Forgotten Space Program

[Cydonian Monk]

2 minutes ago, KAL 9000 said:

Any updates, @Cydonian Monk?

I'm finding the ability to autosave while in atmospheric flight very useful. More than halfway done with the tests of the next Aluminium aircraft (having completed 2 of 4 test categories), so I'll post an update once that's complete.

No clue what bug got me, but this is more than just allergies. All the wrong gunk in all the wrong places. (And a mild fever to boot.) Blech. Not a fun way to spend St Padraig's Week. 

[KAL 9000]

Just now, Cydonian Monk said:

I'm finding the ability to autosave while in atmospheric flight very useful. More than halfway done with the tests of the next Aluminium aircraft (having completed 2 of 4 test categories), so I'll post an update once that's complete.

No clue what bug got me, but this is more than just allergies. All the wrong gunk in all the wrong places. (And a mild fever to boot.) Blech. Not a fun way to spend St Padraig's Week. 

Don't you mean "St. Patrick's Day"?

[Cydonian Monk]

Just now, KAL 9000 said:

Don't you mean "St. Patrick's Day"?

Sometimes it spills over into the rest of the week...... And the one after that.  

[max_creative]

Where I live (us west coast) rain rain rain sometimes sunny (like today) rain.

[Geschosskopf]

16 hours ago, Cydonian Monk said:

Sometimes it spills over into the rest of the week...... And the one after that.  

Yeah, it's a welcome break in the midst of Lent

 

 

[Cydonian Monk]

Operation Ice Castle

"Here's an interesting find." The intern responsible for processing the Magnesium satellite drops, collections of images taken from their polar orbits, slid a stack of photographs across his supervisor's desk. "It's a group of facilities near the North Pole. One small outpost at the pole proper and another about twenty kilometers to the South."

"So?" 

"Well, see this truck?" The intern pointed to one of the vehicles near the more southern facility. "It's moved between all these sets of photos. There's somebody up there."

"So?"

"So don't you think we should go check it out?"

"No. This is Kerbin. There are 53 million kerbals here, and there's a city not far to the south of this ice castle of yours. Odds are good the truck moves because whoever is living there has to drive out to do a supply run. We can't inspect every house on the planet just because they go to the grocery store."

"Well what if I told you this base is at the location of one of the contacts Macfred's radio team have been tracking? You know, the ground-based radio transmitters that are still using the antique comm sats?"

--

The Aluminium X-4B was the next aircraft developed for the upcoming Laythe and Jool expedition, a vehicle Wernher hoped would be able to survive entry into the moon's atmosphere and continue on to complete its mission. To achieve this he had arranged the aircraft such that all of its "sensitive" bits were shielded behind the wing-structure and other pieces of the aircraft body. 

Tetris was the only remaining pilot with Thomlock and Glextrix in space and Edsel busy testing the Sulpher-series landers, and so was the only one available for the Aluminium X-4B 8 test mission. She suited up, climbed aboard and was busy working through the pre-flight checklist when one of the interns climbed the ladder and handed her an envelope. An envelope marked "Operation Ice Castle. Open only during range test flight (test 3)."

Four tests had been devised for Tetris and the Al-X4B-8. First: establish the craft's true operating altitude and speed while fully fueled. The craft would climb to the highest altitude possible, then descend towards the surface at no more than a 30 degree AoA to record its max speed.

The second test was to determine if the aircraft could safely refuel from a non-standard source while on the ground. The actual design of the refueling platform for Laythe had yet to be settled on, but the interface was expected to use the KAS hoses. The "refuel target" as such would be little more than a small tank. 

The third test was the longest and most tedious of the Al-X4B-8 flight. After refueling, Tetris would take the aircraft North until reaching either the North Pole or bingo fuel (or just short of it), land to spend the night, and then return to the space center. This would test both the aircraft's operating range and its ability to land on basic, non-graded terrain.

Finally, the fourth test was to determine the operating envelope for the aircraft while nearly empty. This test would be conducted while over the space center after the conclusion of test 3, repeating the steps of test 1.

To start, Tetris fired up the twin engines and lifted casually off the runway. The craft was well balanced, at least when full, though it did have a somewhat high liftoff speed. Care would be needed in choosing a landing site if the craft was to be used on Laythe. Somewhere over the ocean, and close to 3km up she banked around 180 degrees and continued to climb. 

This craft wasn't designed for, nor would it ever reach, high altitude flight. The only true design consideration was to build a craft that could survive atmospheric reentry on an alien moon and still function. Tetris found the ideal altitude ceiling to be around 9.5km, an altitude where the jet could maintain a reasonable cruising speed yet still maneuver. The absolute ceiling was declared to be 11km, which the Al-X4B-8 danced around for some minutes before Tetris once again pulled a 180 and made her way back to the runway. 

While she was out the ground crews had prepared a small semi-mobile fuel tank. As they had yet to learn the secrets of rover wheels, the tank could only sit in the middle of the runway and await Tetris' return. 

Refueling was a simple affair involving hoses and proximity. It also was cause for celebration, as the World's First representative soon appeared with a new plaque: We have started building the first "outpost" on Kerbin. 

Yay?

The Al-X4B was topped off and in short order Tetris was airborne and headed North. Her calculations told her the craft should be able to more than reach the North Pole (if she went easy on the thing), just as the orders read. Orders... orders... What was it about orders? Oh, right! That one intern had handed her an envelope just before takeoff. She pegged the autopilot and slipped it open. 

Quote

 

Operation Ice Castle
Classified Reconnaissance

Proceed to 88.0N by 284.81W (Site A) and observe ground structures from low altitude. Land and determine if structures are inhabited. Maintain radio silence during operation, remain landed at Site A no longer than a few minutes. Once complete, proceed to True North and evaluate additional structures. Report results only to Office of Surface Imaging upon return to Space Center.

 

Simple enough. She pulled up the air chart and discovered the coordinates were on her way to the North Pole, and so continued her true-North heading. It was well outside the range of any ground-based radar installations, and likely completely beyond kerrestrial radio signals. At that latitude her only contact with the space center would be through one of the polar communications satellites. Nobody would know if she din't tell them. 

The flight was mildly interesting, as was the terrain. There were a good many small towns and larger cities below, seemingly frozen as she slipped past at more than half the speed of sound. Occasionally a small mountain range or group of hills. Eventually civilization and the rough terrain thinned out and ice and snow took their place. And then she was near the recon point. 

It was difficult to make out at first, especially since she blasted over the site at 8km. The Aluminium X-4B banked nicely and went into a dive as Tetris pulled to the East, preparing for a lower-altitude survey pass. Sure enough there were two small structures on the surface, each with what appeared to be a truck next to them. Barely more than specks on the vast plains of ice and snow.

And so on the next pass she came down for a landing... and overshot. By the time she had taxied back to the smaller of the two buildings its lone inhabitant had wandered out into the snow to greet her.

Her orders dictated to spend as short a time as possible on the ground, and technically she had now established that, yes, Site A is inhabited. It would be rude of her to just leave now though, so she dropped the ladder and made her way over.

"Hello! Sorry to bother you, it's just I was headed to the North Pole and saw your base here, thought I'd drop in and say hi. I'm Tetris." She waved to the kerbal, slightly old though nowhere near as old as Thomlock Sensei, and completely bald.  He looked her over for a short second and then waved back. His voice was scratchy and little more than a whisper over the sound of the idling jets.

"Welcome. I'm Jonbald Kerman, and this" he waved his arms around at the icy expanse, "is the nothingness of the North. Nothing here but ghosts and our weather stations."

"Weather stations?"

He nodded. "The university down in North Point found them a few years back, just abandoned out here on the ice. The two small hovels here and the lab and hut up at the Pole. Hired me to watch over them, collect some data, the usual stuff." He took a sip out of a koffee mug Tetris hadn't seen before continuing. "Anything I can get you?"

"No, I need to be on my way. I'll watch out for your weather station up at the Pole."

"Please do. Also, be careful. Strange things happen to jets at the poles."

With the pleasantries out of the way and the obvious futility of continuing the conversation she waved goodbye, mounted up, and flew North once more. It was a short trip, just 2 degrees of latitude, and she was over the North Pole in no time. The strange kerbal's stranger warning proved to be unwarranted, and nothing particularly odd happened.

She dropped down to the ice and came in for a landing right at the pole. Hard to fault a kerbal flying all the way North and not wanting to go back without leaving a memento behind. Of course she wasn't the first to visit the Pole, far from it, though only one flag was still standing when she got there. (The plaque on he other flag had only a vague message about temperatures and air pressure.)

She taxied the jet over to the "weather station" and found all the doors either locked or frozen shut. The larger of the two buildings appeared to be powered by blutonium RTGs (much like those they had been harvesting up in space), which she made note of before climbing back in the jet. Far too cold to camp outside for the night, so she made herself as comfortable as possible in the small cockpit.

The next "morning" (night never comes to the poles) she checked the doors of the "weather station" one more time and them jetted her way back South.

Just as expected the Aluminium X-4B had more than enough fuel to fly more than half way around Kerbin, though not quite enough to circumnavigate. Tetris guessed she probably had as much as an extra hour of flight time left when she officially ended Test 3. 

Test 4 was to test the limits while the craft was nearly out of fuel, and she started it while inbound to the space center. The plane was already cruising at 10km, so why waste the energy? Ultimately she made it up to 13320km before the air became too thin for the jet to propel itself any higher. So Tetris called it and started her descent. (Top speed here was around 313m/s.)

The landing was easy, especially as Tetris had long since figured out how to use the thrust reversers to stop much shorter than the plane's simple brakes would allow. Once safely on the ground she taxied over to the SpacePlane hanger and lined up for the mandatory post-flight crew photos.

After that was done she made her way to the Office of Surface Imaging to report her results.

 

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Edited December 4, 2016 by Cydonian Monk

[Geschosskopf]

The X-4B is a spiffy little plane.  I hope it does well on Laythe and am interested in seeing how you get it into space to start with.  Does the docking port on the tailcone perhaps indicate it might be dragged up unwillingly feetfirst?  That's one of my favorite methods .

I'm always in the market for more types of science so was trying to ID the various lumps and bumps around the cockpit.  I see stock instruments, KER's tapedeck, and Hexcans for TAC-LS, but what are the other things?

I'm glad the inhabitant of the weather station turned out to be ostensibly legit.  I was afraid it would be some off-the-grid survivalist with a large arsenal and severe paranoia

[Cydonian Monk]

48 minutes ago, Geschosskopf said:

The X-4B is a spiffy little plane....

I'm always in the market for more types of science so was trying to ID the various lumps and bumps around the cockpit.  I see stock instruments, KER's tapedeck, and Hexcans for TAC-LS, but what are the other things?

Thanks.

The other instruments are the avionics package from Sounding Rockets (to provide a probe core) on the starboard side, the kOS CompoMax just below it, the "Dynamic Albedo of Neutrons" experiment from DMagic along the spine, followed by the stock atmosphere sampler, then followed by the AIES RAD-R mini RTG.

As for the small docking port - that's just so I can shove it to Jool. And to provide a stock refueling method should I decide to strip this plane of mod parts in the future.  

[Angelo Kerman]

Neat plane! And fun story too. I half-expected that the recon mission would find a crashed flying saucer or something...

[Cydonian Monk]

4 hours ago, Angel-125 said:

Neat plane! And fun story too. I half-expected that the recon mission would find a crashed flying saucer or something...

Thanks. 

I wonder if the World's Firsters give anything for "discovering" the crashed ship like they do for finding the abandoned runway....

[Geschosskopf]

3 hours ago, Cydonian Monk said:

I wonder if the World's Firsters give anything for "discovering" the crashed ship like they do for finding the abandoned runway....

Probably, but it will likely just barely cover the fuel burned getting there.  EPIKFAIL World's First doesn't seem too interested in things so close to home.

[Cydonian Monk]

Just a quick update for today. I was hoping to get through the launch of the Aluminium X-4B for its reentry testing, but ran out of time this morning. Hopefully tomorrow. (Being larger it's much more difficult to balance the Center of Lift of the Al-X4B to where it's below the Center of Mass of the combined launch vehicle.... So I'm presently fighting with it in the VAB and in simulation flights.)

Contracting Smallprobes

There were two contracts tying up the space agency's list of seven that everyone wanted to clear up: Launch a satellite for the World's First Society into a nearly Munar orbit, and another to conduct science experiments in High Munar Orbit for DMagic. Once these were completed the agency would then have enough funds to afford the (hopefully final) remodeling of Mission Control, which came with an unlimited number of filing cabinets to track their contracts. (Several smaller contracts had been recently knocked out, mainly parts tests while parked on the launchpad. These types of less significant tests are conducted under the auspices of the "X" project, and are traditionally not reported or even recorded due to their extremely high boredom factor.)

First up was the Beryllium 6. This very tiny satellite was built onto the "Common Contract Core Satellite" and launched atop an LV-02M rocket. Not much more than an antenna and a probe core, it had more than enough delta-vee to reach its contracted orbit. More than enough ∆v to reach Duna. Or Eve. Maybe even Jool.

The launch was still not without issues, as the upper stage did a single flip following Stage-1 Separation before returning to the proper heading. (I really need to work out whatever bug that is or just stop using these LV-02-series rockets... Elsewise this will become the "Former Common Contract Core.")

Hopefully it'll be tagged in the future for being moved into a new orbit (with the associated contract). If not, then it'll become fodder for the Mün, and will likely either become a new crater or be ejected from the Kerbin system.

--

After that came the Boron 5. This interesting little satellite is both a science platform and mapping satellite... though without the heavier-duty telescopes available to the agency as the contract specified a DMagic telescope. (Which is why it's named Boron instead of... well, whatever element a Munar spy satellite would receive.)

Launched atop an LV-05 Cantata, the flight of the Boron 5 was flawless. The craft was not placed into a parking orbit, and instead burned directly into Munar transfer from launch. This placed it into an orbit slightly ahead of the Mün, allowing for a small 60m/s plane-change maneuver once in the Munar SOI. 

The final capture placed it into a 110km, 90 degree orbit, and the interns in the Office of Surface Imaging wasted no time in finding ideal landing spots for future Mün missions. (They were under some pressure to find a landing spot for Macfred and his crew, as the Jool transfer window was now less than 90 days away.)

At first glance the Boron 5 appears to have rather a bit much in terms of energy production. Specifically those giant solar panels. That's largely because over-engineering is sometimes a good thing, and the Boron 5 will also serve as one of the few communications relay satellites in a polar orbit of the Mün. It features two of the more powerful omnidirectional antennas and another set of four small dishes to aid in this purpose. (Someday a proper comms network might be built around Kerbin's largest child.... Someday.)

--

 

With the upgrades for Mission Control complete, the ground crews wasted no time in accepting even more contracts. Even this strange one from some junk yard of some type....

Guess we're just gonna have to land on the Mün.

 

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Edited December 4, 2016 by Cydonian Monk

[Geschosskopf]

7 minutes ago, Cydonian Monk said:

(Being larger it's much more difficult to balance the Center of Lift of the Al-X4B to where it's below the Center of Mass of the combined launch vehicle.... So I'm presently fighting with it in the VAB and in simulation flights.)

Give in the to the Dark Side.  Use a bass-ackwards lifter

7 minutes ago, Cydonian Monk said:

At first glance the Boron 5 appears to have rather a bit much in terms of energy production. Specifically those giant solar panels. That's largely because over-engineering is sometimes a good thing, and the Boron 5 will also serve as one of the few communications relay satellites in a polar orbit of the Mün. It features two of the more powerful omnidirectional antennas and another set of four small dishes to aid in this purpose. (Someday a proper comms network might be built around Kerbin's largest child.... Someday.)

The tyranny of maintaining communications.   I predict this will cause much wailing and gnashing of teeth when it becomes stock at some point.

[Cydonian Monk]

1 minute ago, Geschosskopf said:

The tyranny of maintaining communications.   I predict this will cause much wailing and gnashing of teeth when it becomes stock at some point.

Looking forward to it.  Though without signal delay I'll still need some vestiges of Remote Tech.... Much prefer my weeping and teeth gnashing to not violate the speed of light.

[Geschosskopf]

16 minutes ago, Cydonian Monk said:

Looking forward to it.  Though without signal delay I'll still need some vestiges of Remote Tech.... Much prefer my weeping and teeth gnashing to not violate the speed of light.

Considering that KSP physics routinely violates every conservation law, what's the big deal with the speed of light?  Different universe, different laws of physics.

[KAL 9000]

Note that the fine print on the flag contract reads, "genius astronaut". Does this mean that the Kerbonaut who completes this contract gets their Stupidity value lowered? XD

[Cydonian Monk]

2 hours ago, KAL 9000 said:

Note that the fine print on the flag contract reads, "genius astronaut". Does this mean that the Kerbonaut who completes this contract gets their Stupidity value lowered? XD

If only.... What they do get is an extra experience point. 

[Cydonian Monk]

Reentrant Aluminium

The sole purpose of the Aluminium 9 launch was to prove an Aluminium X-4B could survive violently interfacing with the atmosphere. At Laythe a kerbal pilot would have to ride the bird down to the surface, landing hopefully near the chosen LDAV landing spot, so this pre-mission automated test was required to prove survivability. 

Getting the Al-X4B into orbit in the first place was a tricky proposition. With its large wingspan and lift characteristics, there was no chance of launching the craft mounted atop a rocket. (And no fairing could reach wide enough to cover it.) Also, despite suggestions of the greater community, there was no way the craft would be hauled into space by its tail pipes. That's just not dignified in the slightest. So another asymmetrical lifter was in order. 

Once in orbit control of the craft was surrendered by the automated launch program (as no kerbal was capable of balancing the various engine offsets and thrusts in real time) and transferred to Gletrix. Though she was orbiting the Mün aboard the Memory of Tomorrow, she was the most likely candidate to land the plane at Laythe (her or Thomlock), and as such would get the most benefit from the practice. This would also prove good practice for remote operation of craft from aboard the Memory, a very real prospect. 

They waited until the craft was opposite the space center before performing the reentry burn and disconnecting the trunk. The Al-X4B-9 was dropped into a target periapsis of 40km over the space center, meaning the worst of the reentry would be observable from the ground and bulk of the craft would crash into the ocean if it failed. In a not-so-surprise move, the "orbital trunk" of the Al-X4B-9 then made an orbital insertion burn, so it could be reused later. (Its new designation was Chlorine 3.)

Landing the jet at the space center and parking it next to the Al-X4B-8 was considered an optional outcome for the mission. All they needed to do to prove the craft would survive entry at Laythe was slow down below Mach 1 with all the bits and bobs still attached. To help achieve this Gletrix banked the craft slowly from one side to the other, spreading out the heating. For the most part this worked, with mild overheat warnings from the science instruments along the cabin. 

The reentry was successful, but overshot the space center by nearly a quarter of the planet. Once below 15km, Gletrix was able to reverse heading and put it on autopilot back to the runway. She landed it there by wire from the consoles aboard the Memory of Tomorrow and taxied it onto the tarmac in front of the Space Plane Hanger. 

In the dark. As is only right and proper.

With that out of the way focus returned to the LDAV and the Sulphur-series lander. Once Sulphur 2 had proven the craft on the Mün Sulphur 3 would (hopefully) prove the viability of the Laythe Descent/Ascent Vehicle. 

And then maybe they could start launching the new drive section of the Memory of Tomorrow and the three tugs they'll need to move all the hardware to Laythe (one for the LDAV, one for the Aluminium, and the third for everything else (supplies, science probes, commsats, etc)). Lots of work ahead for these busy little kerbals. 

 

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Edited December 4, 2016 by Cydonian Monk

[RocketSquid]

Hmm. I don't really bother with asymmetrical lifters. I just launch my plane between two boosters.

[Cydonian Monk]

42 minutes ago, RocketSquid said:

Hmm. I don't really bother with asymmetrical lifters. I just launch my plane between two boosters.

I considered it, but decided it was too far out of character for me. 

[Geschosskopf]

2 hours ago, Cydonian Monk said:

Reentrant Aluminium

Also, despite suggestions of the greater community, there was no way the craft would be hauled into space by its tail pipes. That's just not dignified in the slightest.  

Those who love sausage, the law, freedom, and rocket science should never watch any of them being made.  It's usually not pretty or dignified in-process, but it's the results that matter

[max_creative]

Two things:

1. i love this mission report!
2. i found a typo.

"You won't use solar, at least not entirely." The Boss pointed upwards at nothing specific. "There are three Things in orbit that have RTGs attached to them, and good odds there's nore. Some may have decayed beyond use, others might still be salvageable. You'll use those. You also won't need to launch habs for the crew. There are enough extra modules at Kelgee to meet the requirements, enough to build the first ships I have in mind. Most of these ships will be assembled from recycled parts."

you said "nore." I think you mean "more?"

[Cydonian Monk]

It happens. I fix them when/if I find them, generally only give an update a once-over edit, but otherwise don't sweat it. Considering how quickly I write some of these reports (and on mobile at that) I'm amazed they're at all legible. 

[KAL 9000]

@Cydonian Monk, you are truly a master of Kerbal storytelling. Forgotten Space Program is amazing, and your Ad Lunam series was one of the best I've ever read! Speaking of which, what happens to the copies of the Kerbals (the "samples") in the Egg at the end of Ad Lunam?

[Cydonian Monk]

53 minutes ago, KAL 9000 said:

@Cydonian Monk, you are truly a master of Kerbal storytelling. Forgotten Space Program is amazing, and your Ad Lunam series was one of the best I've ever read! Speaking of which, what happens to the copies of the Kerbals (the "samples") in the Egg at the end of Ad Lunam?

Thank you. 

And good question. "The Egg", as it were, is as mysterious to me as it was the kerbals. Existing somewhere beyond science and therefore somewhere beyond science fiction, I never put much detail into it and instead used it as a convienient mechanism. The intent of course was for the Egg to collect samples, solve a problem (akin to the problem solved by Earth in the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy), and then return its result to those that asked the question. What the question was and who asked it, well, as Michael Ende would say, that's another tale meant for another time. 

(I suspect it was somewhat more complex than "How do kerbals get to space?")

Edited March 24, 2016 by Cydonian Monk