation. See you guys in a few months.

Bob: No sense dragging these girders around. They make nice missiles when I decouple them.
Jeb: Watch where you're shooting that thing!
Bob: Just a shot across the bow. We come in peace.

Bob: Here are the maneuvers from KSC. Looks like the window to Pol comes before Bop for the Victory, so we'll go there first. It's still 29 days and 5 hours away. 277 m/s will be a pretty long burn with the Nerv engines.

Jeb: Our Tylo stransfer looks pretty straightforward. Only 140 m/s, but 29 days 3 hours from now.

Val: Looks like Rich put something special together for us. Our first burn gets us a Tylo encounter, but there's a second maneuver around Tylo that gets us a Laythe encounter followed by a trip down into Jool's upper atmosphere.
Jeb: Be careful with that one and make sure you don't go too low.
Natalo: I'll make sure I get some good science when we pass through the atmosphere.
Val: Our maneuver is 118 m/s and takes place in 28 days and 4 hours.
Bob: That's actually the first one. I guess we'll have plenty of time to run systems checks and make sure all the shuttles are in top condition.

Bob: Looks like we'll be practicing social distancing for a while. We're all together, but apart.

Val: Looks like our maneuver node is here. Everyone ready?
Natalo: Yes
Dashpont: Check!
Val: OK, burning. The Leviathan handles well. The low TWR means is pretty easy to perform the maneuver accurately.

Val: Got it. I'm within 500 meters of the target Pe around Tylo.
Bob: Good flying Val.

Val: I have to tweak the second maneuver slightly. The we go. 149 m/s around Tylo will send us through Jool's upper atmosphere.
Bob: Good luck, Val. See you on the flip side.

Bob: Looks like you're up next, Jeb.
Jeb: Here comes the node. Burning. And got it. Just a few hundred meters from target Pe.

Jeb: Adding a node for Tylo capture. Looks like 45 m/s is enough to get a capture.
Bob: Good luck down there, Jeb. Keep in touch.

Bob: And now we're the last ones.
Raler: Maneuver node coming up. Burning.
Bob: You can tell we have a large normal component to this burn.

Raler: That was a pretty long burn, but we've got a good intercept with Pol.
Bob: It's pretty inclined, but it won't matter since we'll be putting into a polar orbit.
Sanlin: Polar orbit around Pol. How approrpiate.

Herdon: I've set up a capture node around Pol. 239 m/s to capture into a high elliptical orbit.
Bob: No problem, we've got plenty of dV in the Victory.

Sanlin: Sure feels lonely now that we're out here all by ourselves.
Bob: Once we reach Pol there will be plenty to keep you occupied.

FROM: Bob Kerman, KSS Victory Prime
TO: KSC Mission Control
DTG: 27:176:5:15
-------------------------MESSAGE FOLLOWS

All initial burns completed successfully. Ships now in transit to Tylo, Laythe, and Pol.

Next maneuver will be Titan capture at Tylo in just over 3 days. All systems performing well.

-------------------------END MESSAGE

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