Justy

You're too late. The International Earth Destruction Advisory Board is quite clear on the fact that the Earth was destroyed in September 2008. They refused my very well laid out proposal for a re-evaluation in 2010, based on the fact that my paycheques were directly proportional to the number of times I was able to get to work, and getting to work was dependent on the Earth's gravitational pull and the friction provided by its surface, yet there was no statistically significant change in my pay when the Earth was supposedly destroyed. So their decision stands, and I guess the Earth is gone.

If I understand it right, most of Ariane 5's GEO payloads are around half its capacity. So if you, the customer, want to fly your 5-ton satellite to GEO -- and none of Arianespace's customers want to fly anything much bigger than that in the near future -- you have to wait until somebody else wants to fly another 5-ton payload into a similar orbit, at which time you each chip in 110 million euros to share the 220 million euro rocket. The ATV is just about the only thing that ever used Ariane 5's full capability; the biggest single commercial payload it ever flew was still around 6 tons. Ariane 6 will let you fly your 5-ton payload whenever the heck you want, alone, for just 70 million euros. More flexible at a lower price is a hole that can ALWAYS be filled. So it does fill a niche for ESA. Launcher | GTO(t) | LEO(t) | Cost (million euros) Ariane 5 | 12 | 20.5 | 220 Ariane 6 | 6.5 | 11? | 70 Soyuz-2 | 3.2 | 7 | 40-ish? Vega | 1? | 2 | 32 (Ariane 5 lifts 58% of its LEO payload to GTO; Soyuz-2 lifts 45%. I split the difference at 50% and used that when guessing Vega's GTO and Ariane 6's LEO payloads.) I had earlier commented I thought it was odd Ariane 6 seemed to be a competitor for Arianespace's Soyuz launches, but I was mistaken, I was comparing Soyuz' lift to LEO with Ariane 6's lift to GTO.

You know, I'm fully aware it's not a primary design goal, but one of the things I liked about the ESA's rockets was that they looked nice. The Ariane 1 to 4 series had character, like a potluck dinner, slapped together from whatever stuff each attendee brought, which is I guess what they really were. And Ariane 5 was like a Shuttle ET+SRB stack that had been breathed on, just for a brief few minutes, by a European automotive design house, or maybe one of those mangas aiming for realism but knowing it needs to be art as well (Makoto Yukimura's "PlanetES"). Ariane 5 launches are pretty. If you put this Ariane 6 next to Long March 3C and H-IIA, you'd have to think for a moment to tell them apart. Again, I know, that's no reason not to build the rocket, and more affordable and reliable launchers on this planet is a good thing, but still, if Arianespace finds there aren't enough 11 ton payloads to keep Ariane 5 flying while Ariane 6 handles the medium loads, I will be sad. Am I reading too much into things if I point out that Arianespace, still sweeping up confetti from celebrating the ability to offer ~6 ton Soyuz rockets, is planning a ~6 ton Ariane?

Correct me if I'm wrong, but we don't actually know that Laythe, or Kerbin for that matter, have oxygen atmospheres. We know both can supply IntakeAir, and that IntakeAir is something that can be burnt in a jet engine that uses liquid fuel, and that liquid fuel can also burn with oxidizer in a rocket engine. We ASSUME, then, that IntakeAir is oxygen, and it's likely, but for all we know it's something different that also reacts with liquid fuel. But seriously, if I'm wrong, tell me.

If I'm honest, neither Kermunist design team is having much progress. Kermichev produced and perfected a carrier rocket with reusable boosters, the UR-180. The outer boosters cross-feed to the inner core and parachute to splashdown. The carrier rocket lifts a 18t payload to 100km LKO with just enough dV left over to deorbit itself, or the same 18t payload plus the Blok-T upper stage for about 500 m/s dV for on-orbit assembly. The base UR-180 is 57% reusable, the UR-180 + Blok-T is 53%. (The design is meant to emulate the real world UR-500, itself the basis for Russia's "Proton", and the intended follow-up UR-700, both of which really used [or would have used] crossfeed between outer & inner boosters, as well as poorly remembered images of upper stages. I thought I was doing Blok-D, it turned out closer to Fregat. In any case I'm actually quite proud of the UR-180, it's the best working and best looking I've ever made.) To get the resources to build the rocket he is so proud of, Kermichev found his already ambitious promise to get three kerbonauts to Duna in the first launch window had suddenly expanded to SIX. That meant finding a way to launch an atomic tug, an ISRU plant, and two habitats, all on just three rockets. The atomic tug and ISRU lander would have to be on a single rocket. That went beyond the lift mass for the UR-180, so the atomic tug would have to coast to the edge of the atmosphere before completing its own burn into orbit. That required a stronger but less efficient engine to complete the burn before it fell back to Kerbin. That consumed so much fuel that, while it was left with enough to make the burn for Minimus, it would swing right past without enough fuel to make orbit. Worse yet, the State Space Committee's own teams keep revising the landers. Combining the roles of transit habitat, lander, surface habitat, ascent vehicle, and return transit habitat, they have more than doubled in mass, and each one now weighs 17.5 tons with mostly empty fuel tanks, just barely within the limits of the carrier rocket. In simulations, the ISRU lander's engines turned out to be dangerously underpowered, underfueled, and too unstable for the sort of precise landing required to ensure the landing site is both kethane-rich and cliff-poor. Fixing this only worsens the mass problems of launching it with the atomic tug. About the only thing that did go right was the production of an inflatable heat shield. Simulations showed there really isn't a need to protect the landers themselves, but a shield is essential for the complex's initial aerocapture into Duna orbit. So it's been a rough couple of weeks at Kermichev, but let me tell you, it's been even worse at Kerbolyov. The continent is littered with the wreckage of his 9t and 20t 1.5STO (drop-engine) prototypes. They worked quite well on their own, but once complicated by kethane mining equipment, they tended to be nose-heavy on reentry, which makes for a very unstable tail-landing rocket. One partial success became a very nice deep sea research station, dubbed Single Stage To Ocean. The curling match to decide where the rocket would refuel ended without a clear result once it became evident the State Space Committee would go with Kermichev's rocket, and Kerbolyov has turned its attention to winning the production of the lander modules. Westerners may have read the article in Antiquing Week & Space Technology accusing the Kermunists of self-delusion or even outright lying about their productivity and efficiency estimates for their Duna mission plans. Well, nobody is saying that back home! It's possible many are THINKING it, mind you, but the job of resolving that has already been handed to the secret police.

Is Barfolomew Kerman on the crew?

Kermrades, rejoice! The first simulation of our glorious first expedition has begun! We salute the devotion of Kermrades-kerbonaut Jebediah, Bill, Bob, and Jorbart, who have presently committed themselves fully to an immersive test environment constructed in KSC2. We further salute the skill and bravery of Kermrades Patlorf, Lohat, Lemnand, Thomsby and Derlan, who were all instrumental in testing our nation's finest development, the life support recycling system on which our Duna explorers will depend, in surface operations on Minimus. The realized version of our great vessel will differ somewhat from the simulation pictured above, but the following are certain to remain key advantages of our effort over those of other nations: A long spine, lightweight yet rigid, separating the atomic engine from crewed sections, allowing the main engine's fuel tanks to serve as an effective shadow shield; Quadruple-purpose transit habitat, descent vehicle, surface habitat and ascent vehicle, with additional protection from impact and radiation provided by conformal fuel tanks; A lander which will produce both fuels and oxygen on Duna, proving the ability of kermunism to provide plentiful bounty for all in any environment! Workers of the world not yet experiencing the benefits of the kermunist revolution in their own nations should tune to frequent updates on the People's Voice Of Kerbin shortwave programme broadcast from the Central Kerplodistan Transmission Facility on a frequency of 6,160,000 warbles per second on an unpublished and random schedule.

First "landing" was on Vall. My first interplanetary mission was the Jool Isn't Miniature Orbiter. It was supposed to end up orbiting Laythe, but I decided to set up a slingshot around Vall for fun. I got it all lined up to swing me over to a Laythe encounter, but it turns out Vall has peaks higher than my periapsis! Thus, KSC learned that not all moons are as smooth as the Mun. Science. My first deliberate, controlled and successful landing was an entirely successful, all chemical (no NTR), Poodle-propelled, kerbed mission to Duna, with two kerbals in the lander and three on orbit, all of whom made it home; the only real panic was a rush to manually deploy repacked chutes during a suborbital hop.

Man, that's some landing! ...wait, is that a tie-down line to keep it stable? A KAS anchor? Not bad, wish I'd thought of it. So fully loaded, what was the TWR vs Minimus gravity?

There'll be more dV left for landing if you leave modules in orbit to pick them up again later, and without having to lift those same modules again you should end up with more fuel left over for the trip. That looks like a tall, wiggly, and most importantly tall thing to land on an uneven surface, I hope you find a deposit on one of the seas!

That is incredible. You need a lot of faith in your design to let go of a burning SRB, I can't seem to drop spent parallel liquid stages without re-colliding unless I pack on a bunch of Separatrons. With a reentry decceleration literally off the charts >15g, though, Jeb is chunky salsa verde!

Again, the plans differ. Kermichev says our brave kerbonauts deserve better than the poor quality vodka one would expect from a still crammed onto a spacecraft and running offworld from local materials... they deserve something like a refreshing Lemon Diet Enerkiya, sweetened with liquid propellium and available at your local neighbourhood State Food Store or Kerb Stop! Kerbolyov accuses Kermichev of defeatism (and even worse, capitalism!). Kermunist science, he says, can make vodka good enough for anyone, anytime, anywhere, from anything. And if Kermichev says it can't be done, then Kerbolyov must do it just to prove him wrong. But most importantly, the State Space Exploration Committee fears that by replacing most of the supplies that would otherwise be needed to support the mission, ISRU vodka production would be seen as cheating by the rest of Kerbin, so both teams are forbidden from pursuing it.

The Union of Kermunist States triumphantly announces its participation in the race to establish a permanent kerbed scientific base on the red planet Duna! Government officials are evaluating two competing mission architectures to decide which will propel the nation to its inevitable success. The Kermichev State Research and Energy Drink Production Space Center (makers of such fine 'health supplements' as Enerkiya and 5-Bol Energy, neither of which has been proven to cause heart failure!) proposes a mission centered on a 20t NIMLKO* expendable heavy launch vehicle, an NTR-powered tug with sufficient delta-V for a one-way trip, a descent/ascent vehicle capable of refueling the tug in a single launch, and ISRU equipment (kethane drill & converter) on an ultralight unpressurized rover, all launched in time for the early departure window. The decadent and lazy may wait for the window at day 283; kermunists have work to do, and depart at day 59. This first crew, though small, will inspire us with their application of kermunist dedication and hard work without which any such mission is impossible** as they prepare the landing site for the larger and better equipped expeditions to follow. Kermichev's proposal is the most detailed so far, and expects science returns in excess of 2100, with an efficiency of over 15, in the early mission. Extended mission plans predict over 11,000 kerb-days of science and an efficiency of nearly 30! The Kerbolyov Special Camper Van Design Bureau counters with a novel TSTO MLV with reusable*** liquid rocket boosters. The preliminary design is capable of placing a payload of 18t into LKO and returning to a precision guided powered landing at the launch site for refurbishment. However, approximately one third of launches will instead involve the upper stage refueling from kethane deposits on Minimus so it can serve as the propulsion stage to Duna. This skillful triumph of kermunist ingenuity multiplies the effect of launches! An internal competition**** will decide between a vehicle with fuel capacity for a round trip, one requiring resupply from landing on Duna, or one resupplying from landing on Ike. Assuming the same lander and rover payloads to Kermichev's, the science returns should be similar, but the efficiency score will be truly impressive. Thus far the launcher has proven more interesting to the People's Army Strategic Force than to the Space Exploration Committee. Still, Kerbolyov assures his ambitious plan is not only well reasoned, but lays the groundwork for kerbed explorations of every rocky planet and moon in the entire system. This effort will be of service to all the peoples of Kerbin by providing an undeniable demonstration of what they can achieve by adopting the superior kermunist science, industry and way of life! We apply ourselves fully to this goal! * Pursuant to Rule 1, the UKS Bureau of Standards defines its parking and assembly orbit at 100km +/- 2.5%. ** Partly because mission controllers will delay resupply landers in their holding orbits until satisfied. *** On an unrelated note, if you have a fishing trawler capable of towing a six ton barge that totally isn't a rocket worth billions of kerbles, the People's Navy has a case of vodka for YOU! **** The competition is an 'Aussie rules' curling brier, where the 'house' is actually the opposing team's leader's home, and the 'hog line' is his living room window. The 'Ike resupply' team seemed unbeatable since the other teams couldn't throw rocks into his 11th floor apartment, but in the 5th end the others remembered they work at a rocket factory, and the Ike team is now trailing by six points and two calls to the local volunteer fire/rescue.