czokletmuss

While waitin for Bobcat's Orion MPCV, I recreated the Gateaway Exploration Platform: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Exploration_Gateway_Platform

Great, thank you very much

Can I ask for some flags with Constellation patches?

Wow. Well, my first flight on the 0.13 demo were a distaster, one after another. When I finally managed to crush my 400t spacecraft into the Mun with few thousand km/s I was so proud (I just fire the engines and point the rocket to the Mun). I also remember first days after the planets came out and desperate aerobraking of my probe (mod) in Duna's atmosphere with 10.000+ m/s - one part survived! I was also very proud of myself I kinda miss these days, first Mun or Minmus landing were super exciting, now it's more like "meh, I did this 1000 times". I remember when I was thinking "Second moon? How am I going to get there, it's so small and inclined. This is impossible!". Those were the days! When we wanted to fly to space we just straped a crapload of boosters and hope for the best - and we liked it! :grumpy old man blah blah:

Good to see you back Borklund. KerbX has to thrive in KSP just like SpaceX does in RL

You landed on the Mun after 2 days of playing? Damn, when I bought this game year ago it took my much longer (not to mention numerous explosions on the way). I guess the manouever node is really a game changer.

It's the other way around I think But thanks I guess. And I admittedly added a lot of equipment failures and accidents to make the first one interesting but that's only 'cause I'm a poor writer

From what I remember it wasn't but I may be wrong. Or maybe they have powerful ASAS? Anyways, this movie is very realistic even if there were some mistakes, unlike other space fantasy like Star Trek or something like this. "Total Recall"? For some reason there always are aliens. Imagine the dramatization of the Robinson's Mars Trilogy. Terraforming, new civilization, conflict with Earth, drama, everything what you want (although some unscietific things also). Why would you like to add alien civilization or ships with phasers to make it interesting?

First of all, the Soviet spacecraft has a big connector/clamp just the size of the "Discovery"; than they use it to connect two ships and fire the engines of the american ship. I doubt that the center of mass was were it should be to prevent flipping. Try to do this in KSP: connect your rocket to the booster attached to the middle section of the hull but few meters from it and fire it. You won't go straight ahead.

It's perfect for the purpose of the movie and its story. It's not a movie for those who prefer shaky camera and quick montage, that's for sure. That's a little harsh (not everybody who watches dumb movies is dumb) but yes, most of the popcultural products are of very low quality. I prefer "2001" but it's just my opinion. Though the scene when they use "Discovery" as a booster isn't well done; however EVA and aerobraking are great.

Exactly. Good cinema is the goal - you can focus on visuals or story or characters but this should be done good. "Avatar" is a visual masterpiece but scientifically and storywise it's just crap. "Race to Mars" is very scientific accurate but lacks the visuals and interesting characters. The point is, there is no reasons to concentrate only on big explosions and lasers - as "Right stuff" proves, excellent movie can be made almost without fireworks (no pun intended).

Very interesting - how could I miss it while reading your page? Thank you. However, this doesn't close the discussion. "The Right Stuff" and "Apollo 13" (not to mention "2001 Space Oddysey") - very good movies with decent pacing, drama, characters and script and all this without blasters, warp drive and aliens. You do not these to make a good movie. Take a look at Star Wars: http://youtu.be/_h_DMjfY7ZU Goofy space battles but screw science, there are knights with telekinetic powers and laser swords. The script and characters are poorly writen - why? Is it because s-f have amazing views and breathtaking CGI ("Avatar")? Reasons why science is ignored in Hollywood are sound (although I gave few examples of a movies with realistic setting), okay, but why everything is so bad in most cases? You can have space dreadnought and good story but usually you don't. "Europa Report" probably will containt some aliens beneath the ice, with some crew killing or driving them insane telepathicly included. Shame. But there is another good (I hope) space movie coming this year: Hopefully no aliens or other silly things. Alfonso Cuarón directed "Children of Men" which was a good s-f movie, so my hopes are high. Although the first cliches are already visible (why ALWAYS there few days before retirement left?) it deserves a chance I think.

Not directly perhaps but if you don't get interested in space as a kid you probably won't get interested later. Lack of good s-f or space as a theme in culture means less people are interested. Look what's happening with the comic's superheroes - there are an increasing number of movies and franchise because kids who loved this movies are now 20-40 years old. In 90' and last decade fantasy was much more popular than space, so when in the 10-20 years from now these children will have smaller incentive to support space exploration than if they get more s-f. As long as space programs are funded by the government in democracies attracting attention of the average Joe and his kid is worth effort. And crappy s-f movies (not only phycis, but as I said acting, script and so on) aren't really helping.

I understand that transfer windows, inclination and delta V aren't really popular and "sexy" things to sell to the public. But this still doesn't explain why the scripts and acting are bad and mostly they are. I'm not talking about mindless blockbusters like "Transformers" or movies which only use s-f as a decoration like "Firefly". Even this movies which are supposed to be entertaining and are set in space mostly, well, ain't - lazy writing, one dimensional characters, cheesy dialogues and of course aliens. Why? Only good movie more or less about space which I remember is "Contact" with Jodie Foster (yes, there are aliens but opening sequence is mind blowing) and "2010". It's not surprising that the general population doesn't care about space when all they see is explosions on a futuristic ships while fighting alien species. Or worse, they think that we can do this easily and therefore we will start colonization in 10-20 years, which is equally ignorant. Without sound knowledge there won't be support and without public support the only space program which will have enough funding is the Chinese one, since China isn't a democracy.

Here is the most accurate and very interesting TV series I've ever seen, 3 hours of a good entertainment on youtube: Based on NASA's Mars Design Reference Architecture 5.0: (http://www.flightglobal.com/blogs/hyperbola/2009/12/nasas-latest-manned-mars-missi.html) In contrast to some corny American movies with a Hollywood attempt to add drama to space (gum-chewing tough guy, weird geek, focused military man, main hero, action girl and love interest or any other standard team of protagonists) in this TV series there ain't no drinking, no sex, no stupid backstories (Bruce Willis and his daughter in "Armageddon"), no pathetic aliens (like in this dumb Mars movie with Carrie-Anne Moss) and no one liners. No explosions, no screaming, no quick montage. Team sent to Mars are scientists for whom having a good time means playing chess (!). Sounds interesting? Well, it is. Although budget wasn't big and actors aren't that interesting to watch (but they shouldn't be! such mission would be rather boring) and there is some unnecessary drama, this is still lightyears ahead of most what we can watch on TV. "Prometeus" or this last blockbuster with Tom Cruise ain't even close to this. Even despite some silly things like CanadArm, but ok, this is a Canadian production so I get it that they wanted to show what they got. But why s-f movies or TV series based on reality (hard s-f, if you will) are almost nonexistant? I mean, compare the "Race to Mars" if you watched it to this piece of crap: http://youtu.be/aifSgUNLsfQ Just one scene but you can easily tell how dumb it is (look at the interior of this ship! how much water they are using, how bad is acting and what morons USA sends to multitrilion dolar mission). And the rest of the movie is much, much worse (exploding bugs on Mars when you can breathe - wtf?!). So, what do you think about this? Why do most movies and TV series in space are just crap?

I agree but Ares + Orion + Altair won't go further than to Minmus (if it will be a realistic equivalent of RL project). Flying this beauty to Duna or Eve would be sweet

Well, since you want to do Constellation program this question has to be asked: what about Mars Design Reference Architecture 5.0? It is a latest proposal of a manned mission to Mars, grandson of the Zubrin's team idea and currently the most probable (?) way it will be done (ceteris paribus). So one can say this is a vision of a second Apollo program, this time with a Red Planet as its target. Lander ain't that important I guess but the Crew Transfer Vehicle in KSP with Habitat, double or triple nuclear engine, fuel tank and Orion of course will be just awesome and it will perfectly complement Orion MPCV. Doing Constellation only is a lot of work and I will be surprised if you are going to do this as well now but hey, I just had to ask

Hey guys, A lot is happening in these days in my life so I don't really have time to play. However when I've noticed the 0.20 KSP release I thought that maybe I should check it out. I play a little and damn, I like this game After the April purge I somwhat lost motivation which together with what is going on now makes me rather uninterested in writing. But I think I'll be back sometime soon - maybe after I put "Proteus" and crew from "Kadmos" on to the 0.20 version? After all we stopped before landing on Moho. I don't know but I don't want to abandon this project. This I can promise, when the next update will be - I honestly don't know. Thanks for all the kind words and I'm glad that I've inspired some of you to write your own AARs. See you, czokletmuss

Sorry for the lack of updates - work, work, work, lots of work. I will do my best to finish next few chapters in a next few days. Stay tuned folks!

I agree completely. A good example of completely uneconomic way to use precious resources is our transportation system. We pump oil from beneath the sea to burn it in a 20-30% efficient engine so it can move 1,5-2t of a car and 60-90kg of a person for most of the time. Isn't this just amazingly stupid and wasteful?

This article should be very interesting as well: http://www.theoildrum.com/node/9901 and it has some important charts:

Partially recovered [AAR] Jool of Kerbol system is avaible here: http://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/showthread.php/27214-AAR-Jool-of-Kerbol-system-or-There-and-Back-Again It's still a mess but it's better then nothing

Probably yes but it would require some time I prefer to spare on a Grand Tour right now. Besides, this thread is a big mess, some chapters are checked and edited and some don't, some even have messed up images - so if I do this, it will be after all these things fixed. Here you go: http://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/showthread.php/24560-AAR-The-Grand-Tour-Voyage-To-The-Planets

EPILOGUE *** - We're ready, you may commence the docking procedure. - Roger. - What spacecraft is this? I've never seen anything like it. - I have no idea. - I know what it is. It looks exactly like a Soyuz should. - Soyuz? - Designed by BobCat Industries to carry a crew of 3 and supplies to Kerbin's orbit. BobCat and few other companies were competitors in the KASA program for commercial orbital delivery. That means that they have won the COTS contract. - How do you know about all this? - Well, before we departed from Kerbin Buzz has seen few blueprin... - Ned, are you okay? - I'm fine, it's just... I mean, Buzz... - I know pal, I know. - Done. Open the hatch, “Kadmosâ€Â. - My Kod, that's really you! - Sir! Command pilot Rozer and pilot Neilgas reporting for duty, sir! - Ned, are you crying? - No, no, there's just something in my eye Sid. - Sir, we brought you oxium supplies for a three days, food, water, tools to repair the punctures in the hull and... - Wait a moment, why would we need that much air? - Sir, our ship is capable of landing with three people, including the pilot. However, we've been ordered to transport you and your men to the Beta Station. Unfortunately, even using additional space in the orbital module we can only transport there three people at a time. This means that the 2 crew members of the "Kadmos" will have to stay here until the next Soyuz is launched. Sir. - I see. - We're also ordered to give you this, sir. - A towel? And what's written here, "Don't panic"? - Sir, it's 100% cotton. More importantly, studies have shown that a towel has immense psychological value. The Flight Director himself has decided that... - Nevermind. My maen are eager to leave, so how soon can you depart? - Sir, after our solar panels finish recharging your batteries we'll be ready. - Good. Okay guys, you've heard it. As a captain I'm staying on this ship to the very end. This means that I need one volunteer who will stay with me. - I'll stay. - Are you sure Mac? - In my condition few more hours with cosmic rays won't make a difference anyways, Jeb. And Buzz's cadaver should be transported to Kerbin immediately. - I understand. It is decided then. - Sir, do you still have the samples and data collected during the journey? - Well, we were lucky to use those Dragons as a storage areas. The data on the other hand was copied and stored in the computer mainframe as well as in the few other memory banks, so it should be possible to recover it. - That's great news, sir. You and your crew are lucky to be alive after being stranded in deep space for so long. I'm sure that you have quite a story to tell. - You have no idea. - Sir, we have properly undocked from the “Kadmos†and we're ready to take your crew to the Beta Station. Next ship will arrive very soon sir, please don't worry. - After all we've been through sitting in a derelict ship for a several hours sounds pretty good, believe me. - Sir. We're leaving sir. - Fly safe. - Jeb? - Hmm? - I asked what you're thinking about, glued to this window like Ned. - You know what Mac, he was right. No planet nor moon can be compared to this view. This is so touchingly beautiful I wish every Kerbal has a chance to see it from here. - Such a lonely marble in a deep dark ocean. - Kerbin, the only rock in the system which harbors life. Mac, do you think that somewhere between the stars may be someone else looking down at his home planet? - I would say that statistically, taking into consideration the size of our Galaxy and countless millions of others, the chances are pretty high. I wouldn't expect anything more developed then a bacteria though. - Yeah, you're probably right... look, we've got incoming transmission. I bet this is our ride! - No place like home, Jeb. http://youtu.be/3_x9cGOhtX0 THE END? *** FEW WEEKS LATER - Please, take a seat. - Thank you, Mr. President. - Have you been introduced to each other? - I believe we haven't, Mr. President. - General Zod, Defence Exceptional Research Projects Agency. - Chief Yoko, Public Security Section 9. - The pleasure is all mine. - Gentlemen, I have arranged this little meeting to personally announce the complete cancellation of KASA's manned spaceflight program. With the exception of Beta Station team, all personnel will be transferred to the new project immediately. It will be supervised by the top secret committee formed by DERPA, Octagon and few other agencies. The security and confidentiality of this project will be provided by the agents of the Section 9. You will be replaced on the position of KASA's director immediately and henceforth you will be the chief manager of the Project. Is this clear? - Honestly Mr. President, I don't understand it at all. The "Kadmos" mission wasn't as successful as we would like it to be, that's true, but the cancellation of our whole manned program...With all due respect sir, I see no reason to take such drastic measures. Neither do I understand the de facto militarization of the program and this sudden secrecy. Why the... - Mr. Yoko? - Sir, are you familiar with the radio data collected by "Kadmos" on joolian moon Vall? - Naturally. They've encountered strange anomaly there which still remains unexplained, if I remember correctly. - Of course. Have you read the report about the malfunction in computer system of the Duna Reconnaissance Orbiter during his flight above the Duna's south pole? - Well, to be honest I... - It was suggested that the malfunction may have been caused either by a cosmic rays or some radiation source on Duna. Our experts have checked the corrupted data from the gamma ray detector in the satellite's memory. It turned out that when read in a different spectrum length, namely in radiowaves, this data has very interesting characteristic. - Which is? - The signature of the data from Duna's orbiter and the signature of the data collected by "Kadmos" on Vall are identical. - But... this may mean that... - Precisely. Thank you, Mr. Yoko. Do you understand now? - Mr. President, I... I don't know what to say. - Frankly, this was my first reaction too. As you can see, the mission of "Kadmos" doesn't mark the end of our space program. It is just the beginning.

CHAPTER 18 HIGH KERBIN ORBIT *** http://youtu.be/WtU_qAM7bIc - How much fuel do we have? - I don't think we'll make it without using the Oberth effect, and we're slowing down with every minute. And then we have to circularize, but our delta-V budget... - How much Sid?! - Enough to give us delta-V equal to 741 metres per second. - That's enough? - It depends on what orbit we're talking about. I calculated that this should let us set the periapsis at more or less 500-600 km and then circularize, but I don't know whether the KSC be in range. - More than 500 km? Dammit, it might be too far for us to contact KSC . - Mac and Ned are checking my calculations as we speak, so, we will know soon. - We have to be absolutely sure Sid, if we won't contact the KSC when they find us it will be too late. - OXIUM LE-VEL TWEN-TY PER-CENT. - Sid, I don't have much more air left, can you give me some? - Negative Jeb. The life support system is broken so we can't pump the air; however, you can use the supplies from Buzz's spacesuit, but we can't give it to you without decompressing the docking module, and Ned's spacesuit is punctured. - Frak! Listen, can you transfer the oxium from Buzz's spacesuit to Ned's? - Why should we… ah, I get it, you want Ned to wear Buzz spacesuit. - Yes, and then you will give me his punctured spacesuit from which PLSS I'll get something to breath with. - But… what about Buzz? Shall we… shall we put him in a sleeping bag? - Do it. - I'm in. How are we looking? - Jeb, we can circularize at 555 kilometers. The fuel should barely suffice for that. Is this enough for the comms system to be in range? - No. - What? - It's too far. That's what Dragon's computer tells me. Too far. - OXIUM LE-VEL FIF-TEEN PER-CENT. - So now what? - First we change the orbit, and after that… I don't know Sid, we have to figure out something. Is the spacesuit ready? - Yes, it's ready. You want to do it now? - After the bi-elliptic transfer. You're ready? Is Buzz… is he secured? - Yes. - Then let's do it. - Okay, I'm in the command pod now, I think I can control Dragon's engines from here. Prepare for the circularization burn! - Jeb, I think... - Not now! - And engines stop! Parking orbit achieved and we're left with… well, without any fuel to be honest. Now what was it Ned? - Listen, even if the KSC is out of reach, we can still try to contact the space station. - Space station? - You know, the one FIDO mentioned? It should be in orbit probably somewhere between 80-200 km, which means it will be 300-400 km from us. - Great Scott, you're right! I'll start searching the station right away. - Jeb, how much power do we have left? With those dying batteries we can't afford transmitting constantly. - Not much but we still have enough for a few more hours. Thanks Kod, the Quantum Struts are still operational. Without them the Dragon would probably detach from the “Kadmosâ€Â. - WAR-NING. OXIUM LE-VEL CRITICAL. - Crap! Give me this spacesuit, will ya? - How's it Jeb? - Still nothing, but there are only several more frequencies left, so I hope that… … debris in the location you gave us, Mission Control, nothing else. We're still looking out for the “Kadmos†but without… - YES! - WE'RE SAVED! - Space station, this is “Kadmosâ€Â, captain Jebedaiah speaking. …so we suspect that – wait, did you hear that KSC?! - We're alive, I repeat, we are alive! We require immediate assistance. Our supplies of air will run out in a few hours. I'm sending you our current location. Flight Engineer - Nedfurt will answer for all your questions. - Err… Jeb? What are you doing? So we're finally here. Home.