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Pipcard

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  1. Pipcard
    Phase 4 - 01 Compared to its predecessor, the M-2A rocket featured stretched core stages and improved thrust (about 33%) and specific impulse for the upgraded LE-04A kerolox and LE-05A hydrolox engines. A fourth LE-02B kerolox engine was added to the second stage. This increased the maximum lift capacity to low Earth orbit to a range between 11 and 18 tonnes. The two-stage all-kerolox configuration could also launch sizeable satellites to geostationary transfer orbit with less need for the high-efficiency but expensive hydrolox third stage, which would be reserved for missions that needed the extra performance, such as space probes going beyond Earth orbit. Hatsunese Rockets 1952-1987 1987-02-02 - The first launch of the M-2A carried the Neginohana-6 Engineering Test Satellite to a geostationary transfer orbit, which tested a large 4.2 tonne satellite bus with advanced communications arrays. The satellite inserted into geostationary orbit using the same engine used in the Saki Propulsion Module.
  2. Pipcard
    Phase 3 - 18 1986-04-27 - An M-2-34 rocket launched MELODI-2 (Mars Exploration with Lander-Orbiter Data Interactions), Hatsunia's second Mars lander. The orbiter also had enhanced instruments for observing the surface and atmosphere of Mars. This used the four-LRB variant of the M-2 as the launch window required an orbital inclination of 54.4 degrees instead of 26.6 degrees with an easterly launch from Negishima Space Center. The trip to Mars would take about 7 months. 1986-06-19 - Usagi-14, the second lunar rover of HASDA, launched on an M-2-30 rocket and landed in the sloped terrain of Maskelyne A (crater). southeast of the Sea of Tranquility, on June 22. 1986-09-20 - Saki-07 launched with Mizuko Rokuda, Tsunekazu Hosokawa, and Yayoi Mimura. They spent 21 days in low Earth orbit (until October 11), surpassing the Space Shuttle's capabilities to remain in orbit on its own. as HASDA prepared for even longer-term crewed missions supported by a small prepositioned space station derived from the Saki Expansion Module. 1986-12-01 - MELODI-2 inserted into an elliptical Martian orbit, before deploying the lander on the next day. It landed in Lycus Sulci, a ridged region northwest of Olympus Mons, the largest and tallest volcano in the Solar System.
  3. Pipcard
    (Hatsunese Space Program/HASDA - Phase 3 - 17) 1986-01-06 - Watarimono-2 Uranus flyby 1986-04-06* - Houki flyby of Halley's Comet (edited image) (*Halley's orbit in Real Expansion is slightly inaccurate, the probe should have arrived in March)
  4. Pipcard
    Phase 3 - 17 1986-01-06 - Watarimono-2 made its closest approach to Uranus (after having entered its sphere of influence on 1985-11-26), beating Voyager 2 by a few weeks even though this probe launched 2 years later. Uranus rotates on an axis tilted 97.8 degrees from its orbital plane, meaning that while the planet rotates every 17 hours, only one side of the planet faces the Sun for half of its 84-year orbital period. This also suggested that the planet was impacted by a large planetoid a long time ago. The featureless atmosphere was observed to have methane in addition to hydrogen and helium, and water, ammonia, and methane ices deeper within. Uranus had its own magnetic field and faint ring system. After the Uranus encounter, Watarimono-2 would continue onward to arrive at Neptune and its moon Triton in August 1989. 1986-04-06* - Houki encountered Halley's Comet, first observing the long tail of ionized gas and dust being blown away by the solar wind and photons, then passing as close as 540 km from the comet's rocky and icy nucleus. Targeting of the nucleus, which is surrounded by a fuzzy cloud known as the coma, was achieved by the Soviet Vega probes, which flew about 10000 km away. Data was shared with HASDA in an example of scientific cooperation between Cold War rivals. Houki was equipped with a Whipple shield to protect the spacecraft from dust as it flew by the nucleus at 65 km/s. The spacecraft was still struck by particles that sent it into a spin; some instruments were damaged, but the probe mostly survived. The European Giotto spacecraft would accomplish the same feat several days later. [*Halley's Comet from the Real Expansion mod has a slightly inaccurate orbit, and the probe should have arrived on a day like 1986-03-09. This image has also been edited to add the coma.]
  5. Pipcard
    (Hatsunese Space Program/HASDA - Phase 3 - 16) 1985-11-18 - Mokume Io flyby
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    Phase 3 - 16 1985-08-18 - As Mokume was visiting Callisto, an M-1B rocket was preparing to launch the "Houki" (PLANET-K) probe to Halley's Comet, which had a highly elliptical orbit that came into the inner Solar System once every 76 years. Major space agencies around the world took advantage of this rare opportunity by sending an armada of probes to the comet. Houki was named for the broom (帚)-like shape of comets as perceived in China and Hatsunia, but was also phonetically the same as the characters meaning "treasured device" (宝器). It would arrive at Halley's Comet in the spring of 1986. (note: Halley's Comet is from the Real Expansion mod. The orbit is inaccurate by one month, so the probe should arrive in March, not April.) 1985-09-04 - Saki-06 launched with Tomohiro Sasaki, Erika Ichihara, and Asao Nakamatsu to spend 14 days in a 339 km orbit, matching the duration record of the US Gemini program, except with more room for astronauts to eat, sleep, and do research on the effects of living in space. 1985-11-18 - Mokume flew by Io, the innermost of Jupiter's Galilean moons. Due to tidal heating and flexing from Jupiter and its other moons, Io's surface is filled with constant volcanic activity, and a coating of sulfur and sulfur dioxide. Io's orbit was located at the same distance as an intense toroidal radiation belt around Jupiter, so there was a risk of the electronics being damaged, but Mokume's orbit crossed it in such a way as to pass over, go through the hole, and under the toroidal region as it met Io. Mokume would continue to orbit around Jupiter, with the occasional encounter with one of its moons.
  7. Pipcard
    (Hatsunese Space Program/HASDA - Phase 3 - 15) 1985-01-09 - Mokume Ganymede (Jupiter) flyby 1985-03-02 - Stargazer space telescope 1985-06-11 - Mokume Europa (Jupiter) flyby 1985-08-18 - Mokume Callisto (Jupiter) flyby
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    Phase 3 - 15 1985-01-09 - Mokume flew by Ganymede, the largest moon of Jupiter and the Solar System (and third Galilean moon by distance from Jupiter), being bigger than the planet Mercury. The surface was composed of darker, older cratered regions and lighter, relatively younger regions of grooves and ridges. It was the only moon that had its own magnetic field, inferring that it had an active iron core. A gravitational assist slowed the spacecraft, reducing its orbital period around Jupiter from approximately 6 months to 2.5 months. [in our universe, Japan just launched its first spacecraft to interplanetary space] 1985-03-02 - Stargazer, Hatsunia's large optical space telescope, was lifted to a 539 km orbit by an M-2-24 rocket. It has been theorized to be similar to technology used on the classified IGS-A reconnaissance satellite series, but aimed up at the sky and used for civilian astronomical purposes instead. The 3-meter diameter mirror, free from atmospheric disturbances, provided stunning views of planets, stars, nebulae, and distant galaxies, and helped gain insight into the 13.7-billion-year age and expansion of the universe. 1985-06-11 - After a second (and more distant) flyby of Ganymede on 1985-03-29, Mokume flew past Europa, the smallest of the four Galilean moons (and second Galilean moon by distance). The icy surface was smooth and covered in many cracks but few craters, indicating that tidal forces from Jupiter and its other major moons were actively reshaping Europa's surface and heating up the interior to form a subsurface ocean, leading to speculation about whether life could exist there similarly to life near hydrothermal vents on Earth's ocean floor. Similar oceans have also been thought to exist inside Ganymede and Callisto. 1985-08-18 - Mokume flew by Callisto, the farthest Galilean moon from Jupiter (and second largest). Its surface is composed of a mixture of rock and ice, heavily bombarded with craters that have mostly remained unchanged over its 4-billion-year history, as it is too far away to be affected by tidal heating. This time, the gravitational assist sped up and raised the spacecraft's orbit around Jupiter. It would encounter the remaining Galilean moon, Io, in a few months.
  9. Pipcard
    Why is it that I can't optimize for "Departure Delta-V Only" (not Departure + Arrival) in the "Compute Departure Burn/Enter Transfer & Initial Orbit Information" window even though I had enabled it in the options beforehand? edit: I think I have to restart the program for it to work.
  10. Pipcard
    In this case, they were disposed of, but maybe later they could be reused to form a space station. It would just have narrow docking ports (like Russian space stations), so you wouldn't have something like the US/European/Japanese side of the ISS in our universe, with wide berthing ports, so any experiment or equipment racks would have to be smaller (interchangeable) or pre-installed (non-interchangeable). Also, as more modules are added to the station, it becomes more crucial for resupply ships to carry any waste/garbage away (this was a big problem with the Russian Mir station and Soyuz/Progress, but a Saki-derived uncrewed resupply ship could have more room). In fact, there's a concept image for the Fuji spacecraft that shows a station made out of Expansion Modules in the upper left corner. I don't know if I will make a station as big as that (due to frame rate issues), but there are plans to have a Saki-derived space station over the next decade.
  11. Pipcard
    1983 - Akatsuki-3 Venus orbiter/lander 1984 - Saki-05 crewed spacecraft - standard system configuration
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    [HASDA] 1984-10-19 - Saki-05 in the "standard system" configuration (video)
  13. Pipcard
    Phase 3 - 14 1984-10-19 - Saki-05 launched on an M-2-24 rocket, with Hitomi Kuriyama, Momoka Oda, and Mitsuharu Haneda. This was the first use of the "standard system" configuration, which added a disposable Expansion Module and Propulsion Module to the relatively cramped Core Module, and had a total mass of approximately 11 tonnes. The Expansion Module added more living space (which didn't need to be protected for re-entry, thus saving mass) as well as a toilet, and enough food, water, and oxygen for crews to last a few weeks in space. The Propulsion Module was designed for almost 400 m/s of maneuvers in Low Earth Orbit, powered by a 13.9 kN hypergolic engine. The Core and Propulsion Modules launched on top of the Expansion Module, to reduce the mass of the emergency launch escape system. Once in orbit, the Core and Propulsion Modules detached, rotated, and docked with the Expansion Module, similarly to the transposition, docking, and extraction sequence of the Apollo missions. Afterwards, Saki-05 demonstrated its propulsive capabilities by raising its orbit from 200 km to 310 km, waiting two days, then going to an apogee of over 480 km. The mission would ultimately last 7 days before de-orbit, separation, re-entry, and splashdown of the Core Module. The Soviet space program noticed that the 11-tonne Saki standard system was larger and offered more living space than their 7-tonne Soyuz. Development of the Buran spaceplane and Energia super-heavy booster were thus accelerated to match the capabilities of the US Space Shuttle program.
  14. Pipcard
    I'd rather have no separate parties involved for now. Also, I still have to fill in the gap between how HASDA is in the 1980s and how it is today.
  15. Pipcard
    Actually, I'm not really sure about that. I'm worried about other people misrepresenting this (semi-serious) worldbuilding project. Some people see "a Miku-themed Japan-like country" and think it's nothing else but a joke or a meme, but I wanted it to be more than that.
  16. Pipcard
    (HASDA) 1984-07-16 - Mokume performs Jupiter orbit insertion
  17. Pipcard
    Phase 3 - 13 1984-07-16 - Mokume arrived at Jupiter, performing a 600 m/s orbital insertion burn 138000 km away, and readying itself for long-term observations of the planet's atmosphere (the ammonia cloud tops resembling a wood grain), magnetic field, and many moons. The initial orbit was highly eccentric and approximately six months long. A inclination change maneuver would be performed at the highest point of said orbit (on 1984-10-14) to set up a rendezvous with Ganymede, the largest moon in the Solar System, on 1985-01-09. A gravitational assist from Ganymede would slow down the spacecraft relative to Jupiter, halving the orbital period to about 3 months. HASDA having a clear and undisputed first in planetary exploration pressured NASA to split the Galileo mission in two, launching an orbiter (shrunk down from the original plans) and an atmospheric entry probe in February and March of 1984, respectively.
  18. Pipcard
    @Well I just realized today that my Realism Overhaul / ROSolar config for the Fuji solar panels don't actually function properly. When I used the "debug suncatching" button, I found out that the suncatcher (red vector) is pointing in the opposite direction as to where the panel is pointing (green vector) and tracking the Sun (yellow vector), therefore the solar panels aren't getting any light as they should. The ROSolar modeldata .cfg looks like this: https://pastebin.com/ekab6Q9R I used your "Solar3" transform in your mesh as the secondaryTransformName. Is there a transform that points in the opposite direction?
  19. Pipcard
    1984-03-19 (Hatsunia local time) - Usagi-13 lunar rover at Sinus Medii
  20. Pipcard
    Phase 3 - 12 1984-03-15 - Usagi-13, Hatsunia's first lunar rover, launched on an M-2 30 rocket. The ~300 kg rover was equipped with similar instruments to previous Usagi landers, but with a more advanced camera, and on a six-wheeled vehicle with the same solar panels. It was carried to the surface by a lander (total mass of 3 tonnes) with folding ramps (Infernal Robotics mod) and seven engines, with a flat and wide shape to reduce the slope of the deployed ramps. Landing occurred in 1984-03-19 (local time) in Sinus Medii, near the sites where Surveyor 4 crashed and Surveyor 6 landed, and where Earth can be seen directly overhead from the Moon's tidal lock. Final descent used two out of seven engines. The rover drove for over 4 kilometers to different sites of interest, taking images and analyzing lunar soil composition.
  21. Pipcard
    Jeb himself landed on Tylo, didn't have enough fuel to make it back to orbit, so used his jetpack to finish the last few m/s.
  22. Pipcard
    1983-10-30 - Akatsuki-3 enters orbit and lands on Venus (video)
  23. Pipcard
    (Sorry for the wait, I took a break to play other games like Project Wingman and the Halo MCC, and to take care of other stuff as well. I was thinking of waiting to get a new PC since it's sluggish when making videos, and I have to go through this lengthy process to have an okay framerate, but I decided to upgrade my PC's RAM instead as a stopgap measure since these mods use a lot of it.) Phase 3 - 11 1983-01-28 - Saki-04, the final flight of the Saki minimum system (before the launch of the standard system next year), with Haruyoshi Yasukawa, Kikuo Kanezawa, and Motoko Katagami. 1983-06-07 - Akatsuki-3 (PLANET-J) was launched by a M-2 32 rocket to orbit Venus and deploy a lander, similar to the Soviet Union's Venera program. It also had a similar mass and engine configuration to the MELODI Mars probe. On 1983-10-30, almost five months later, the spacecraft entered an inclined retrograde elliptical orbit around Venus (500 km x 20000 km), such that the periapsis (low point) was on the day side. At the apoapsis (high point) of the orbit, the spacecraft performed a de-orbit maneuver to lower the periapsis to 100 km before releasing the aeroshell containing the lander. Afterwards, the orbiter raised its periapsis to 3000 km to be able to act as a relay with line-of-sight communications with Earth as the lander descended. Because of Venus's thick atmosphere, a more sturdy heat shield was needed to withstand entry. About 70 km above the surface, the lander was released from the aeroshell and fell at about 100 m/s through the increasingly thick atmosphere. Parachutes, made of kevlar to withstand the heat, deployed a few kilometers above the surface before the lander touched down in Themis Regio at around 4 m/s. The lander was spherical to reduce structural weak points in a place with high pressure differentials, and was surrounded by smaller spherical landing supports. It took images and samples of the volcanic regolith, and recorded the sounds of the wind as well. After approximately an hour, the lander succumbed to the harsh pressure, heat, and corrosion of the Venusian atmosphere [not simulated in KSP].
  24. Pipcard
    The very first introduction by HarvesteR on Orbiter-Forum in 2011
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    My long term sandbox pseudo-career KASDA (2013-2020) started before career mode was even a thing, so I'll probably play career in KSP 2.
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