[AAR] Because It's There (Chapter 13 – 03/29/15) Münshot 2: Minmus Boogaloo

[GreenWolf]

very interesting looking probe! Never would have thought to build a tube probe, as I'm gonna call it...

Starting with Satellite 3 (still not sure what happened to that thing), all of my probes and satellites have been "tube probes". I start out by building the lower half, which usually consists of a truss piece with some batteries and solar panels on it, capped off by an RCS tank and a docking port. I put four RCS thrusters in a ring around the tank, then duplicate the entire lower half and stick the copy ontop of the probe. Any necessary science stuff is mounted on the core. It's a pretty easy way to make the RCS balanced, which is important for small craft.

With AMS and MinMAX, the tube is a few of the small stack batteries covered in solar panels with RCS and a docking port at the end. Antenna and scansat equipment are mounted on the probe, while two of the massless RCS engines are attached to the bottom RCS tank. Each probe has around 2000 m/s of delta-v, more than enough for the Kerbin system. You'll notice that AMS only has some omni antenna, while MinMAX has two larger dish antenna. That's because MinMAX is sitting out around Minmus, right at the edge of the reach of my comms network. The Belltower sats are the only things with enough range to reach Minmus, and their nice 120° spacing has started to fall apart. (I'll need to send up a few more Belltowers to fill in the coverage gaps that have appeared.) So MinMAX needed to be able to communicate with Kerbin without having to rely on Belltower.

Edited March 17, 2015 by GreenWolf

[GreenWolf]

I've decided to split the next chapter into two parts, since it's looking like it'll be a very long one if I don't. The good news is, I only have one pinpoint landing, three take offs, and two dockings left to perform before the chapter is done (with 2 launches, four dockings, three precision landings, and one takeoff already done). Call it two to three hours of gameplay, at a max. Chapter should be up, oh, let's say Thursday. Maybe Friday.

Also, by complete accident, I think I've set up Enterprise Base in the Armstrong Memorial crater. So that will be interesting.

[GreenWolf]

Chapter 11: MARC of a Rebel

The next piece of Münstay hardware to be launched was the Münar Autonomous Resource Collector, or MARC for short, which would handle all of the karbonite extraction and refining for the Münbase.

"MARC evolved through several different designs while it was being constructed. The original plan was to have two autonomous wheeled vehicles, one for extracting karbonite and one for refining it. This was later changed to a stationary refinery and a mobile extractor. The final design ended up being a single stationary extractor and converter, which would be dropped onto the Mün by a skycrane." – Ambrose Kerman, VAB Engineer

The MARC and its skycrane would be launched together into orbit aboard the new Liberty Super Heavy, which used two Liberty cores as boosters.

"It's interesting to look at the evolution of the

Liberty

family of launch vehicles. We started with the R7, then dropped in a new upper stage and updated the core to make the

Liberty

. Adding two more boosters gave us the

Liberty Heavy

, and giving it RCS gave us the

Liberty Advanced

. Swap out the boosters for a pair of cores, and you get the

Liberty Super Heavy

, which had twice the payload capacity as the

Liberty Heavy

, and required us to upgrade the launchpad to be able to hold its weight." – Ambrose Kerman, VAB Engineer

Once in orbit, MARC and the skycrane rendezvoused with the Delivery, which would carry them out to the Mün.

Next up was the Münar Fuel Lander, which would carry refined fuel from the surface up to the orbital propellant depot. It would be launched using a Liberty Super Heavy Advanced.

"The Fuel Lander was relatively simple to build. We used the same twin engine pods as the

Discovery

, but with a large fuel tank placed in the center instead of space for a portable module." – Ambrose Kerman, VAB Engineer

Delivery, flown by Jermin Kerman, would carry the fuel lander, MARC and the skycrane out to the Mün. Once in orbit, the skycrane would drop MARC onto the surface, then proceed to rendezvous with the propellant depot. MARC would then be joined by the fuel lander, which would land as close as possible to the drilling rig.

MARC successfully landed 8 kilometers west of Münshot 8's landing site. It immediately began karbonite refining operations. The first batch of Münar fuel was used to top off the skycrane's tanks. Now fully fueled, the skycrane undocked from MARC and took off for the propellant depot.

The fuel lander touched down next, landing itself almost on top of MARC.

It was at this point that the very first space mutiny occurred.

CAPCOM (Romal Kerman)

:

Delivery

, telemetry shows that you just performed an unscheduled burn. Is everything alright?

TUG (Jermin Kerman)

: The mission plan has changed, CAPCOM. I'm gonna take the

Discovery

down to

Enterprise Base

and start pumping fuel into the fuel lander.

CAPCOM

: WHAT?!

TUG

: You heard me, Romal. This way, we can fill up the depot before the fuel tanker gets here with the hab modules. Then it will be able to return to Kerbin with a shipment of fuel, and we won't need to send up refueling missions to

Zenith

.

Gene Kerman

: Jermin, if you dock with that depot, I swear to God, you'll never fly again!

TUG

: Relax, Gene. You know I'm right about this. Without the fuel from MARC, we'd have to send up at least two dedicated refueling missions. Unless you want more stranded cosmonauts.

Gene Kerman

: It's too dangerous! The

Discovery

was never designed to be flown by a single kerbal!

TUG

: But sending Nel on a one way trip to the Mün is perfectly safe, right?

Gene Kerman

: *silence*

TUG

: I'm going to do this, Gene, and you can't stop me. So the question is, will you help me land the

Discovery

, or will I have to fly a two person spacecraft by myself?

Gene Kerman

: Let the record show that Cosmonaut Jermin Kerman has ignored direct orders from mission control and will be disciplined upon return to Kerbin. *pause* Now, Romal, get back over here and help him. The rest of you, see if you can find a way to feed range data from MARC into the

Discovery

's computers. If we're going to do this, we might as well do it right.

– Recording of Jermin Kerman's mutiny

Jermin docked the Delivery to the propellant depot, then transferred over into the Discovery. KSA mission controllers had managed to slave the guidance systems of MARC and the fuel lander to the Discovery's flight computers. This would give Jermin detailed range and altitude information, which would be essential for a single kerbal landing.

Jermin undocked from the depot, and began his descent towards the Mün.

"Gene was right when he said that the

Discovery

wasn't meant to be flown by a single kerbal. Normally, I would have had a flight engineer calling out range, altitude, and velocity readings, as well as monitoring structural integrity and fuel levels. But with the extra data from MARC, and with Romal guiding me through the landing, I was able to bring the

Discovery

down within 50 meters of MARC." – Cosmonaut Jermin Kerman, Pilot

Once on the ground, Jermin started hooking up fuel lines between MARC and the landers. The fuel lander would have to make several trips between the surface and the depot in order to fill up the depot's tanks.

With the depot finally refilled and the fuel lander standing by to bring up another load of fuel, Jermin took off in Discovery and returned to the depot, where he transferred back over into the Delivery. The flight back to Zenith Station was uneventful.

[Wabbit]

Mutiny on the discovery!

[GreenWolf]

Mutiny on the discovery!

Indeed. It remains to be seen what disciplinary measures await our rebellious cosmonaut. Even if he was right about the necessity of refilling the propellant depot.

[Sampa]

Very awesome! Wonder what caused the mutiny! Guess that they will have to pause on the base work to investigate...

[GreenWolf]

Very awesome! Wonder what caused the mutiny! Guess that they will have to pause on the base work to investigate...

Well, I can tell you what didn't cause the mutiny:

• Space aliens
  
• Food poisoning
  
• Mind control/hypnosis
  
• Small dogs named Fido
  

As for what might have led to the mutiny, there's a few possible causes:

• Stress
  
• Boredom
  
• Stress and boredom
  
• Feelings of frustration and anger directed towards mission control
  
• The realization that a lot of time and launches could be saved by refilling the propellant depot now instead of later
  
• Small dogs named Spot
  

Don't expect an pause in the base construction, though. Münstay has started to build up momentum, and the next launch is already on the pad. And since the cause of this incident wasn't due to an engineering problem, there's not really a need to stop launching hardware to perform an investigation.

[Scotius]

Interesting development Especially considering that all Kerbals are controlled by a transcendental hive mind - essentially a higher consciousness called "The Player"

Jokes aside, it's a good chapter - i look forward to more misadventures of your space program.

[Sampa]

Well, I can tell you what didn't cause the mutiny:

• Space aliens
  
• Food poisoning
  
• Mind control/hypnosis
  
• Small dogs named Fido
  

As for what might have led to the mutiny, there's a few possible causes:

• Stress
  
• Boredom
  
• Stress and boredom
  
• Feelings of frustration and anger directed towards mission control
  
• The realization that a lot of time and launches could be saved by refilling the propellant depot now instead of later
  
• Small dogs named Spot
  

Don't expect an pause in the base construction, though. Münstay has started to build up momentum, and the next launch is already on the pad. And since the cause of this incident wasn't due to an engineering problem, there's not really a need to stop launching hardware to perform an investigation.

I mostly meant a pause in the manned (or Kerballed) flights for the investigations to go on. the unmanned flights can go on as normal (unless the computers decide to mutiny as well)

[GreenWolf]

I mostly meant a pause in the manned (or Kerballed) flights for the investigations to go on. the unmanned flights can go on as normal (unless the computers decide to mutiny as well)

Somebody's gonna have to fly the fuel tanker out to the Mün with the next set of base modules. (Although maybe not, since one of the modules will have a probe core, and there's a used science module at the depot that could be used to fly the tanker back.) Regardless, the fuel tanker has room for two Kerbals, so they'll be able to watch each other to make sure they behave. And if that fails, Gene has a (mint flavored) carrot to dangle in front of them to get them to fall in line.

As for any possible computer uprisings, Probodyne representatives have assured us that the possibility of a probe core led rebellion is remote.

Edit:

Interesting development Especially considering that all Kerbals are controlled by a transcendental hive mind - essentially a higher consciousness called "The Player"

Shhh. They don't know that.

Jokes aside, it's a good chapter - i look forward to more misadventures of your space program.

High praise indeed. Hopefully future chapters will continue to meet or exceed the same standards of quality.

Double edit: In all seriousness, the "mutiny" was really a spontaneous decision on my part. I had already planned to send refueling mission up to Zenith, and was even thinking of building a dedicated refueling vehicle to replace the upper stage + payload of the Liberty to perform the two to six refueling flights that would be needed before the base started making fuel. But then I decided that since I already had a kerbal and a lander in orbit around the Mün, why not start shipping up fuel now?

Edited March 20, 2015 by GreenWolf

[Scotius]

Back in the day, when Kethane was the only ISRU mod around, i did some rough calculations. Even then dV wise it was cheaper to get your fuel from the Mun and Minmus. Now, when we also have to pay for any rocket we launch (at least those of us playing Career), it makes even more sense to set up fully reuseable refuelling operation on one of the moons.

[GreenWolf]

Yep. The real cost of the refueling missions to Zenith wouldn't be the fuel, but the rockets used to launch it. Even with the mostly reusable Liberty (the boosters and cores all have parachutes so that Stage Recovery can pick them up, and the upper stage is supposed to be able to deorbit and land under parachutes. I think I've only managed to actually recover about 60% of the upper stages.) it would still cost a lot to send up several missions that only had fuel as payload.

[Kieve]

Liking the missions so far! Particularly MARC, which is a way better name than what initially popped into my mind for a robot miner ("Automated Resource Surveyor & Extractor", do the acronym yourself...)

Looking forward to that mint-flavored carrot.

[GreenWolf]

Liking the missions so far! Particularly MARC, which is a way better name than what initially popped into my mind for a robot miner ("Automated Resource Surveyor & Extractor", do the acronym yourself...)

Looking forward to that mint-flavored carrot.

Thanks. I was originally going to try and come up with individual names for each module, along the lines of the Delivery and the Discovery, before deciding that there was just too much stuff for me to continue with the same theme. So the new stuff is going to be named with a mix of clever acronyms, bland Wernher descriptors, and nicknames given by the crew. Just as an example, one of the pieces of hardware set to be delivered soon is the Autonomous Liftoff and Return Module.

[GreenWolf]

Sorry for the lack of updates this past week. I've been swamped with IRL work, and didn't have time to play KSP. I had a huge block of free time yesterday though, and I used it to get the gameplay for Chapter 12 and Chapter 13 done. The next chapter should be up later today or tomorrow.

Chapter 12: Surprises

With Jermin back at Zenith Station after his unplanned detour, it was time for the next module to be sent up.

"Up to that point, the Münar propellant depot had just been a lone

Prosperity

module with the

Discovery

and a few portable modules hanging off of it. It only had two docking ports, which was fine when the only other thing that needed to dock with it was the

Delivery

. But with all the new spacecraft entering service, it was time to expand the depot. The Summit Core Module would provide the newly christened station with four more docking ports, as well as basic crew accommodations and science facilities." – Ambrose Kerman, VAB Engineer

Just like MARC and the fuel lander, the core module would be launched atop a Liberty Super Heavy.

"The drone core controlling the

Liberty

upper stage ran out of power during its docking approach, so we had to go out in the fuel tanker and catch the core module before it drifted away." – Cosmonaut Jebediah Kerman, Pilot

Next up was the Permanent Offworld Habitation Module, or POHM, which would provide living space for the Münbase crew.

"POHM was designed to comfortably house four kerbals for almost a year without resupply, but it could house as many a seven kerbals for half a year without resupply in an emergency. Like MARC, it would be dropped onto the surface by the skycrane. In order to allow the skycrane to grapple POHM without obstructing the view from the observation dome, a detachable docking port was fitted to the top of the module. The tricky part was making sure it didn't detach early." – Ambrose Kerman, VAB Engineer

POHM was also launched on a Liberty Super Heavy.

It was at this point that I installed several more mods, including Distant Object Enhancement, Ambient Light Adjustment, and Texture Replacer (with the Diverse Kerbal Heads pack). This is why you can see Eve on the horizon in the next picture, as well as why night photos look brighter, and why Jermin now has a mustache.

POHM was docked to the rear of the Summit Core Module. The Liberty upper stage that had helped carry it to orbit would remain attached to it, providing it with RCS to allow it to maneuver independently in orbit.

Once POHM was secured, the fuel tanker undocked from Zenith Station. However, before it could depart, mission control has some surprising orders for the cosmonauts.

"They wanted me to dock the

Delivery

to the front of the fuel tanker and fly out to the Mün with Jeb and Lusey. Since Gene has been pretty clear that I was going to be grounded for my stunt with the

Discovery

, we were all pretty surprised by this. Thomplin – who was acting as CAPCOM at the time – said it was because they wanted the extra thrust from the

Delivery

during the TMI burn, and because they wanted another pilot out at the Mün to help with all the docking and undocking that would take place." – Cosmonaut Jermin Kerman, Pilot

With no other spacecraft docked to Zenith Station for the first time in weeks, mission controllers took the opportunity to move the Prosperity module to the station's nadir port.

Then it was time for the fuel tanker and its cargo to head for the Mün.

Once the train of spacecraft was in a parking orbit near the propellant depot, it was time to begin the most convoluted game of musical chairs yet.

With everything in place, it was time to drop POHM onto the surface.

The skycrane managed to land POHM within ten meters of MARC and the fuel tanker, foregoing any need to perform a hop to move the module closer. This was fortunate, as the skycrane was almost completely out of fuel. It would have to remain attached to POHM until the first crew arrived and refueled it.

With Enterprise Base finally ready for its first crew, mission control revealed the real reason they wanted Jermin to fly out to the Mün with Jeb and Lusey.

"

Münshot 9

. The very first Minmus landing. Lusey and I were going to fly the

Delivery

and the

Discovery

out to Minmus and land on it. Jermin would fly the fuel tanker back to

Zenith Station

alone." – Cosmonaut Jebediah Kerman, Pilot

[GreenWolf]

Chapter 13: Far from Home

The three cosmonauts quickly overcame their surprise from the revelation of their new mission, and began preparing for the departure to Minmus.

First, the boxes of spare parts would have to be moved from the back of the science module (which had been cleaned out using the science lab in the Summit Core Module) and attached to the back of the fuel tanker for return to Kerbin.

"We had been warned by the manufacturer that the materials used in the construction of the spare parts cases might eventually degrade after prolonged exposure to vacuum. How this managed to get overlooked while building something designed to be exposed to vacuum, I don't know. But it meant that the boxes would have to be returned to Kerbin and deorbited." – Ambrose Kerman, VAB Engineer

Once that was done, the cosmonauts had to perform a series of complex maneuvers to dock the Discovery onto the rear of the Delivery.

With everything in place, Jermin transferred back over into Summit Station, and Jeb and Lusey undocked from the station.

"I was supposed to wait aboard

Summit Station

until they got back to Kerbin, in case they needed to be rescued. Once they got home, I was to fly the fuel tanker back to

Zenith

with a full load of fuel." – Cosmonaut Jermin Kerman, Pilot

Four days later, the two cosmonauts performed their Minmus transfer burn. They would not see another kerbal again for several weeks.

Once in Minmus' SOI, a burn was made to shift their orbit from retrograde to prograde. Then they performed a burn to capture into an elliptical orbit. One more burn shifted the inclination to an equatorial orbit, and another burn was made to circularize at 50 kilometers. Then it was time to prepare for landing.

"Before we could land, we had to install a thermometer onto the science module, since vacuum-proof thermometers hadn't been invented yet when it was made. Jeb had more experience with performing tasks on EVA, so I let him do it." – Cosmonaut Lusey Kerman, Engineer

With the new instrument installed on the science module, the duo undocked the Discovery from the Delivery and began their descent.

LANDCOM (Jebediah Kerman)

: 10 kilometers up and we're only going a hundred odd meters a second. I bet I could land this thing just with RCS.

LAND-E (Lusey Kerman)

: I'm pretty sure you could land and takeoff with just your jetpack.

LANDCOM

: Life support though. Six hours is a pretty short amount of time to do a landing, takeoff, and rendezvous.

LAND-E

: True. Altimetry says we're over the flats now. Want to kill horizontal speed?

LANDCOM

: Yeah. Pointing retrograde and opening up the throttle.

LAND-E

: Horizontal speed is dropping. Looks like we're gonna come down half a kilometer away from the slopes. H-speed is zero!

LANDCOM

: Cut throttle! How we looking?

LAND-E

: We're good. Now it's just a matter of falling straight down.

LANDCOM

: Sounds difficult. Tell me when we hit 1000 meters.

*Silence*

LAND-E

: 1000 meters!

LANDCOM

: Throttling up. Let's bring her down nice and slowly.

LAND-E

: 900 meters... 800... 700.... 600..... 500...... 400....... 300........ 200... Twenty seconds to landing.

LANDCOM

: Do we have a link to KSC?

LAND-E

: Yes. You know what you're going to say?

LANDCOM

: Of course. And I'm not gonna screw up my lines like Tom did.

LAND-E

: *laughs* He

was

only off by three orders of magnitude. 50 meters.

LANDCOM

: Here we go! 3... 2... 1... Contact! Engines off! *pause* KSC, this is Farpoint Base, reporting the first successful landing on Minmus.

– Recording of

Münshot 9

landing dialogue

"Our progress in our great endeavour continues with this, the first landing on Minmus. But as we continue to move forwards, I'd like to pause and look back towards Kerbin, our home. From so far away it appears no bigger than my thumbnail. It makes me realize how small and fragile our home really is." – Recording of Cosmonaut Jebediah Kerman's "Looking Back" speech

Once the two cosmonauts had gathered as many surface samples as they could carry, they clambered back into the Discovery to prepare for takeoff.

Once they were in a parking orbit near the Delivery, Jeb EVA'ed over to the space tug to perform the docking.

With the docking complete, and the samples secured, the two kerbals bid farewell to the small, icy moon, and began the trip home.

"As luck would have it, our return trajectory brought us right across the orbit of

Zenith Station

. Since we had plenty of full, it was decided to skip aerobraking and attempt to do a direct rendezvous with the station." – Cosmonaut Jebediah Kerman, Pilot

The Delivery/Discovery combination would have to shed over 1000 meters per second of velocity to match orbits with the station. To do this, the engines of the Discovery would be used in addition to the Delivery's own engines, which were running low on fuel.

Jeb managed to bring the ship to a stop half a kilometer away from the station. After that, it was just a standard docking.

[GreenWolf]

Ladies and gentlemen, the end of the beginning is in sight.

What do I mean when I say the end of the beginning? Well, while I will be continuing this story, this particular AAR is nearing its conclusion. The framing for this AAR is a KBS documentary about the early years of KSA. I've decided that the cut off for "early years" is when the KSA starts going interplanetary. So the documentary will end a little bit before then. The story (and the save) will continue in a different AAR, written with a different framing that will allow me some more possibilities in writing the story. Writing within the constraints of a documentary has been an interesting exercise, but it limits some of my story-telling options.

So, what's left before we wrap up this AAR and move onto the next one? Well, there's around four or five launches left before work on Phase 2 of Enterprise Base is completed and the crew moves in. I'd also like to set up a tiny outpost on Minmus, which will probably take another four launches. Since it looks like I can fit about 2 launches + transfer from LKO to Mun/Minmus into each chapter, I'd say that it'll be another 4 chapters before we wrap up that. Add in another few chapters for unexpected things and playing with some unconventional launch methods. As a rough guess, Chapter 20 might be the finale for this AAR.

So then what happens? That's for me to know, and for you to find out. But I have plans. Big plans. Plans so large, they had to upgrade the VAB to fit them.

Chapter 14 should be up by Wednesday.

Edit: Also, wow, almost 4000 views in a little over a month? That's incredible. Thanks for all your support.

Edited March 30, 2015 by GreenWolf

[Sampa]

Wow! A lot has happened since I last checked this!

[GreenWolf]

Wow! A lot has happened since I last checked this!

Oh man, sorry about the lack of updates guys. I actually have Chapter 14 written up (and have had it written up for a while now) but forgot to post it. Then 1.0 hit and broke everything, basically killing this AAR.

I might end up posting Chapter 14 to give this some proper conclusion, but the promised sequel will probably not happen.

What will (probably) happen is a new AAR. It won't be a sequel, since I'll be starting in a new save. It won't be a reboot or a remake, since I'll be telling a different story. But it just might be a spiritual successor.

Sorry to leave you guys hanging like this. Stay on the look out for the conclusion, and keep your eyes open for the successor.

[vestradeus]

This is amazing stuff! Now I am inspired to do something similar (still hammering out the ideas). I've been wondering what to do once I complete a few more personal goals, and get the last one or two items on the tech tree achieved in my Science mode. Now I think I am close to an answer. Thank you!