Time for Interstellar (Mainly Stock)

[DMSP]

Nailed it! With about 50 LFO units left.

http://benart.www.idnet.com/arv1.jpg

Now time to move all the parts to the main vessel.

Great job!

Can't wait for more!

[Technical Ben]

Stripped the parts craft down. Just a skeleton left. I am wondering if it is worth taking it's structure with me, or if it will be dead weight...

However, the Kerbals have something more important to deal with first.

Hudson: All finished with the cargo transfer. Just the two craft to dock over. The general winch and towing tug and the prototype long distance ion shuttle.

Bob: Ok, send over the Shuttle first, it's the most delicate, I don't want anything going wrong with it.

Hudson: Ok, aligning tender craft to dock... wait a second, there is something in the pod... and it's green!

[DMSP]

Oh nice!

Bring the KIS along, unless it is empty boxes.

What is in the capsule?

Jeb?

Snacks?

Jeb? Wait I said that already...

[Technical Ben]

The main crew is Jeb, Bill, Bob and Hudson (2 engineers for emergencies and to allow 2 sets of flights with KIS features and general repairs ready).

So, that ion craft was certainly not planned on having any crew. I wonder what happened...

Hudson: Yep, it's green and wearing a space suit. It's either a Kerbal or KSC has decided to deliver our mint icecream in novelty packages...

Bob: Well, it's frozen, that's for sure... does it smell minty?

Hudson:... after 30 years of cryo-suspension? I don't think you want me to answer that...

Jeb: Just get it out, whatever it is, I want to fly that thing!

Bill: Not yet, I've not tested it...

Hudson: Bringing him over then. Meet you in the mess hall.

Jeb: Uh, see you in which messy hall?

Bob: He has a pilots suit!

Jeb: Wait, what? The name badge says "Lars"... Wake him up!

Bill: Is he still frozen?

Hudson: No, been thawed out for hours, since I towed the ion craft...

Bob: But still asleep? What do we need to wake him?

Jeb: While you figure it out, I'm having some snacks.

Jeb starts opening a few packets of nibbles. The smell wafts around the low gravity of the rotating ship section. As the smell reaches the other pilots nose* he starts to stir.

Lars: Oh, um. Reporting for duty Sir! Tests successful, Sir! Can I have my snacks now?

Jeb: No, they are mine, get your own!

Lars: Wait, your not my manager. Who are you guys? Part of the refuelling crew?

Bob: No, not quite. Who are you and what were you doing on that ion shuttle?

Lars: Oh that thing? I'm the best test pilot in all of Kerbin. So my boss sent me over to test it before it's maiden flight. I'm so good they let me test everything even before it leaves the ground.

Jeb: The best pilot? So why do they only let you test things on the ground?

Pilot: I'm so good I don't need to do the real things, I use simulators, they are even better.

Bill: What simulation were you doing?

Lars: Ion transfer burns mostly.

Bob: You were doing transfer burns manually... with ions engines? How?

Lars: Not real ion engines. Simulated ones of cause.

Bob: But they, um. Take so long!

Lars: I know, they get real boring. I found it really hard to stay awake. Imagine if I'd fallen asleep, that thing is scheduled to go up into space for an interstellar journey in an hours time! Hey, you guys look a lot like the interstellar crew, what's their names? Jef, Billy and the other guys.

All the others together: You fell asleep during a launch?!

Lars: I what?

*Do Kerbals even have noses?

PS, this is a dramatisation of me being too lazy to remove an accidental crew member to the spare parts and extra shuttles (good old VAB adding crew automatically). Why send Lars back when I can just use them in the mission.

- - - Updated - - -

So, I'm hoping to get a gravity assist off of Kunar and right over to Don. Should be around 100 to 200 m/s DV.

Thanks to Squad, I've now got to get both (or is it 3?) planets visited before the release of 1.0! Gah, better put those kerbals back in suspension and timewarp over there pronto!

Edited April 23, 2015 by Technical Ben

[Technical Ben]

So, I managed to hit the burn window!

The idea is to swing off Don to get to Polo.

I may need to improve the structural load bearing ability of the craft though (TL: DR, Wobble!).

I also reconfigured the sections for transport again.

This should allow me to burn the main engine sections if needed, though I doubt I'll need that kind of TWR again, as most burns will be short and gentle.

Lars will just have to come with the crew now. I hope there is space in the ship for him!

[Technical Ben]

Correction burns are all over the place. No idea if it's the mod or floating point/variable accuracy in KSP. (Probably mods)

I think the Kerbals will blame it on the entire craft now being over 40 years old! It's rattling and tumbling through it's mission profile. But it's surviving and holding up relatively well. All those Jool missions gave a good amount of training for this one.

Parting shot of Kaiser and it's moons.

Turns out Don has no atmosphere, so Polo it is first.

Edited April 24, 2015 by Technical Ben

[Technical Ben]

I can't get a capture/rendezvous to show in the gui/conics... which means I'm going in blind!

Bob: I think Polo is so close to the parent star, deep in it's gravity well, that relativity is kicking in. Every prediction I try on the computer makes it crash... and I've run out of napkins.

Jeb: Napkins?

Bob: Trying to do the maths by hand.

Bill: Can't we just ballistically capture?

Jeb: Yeah, we do that all the time, point at the target, and engage engines!

Bob: If you insist... hope we have the fuel for it.

Hudson: Hey, where is Lars, why is he not helping?

(In a capsule somewhere on the ship) Lars: ZZzzzzzzzzZ

Bob: Well, I'll try it in the computer and set the pods to wake us up when we arrive.

2 Years later and a 40g re-entry...

Something may have gone wrong...

[DMSP]

No!

I hope the crew gets out ok!

[Technical Ben]

(Sorry, was watching the stream, and it seems the post I had ready got deleted due to timeout)

It survived. Thankfully it only flipped on the exit from the atmosphere. Polo is STRANGE, and it's like hitting a brick. No resistance then a ton. After about 1 kerbal year of orbiting the star and 3 flybys I got a capture.

Now to do some orbital tests

[DMSP]

Phew!

I can't wait for more!

[Technical Ben]

We cannot see much from orbit as the clouds block our view. It seems it's quite rainy down there. The shuttles are detaching for a correction burn in orbit, then the high atmospheric and hight TWR craft will set off for landing. It should make it as it's got plenty of cutes and 3800 dv for the return.

There is a lot of liquid down there. Our spectrometer is only saying "spaghetti", because Lars had an eating accident, again. Our landing is just on the equator though, where there is no liquid. So it's composition will remain a mystery.

If we were here to sight see, we could go for multiple landings, as this is a SSTO craft. But then we would need a renewable source of fuel... (enjoy 1.0 on release!)

Coming in to land. We expected deep darkness from the clouds, but the sun is in such a close proximity, it shines through.

- - - Updated - - -

Touch down with a crunch. I say crunch, as it seems we landed on some strange stuff. The entire planet is covered in tiny crystals. Hudson took a sample. Lars did too, but it did not survive when he tried to eat it, "Nope, just like Minmus, not icecream" he moaned.

The crystals seem to precipitate from the rain. The rain is like a sugary almost syrup composition. So much salt in it, that it has left crystals behind as it evaporates back up under the heat of the sun. Which brings the second interesting feature, the planet is not yet tidally locked. So it allows a small convection of heat to drive clouds and rains across the planet.

But there is no more time to do science, Hudson must plan to unpack the rover!

Mid assembly, and wheels kept off the ground to prevent explosions (built upsidedown then flipped with kicking and heavy weights ).

The cargo pod is empty, but seems to help with balance.

It has been named "Blue Bug" after the wonderfully blue sunsets seen on the planet.

Now time to return to the transport.

[DMSP]

Will this be continued?

[Technical Ben]

Yep. Just been very busy, not even played 1.0 much apart from making a SpaceX rocket.

Polo is easy to escape from. However, we did decide to dive deep into the stars gravity well to get there. We will need over 5500m/s DV to get to CZF30. But the craft only has around 7.5k left in it's current configuration.

The Kerbals decide that for Kerbal kind, they will press on with the mission. They picked up an ion shuttle earlier, so if needed, at least one of them can return home. CZF30 is the best candidate for a replacement to Kerbin, should Kerbol die. The long burn is planned, and a flyby/gravity assist from Don.

I'll try the burn tonight, will be a long one so will take some time before I get any pictures up.

[DMSP]

Yep. Just been very busy, not even played 1.0 much apart from making a SpaceX rocket.

Polo is easy to escape from. However, we did decide to dive deep into the stars gravity well to get there. We will need over 5500m/s DV to get to CZF30. But the craft only has around 7.5k left in it's current configuration.

The Kerbals decide that for Kerbal kind, they will press on with the mission. They picked up an ion shuttle earlier, so if needed, at least one of them can return home. CZF30 is the best candidate for a replacement to Kerbin, should Kerbol die. The long burn is planned, and a flyby/gravity assist from Don.

I'll try the burn tonight, will be a long one so will take some time before I get any pictures up.

This will be sweet!

Do not go gentle into that good night and stuff...

[Technical Ben]

Well, managed to reconfigure the transport again. I now have 8k DV for an attempted direct transfer or gravity assisted transfer.

I may have been tempted to "boot" it into position at one point.

"No Bob, that will not help things!"

So I dropped a crew cabin, Lars will have to go in the ion craft for hibernation sleep. Left some science pods behind too and a fuel tank that was really just dead weight. Left an engine with it though, so burns will take longer.

This configuration did not work well:

"Now it's backwards, what is Hudson doing?"

But this one worked a lot better:

[DMSP]

Well, managed to reconfigure the transport again. I now have 8k DV for an attempted direct transfer or gravity assisted transfer.

I may have been tempted to "boot" it into position at one point.

http://benart.www.idnet.com/ham.jpg

"No Bob, that will not help things!"

So I dropped a crew cabin, Lars will have to go in the ion craft for hibernation sleep. Left some science pods behind too and a fuel tank that was really just dead weight. Left an engine with it though, so burns will take longer.

This configuration did not work well:

http://benart.www.idnet.com/bkw.jpg

"Now it's backwards, what is Hudson doing?"

But this one worked a lot better:

http://benart.www.idnet.com/drk.jpg

Cool!

Good to see everything is going ok.

I like this mission a lot.

[Technical Ben]

It's a very difficult one now I've put myself in the gravity well of Polo. Lesson learned would be to send a scout craft next time (similar to how I did the moon visits). I even had a drive section that would have let me do it too... :/

So now I have a two and a half hour burn, and I don't even know if we will make it!

First rule of KSP... bring moar boosters!

[DMSP]

It's a very difficult one now I've put myself in the gravity well of Polo. Lesson learned would be to send a scout craft next time (similar to how I did the moon visits). I even had a drive section that would have let me do it too... :/

So now I have a two and a half hour burn, and I don't even know if we will make it!

First rule of KSP... bring moar boosters!

Crap!

You'll pull through!

[Technical Ben]

....Crackle....

"Broadcast active"

....zzzzpppt....

"Emergency Broadcast, Mission Log Update. Sitrep to Kerbin KSC on extreme narrowband transmission."

....BEEP....

"All systems nominal. Collection of the last samples on scheduled. Prepare for in situ transmission. Possibility of sample return zero. We are OUT OF FUEL!"

The Kerbals have one last planet to visit before they transmit the data back to KSC to help protect against Kerbins Solar flares. It looks like it's their last mission!

[Technical Ben]

[Conics and SOI have totally fallen apart, so have had to use hyperedit to get a capture, as when I hit the SOI for CZF30 the game decided to make me orbit Dolas instead. :/ ]

"We made it! Used RCS to stabilize. Now in orbit, we can perform some basic tests"

Bob: Now we are in orbit, we can collect some science in space around CZF30. But how are we to get it back to Kerbin?"

Bill: What do you mean? We have a giant transmitter right here.

Bob: I don't see anything capable of transmitting that kind data here. Our craft is only capable of small short communication bursts. We have Kerbabytes of data to transmit. Has space madness got to you?

Bill: You don't see anything because it's a Totally Hidden Universal Dish. Or a "THUD" for short. Come on Hudson, give me a hand with the levers.

Small motors whirl up and clams lock into place. Camshafts and pulleys extend arms and gantries. The interstellar craft transforms into...

A space station and transmission post.

Bill: We have plenty of RCS to run the coolant system, just give me the data and we will blast it through.

Bob: Wow, the heatshield doubles as a dish? All we need now is the last of the data to send out!

Hudson: Let's get to work building some rovers and probes and see if we cannot save Kerbin with the junk we have left!

Edited May 18, 2015 by Technical Ben

[waterlubber]

This is

Interstellar!

Great story.

[DMSP]

Wahoo!

Keep going!

[Technical Ben]

I think Hudson is getting too comfy with his tools. Made an entire workstation for building probes now!

I wonder how easy it is to build in zero G.

[i have also lost the ability to plan landings in map view. The planet rotation will not update in the map. So landing a rover will have to be done visually in flight, and by hand...]

[Technical Ben]

Bill: "That's never going to work!"

Hudson: "Is so. It's the best design I've ever made."

Bill: "But it's got no fuel yet."

Hudson: "Oh, ah, I'll pump it across quick then."

The Kerbals make a basic orbital scanner and deployable rover:

The probe is moved into position and starts mapping out the planet.

There may be possible landing sites down there. Bob decides to risk it and uses the RCS to fling the rover at the planets atmosphere.

However there seems to be some corruption in the data being transmitted back.

Bob: "I cannot make out the landscape well. Is that sea, or land or a mountain?"

Lars: "What happened to the camera? It's gone all blocky."

Hudson: "I followed the instructions perfectly. Red cable into the blue socket... um..."

Bob: "Must have been a high energy particle to scramble the memory array like that."

Hudson: "Yes, a solar flare, that's what did it. Certainly not anything like a blow torch or laser cutter..."

Bob: "I think I've managed to compensate for it."

The rover starts to slow down in the atmosphere.

Bob: "It's stopped transmitting."

Jeb: "Already? Told you we should have gone down there first."

Bob: "But then how would we know there is a there to go to?"

Jeb: "Never stopped me before, I can go anywhere in a space rocket."

Hudson: "Look, we got one last image, parachute deployed correctly. Did it also run the tests?"

Bob: "If it did, it's not transmitting them back to us. The data is stuck on the planet..."

Jeb: "Stuck? When we have all these rockets here. Pass the space suit, I'm going on an expedition!"

Edited May 23, 2015 by Technical Ben

[DMSP]

Nice photos!

Good to see that they are true explorers!