Shania_L

Only in a capitalist society is cost placed at a higher priority than the missions success or crews safety. Lilith could use some landing gear, however they would have to be mixed with robotic parts to reach around the edges keeping them protected during re-entry. The example you pictured has highly customised rotating and extending abilites which are unavailable in game. ***#*** Todays post is partially retrospective, we are going in depth on the Loki I mission, both design and execution. First up a report from the KSC technical division on the design and build of the Loki I Mun rover. End of Y1, KSC Y2D12, Mun Orbit

For lightweight landers it is a great engine, the Isp and thrust really tail off in any kind of atmosphere though, so vaccum worlds only. Also generating the 9 (or was it 6) Ec per second on small landers requires quite oversized solar arrays. I could I suppose, however I am more than satisfied with the Xenon performance, Hydrazine I think would be a step backwards?

*loads shotgun* Ventral / Dorsal, Lilith is a vertical launch craft so technically its side mounted But yes thats what I get for typing this just before bed, must think shark fins, ventral dorsal. Edited now. Yes the Bi-Modal Arcjet, I have used it on the Helmdar V and Lunic IIId/e landers. It runs on Monopropellent or Xenon, (only Xenon for me as RealFuels says no to mono), 3KN thrust, 2,400Isp, weighs about 250kg, 0.625 form factor. It comes from the RLA Stockalike mod.

@danielboro Relocating the zoology lab is a possibility, however the main lab will be required at Kerbin still should I do the cyclotron experiments. Polar transfers are more expencive than standard equatorial orbits due to the nessecity of accurately hitting a target travelling tangential to your own direction. Equatorial intercepts have a much larger window to hit. Finding the one (two) points in Minmus' orbit where it lines up with your polar orbit of Kerbin could take weeks. This was something of a hectic episode, with many different missions requiring attention all at the same time. I will report them in mostly chronological order which I think is probably the best way of doing it. (However I have stripped out the Loki I mission, which will be getting its own dedicated post at some point) Y2 D9, Minmus High Orbit Helmdar V-Mi reaches its 1,300km Ap and performs a 38m/sec circularisation burn. 1,305x1,328km @ 85degrees, orbital period of a little under 6 days (5D 5H 58m). This may take quite some time to finish the mapping, the ScanSAR sensor has a quite narrow band even at this altitude. Y2 D10, KSC Y2 D11, KSC Also at the same time. Y2 D12, LKO Next time, Loki I.

Year 2 Day 6, High Mun Orbit Year2 Day7, KSC Also on Y2D7 Year 2 Day 8, KSC Progress on Duna Mission. Design for the Charon Drive Unit is finalised, HoundDog V has successfully got it into orbit, in simulation, fairly smoothly (mainly due to low frame rate near the surface) CDU and HDV together cost 750,000 funds, it will take nearly 24days to assemble, we currently cannot afford it. Design for Cerberus surface ISRU lander finalised, A modified version has been placed into production for operational trials and re-fuelling duty at Minmus. (currently 1 of, flow rate however may nessesitate 2x) Duna varient will be produced at a later date. Medea III and IIIb designs finalised, Landing varient and heavy tug put into production to support Minmus refuelling operation. Same craft will also support Duna mission (possibly with additional duplicates) Charon orbital hab/s, Duna/Ike Crew lander, Cerberus skycrane, Duna rover/science support equip and lifesupport as of yet in development. Also competing for funds and build time is the Lilith ascent vehicle required for the Creature Comforts experiment at Pandora and the Plant Science capsule for use once Pandora Mun has its laboratory. In addition the Minmus mining program will require a crewed lander (KAS pipes wont connect themselves). 103 days until the window closes.

Try to ask this in your least 'terroristy' voice

The regolith bricks sounds like a decent concept (based on no actual knowledge of the subject), would you even need to form them into discrete bricks though? you could just mix regolith with water and extrude it through a nozzle, in the low pressure/temperature the liquid water in the mud would instantly freeze or boil off and leave you with a hard dry wall. If you have a decent water extraction process, I really hope you have a decent water extraction process, you can build yourself structures with seriously thick walls, the mud walls will not be reliably airtight so you could then simply spray on a plastic/whatever coating on the inside. Bees inside a small enclosed area... I do not want to be in there if the hive gets knocked over!! You would need a very large area of green plants, for food and for air purification. Honey would be a very welcome luxuary product as you would essentially be living a vegan existance on Mars, but as previously said they might be more trouble than they are worth to maintain.

Ohh 1.2 is a very good version, however as this save is so old and with its collection of mods (some of which are no longer supported) my save file is no longer compatible with the later versions of KSP. It would take a lot of manual save file editing to bring each craft part by part into the new system, and then there is the science and progress markers which would be lost as well. For a little reference, 0.90 has no female kerbals, no stock ISRU, no advanced thermal system, the atmosphere would be the old "soup-o-sphere" if I wasnt using FAR, there are no 'worlds first' progress payouts. Then ofcourse there are the extra parts which have been added since, the asteroid day telescope parts, the vector engine I think there are also some of the Mk2 spaceplane parts I am missing as well. But on the other hand, 0.90 is very stable and handles large part count craft quite well ... and my wheels do not explode (well, unless the whole aircraft explodes as well) I would love to bring the progress of this save into the current KSP 1.2, however its too much work and I am not that confident with save file editing to do it.

That would be because the northern hemisphere is the (ancient) ocean bed and is at a lower 'altitude' than the continental southern hemisphere. This means incoming spacecraft have more atmosphere to work with before the ground comes up to meet you. IIRC only northern hemisphere (or in bays of the ocean which crossed into southern hemisphere) landings have ever been attempted.

As the lander itself was determining when to ditch heatshield, parachute and fire retros, how was it determining its altitude? I would think a radar altimeter, but also laser range finder is possible, did it just mistake a thick patch of the dust storm for the surface?

Thanks, Ill take a look through that for when I start to put together a 1.2 save, for this save however we are still in 0.90 so there is no stock ISRU The multi part launches for the Mun missions were a nessesity of me keeping to a relatively few launchers, which at the time only had limited lifting capacity.

Today we learned that 650tonne rockets do not like to backflip through the soundbarrier ... who knew? I think the reason your Earth doesn't have a Minmus is due to the R in RSS ....

Bacchus, god of wine and agriculture, well he has the evil going for him .... Yes the node will be split, If I end up doing the Minmus refuelling option, and if Minmus is in the right place when I come to launch I can do a dive to Kerbin and cut the best part of 2kdV out of the burn. Otherwise Ill have to do a 2k and then 3k burn. Procedural tank is probably lighter, more rigid and a lower parts count, but I think the structural tanks look better. Charon isnt really pushing parts count actually .. unlike Cerberus miner. So I have gone against all my normal instincts and placed style before substance This is the equivilent procedural cryogenic tank to have the same volume and diameter as Charon. With a Jeb for scale, I just think it looks a bit .. plain.

o\ Not that Sharon! There are certain mental images I do not need to be distracted by whilst docking!! All, well most, of my ships names have a common theme spoofing real vessels. Wheras real spacecraft often take their names from mythalogical heros or gods, apollo, atlas, centaur, pegasus etc my ships are named after mythalogical villans or evils. Medusa, Medea, Lilith, (I launched the early Centus probes before I thought of this theme so missed out on naming my comn sats Psiron) Charon is the ferryman who transports the deceased from the 'real' world across the river Styx into the underworld, Cerberus is Hades' dog who guards the gates to ensure noone leaves and only the dead enter. Charon is very similar to the vessel I posted an image of a few posts back, triple methane nerv, 10x 14,000 litre near future structural tanks. It can perform a 5,000dV burn in only 28 minutes!!

Todays report comes once again from the VAB technical office, the slide rules and simulators have been very busy over the last week (or so) so lets see what they have in store. Year2 Day6, KSC Requirements for a crewed Duna mission. Transport for crew to and from Duna. Although there are no official restrictions against it, HR has deemed that the ship should have at least triple the crew capacity as the number of Kerbanauts on the journey. The science division has requested facilities to perform experiments in Kerbol orbit en-route requiring a laboratory to be included on the crewed vessel. The ship should be able to return the crew to Kerbin in the case of serious accident, failing this it should be able to support them until a rescue ship can arrive. The ship should be modular and capable of being assembled in orbit by launchers at our current technology level, ideally with the launchers we have, although consessions can be made for good reasoning. Crew Ascent / Decent to Duna surface. A vessel capable of transporting the entire crew to the surface of Duna from Duna orbit, and transporting the crew from Duna orbit to Ike landing and back. Capable of supporting the crew for extended periods on the surface, with provision for 'biome hopping'. Ideally non-nuclear, making our first footfall on an alien world into a radioactive crater is not what we had in mind. Duna/Ike exploration. The widest possible array of science instruments must be carried to be operated in as many environments as possible for maximum science returns. Should be easy then .... Ohh and we have 100 days before the launch window closes to the point where dV requirements become, excessive. The earlier the mission leaves, the lower the dV requirements, but also the slower the transit. Leaving on Y2 D19 costs ~5KdV and takes 500 days Leaving on Y2 D111 costs ~9.6KdV and takes 250 days, even later and more expencive transits are also possible. The mission plan. A multi ship mission is the best solution, a single 'mothership' design would take longer to design, build and assemble. The scaling effects would make the thrust and fuel costs soar (as well as lag issues). The crewed vessel will be a single ship, named Charon, it will be larger than anything we have ever assembled, 30 tonnes of crew modules and laboratories will be propelled by 3 high performance Nuclear Thermal Rockets fuelled by ~250 tonnes of Liquified Methane. This ship will be assembled in 6 parts, 5 of these can be lifted by HoundDog III or IV. Core section, crew hab+greenhouse, crew ascent/decent vehicle, surface module+rover, additional stores or lander. The final part however is the drive section and in addition to exceeding the 30tonne lift capacity is also 6m in diameter, requiring a new lifter. HoundDog V Its still a work in progress. At 750,000 funds per launch I am glad that was a simulation, a single launch failure like that in reality would scupper the entire mission. Despite our focus on the Duna mission we cannot lose out on our other commitments, notably those which result in cash flow as currently we cannot even afford to build the Duna ships. Charon, despite its size only carries sufficient fuel for the outbound transit (assuming a last minute departure on day 111), this means additional stocks of methane will have to be sourced at Duna. To comply with the 4th requirement Charon carries greenhouses capable of sustaining the 6 man crew almost indefinately, assuming a rescue is nessisary. In addition to the crew vessel, 2 (or possibly 3) support ships will be sent these will transport the ISRU equipment required to harvest methane and get it into orbit to refuel Charon. (Also anything else I want to take but havent thought of yet) These support ships take the form of Medea III cargo haulers, these will haul the Cerbarus I ISRU lander from LKO to LDO where the Medeas will then become tankers from Duna surface to LDO. Issues Assembling the vessels shouldnt be too much of a problem provided we can get Funds for them, they all fit within standard fairing sizes (the ones we have designed so far anyway) Very little is known of Duna, its atmosphere or environment. The Lunic and Verity craft sent earlier this year are on very slow transfers and are yet to arrive, they may not arrive until this misson is already well on its way. Selecting a landing site with safe slopes and sufficient resources may be problematic with no maps or scans of the planet. Fuelling vessels in orbit. This could be a problem, Charon requires 250 tonnes of Methane, each Medea requires approx 80 tonnes of Methane/Liquid Oxygen mix and there are currently 2 if not 3 of them. That is 410 tonnes of fuel, or 14 HDIV launches assuming nothing but fuel aboard. 14x HDIVs would cost around 4.2 million Funds. Is it worth assembling an extra Cerbarus and utilising Minmus to refuel the ships? Benefits, fewer launches, cheaper mission in total, practical demonstration of ISRU feasibility. Costs, complexity, increased duration of transfers to/from Minmus. Sorry for the wall of text this week guys, but I have been mostly tweaking designs in the VAB or trying to work out how to actually do this mission. I have some standard missions lined up, notably Loki still Idling in Mun orbit and Loki II awaiting launch, there is also a science payload for Pandora to utilise the new Zoology lab, each of these will result in payouts I require for Duna to proceed. I just dont want to burn through very many days when I know time will be tight for assembling this mission before the deadline. I also have to put out a thanks to @UnusualAttitude and @Starman4308 for assists in config editing for Duna ISRU and a MethaLox engine for the Medea and crew landers.

I am so happy Bartdon finally gets to play some golf ... I hope he brought plenty of balls with him though as I doubt he will be able to recover any after a low air-resistence drive in 1/6g !! Yes it does, gives me some alternate ideas and makes a few things I was considering impossible to make more likely just difficult! Like RSS Mars ascent being 4,500dV, I was guessing about that for a 6.4k Duna so I know I can cut the fuel budget a bit lower now That is a similar process to mine, except with Karbonite, I currently assume it to be ice, however I will have to config-foo up a distiller which will produce methane for me. I was assuming harvest of both atmospheric CO2 and drilling for ice, this gives you all the ingredients for methane and you get some O2 to release into the atmosphere. A MethaLox engine would be a wonderous thing, alas my 0.90 mods do not contain such a thing (except the RAPIER which I havent unlocked), my understanding is they are slightly more powerful/efficient than KeroLox maybe something else to test my config-foo on as this would make the mission so much easier. I expect this is possible because you are taking the long duration efficient transfer? I'm looking at burning ~200 tonnes just escaping Kerbin with no return fuel, and having to raise the best part of 60t methane from Duna.

I have spent the last few days catching up on this awesome quest, can't believe how I have missed it for so long but I'm here to stay now! Very impressive missions, have to say its also refreshing to see an RSS career with Kerbals / Kerbal ships rather than recreations of human achievements. You mentioned you are using ISRU to refuel your craft for in system and the return trip to Earth, I can see your main landers use HydroLox fueled LV-909s and your interplanetry ship uses Methane NTR. How did you manage to get sufficuent volumes of HydroLox into the airframes for Mars ascent? I may well be snooping for inspiration when you come to lift the volumes of methane from Mars to orbit for your return trip!!

Self imposed in that I had chosen to fly fast rather than efficient, but not really for radiation reasons. I was trying to shorten the total trip time and a faster outbound journey gave me a potential "touch and go" mission profile. I have since decided that this is probably not worth doing so I may well lengthen the duration of the outbound journey, the only issue with this is that cheaper/slower journeys have to leave earlier and I'm already on the clock now! Depending on ship geometry, I may be able to use aerocapture/breaking to some greater or lesser degree. I would consider it as an oppertunistic bonus rather than planning it into the mission though. I haven't got the most experiance with atmospheric interactions beyond Kerbin (and you can see how inaccurate my re-entries are even there!) I really dont know what to expect from the Dunan atmosphere so I cannot rely on it for mission critical purposes.

Yes there are options along these lines, I have a greenhouse module tweaked to work with my lifesupport mod which depending how exactly I set the figures it could end up being almost fully self sufficient. I use the "Interstellar Lifesupport" mod, which is a single resource simulation, so the greenhouse literally turns Ec into lifesupport. As for fuel, I will definately be using ISRU, the 260 tonnes transfer vehicle was a triple nerv powered by methane, it had enough dV for the LKO to LDO transfer and nothing more, refuelling is a requirement. I have Karbonite installed and limited ability to produce certain RealFuels from it ... mostly H2 and O2, but I'm pretty sure I can conjour up a Dunain atmosphere version which will produce Methane for me. Ohh wait, you said on IKE? umm to the best of my knowledge Ike is a very Mun-a-like body so it may have water ice, but not the ingredients for producing a hydrocarbon fuel. Lower dV ascent/decent would be very useful, but if I have to build a hydrogen powered ship to utilise that then am I gaining anything? These are far from optimal transfers, these are minimal duration transfers. I was aiming to have the kerbals in deep space for the shortest time possible, efficient transfers can be done for less than half of these figures. The main trouble being then though that I am extending the total mission duration even more, I would need to leave kerbin earlier (as in asap) and I wouldnt be returning until the same window anyway. My 10,000 dV transfer takes 250 days, leaving on Y2 D111 A 5,080 dV window takes 503 days, but has to leave on Y2 D19 (ie in 13 days time, I cant build the ship by then) I can leave at any time between the two and accept a slower/cheaper trajectory and still come home on the same fast path though. Aerocapture would save some dV, however when you are arriving in such a heavy ship which most likely has been assembled in Kerbin orbit it may not be particularly wise to subject it to those kinds of stresses. Duna also doesnt have enough atmosphere to absorb some 5km/sec without having to dive to altitudes where mountains may lurk. So there are benefits, but relying on 100% propulsive capture is the safer option.

With the release of version 1.2 I have been reminded again just how many versions I am behind and how many cool features I am missing out on. I have decided on a (rather optimistic) endpoint for this career game, the day I return a crewed expedition from Duna. To this target I have done a little research into what it would require. How long would a Duna mission last? taking the next available transfer (not efficient but "rapid" transfers); Year 2 day 111 depart Kerbin, 250 day transfer, arrive Year 2 day 361. Next available return is not until Year 6 day 113, 250 day transfer arriving Kerbin year 6 day 363. This works out at a 4.5 year mission, or 1,956 days. 1 day of Lifesupport weighs 4kg, a Duna missions worth of lifesupport for a 4 kerbal crew weighs 32 tonnes. 10,000m/sec dV is required to get from LKO to LDO, 5,000 to return. I am not sure of Duna ascent/decent dV requirements atm. The drive section for a "quick and dirty" duna transfer vehicle weighed 450 tonnes ... in orbit. More (and better) plans are required. Year 2 Day 2, (or Day 428) KSC Launch of the first of the two Loki craft I have been battling with, these craft represent another first for the KSP, surface exploration. The Loki division is tasked with producing landers capable of moving across the surface of alien worlds ... rovers, I thought the division name appropriate given the troublesome nature of rovers. As is my way with these things there are probably far simpler methods for performing this mission, the two designs used here represent more of an experiment into methods of packing rovers into/onto landers. Loki I is tasked with exploring a set of co-ordinates on the Mun provided by private enterprise. Launched atop a HoundDog IV the overly complex transfer and landing system is put into a 157x175km orbit. I will probably put a design/build description out for this vehicle in the next post because it is something of a compromise / conglomerate mission. The second lander on the nose has nothing at all to do with the Loki I mission other than using it to get to the Mun. Orbit achieved with 326dV in the upper stage, this was used to start the 2,263m/sec transfer burn to Mun. The Coxwain powered KeroLox transfer stage completes the burn after 6.5minutes and then performs a minor 30m/sec plane change a few hours later. Mission cost 326,943 Funds - 2x 17,982 recovered from boosters. Whilst Loki is transfering to the Mun, Helmdar V-Mu has arrived at its capture point 30km over Muns North pole. 500m/sec later and we have a 30x1,300km orbit. (Incase you were wondering, the SAR antenna is mounted on a 90 degree (IR) rotating joint, so that it did not block the view of the orbital telescope, yet folds away aligned with the body for fitting into the fairing.) A little bit of RP that nearly turned out terrible as it attempted to summon the Kraken during rotation, but thankfully settled down once it reached its final position. 182dV circularisation burn into a 1,300km orbit at ~88 degrees, SAR scanning initiated, remaining 1,040m/sec will be used after map is complete to drop back to low orbit to use its other instruments. Y2D4, Mun Orbit Loki I arrival at Mun, 700m/sec capture into a 20 degree inclined 32x32km orbit, incline ensures we overfly the targets latitude. This is where Loki once again lives up to its name, the intended landing zone is in darkness, the main lander has sufficient battery and landing lights to compensate for this ... The second lander, added at the last minute as ballest ... has no battery at all other than the 2 (yes 2) Ec capacity of its probe core rendering it incapable of operating in anything but direct sunlight for more than 5 seconds. So we will have to loiter in orbit until the landing zone emerges from the Mun'r night. Y2D5, KSC There is an old wives tale which warns of the perils of housing rodents and fish in experimental orbital facilities, but apparently the severity of this was not enough to disuade certain corporations from putting up large sums of money to see what would happen if you tried. Enter the Pandora Zoology Laboratory, once paired up with a canister of furry 'volenteers' (sold seperately) this state of the art facility can answer all those important questions you never even knew you wanted to know the answer to. Launched atop another HoundDog IV which makes short work of the ascent to 160km circular orbit, the Zoology Lab is a very annoying weight where at 12t, even with all the extras fitted, it is too heavy for a HDIII but too light for HDIV. The 123 and 150m/sec burns to raise Ap and match velocity with Pandora hardly dent the dV remaining in the upper stage leaving it plenty to de-orbit with once the Lab was securely docked to Pandoras new senior docking port. Podly makes a brief EVA to secure a pair of KAS struts across the connection and to relocate the RCS units from the Zoology Lab onto its support frame so they can be disposed of. Firing the solid motors of the support frame carrying the probe core, batteries and antenna required for controlling the lab on its ascent but which would just waste part count once docked. Sporting the larger style illuminators the Zoology Lab makes the most of its colour scheme, Pandora really does stand out quite well in the dark. Mission cost 230,936 Funds, 2x 17,982 recovered from boosters.

There is lab grown meat, it is already at a stage where it is edible and you have 15-20 years to develop into being palatable. Then ofcourse there is insects, massive protein density, minimal volume/mass rapid breeding rate.

Today a report in two parts, because we have arrived at a momentus point in this career, the completion of the first Kerbal year! Day 422, KSC Also on this day Day 424, KSC Day 425, KSC Part II, Day 426, End of year audit. Launcher capability and usage through the year. Launcher Type Capacity Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Total Ascender I Balloon 1 Kerbal 1 0 0 0 1 Ascender II Sub-Orbital 1,500kg 1 0 0 0 1 SkyBolt I Sounding Rocket 100kg 2 0 0 0 2 SkyBolt II Sounding Rocket 100kg 1 0 0 0 1 SkyBolt III Sounding Rocket 200kg 1 0 0 0 1 SkyBolt IV Sub-Orbital 1,500kg 1 0 0 0 1 SkyBolt V Light Orbital ~600kg 6(+1) 2 0 0 8 SkyBolt VI Light Orbital ~800kg 0 0 0 3 3 HoundDog Ia Orbital 1,250kg 9 0 0 0 9 HoundDog Ib Orbital 1,250kg 1 21 9 1 32 HoundDog Ic Orbital Re-usable ~900kg 0 0 3 4 7 HoundDog II Orbital 5,000kg 0 7 9 4 20 HoundDog III Medium Orbital 10,000kg 0 0 15 10 25 HoundDog IV Heavy Orbital 30,000kg 0 0 0 7 7 Total Launches 23 30 36 29 118 Despite HoundDog III becoming the workhorse of the last two quarters, the dominance put in place in Q2 by the HoundDog Ib has still yet to be overtaken. With the introduction of the SkyBolt VI we have two lifters with essentially the same capacity putting direct competition between it and the HoundDog Ic, both lifters have come at the problem of a light orbital vehicle from opposite directions. SkyBolt VI has gone for cheap and easy construction with no recovery (Ariane VI) wheras HoundDog Ic has a much more expencive system yet recovers the large portion of it for re-use (Falcon 9). HoundDog is probably the cheaper solution, however with the recovery glitches I get in game and the added effort of actually flying the recovery I am more likely to use SkyBolt when I actually need a cheap launch. Rather than go through all the active craft like I did in the previous quarter (I have 57 atm not including debris or de-commissioned craft) I will put a summary of my Kerbals and their exploits. Crew Roster Name Specialisation Rank Current Location Flights Days Off Planet Visited Locations Jebediah Pilot Rookie Iakod (Probably the beach he hasnt been doing an awful lot lately) 2 0 Kerbin Sigbert Pilot Fifth Rate KSC 5 9.5 Mun Landing Elory Pilot Fifth Rate KSC 4 11 Mun Landing Nelsy Scientist Fourth Rate KSC 1 32 Minmus Landing Jedke Scientist Fifth Rate KSC 3 63 Moros Landing Orgun Engineer Fifth Rate KSC 2 62 Moros Landing Billy-Bobdo Scientist Fifth Rate KSC 2 62 Moros Landing Podly Scientist Fifth Rate Pandora LKO 3 25.5 (+99 so far) Minmus Orbital Aling Engineer Rookie Pandora Mun 1 0 (+114 so far) Mun Landing Lemlie Scientist Rookie Pandora Mun 1 0 (+114 so far) Mun Landing Dersey Scientist Rookie Pandora Mun 1 0 (+114 so far) Mun Landing Bartlorf Scientist Rookie Pandora Mun 1 0 (+114 so far) Mun Orbital Looking at these figures I really had thought at least one of them had been to two destinations, looks like I shared out the honours better than I thought! also though, its probably about time I did a crew rotation on the stations, 4 rookies with no flight experience running Pandora Mun? oops! Another oddball is Podly, having been my very first test subject back on day 1 in the Ascender I balloon flights, he has racked up the highest time off planet without actually managing to set foot on any other planets. General stats 525,773 Funds in the account with 444 Science. 2x 550 point research nodes and 3x 1,000 point nodes yet to research. Loki I has finished construction and is awaiting launch approval. Loki II, Lilith Ib and lab expansions for Pandora and Pandora Mun are in construction. Design work is in progress for additional station components, more dependable crew transports for Mun/Minmus as well as some more advanced high efficiency propulsion systems if we can only solve the massive Ec requirements. Heres to another year!

That ascent from Minmus, with the sweet engine switch ... was a thing of beauty!

Some say the Kraken was actually banished to Bop because it failed to produce the correct papers, all we know is that this isn't Comrade Political Officer, but he is Comrade Political Officers decadent Western cousin! Mhysa? I really don't think I'm entitled to wear that title ... unless ofcourse you want hybrid Pirate/Ninjas riding Dragons ... but then we are just getting silly, and we don't do silly here... honest!

Needed the SPAM, or found a use for it due to unfolding situation? I'll claim it was all part of the plan Arguably if I had replaced the SPAM with an empty tube, the mass reduction would have given me more available dV in all the other stages so I may as well have been able to perform the same double landing anyway, but this way I got to do a solid motor ascent off the surface of Mun (with no smoke effects I might add). Followed shortly after by not as many explosions as I would have liked, turns out the Mk2 parts I built the upper parts of the tank out of are remarkably heat resistent even blunt end first into airflow! ... but not so much resistant to ground impacts. Only the engine bell from the HDIII stage survived that re-entry, and even then only by using the entire rest of the structure as a crumple zone. How did you know I have specially cross bred pirates and ninjas for just such recovery missions into hostile territory?