czokletmuss

CHAPTER 41 MINING: VALL *** JOHNDON: …the last calibrations – and d-done. Now, where should we- NED: Johnny. JOHNDON: Oh, hello N-Ned. Do you- NED: Where's he? JOHNDON: Excu-cuse me? NED: Where's Jeb? AMU is about to land, he should be here. Where is he? JOHNDON: I'm n-not sure, b-but- BERTY v.2.0.8b: Commander Jeb is currently sleeping in the command module, Ned. NED: Why the hell is he sleeping there and not in his bag in hab A? BERTY v.2.0.8b: Commander suggested that we should discuss our next steps according to the mission plan. NED: What? What for? Didn't you check it a thousand times by now? BERTY v.2.0.8b: Yes. As a matter of fact, I used this very argument to assure commander Jeb that the current plan is the most effective and as unhazardous as possible. NED: And you spent the entire night arguing about this? BERTY v.2.0.8b: The crew's safety was always of the highest priority for the commander. NED: Bull****. JOHNDON: You disagree with t-that? NED: No, of course not. I'm talking about this whole night meeting thing. What was he really doing BERTY? JOHNDON: Wait, now you are suspecting him, just like M-Mallock does? NED: What? No! He just never slept in the command module and- JOHNDON: B-but he did spend a lot of time in the observation module during his, uhm, ep-pisodes. NED: It's not the same. So what was it, BERTY? BERTY v.2.0.8b: Ned, I'm afraid I don't understand. I already told you what happened. NED: Really? Did he order you to be silent about it? Was he talking with KSC? What's going on koddamit?! JOHNDON: Ned- NED: I'm dead tired of this! First the KSC, than Rozer and now Jeb is trying to hide something?! Enough is enough! I've had it with this fraking secrecy on this fraking mission! I can't go on like this, none of us can! We need to- BERTY v.2.0.8b: Attention. Automatic Miner Unit 2.0 has initiated the landing protocol. Braking burn in progress. JOHNDON: Oh no, I d-didn't choose the landing site coordinates yet! NED: What?! BERTY v.2.0.8b: Landing gear ready. Coasting to the landing site. NED: Why is it landing on its own?! JOHNDON: AMU is an aut-tonomous v-vessel, it's just executing the c-commands. NED: What commands? JOHNDON: To start r-refueling „Proteus†as soon as p-possible. NED: What?! BERTY v.2.0.8b: Beginning final descent. NED: Who's the genius behind this stupid idea? BERTY v.2.0.8b: It's the new standard protocol for the Automatic Miner Unit. This way the refueling will be completed even if the crew's robotics expert is unable to perform his duties. NED: Than turn it off! Johnny doesn't need- JOHNDON: C-calm down, the p-protocol is working. Look. NED: Gradient? JOHNDON: The slope isn't steep at all, only 2-3% at b-best. And look at this – more than 320 m3 of kethane in this pocket. BERTY v.2.0.8b: 1500 meters. NED: Oh. JOHNDON: That's a g-great landing site. I would've p-picked it myself. NED: So what? It doesn't- JOHNDON: Sometimes the m-machines just work like we want t-them to, Ned. NED: What's up with the camera image? JOHNDON: I don't know, interference with Jool's m-magnetosphere p-perhaps? Switching b-back to the cam01. BERTY v.2.0.8b: 500 meters. NED: Isn't it coming too fast? JOHNDON: No, we're g-good. But the AMU is b-burning the monopropellant a little too fast. NED: Hmm. BERTY v.2.0.8b: 50 meters. JOHNDON: Reaction wheels are n-nominal though. Adjusting the t-torque… BERTY v.2.0.8b: 30 meters. NED: I hope there really is kethane pocket beneath the ground. JOHNDON: No d-doubt about it. RCS offline. BERTY v.2.0.8b: 15 meters. JOHNDON: Come on, c-come on... BERTY v.2.0.8b: 5 meters. Touchdown. JOHNDON: Yes! BERTY v.2.0.8b: Automatic Miner Unit 2.0 has landed. Initiating autodiagnostic protocol. JOHNDON: We did it! First land-ding on Vall since- BERTY v.2.0.8b: Warning. No pressure readings from monopropellant tanks 2 and 4 detected. NED: Err... JOHNDON: BERTY, try to reboot the- NED: Johnny, you should take a look at this. JOHNDON: Why? It's just cam03 showing- NED: Is this the monopropellant tank? JOHNDON: Yes… yes, I th-think it is. NED: … JOHNDON: … NED: It can still dock with half the RCS capability, right? JOHNDON: Less than half, AMU was using all the t-tanks simultaneously. NED: But it can dock, right Johnny? JOHNDON: I d-don't know. Probably. NED: Frak! How come the structural failure could happen during such a soft landing anyways? These fraking morons at the KSC- JOHNDON: They were in a hurry, nob-body was expecting the first AMU to f-fail. NED: Great. It's just fraking great. The first one lost its RCS thrusters on Dres, so they sent us another one and – guess what – it looses the fraking monopropellant tanks during its first landing! BERTY v.2.0.8b: Autodiagnostic protocol completed. No further malfunctions detected. Automatic Miner Unit 2.0 is ready for kethane extraction. JOHNDON: Initiate the drilling and- NED: Fraking KSC. JOHNDON: This AMU it's all we have to come b-back safely, Ned. Being angry won't change this. BERTY v.2.0.8b: Drill operational. NED: Angry?! I'll fraking kill'em when we return to Kerbin! JOHNDON: You're not s-saying this seriously, Ned and - where are you g-going? NED: :mumbles: JOHNDON: Ned? N-Ned?! BERTY v.2.0.8b: Kethane extraction in progress. *** BERTY v.2.0.8b: Kethane extraction completed. JOHNDON: … BERTY v.2.0.8b: Doctor Johndon. Kethane extraction completed. JOHNDON: … BERTY v.2.0.8b: Doctor Johndon. Doctor Johndon. JOHNDON: Hmm? :yawns: What is it? BERTY v.2.0.8b: Kethane extraction completed. Retracting the drill. JOHNDON: How much kethane is left here? BERTY v.2.0.8b: 297.361 liters of kethane detected. JOHNDON: 297 m3, huh? Not b-bad. I assumed you already processed the kethane into fuel for the AMU? BERTY v.2.0.8b: Yes. I also run some tests. JOHNDON: Can you show me th-the results? Thanks. Hmm… that's interesting… BERTY v.2.0.8b: I suggest that we proceed accordingly to the refueling protocol, thus enabling the rendez-vous between the Automatic Miner Unit 2.0 and IMV „Proteus†as soon as possible. JOHNDON: I agree. Do it, BERTY. BERTY v.2.0.8b: Affirmative. Ascent protocol initiated. *** BERTY v.2.0.8b: Rendez-vous with Automatic Miner Unit 2.0 in T minus 30 minutes. Initiating LAMGML “Beta†repositioning. BERTY v.2.0.8b: LAMGML “Beta†repositioning completed. IMV „Proteus†ready for docking. *** BERTY v.2.0.8b: Initiating final approach of the Automatic Miner Unit 2.0. JOHNDON: Let's hope there is enough monopropellant for this… BERTY v.2.0.8b: Docking completed. Connection with Automatic Miner Unit 2.0 secured. Kethane ready for processing. JOHNDON: Good job, b-both of you! First delivery d-down, three more t-to go. :sigh: And then – Tylo. *** MISSION STATUS ***

Well, OP is talking about 250km rock coming from the deep space (outside of our system), so... Apocalypse BBQ anyone?

Congrats for getting your AAR sticked

Sneak-peak into the next chapter: I don't think so - but I'm glad it isn't obvious whether it's good or wrong. The real world is complicated and I'm doing my best to give the characters some of that complexity. White and black is too simplified. And boring You definitely should, these are really good stories. Yeah, let's hope this will change in 0.22.1 or later versions. Right now there is no incentive to keep the crew alive - aside from roleplay, that is :diabolical laughter: Yeah, 12 months passed quickly. What is funny is that I was getting bored with KSP until I stumbled upon one of the first mission reports to Jool and back, which inspired me to write my own story. So we all are inspired by someone. And holy crap, you were one of the people who used RCS exploit to do the Grand Tour? I salute you Action! Drama! Over the top stunts! Pointless scipt! Viva La Resistance! Which reminds me of brilliant "Allo, Allo"... Looks like we have a consensus here It's decided than - I'm sticking with the current version. It's a good idea on its own, however with limited time lately (as you may have noticed by less frequent updates) I would prefer to concentrate on the story, not fighting with the game itself Thank you very much for sharing this with us - comments like this always give me moar energy to write And I'm sorry for your loss - may your old computer rest in peace. Cal'Mihe basically answered for me BUT there is one more thing to consider - what if there is such a button? :dum dum dum: And as we all know, eclipse is always a good omen... right? It's coming - you guessed it - Soon "The Grand Tour - Voyage to The Planets"; sooneristic story about space exploration! Oh come on - where would we be without needless complexity, or in other words, a predilection to engage in the manifestation of prolix exposition through a buzzword disposition form of communication notwithstanding the availability of more comprehensible, punctiliously applicable, diminutive alternatives? Ahem. Yeah, well, the actual IVA models are kinda small... actually way to small to create an illusion of being on board the enormous mothership. To this problem there is one solution however: If I didn't answer for somebody's post, please let me know - after this long break before the chapters there were just so many of them

But how are you going to deliver any equipment there? Here's a simple exercise - use HyperEdit to add a spacecraft on a highly eccentric and/or inclined orbit with apoapsis far beyond Eeloo's orbit, kinda like this: And than try to rendez-vous with it. Good luck Don't you think that End Of The World As We Know It would get a lot of media covarage? And I'm sorry but are you sugesting shooting to rioting people, martial law and dictatorship? Damn, and I thought I'm the pessimist... Nothing happened. Nobody was beyond LEO. We can't sustain few people on ISS without constant deliveries from Earth and you're suggesting colonies on the Moon after the apocalypse. I mean, come on

So far, we've sent there 12 human beings for a couple of days. And it was 30 years ago. Colonies on Moon? Space station above Mars? Why not Disneyland on Titan? It's just impossible. You probably've heard about the prisoner dilemma - the incoming 250km rock with 200km/s speed changes the rule so that it's pointless to play with a long term in mind since there is no long term. There is no tomorrow - what's the point of even trying? Why shouldn't we just party or start a war? Imagine you know you'll die in 5 days. What would you do during these last days? Behave like a good person, try to save money, obey the rules? Or just be painfully honest, punch a few people you really hate, steal and in general do what you want, no matter the cost? Now imagine this on a global scale. There simply wouldn't be any cooperation on a scale needed to create colony (not to mention that this is pure fantasy). BTW, there is of course trope for that. I suggest read "The Road" by Cormac McCarthy if you want to know how the society could behave when the end is inevitable

Sure thing. Don't understand me badly, I would love to see more USA stuff (Cygnus, anyone? Skylab?) - it's just that considering how most of the materials about Soviet spacecraft is avaible, well, in Russian, and all NASA materials are in English and all over the Internet, we (the community) are really lucky to have someone with easy access to this knowledge and talent. That is, Bobcat and MrTheBull.

Bobcat will do whatever he wants, I'm just pointing out that not so many modders are interesting in Soviet spacecraft. How many Apollo/Saturn/STS mods there are? Besides, you can easily do American stuff with vanilla. Or I am just biased and I think Soviet manned spacecraft are cooler Though thanks to Yogui we have Viking, Voyager, Mars probes and in the near future probably Cassini/Huygens as well, so you can't say that the USA is worse off.

If you don't count Yogui's probes, maybe. But it's all being done by two modders.

Speaking of which, there is a movie in which extrasolar planet collides with Earth although it has nothing to do with sci-fi or astronomy for that matter: Very good drama about schizophrenia and depression though. Just saying

That's awesome Could we hope for more stuff from the USSR? You and MrTheBull are practically the only modders who provide Soviet/Russian spacecraft. Not that I'm suggesting anything - :cough: Òõýõрð :cough:

I'm really sorry but there won't be any other ETA than Soonâ„¢ (thanks TheError!). Before the next one is released you can always re-read the old ones in search of clues and foreshadowing - for every Red Herring there is always one Chekhov's Gun

Is it doable at all? I'm not good enough in math but maybe somebody could provide some calculations. The mass of Moho would be truly titanic, so the energy needed to divert its course would be equally gigantic. Plus we don't have heavy lifters and the probes we sent so far to the asteroides were tiny - for instance, Hyabusa weights only ca. 500kg. So it would be hard to send tens (?) of tonnes of equipment there. And to do it in time. I doubt we would be even able to change the trajectory of ISON, even if we had 30 years.

Thank you. Chatper 37 is fixed, now using some other video (not yet banned by youtube).

Good point - I stand corrected. Either way, if there is a body with 125km radius coming at us there is probably nothing we can do. The amount of energy needed to change its trajectory would be unbelievably high - assuming we could even rendez-vous with it. If it coming from the Oort cloud (for the sake of argument let's assume it does) on an inclined or, Kod forbid, retrograde orbit, we can only sit and wait. "Deep Impact" shows it good although this is just a "tiny" 11km comet: BTW why is it the New York of all places that always got smashed/frozen/blowed up/bombed/invaded by aliens?

I assumed it has a density comparable with this of Mercury and that it hits the ocean with its avarage depth. 8000 km from the place of impact is roughly the length of the Trans-Siberian Railway. In other words, if it hits Japan and you'll be standing in Moscow that's what would happen: Data from: http://www.purdue.edu/impactearth/

Oh well. I played it in high school, it was fun There won't be any official statement regarding this issue though, you'll just have to wait for the next updates [soon as always].

Haha, I assume you used to play D&D than - when your GM is scribbling some notes and smiling suspiciously, extreme caution is the only sane reaction I believe there was even a relevant Darth&Droids episode about this. You can always tell how experienced your players are by things like this.

Oh, I see now. Well, in Poland "Space 1999" was broadcasted in the late 70's, so it's not like I've had a chance to see this on TV The idea alone is a little over the top for the realistic-ish Grand Tour however. On the other hand though... :scribble:

I don't get this reference.

Obi-Wan has trained you well. But you're not a Jedi yet

Weird. How about now? Still not working? Only one plan - MOAR chapters!

AT LAST! Sorry it took so long - stuff in real life, you know how it is. And don't worry, I'll answer for all your posts sometime soon - BTW holy crap, six pages of comments between the last chapter and this update... Which one?

CHAPTER 40 RENDEZ-VOUS: PAYLOAD C *** DANREY: Sid? I asked you a question. SID: Hmm? What is it? DANREY: Are you feeling okay? There's not that much time left before the Payload C arrives and you haven't sleep at all. SID: So what? DANREY: We're going to have a lot of work today, Sid. You have to be ready for it. SID: I am, Dan, I am. DANREY: Are you? You're glued to this window since we've arrived here, that is precisely, let me see… 22 hours and 20 minutes. That's a long time, Sid. SID: And that surprises you? DANREY: Not really, but you need to be focused – there'll be plenty of time for this later. SID: I'm not taking pretty pictures for postcards, Dan – I'm observing the only mun in the system with atmosphere. I know we have more time scheduled for this later but we won't stay here forever – our time is limited and I want to do as much as I can. Who knows when the next mission arrives here, if any? DANREY: I get it, I really do, but, well… SID: Well what? DANREY: Okay, I didn't think I would ever say this, but you should take example from Rozer. SID: Dan... DANREY: At least take a nap. It won't be long before- BERTY v.2.0.8b: Final orbit achieved. Payload C ready for the rendez-vous. DANREY: Copy that. See? I told you. SID: You clearly don't understand what are the priorities for a scientist, Dan. DANREY: Okay, okay. Could you wake him up? I want us to- ROZER: How much time before the orbital plane change? DANREY: Oh. Err, thirty minutes, more or less. ROZER: Wake me up before the burn. SID: I don't understand how can you sleep when we're so- ROZER: Our priorities are apparently different, professor. SID: I guess they are… BERTY v.2.0.8b: Orbital plane change calculations completed. DANREY: Good. Sid? SID: What again? DANREY: Take a nap. Please. SID: Is this an order? DANREY: Come on. Just- BERTY v.2.0.8b: Even short amount of sleep can be very rejuvenating. It's known that it can also reduce stress and blood pressure, therefore it's advised for all crew members before any longer activity. DANREY: Yeah, what he said. SID: :sigh: Okay, okay, fine, I'll try to take a nap. DANREY: I'm glad to hear this. SID: Sleeping in orbit above Laythe, on the first day. I mean, it's just… DANREY: Don't worry, Sid. It's not like the mun is going anywhere. *** BERTY v.2.0.8b: Circularization burn completed. Calculating next maneuver. DANREY: Great, thanks BERTY. SID: Okay, I have to ask since this is really bothering me – would we be able to manually complete rendez-vous without BERTY's assistance? DANREY: Well, yeah but not with enough accuracy probably. Why? SID: Just asking. DANREY: After our lazor system was damaged during aerobraking this is the safest way. Even small mistake could send us right through the Van Kerballen belts and then- ROZER: Loss of crew. Or worse. SID: How come it could be worse than this? ROZER: Loss of the LAMGML means that there will be only one lander left. Which means much smaller accepted risk for further flights. Which means less data gathered and in case of any problems, the second LAMGML is all we have left. SID: But that's why we have two of them, right? Redundancy. ROZER: With one lander we can't take any chance if we want to complete the mission. SID: What do you mean? ROZER: If we or anyone else get himself stranded, the rescue mission would be very... debatable. DANREY: You're not saying that- ROZER: This is exactly what I'm saying. I would advise against any reckless actions in such case. SID: Good think you're not giving orders anymore - Jeb would never even think about leaving one of us behind! ROZER: Yes, we're really lucky that he's in charge, aren't we? BERTY v.2.0.8b: Calculations completed. Next maneuver scheduled in 1 hour and 8 minutes. *** BERTY v.2.0.8b: Closest approach in 5 minutes. DANREY: Copy that, BERTY. ROZER: We should check the external camera before executing braking burn. DANREY: Hmm? ROZER: In case anything happens. You don't want to fly blind. DANREY: I'm not- ROZER: Literally speaking. SID: I'll check it. SID: Cam is working just fine. We're good. DANREY: Thanks. You see, nothing to worry about. ROZER: We'll see about it. SID: Thank you for this optimistic assessment of our situation. ROZER: You're welcome. BERTY v.2.0.8b: Executing braking burn in 60 seconds. SID: Dan, are you, uhm, sweating? DANREY: What? ROZER: You should try to stay calm, lieutenant. SID: Exactly. BERTY will be doing all the work, you probably won't be even needed until all what's left is the docking itself. DANREY: Mhm. BERTY v.2.0.8b: Executing braking burn in 30 seconds. SID: Just relax, you've been doing it hundreds of times. DANREY: In a simulator. SID: Well yeah, but it's just like docking to “Proteusâ€Â, isn't it? ROZER: If the possibility of being stranded here and exposed to a deadly level of radiation unnerves you, well, it shouldn't. SID: That's right. All- ROZER: We would run out of oxium first. SID: What the hell? BERTY v.2.0.8b: Executing braking burn in 15 seconds. ROZER: We're in a very dangerous environment. He should stay focused. SID: Well, it's not helping at all! ROZER: Fear is usually a very good motivation. SID: Are you seriously- DANREY: I would really appreciate if both of you just shut the hell up for a second! BERTY v.2.0.8b: Executing braking burn in 5 seconds. Four. Three. Two. One. BERTY v.2.0.8b: Braking burn completed. Radiation level within safety limit. Switching to manual control. SID: Phew. DANREY: Kod damn it... SID: You see? Everything is A-okay. DANREY: Yeah. I'm sorry I freaked out a little- ROZER: A little. DANREY: -it's just that too many thing have gone wrong already. SID: Don't worry, Dan. We're here – now we only have to dock LAMGML to the Payload C. DANREY: Right. Err, could you give me a visual on it? I want to be sure everything is fine before we attempt docking. ROZER: “Attemptâ€Â, lieutenant? May I remind you that we don't have enough fuel to meet with “Proteusâ€Â. We're going to dock or we're going to d- SID: For the love of Kod, could you stop it already? Why are you mocking him? ROZER: I'm reminding him of- DANREY: Enough! Give me the fraking visual. ROZER: As you wish. Lieutenant. DANREY: … SID: Hmm. I don't see it… DANREY: Are you sure? It should be just- SID: Wait, it's here! DANREY: Can you see whether it's damaged or not? SID: I can't tell, it's too far away. Take us closer, Dan. DANREY: Okay. RCS online, SAS on. :sigh: Here we go. SID: Hmm. DANREY: What is it? SID: Solar panels seem to be alright. Both probes are visible, the CHM appears to be undamaged as well… ROZER: The lander? SID: I can't see it very well, we need to get clos – frak! DANREY: Something's wrong with the lander? SID: We're coming from the engine's side! ROZER: BERTY, radiation level? DANREY: Prepare for the emergency burn! SID: Holy crap, I can see the nozzle! ROZER: BERTY? DANREY: Engines in stand-by! ROZER: BERTY! SID: What's the dosage!? DANREY: Screw it, we won't wait, I'm- BERTY v.2.0.8b: Radiation level within safety limit. DANREY: Frak me! SID: Holy.... thank Kod! ROZER: Hmm. DANREY: I'm taking us out of here. ROZER: Are you sure that the radiation level is nominal? BERTY v.2.0.8b: Yes. ROZER: Cause? BERTY v.2.0.8b: Reactor may be idle. SID: Crap, this could be problematic. DANREY: But we can continue the docking, right? BERTY v.2.0.8b: Yes. However, it's advised to move the LAMGML to the shadow shield protected cone immediately. DANREY: Copy that. SID: Kod, we're really lucky it's idle. ROZER: It didn't have to be. And you fraked this up, Danrey. You know what they always tell during the training, always- DANREY: Always stay behind the shadow shield – I know! ROZER: It's not some rookie mistake – you could've killed us all, you idiot. DANREY: I'm sorry, okay?! SID: Hey, calm down! What happened happened, okay? We're all right and so is the Payload, we didn't even backscatter anything on the equipment, so let's just focus on the docking. ROZER: I agree. But we're going to talk about this as soon as dock, you hear me? BERTY v.2.0.8b: Establishing connection with the Payload C. Docking lights operational. SID: Maybe if you didn't provoke him, he wouldn't have- ROZER: He's a kerbonaut. He can't make mistakes. SID: He's a kerbal being! We all make mistakes! ROZER: Then maybe you shouldn't be here. BERTY v.2.0.8b: Warning. Cease of communication can occur in 60 secon### DANREY: BERTY? BERTY, come in! BERTY v.2.0.8b: ### DANREY: What now? SID: It's nothing, they are probably on the other side of Vall now. DANREY: :sigh: SID: Let's just dock and get this over with, Dan. You don't need BERTY for that. DANREY: Yeah. Commencing final approach. SID: Nice and easy. DANREY: Five meters. Four. Three. Two. One. Berthing mechani- what the hell?! SID: We didn't dock? DANREY: No, we didn't. Crap. Could it be mechanical failure? ROZER: Unlikely. Probably a glitch. DANREY: You mean the software? SID: Caused by cosmic rays – it's possible. But we still have connection with the Payload, right? DANREY: Yes. We'll dock to the CHM. Releasing the cap. SID: But… we have to dock to the lander! We can't access it from the other side, the heatshield- DANREY: So what should we do? Wait until we have contact with “Proteusâ€Â? We're docking now. SID: But… ROZER: He's right. It would be unwise to stay in the LAMGML longer than necessary, CHM are much better protected from the radiation. SID: It doesn't matter! If we can't dock to the lander, than if we're going to land the only option left will be- ROZER: Spacewalk. SID: … DANREY: Two meters. Docking… securing connection. SID: … DANREY: Connection secured. We've docked. :sigh: Frak… *** MISSION STATUS ***

Please be patient. After last time I won't give you any ETA but, as I said, there are still weeks of updates ahead of us. It shouldn't take long until the next one is released.