Kerbalsaurus

N -2

I cannot disclose this.

Sorry, the forums deleted the stuff I wrote.

Yes, I’m surprised someone remembers that.

~KERBAL GAZETTE~ BEYOND LAUNCHES NEW EYE IN THE SKY YEAR 1, DAY 57 - UNISAT 1/TIMMER 1 MISSION OBJECTIVE: Launch the Timmer 1 weather satellite into LKO. LAUNCH VEHICLE: Prima-1 Rocket Today Beyond has launched the first mission in a new satellite program, called UniSat. These serve as observation satellites, and can monitor the weather, traffic, civilians, oceans, topography, and any other Kerbinly sciences you can think of. They’ll also claim the title of first polar satellites. Timmer is the satellite program for the Kerbin Weather Bureau. It’ll monitor ocean patterns and cloud patterns, and deliver quick and accurate data on Kerbin’s weather patterns. However, Beyond has expressed interest in using it for a private commsat program too. More on that later. The rocket isn’t anything new, just your standard Prima-1. Quite a few people gather on the beaches to watch the launch, and liftoff on the cape goes off without a hitch. “Liftoff on Timmer 1!” - Bobak Kerman (Flight Director) “GO for stage 2 ignition.” - Chris Kerman (BOOSTER) "LV-909 performing nominally.” - Chris Kerman “Timmer 1 is now in a confirmed polar orbit!” - Bobak Kerman With Timmer 1’s polar orbit it can see virtually every part of Kerbin. The KWB has said they’d like to have a constellation of these satellites in order to have more timely weather data, but this is a good start. In the meantime, Beyond rejoices over yet another successful launch! READ NEXT: Kerbals Across Kerbin Still Don't Know How Credit Works (pg. 4) | Great Building Bandit Steals Entire Condo! (pg. 7) | Shoplifter Complains That "Shops are Too Heavy Nowadays" (pg. 11) – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – BEYOND: CUSTOMERS WANTED Beyond is offering private companies across Kerbin to buy a satellite in the UniSat program for either scientific or private endeavors. Please contact administration for more details. – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – –

Banned for not existing.

Oof, that would’ve been a good one. I’ve already picked out the first kerbonauts though. I even have their stories drafted.

Zielonki, Pomeranian Voivodeship, Poland https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zielonki,_Pomeranian_Voivodeship

Banned for disrespecting numbers.

YEAR 1, DAY 52 - THE ACCEPTABLE STUFF As night fell over Kerbal Space Center, engineers and researchers were all trying to make sense of what happened today with Moohicky-1. But the administration was busy talking about something else, perhaps more ambitious. “May you all please be seated, and let us begin the meeting,” said Director Kerbalsaurus Kerman. “I understand that Moonhicky-1 was not a good look for the agency, but-” “Not a good look?!” screamed PR Head Gus Kerman. “We’ve only launched our fourth mission and the public is already wary of the space program!” “But,” continued the director, “we need to keep moving forward. Kongress has agreed to let this one slide, and we churn out rockets quickly enough anyways. I’m sure, with the minds of our engineers, the next Munshot will go much better.” “Wait, we’ve already done a briefing on Moonhicky-1, why did you want a meeting today?” asked an administrator. “Because vee have a new assignment from zee higher ups in our government.”Everyone turned to see who the speaker was. It was Wernher von Kerman. “Sure, everyone’s excited zat we’re exploring shpace, but in reality, we’re sending glorified trash cans. Zere’s nothing but soulless machinery inside, incapable of telling us vat is up there in good detail.” “And? What’s your point?” asked the administrator. “If vee vant any good data from shpace, vee must send up Kerbalz!” A slight chuckle came from everyone in the room. “Vat?” replied Wernher. “I’m serious. It’s vat zee public wants. It’s vat zee government wants. We cannot keep sending computers into shpace, for both zee shpace program’s sake and zee sake of our shpecies.” “A Kerbal in space?” said the administrator. “What’s next, a Kerbal on the Mun? It’s all just too outrageous for where we are right now.” “And two years ago it was unthinkable zat a satellite would be up zere, whizzing above our heads, and now we have three,” replied Wernher. "'Vell', who do you 'vant' going up?” asked another administrator mockingly. “I vant zee best and brightest of our shpecies to go up. Maybe scientists and engineers.” Many in the room murmured in agreement with Wernher. “And maybe…” Wernher hesitated, “pilots too.” Immediately, a collective groan rose through the room. “We can’t send pilots!” yelled Kerbalsaurus. “They're cocky and superstitious! They’re always competing with each other, and go on about that ‘Sky Kracken’ of theirs! They’d be impossible to work with!” “Vell, I did say zee best and brightest,” Wernher angrily replied back. “Who better to fly a shpaceship zan a pilot?” “A computer! Kerbals who we train to fly them!” yelled back Gus. “Pilots would be horrible to the press and public! We want to keep a certain image!” “Vell vhat’s worse for zee program?!” Wernher finally snapped back. “A couple of rude pilots, or many dead Kerbalz?!” The room finally went quiet. “Sure, pilots have an uptight personality. But zey think quickly, and know how to act in dire situations. Frankly, zeir uptightness may end up saving zem!” The room went quiet, as everyone thought. After a few minutes of silence, Director Kerbalsaurus finally spoke up. “Well, what are you all sitting around for? Go get him some Kerbonauts!” *** I decided that special chapters like this with conversations behind closed doors would make more sense if they were in a novel-style layout, as press would obviously not be allowed into these meetings. I would've drawn some pictures to go along with this, but the one I made sucked so I just kind of gave up. Oh, and one more thing, the weird words with z in them are supposed to convey Wernher's German (Kerman?) accent. I thought I might have to elaborate that.

I break the laws of physics and manage to use the information from the ash and turn it back into a cookie, after which I coat it in a fire-resistant fabric. Coated, fire-resistant cookie.

I had to clean up a mess after my dog killed a baby rabbit. My brother had to pry her away from another one (thankfully it lived, and only had a light cut behind its ear). I’m writing this while standing guard of the den.

Their starting to become less common for me, only happening between 12pm to 2pm EST.

Dang, how long did this take?

How do you do these orbits in the stock KSP system, specifically on Kerbin. I know how to do equatorial, polar, and geosynchronous, but that’s about it. What are the parameters for these orbits?

~KERBAL GAZETTE~ SPACE PROGRAM SHOT MUNSHOT! YEAR 1, DAY 51 - MOONHICKY-1 MISSION OBJECTIVE: Launch the first spacecraft to orbit the Mun. LAUNCH VEHICLE: Prima-2 Rocket “All systems are GO, resume countdown at T- 3 minutes.” - Gene Kerman (Flight Director) Yesterday, Beyond shot for the very thing that inspired space exploration to begin with: the Mun. For millenia, Kerbals have wondered, can we get to the Mun? Is it truly made of cheese? And if so, how do we eat it? Well, the Moonhicky-1 would go out there and answer our questions. The Mun is a peculiar object in the sky, sitting at an almost perfectly equatorial, and circular orbit. And while this predictable orbit may make it seem easy to get to, it sits around 11,000km away from Kerbin. This means we need a significantly higher amount of fuel to get there than LKO. In fact, you need so much fuel, Beyond had to create an entirely new rocket. The Prima-2 is a space rocket derived from the Doohicky Program’s Prima-1 rocket. The Prima-2 is similar to the Prima-1, even using the Poodle A upper stage, but the first stage has been upgraded so that the rocket can lift a heavier payload off of Kerbin’s surface. Compared to the measly 500kg limit of the Prima-1, the Prima-2 has a mind-boggling 800kg limit to LKO. This doesn’t mean the Prima-1 is retired. Beyond has discussed interest in using the rocket for another satellite program. It just doesn’t meet the requirements for a Mun flight. The Moonhicky spacecraft itself is actually made of two parts: a munar circularization engine and the probe itself. Once in munar orbit, the engine will use a sepratron between the engine and probe, and be sent hurtling into the Mun’s surface. However, there was a significant oversight on this feature… “Liftoff on Moonhicky-1!” - Gene Kerman Moonhicky-1 continues to make its way to orbit. “We are GO for orbit.” - Chris Kerman (BOOSTER) Once the spacecraft was in orbit, preparations immediately began to put the spacecraft on a trajectory that would send it towards the Mun, called the Trans-Munar Injection Burn (TMI). This is another difficult part of the mission. There is only a short window in an orbit where a spacecraft could make its way to the Mun. Try it too early, the spacecraft will go flying in Kerbin. Try it too late, it’ll be put into an orbit from which the mission cannot be salvaged. After the exact maeuver is layed out, Gene Kerman says words never uddered before: “We are GO for TMI!” - Gene Kerman Moonhicky-1 now en-route to the Mun For the next day, Moonhicky-1 slowly drifts up towards the Mun. Meanwhile, staff in mission control take bets on what they’ll find there. “We have confirmation that Moonhicky-1 has entered Munar space. Oh, and Bobak, put down $50 on Mun-men for me.” - Gene Kerman Coming up is the next mission critical point, the Munar orbital insertion burn. If they do this successfully, they will have put the first object into munar orbit. “Successful Munar Orbit confirmed!” - Gene Kerman They’d done it! Moonhick-1 is now sitting in a stable Munar orbit! Cheers erupt in mission control, as they’d put a satellite around a satellite! All they need to do now is separate the orbit insertion stage. Should be easy eno- Suddenly warning lights flash across mission controllers consoles. Everyone was suddenly in a flurry, until the head of SOLAR noticed that the power was extremely low. Others noticed that the on board cameras weren’t sending a signal anymore. Suddenly it hit everyone: the sepratron destroyed the lower half of the probe. Those in charge of the DATA department tried torun the experiments and transmit them back to Kerbin, but there wasn’t enough power to get even one experiment back. The mission controllers just sat back, and let the sense of failure sink in as Moonhicky-1 plummeted into the munar surface. “Well everybody, we’re back to square 1 and I’m out of $50.” - Gene Kerman READ NEXT: Dr. Barnard Kerman Performs the First Heart Transplant (pg.1) | World’s Best Pilot, Jebediah Kerman, Nearly Destroys Neighborhood with Plane (pg. 5) | Kerbin’s Best Restaurants of 1961 (pg. 8)

~KERBAL GAZETTE~ BEYOND JUST WON’T STOP LAUNCHING SATELLITES YEAR 1, DAY 45 - DOOHICKY-3 MISSION OBJECTIVE: Launch the Doohicky-3 satellite into orbit. LAUNCH VEHICLE: Prima-1 Rocket Yes, Beyond is launching the final mission in the Doohicky Program. Engineers claim this mission is more of a performance test for the Prima-1 Rocket, to monitor every moving part inside of it for more complex future flights. However, some insider information says that Beyond is studying the viability of the Prima-1 Rocket to launch a Kerbal into space. While we cannot confirm these rumors, it’s certainly exciting to think that Kerbals themselves could be going to space sometime in the near future. There are no photos of the launch, as our on-site staff believe that satellite launches have been seen enough times. However, the launch was successful. “Orbit confirmed on Doohicky-3” - Kraft Kerman READ NEXT: Head Administrator Dwight Kerman Signs Bill Lowering Housing Costs (pg. 5) | Brawl Starts in Streets Between Dres Belivers and Dres Deniers (pg. 7) | Move Over Pants, Super Long Shorts are Now in Fashion (pg. 11) *** Not many screenshots because I feel seeing this mission launch would be kind of redundant.

<--- Is not Manul. @ColdJ may be present

Banned for banning me.

Banned for being unable to ban anyone.

Google Specifically, I put the screenshot in a Google drawing doc, lookup “camera grain transparent”, and then copy it and put on top of the screenshot.

~KERBAL GAZETTE~ BEYOND LAUNCHES ANOTHER SATELLITE, GOES AS WELL AS YOU'D EXPECT! YEAR 1, DAY 27 - DOOHICKY-2 MISSION OBJECTIVE: Launch the Doohicky-2 satellite into LKO. LAUNCH VEHICLE: Prima-1 Rocket Doohicky-2 sits on the launchpad, with the nearly complete Kerbal Space Center in the background. This morning, Beyond set out to prove that Doohicky-1 wasn’t just a fluke. Just 14 days after Doohicky-1, Doohicky-2 sits ready and waiting on LC-40! The mission moddo: “Nothing has Changed!”. Significantly less crowds wait by the beach to watch the spacecraft liftoff. “Liftoff on Doohicky-2!” - Bobak Kerman (Flight Director) (I forgot to get a screenshot of this.) “Doohicky-2 is GO for stage 2 ignition.” - Chris Kerman (BOOSTER) “All systems are nominal, continuing orbital insertion burn at full force!” - Bobak Kerman “Kerbin orbit is confirmed!” - Bobak Kerman Doohicky-2 has become Kerbin’s second satellite! If Beyond keeps this up, they may be able to launch, wait for it- a THIRD satellite. Truly exciting times we live in. In all seriousness, Beyond has announced they are working on a final Doohicky satellite, but they’ve also announced they’re working on a probe to the Mun, which will most likely launch sometime next month. Kerbals around the world are excited about this, but Beyond has refused to give anymore details about the mission. Keep your ears ready Kerbals (wherever they are)! READ NEXT: CalSpace Races to Find Pilot Aces for first Supersonic Plane (pg.3) | Who will be the first Kerbal in Space? Here are the Nation’s Top Candidates (pg. 7) | Mysterious Activities Around Abandoned Dessert Launch Site (pg. 15)

Thank you! I try my best to keep Beyond's world looking alive. In game, Kerbin is just a featureless ball, so I try my best to breathe life into it. And also, you don't need to feel ashamed about the dialogue in DIRECT. It fits for the type of thread DIRECT is. Beyond is a thread much more reliant on making the reader experience the world via dialogue, while DIRECT is focused on putting the reader in the world it's set in by telling the story visually. We just have different writing styles, that's all.

The Martian is a good one. Project Hail Mary meets a lot of the criteria you laid down. I don’t like it, but you definitely would. Another one is a book called Space Case. It’s not a hard read, but it’s a fun book. It’s a murder mystery set on a moon base.

Did you read the last post? I just haven’t had the time to write it, that’s all.