borisperrons

MY EYES, MY EYES!!!

SPACE NEWS CAPSULE WARS: THE PRIVATE SECTOR STRIKES BACK The crew rotation mission to Spacelab and the menace to the commercial space industry Thetys 19 on the pad atop its Uhu booster Walter Kermite reporting- Not long after the dust of the KOFTE 3 capsule landing deposited, has the commercial spaceflight industries started to assemble an answer against this menace to one of their major sources of income. The Spacelab operation needs at least 4 flights per year to ensure the rotation of the on orbit crews, or at least it needed that many until now. The assumption is based on the crew capacity of Rockomax Conglomerate’s Thetys ferry vehicle, which can sit three kerbonauts and to stay docked to the station months on end. This sustained flight rate was the raison d’etre for the development of the vehicle, and indeed the company. The commercial crew program represents a large part of the firm’s income, which has come to substitute the traditional commercial space business, the keostationary launch market. Lately, with the “double shift” missions, an additional juicy opportunity opened for Rockomax, to send a paying space tourist in place of the third kerbonaut. This being the situation, the appearance of Aries was a nearly 20 ton wrench thrown into the company’s gears. While the Spacelab’s demise is given for granted (while various mission extensions are being proposed and will most probably accepted, the writing are still on the walls for the aging station), Rockomax has always counted on more years of constant revenues from it to fund internal studies on the company’s next step, so not to end up without perspectives at the end of the program. Now, Aries is about to take half of the prospected revenue away, if not more. With its six kerbal crew, it offers the same ferry capacity as two Thetys, bringing up a full expedition at a reduced cost. More than that, KSA’s intention to fly “double shift” expeditions on an Aries will also remove the possibility of tourists being flown up in the spare seats. Thus, is no surprise that last weekend, a number of executives from the various aerospace companies took part in a not-so-secret “working vacation” at Welcome Back Island. According to anonymous sources, apart from the unquotable words addressed from Rockomax’s directors to the government and their “KSA’s lapdogs”, the meeting actually had very productive results. Rockomax is planning to fold all their ongoing development in a single technology demonstrator to gather funds, even if the exact details on exactly what that would be were closely kept behind closed doors. Hypotheses vary from a new reusable booster to a winged evolution of the Thetys capsule, with such outlandish ideas as an asteroid mining facility and a space hotel and casino. McKerman Kerman seems to be on board with this idea, if not because of a do-or-die situation as Rockomax (they are doing quite well with the satellite launch market, and the resupply missions to the Spacelab are nothing more than a nice padding), because of unusual solidarity with their fellow aerospace engineers. Their Dalek launcher has been seconded to the cause, and all the development resources that could be spared would be employed in the mysterious technology demonstrator. The last of the Big Three, Kerbair, offered a discount on launch services on their refurbished Charles ballistic missiles, while its representatives went into incredibly convoluted excuses on why wouldn’t they take part in new development. Rumours about the presence of overly bowing, extremely formally dressed foreign looking representatives couldn’t be confirmed. KSA said that their relation with the various commercial partners is “warm and cordial, and we do not see any reason why would they want to bludgeon us in the head”. They then refused to comment on the new policy of opening voluminous packages inside Test Area 4 (Explosive Materials).

"Mein Führer... I CAN WALK!"

Zodiac 1Mission objectives: Kerballed LKO flight test of the Aries Mod. B, 30 days endurance solo flight Zodiac 2Mission objectives: First flight of the Canopus V super-heavy lift vehicle, test of KDS stage, heatshield test during high speed reentry, deployment of Vaultstone mission to Munar orbit

... yeah, that's quite silly. Also, ruins most of my plans of publishing large format multi image presentations.

So, uhm. It's just me, or suddenly uploaded images are half the size of what they were before the whole reality shift in the forum?

Munar Surveyor A Mission objectives: Orbital broadband resource scan on Munar surface, operating in conjunction with Munar Surveyor B Munar Surveyor B Mission objectives: Orbital narrow band resource scan on Munar surface, operating in conjunction with Munar Surveyor A

Kerbin Orbit Flight TEst 2Mission objectives: Test of the Aries Mod. A autonomous rendezvous and docking system, test of quiescent docked mode Kerbin Orbit Flight TEst 3 Mission objectives: First kerballed flight of an Aries capsule, test of manual piloting systems, docked endurance test

Booster Separation Test Mission objectives: test of Canopus I aerodynamics, test of first stage vibration damping system. Aries In-Flight Abort Test Mission objectives: Test of the flight abort system of the Aries KEV during max-Q Kerbin Orbit Flight TEst 1 Mission objectives: Test of the Aries Mod. A during 2-orbit flight, flight test of all Aries KEV common hardware and software, re-entry test from LKO

SPACE NEWS “MULTIMILLION DOLLAR FIREWORKS”. BUT IS IT SO? A LOOK INTO CANOPUS I BOOSTER TEST AND THE WORST SIDE OF ACAPELLO’S LEGACY Exploded rendering of the Kerbodyne's Canopus I Crew Launch Vehicle Walter Kermite reporting- Next month the first Zodiac hardware will take to the skies, in the form of the Canopus I booster. Or at least, a part of it. If someone was looking for a demonstration that the KSA is taking seriously the Presidential Science Committee for Space directives, namely to use as much off the shelf hardware and knowledge as possible, it shouldn’t look much further than the Canopus I. The first stage uses an S2-33 Clydesdale, a solid rocket motor of the same type used in the STS (in fact, the test will use one that has already flown several times with the Shuttle), while the second stage is powered by a KR-2L+ Rhino, derived from the same engine that powered the upper stages of the Lindor V. Both of those are being built by Kerbodyne, which has a lot staked on the success of Zodiac. A large investment has gone into revamping the production lines and new engineering, a large percentage of which coming out of the pocket of the company, with the perspective of a long term payoff with the sustained flight rate of the rocket. Still, even with all these cost limiting measures, the public expenditure watchdogs are on the heels of Zodiac and Kerbodyne. “The booster test of the Canopus missile (sic) is a blatant demonstration of the greediness of the aerospace industry complex”, says Hon. Walter Kermale, “The vampires at the head of those companies have always seen the KSA as a milking cow to get fat government contracts with terms that they don’t have to care an iota about respecting. Being overbudget and overtime is not the exception but the norm!” The Honourable carries on with even more vitriolic comments on the whole Zodiac Program: “They are forcing us to pay ten times what they asked for a tenth of the result. Next month they will fly an half finished missile, charging the government 500 million funds for it, and calling it <<an important step in the hardware development>>. It is an important step, but a step too farther! The measure is full, it’s time to punish the greedy managers and cut them off the funding, as long as they want to treat the public as a clown!” The ire of Hon. Kermale is stemming from what essentially, is a large scale engineering test that has been branded as Zodiac’s first flight. Next months launch has limited, but vital development objectives: first of all a large scale test of the aerodynamics and avionics of the Canopus I booster, but more vitally the test of vibration damping systems in the forward adapter of the first stage. Simulations have showed that there is a risk of the vehicle shaking itself apart if the vibration problem is not addressed, and Kerbodyne wants to test the solution before carrying on with further development. The 500 million funds bill that the Hon. Kermale is referring to is comprising of the test itself, but also of the first round of modifications to the ground infrastructure, modifications that will remain for the whole program. All after all this is a bargain price. But in the end, the problem is not the public spendings watchdogs, or cautious engineering, or too expensive modifications. The problem is the heavy legacy of the Cold War space race. Every space enthusiast of today is grown up with the myth of Acapello, the gargantuan effort of a whole nation single-mindedly focused on a seemingly impossible objective. To land a kerbal on the Mun in 10 short years. Fact is, not many remember that Acapello wasn’t born in a vacuum. Basically, the KSA was hijacked to serve the political aim of beating the Kerbiets and showing who’s boss. Yesterday, the enemy were the Kerbiets, today it is Acapello itself. Every president measures itself against the past ones, and the space program falls victim to this too. How many times grandiose and optimistic plans to build an orbiting 100 kerbals stations, or land on Duna by the end of the decade, ended up shattered by their simple unreality, only to be substituted by another scheme, even mort out there, at the change of administration? The Canopus I Booster Test is a small but clear demonstration of this: the current administration is desperate to put its stamp on something real, to show that they are getting things done and that this time they won’t fail like the others. The result: a completely blown out advertisement campaign for a 30 km apogee test flight, an honourable spitting venom on an half finished rocket, and an hype train setting up the Zodiac Program for a ruinous fall at the first mishap. Space doesn’t like firm deadlines. The sooner politics and public learn this, the sooner will we get safe, efficient engineering marvels off the ground, taking us to the stars.

A mix of 1 and 3. You don't have the rush of the space race, so take your time. Build a space station, use it to orbitally assemble munar spacecrafts and go there the way Von Braun's intended: with a ridicolous looking space vessel with a hundred brave explorers.

The Zodiac Program (not affiliated with the killer of the same name) So, yeah, Big Rona definitely gave me back the KSP bug, so, what better time to tackle a challenge that I wanted to run since I saw it posted years ago? This will be my entry for the Constellation Space Program Challenge by @Death Engineering, which brought us many, many such wonderful and well thought challenges. This is a project I've been working on for the past weeks, building and testing the various crafts. I've reached a point where I'm confident enough to go public, also because I've actually flown all the R&D missions, and I just have to write down the reports (he says, knowing full well that he will find some stupid way to get sidetracked by presentations made in Paint, recreations of IRL adverts or some equally useless stuff). I will follow the Constellation mission architecture, but going forward I plan to use various bits and pieces from other what-if space programs, for example NASA's Integrated Program Plan, ULA's CisLunar 1000 and Nasa's Fly-By Landing Excursion Mode (this one only if I'm feeling frisky). The final goal is to land kerbals on Duna, but how will I arrive there is still being studied. I have some ideas, but let's see how the program develops. I'm running a modded save with JNSQ, Nertea's full suite of mods, KIS, KAS, Better SRBs, some quality of life mods and one which most definitely doesn't add quality of life, Kerbalism. I will post agency's internal reports on the mission, industry presentations for the equipment, every now and then an article or two fleshing out a bit of background for the program and a collection of above mentioned overengineered Paint stuff. Index: 1. Aries KEV presentation, JJ&SP advertising material 2. "AIM HIGH" KSA STEM engagement advert, featuring Canopus I 3. "MULTIMILLION DOLLAR FIREWORKS". BUT IS IT SO? - Space News article 4. Mission Reports: Canopus Booster Separation Test, Aries In-Flight Abort Test, KOFTE 1 5. Mission Reports: KOFTE 2, KOFTE 3 6. Mission Reports: Munar Surveyor A/B 7. Mission Reports: Zodiac 1, Zodiac 2 8. CAPSULE WARS: THE PRIVATE SECTOR STRIKES BACK - Space News article Mission summaries: Booster Separation Test Mission objectives: test of Canopus I aerodynamics, test of first stage vibration damping system. Launch vehicle: Canopus I Flight Test Article Result: Success Comments: Full success of the testing objectives. Failure of the recovery system, but this wasn't a mission critical equipment, and will not be included in future flights. Aries In-Flight Abort Test Mission objectives: Test of the flight abort system of the Aries KEV during max-Q Launch vehicle: Canopus I Flight Test Article Result: Success Comments: Max-Q abort scenario validated, the whole LES is validated for kerballed flights. Kerbin Orbit Flight TEst (KOFTE) 1 Mission objectives: Test of the Aries Mod. A during 2-orbit flight, flight test of all Aries KEV common hardware and software, re-entry test from LKO Launch vehicle: Canopus I Result: Success Comments: Maneuver, communications, power generation and autonomous control systems all validated during the 2 orbits flight. As many of these systems are common between the two Aries versions, the mission doubles as a partial validation of the Aries Mod. B design. Ground landing and recovery is also succesfully tried and tested. Kerbin Orbit Flight TEst (KOFTE) 2 Mission objectives: Test of the Aries Mod. A autonomous rendezvous and docking system, test of quiescent docked mode Launch vehicle: Canopus I Result: Success Comments: Automated approach and docking system flight proven with ground control support. Powered down capsule remains docked for a two week stay, testing the systems for long term orbital stay. Kerbin Orbit Flight TEst (KOFTE) 3 Mission objectives: First kerballed flight of an Aries capsule, test of manual piloting systems, docked endurance test Launch vehicle: Canopus I Craft: Constitution (Aries Mod. A) Crew: Jonbur Kerman (CDR), Irler Kerman (PLT) Result: Success Comments: The mission is largely flown via pilot commands keeping the onboard computer out of the loop, to test the various contingency modes in case of failure of the automated systems. After a successful approach and docking, the crew spends 2 months in orbit, performing scientific and engineering tasks onboard Spacelab. The capsule is checked during the long stay, showing no sign of degradation. Aries Mod. A is cleared for operational ferry flights to the station. Munar Surveyor A/BMission objectives: Orbital broad and narrow band resource scan on Munar surface, dual probe mission. Launch vehicle: Charles-Hadar Result: Success Comments: The two probes (Munar Surveyor A and B) are launched one month and inserted in the same polar orbital plane around the Mun. Over the next few months they will draw a map of Munar resource concentrations, to help the Zodiac kerballed landings planning. Zodiac 1Mission objectives: Kerballed LKO flight test of the Aries Mod. B, 30 days endurance solo flight Launch vehicle: Canopus I Craft: Little Hut (Aries Mod. B) Crew: "Joyriders" - Jonlorf Kerman (CDR), Kerzer Kerman (CMP), Merdard Kerman (MS1), Kirnand Kerman (MS2) Result: Success Comments: After a succesful launch, the craft spends 30 days in free flight, testing onboard systems and running scientific experiments. Also, the crew studies their own reactions to being in the capsule for an extended period of time, to inform decision makers for future long duration missions on the "kerbal factor". Zodiac 2Mission objectives: First flight of the Canopus V super-heavy lift vehicle, test of KDS stage, heatshield test during high speed reentry, deployment of Vaultstone mission to Munar orbit Launch vehicle: Canopus V Result: Success Comments: The first flight of the Canopus V is a resounding success. Minor tweaks will be made to the veahicles, for example the position of struts or separation motors in the boosters, but overall the vehicle is accepted in KSA service without objections. The mission itself is also succesful, testing the Aries heatshield in esxtreme reentry conditions, basically at the edge of crew survivability. The secondary objectives are also met, delivering the Vaultstone probe to its near rectilinear halo orbit around the Mun, and deploying 4 cubesats to a transmunar orbit. Introduction: SPACE NEWS "MUN TO STAY" KSC TO SEND KERBALS BACK ON THE MUN, THIS TIME WITH A PLAN KSC, Jebediah's Junkyard & Spaceship Parts Co. and Kerlington technicians preparing for the official rollout of the two Aries capsule mockups Walter Kermite report - Following weeks of unconfirmed rumors and comments, this morning we finally had an official communication from the Presidential Science Commitee for Space. "As the 40th anniversary of our first Munar landing approaches" reads the communiquè "it's clear that space exploration needs a new, well defined target. Once again this will be the Mun, but we will go back there not to simply relive past glories, but as a long term, sustainable exploration program, with a vision for future growth and real returns for all kerbality." The communiquè carries on describing as the program first aim is to build a transport infrastructure to the Munar surface and to generate knowledge on the resources found there, before moving on to their future exploiting in a possible interplanetary fuel economy. While the plan for the initial landings and exploration is explained in detail, going as far as describing a sprawling Munar base reminiscent of pulp fiction dreams, a passing reference to Duna exploration doesn't shed much light on how will this interplanetary exploration campaign be carried on, or what the final aim would be. "The program will run on time and on budget, without starving other space scientific research" carries on the message. This last statement was reportedly met by scoffing from the members of the planetary sciences and astronomy communities. Historically, the robotic explorers have always played second fiddle to their more glamorous green colleagues and their daredevil exploits. A very different reaction came from the representatives of commercial launch companies. While not specifically stated, it can be expected that there might be some commercial contract up for the grabs, especially now that the Spacelab Space Station and her flurry of resupply and crew transport contracts is approaching operational end of life. As for now there are many question marks over this new space endeavour, but at least one firm point: the project will be named Zodiac, hopefully delivering better results than it's astrological namesake.

Lately I have built some replica crafts, especially for challenges. It's a new way of building for me, following a preexistend design, and is teaching me a lot about creative building. Soviet N1-L3 Moon rocket Soviet Soyuz 7K-LOK lunar spacecraft and LK lunar lander Soviet Luna 17 lander + Lunokhod rover NASA MEM martian lander

@Death Engineering I second what @Clamp-o-Tron said. No death for this gem of a challenge! SPACE NEWS "MUN TO STAY" KSC TO SEND KERBALS BACK ON THE MUN, THIS TIME WITH A PLAN KSC, Jebediah's Junkyard & Spaceship Parts Co. and Kerlington technicians preparing for the official rollout of the two Aries capsule mockups Walter Kerman report - Following weeks of unconfirmed rumors and comments, this morning we finally had an official communication from the Presidential Science Commitee for Space. "As the 40th anniversary of our first Munar landing approaches" reads the communiquè "it's clear that space exploration needs a new, well defined target. Once again this will be the Mun, but we will go back there not to simply relive past glories, but as a long term, sustainable exploration program, with a vision for future growth and real returns for all kerbality." The communiquè carries on describing as the program first aim is to build a transport infrastructure to the Munar surface and to generate knowledge on the resources found there, before moving on to their future exploiting in a possible interplanetary fuel economy. While the plan for the initial landings and exploration is explained in detail, going as far as describing a sprawling Munar base reminiscent of pulp fiction dreams, a passing reference to Duna exploration doesn't shed much light on how will this interplanetary exploration campaign be carried on, or what the final aim would be. "The program will run on time and on budget, without starving other space scientific research" carries on the message. This last statement was reportedly met by scoffing from the members of the planetary sciences and astronomy communities. Historically, the robotic explorers have always played second fiddle to their more glamorous green colleagues and their daredevil exploits. A very different reaction came from the representatives of commercial launch companies. While not specifically stated, it can be expected that there might be some commercial contract up for the grabs, especially now that the Spacelab Space Station and her flurry of resupply and crew transport contracts is approaching operational end of life. As for now there are many question marks over this new space endeavour, but at least one firm point: the project will be named Zodiac, hopefully delivering better results than it's astrological namesake.

I'm all up for a reboot. No odea how could I be of help, but boy if I'd like to get a go at this.

And here we are, with the second part of the mission!!! Again, please take your seats for the new, thrilling, socialism infused space adventure: Cыра Нет! (There's no cheese up here!) A MOSFILM PRODUCTION - APPROVED BY THE STATE COMMITTEE FOR SHENANIGANS And for this mission, we also have the full telemetry feed: TELEMETRY FEED - STRONGLY DISAPPROVED BY THE KGB This is my calculated score: Thanks for this challenge! This has been a real fun both designing the crafts, learning more about the missions and flying them in game!

Yeah, having to trust 30 engines to start flawlessly on liftoff doesn't fill me with a very warm and fuzzy feeling... Well, yes, that will be no problem for the N1-L3 launch, for this one I haven't actually taken them. I guess I can run a Lunokhod 2 mission if you'd like. Which data are you interested in?

After a long and painful process, I finally have the N1 built. I used the clipping tanks approach, as I'm not that bothered with the outside appearence. But first, it's time for the part one of the mission, flying a sexy sexy Proton to its meeting with destiny, and explosions. Without further ado, here's my Lunokhod replica, brought to you in the latest Imgur production: A Very Soviet Mission (cue intro with scantily clad space girls) A MOSFILM PRODUCTION - APPROVED BY THE STATE COMMITTEE FOR KABOOMS

Earth Orbit Rendezvous, basically you launch the mission in two parts, have them dock in Kerbin orbit, and fly them together to the Mun.

Forgot the N1 design for a while, those conical stages are really a pain to recreate. In the meantime, I've built the Lunokhod and Luna 17 lander. It's quite nice, but the scale is completely off from the real one... Oh well, let's just say that my kerbals nicked one off the Lavochkin factory.

My original one was a conical structural element with a fuel tank of suitable smaller size offset inside of it, plus the ring of small fuel tanks.

Ah-ah, so I'm not went completely coockoo! Thanks, I now have a whole new way to create monstruosities. Yep, the inverted decoupler trick is the one that I've used with my LK too.

Aaaah, well, that's useful to know! I must have missed this development, as I'm pretty certain that, when I picked KSP for the first time, that was not the case. Thanks for the mod, that's again very useful! Yep, I can confirm that the in game dV tool goes bonkers with creative building. It doesn't calculate for my Block D stage when it's stacked, for example. I'm using Kerbal Engineer's calculator, and that one has no such problems.