Forgotten Space Program

[Commander Zoom]

I would not be at all surprised if the Boss was (a) Jeb.

[cubinator]

19 minutes ago, Commander Zoom said:

I would not be at all surprised if the Boss was (a) Jeb.

Maybe. His personality doesn't quite fit in my mind, but a lot has happened to him since the Olden days.

Edited May 2, 2016 by cubinator
Punctuation.....,,,..!!!!!?!?!?.,,,.?.?.????....?!!!!

[Andem]

*Puts on tinfoil hat*

@Cydonian Monk has a kerbal that he ports into every save!!! That kerbal has been in every version of KSP He's played and imported into the forgotten space program!!!

[cubinator]

1 minute ago, Andem said:

*Puts on tinfoil hat*

@Cydonian Monk has a kerbal that he ports into every save!!! That kerbal has been in every version of KSP He's played and imported into the forgotten space program!!!

So, Jeb, basically. 

[Cydonian Monk]

2 hours ago, Angel-125 said:

Bruce Springsteen goes to the Mun!

Hey, what-dya-know, that poster is already hanging on my wall!

Spoiler

Not really... but the original is, along with the ticket and wristband and etc....:

 

 

[TotallyNotHuman]

Whoa! Congrats, @Cydonian Monk, for the sticky!

[Andem]

25 minutes ago, cubinator said:

So, Jeb, basically. 

I was thinking more of a custom kerbal that had no relation to the orange suits... 

[Cydonian Monk]

You also have to consider the likelihood that The Boss may not be THE Boss.....  

[cubinator]

9 hours ago, Andem said:

I was thinking more of a custom kerbal that had no relation to the orange suits... 

But what kind of KSP newbie would be already hacking persistent.sfs?

 

9 hours ago, Cydonian Monk said:

You also have to consider the likelihood that The Boss may not be THE Boss.....  

The Boss is Illuminati confirmed!

[KAL 9000]

15 hours ago, Cydonian Monk said:

You also have to consider the likelihood that The Boss may not be THE Boss.....  

No, the Boss is actually you! In the dead of night, a device of your own invention zaps you when you're sleeping, downloading your soul and brain into the save file as a Kerbal! And then, when daytime comes, it zaps you back into the real world.

[Cydonian Monk]

9 minutes ago, KAL 9000 said:

No, the Boss is actually you! In the dead of night, a device of your own invention zaps you when you're sleeping, downloading your soul and brain into the save file as a Kerbal! And then, when daytime comes, it zaps you back into the real world.

Perfect description of my insomnia. 

[RocketSquid]

Well, hole-y moho. The Potassium puts my duna interplanetary to shame!

[Cydonian Monk]

5 minutes ago, RocketSquid said:

Well, hole-y moho. The Potassium puts my duna interplanetary to shame!

It's a big one, that's for sure. Duna is also a fair bit closer than Jool.

I haven't run the payload numbers on it yet (in terms of mass to/from specific planets), but independently it has close to 10,000m/s of Δv. Will obviously need a refuel before a return flight from Jool. With the Jool payload attached it'll produce a TWR of around 0.18 and something like 5,400m/s of the old delta in the vee.

Also a tried-and-tested design, in a format I've been using for at least two years. Not entirely different from the drive of the Kraken's Harvest, as seen below. Though obviously I'm now using liquid-only tanks instead of the 3.75m kerolox tanks.

Form follows function. (That function being shielding the payload from any long-term radiation exposure that's not actually modeled.)

[RocketSquid]

14 hours ago, Cydonian Monk said:

It's a big one, that's for sure. Duna is also a fair bit closer than Jool.

Form follows function. (That function being shielding the payload from any long-term radiation exposure that's not actually modeled.)

Well, I also intend to take the Duna Interplanetary to Eve, but still a good bit closer. And I also took radiation into consideration, but I used distance and fuel instead of proper shielding.

[Geschosskopf]

OK, finally caught up.  First off, congrats on the sticky!  Second, so The Boss has experience of Space Madness it seems?  Velly intellesting.  Still, why doesn't anybody else remember all that recent history?

[Cydonian Monk]

6 minutes ago, Geschosskopf said:

First off, congrats on the sticky!  ....  Still, why doesn't anybody else remember all that recent history?

Thanks! Not sure I'd call The Boss's issues Space Madness, but we'll see.

And as always, answers in time, time in riddles.

 

(Time right now being in tenths or sixteenths, as I just launched the 500-part science satellite payload for Jool.... Yikes. Docking the ~411 parts that are left over to the Aluminium and the Potassium may result in some strange compounds and time shrinkage. Might even collapse into its own micro black-hole....)

[KAL 9000]

Actually, the Interstellar docking music from a couple of pages ago should be played when a stranded Kerbal from a previous save hijacks the LDAV and attempts to dock, but fails to dock and blows up half the Jool ship .

[cubinator]

2 hours ago, KAL 9000 said:

Actually, the Interstellar docking music from a couple of pages ago should be played when a stranded Kerbal from a previous save hijacks the LDAV and attempts to dock, but fails to dock and blows up half the Jool ship .

Actually, that would be Imperfect Lock, not No Time For Caution. 

[KAL 9000]

2 hours ago, cubinator said:

Actually, that would be Imperfect Lock, not No Time For Caution. 

I was talking about Imperfect Lock.

[cubinator]

2 hours ago, KAL 9000 said:

I was talking about Imperfect Lock.

Ok, sorry for the misunderstanding.  I've been stressed too much to think lately.

[KAL 9000]

3 hours ago, cubinator said:

Ok, sorry for the misunderstanding.  I've been stressed too much to think lately.

Oh, sorry for your stress. 

[cubinator]

2 minutes ago, KAL 9000 said:

Oh, sorry for your stress. 

It's ok. I had a bunch of homework due tomorrow, but I got it all done. Now I can focus on the big reading project due later this month! 

[Cydonian Monk]

Anticipation Building

Next up on the docket were the Aluminium X-4B 10 ALEC, the Jool mapping and science probe pack, and the second of three Potassium tugs. The ALEC, or Aluminium Laythe Exploration Craft, was launched in a manner similar to the Aluminium X-4B reentry test article - asymmetrical with the help of several boosters.

As with the previous Aluminium orbital launch, the ALEC includes a "trunk" which will serve not only as the orbital and de-orbit stage of the ALEC, but will reenter Laythe orbit after placing the ALEC on its suborbital trajectory and stay behind as a small tug. As the ALEC climbed towards its 80km parking orbit, the trunk increasingly did most of the work.

--

Next up came the most expensive set of items for the mission - Silicon 7 - the science and mapping probes for the Joolian moons. Two long-range communication satellites and six mapsats outfitted with all the latest science gizmos were rigged into the Silicon 7's superstructure. This expensive mess was launched atop another LV-07 Crescendo.

The six science and mapping satellites would split off and become Calcium 1-6 once the ship arrives. Calciums 1 and 2 will enter a polar orbit of Laythe while the rest would do the same for the other moons of Jool. Meanwhile the to communications satellites, Scandium 1 and Scandium 2, will enter a polar yet high-eccentricity orbit of Jool. These two satellites feature a single dish for linking up with the greater Kerbol Communications Network, or more specifically the Argon satellites. 

If you're wondering how the agency was able to afford such an expensive mess of science implements and RTGs, you'll be happy to know The Boss had committed to a number of large projects. Such as constructing a base on Minmus. Or expanding Pequoni 1 around the Mün. Or other, somewhat longer term missions, such as planting flags on Eve. And there were the odd "test part at the Launchpad" missions to grind-out some funds. 

Once in orbit the Silicon 7 had to rendezvous with the ALEC. Ground crews would then remotely dock the two craft together. This was a delicate procedure as the external tank of the ALEC was still attached (no reason to waste fuel), and one of the payload tie-down arms of the Silicon 7 would nearly intersect the tank. In the end the crews managed to dance the two large bits of equipment together. Safely.

Any fuel that was left over from the Silicon 7's orbital stage was transferred to the ALEC's external tank and the Si-7's orbital stage was jettisoned. (Yay. Space debris.)

--

With the two key pieces of the stack assembled it was now time to launch the Potassium 2. The K-2 cleaned up a few details of the tug's design that were less than perfect on the K-1, nothing major and hardly anything noteworthy. Lofted into orbit atop yet another custom launch vehicle, the orbital stage of the K-2 was also to stay behind in orbit and live a new life as a small yet powerful space tug.

Actually docking the K-2 to the Si-7 and the ALEC was rather a bit daunting and slow. At this point both sections of the K-2 Jool payload stack were in the very-many-tonnes mass range, so any movement from either took quite a bit of time. And a few orbits to get all lined up and docked. Sunrise. Sunset. Sunrise. Sunset. Swiftly flow the days.

In time the docking was completed. And safely. And in the light of the Sun. Once all the pieces were confirmed as being one, and once everyone was content the K-2 stack had not collapsed in upon itself to form a black hole, the remaining fuel from the ALEC's external tank was transferred to the K-2's tug. Both were then discarded, the former tank becoming debris while the K-2's orbital stage was redesignated as the Chlorine 5. 

The Chlorine 5 then moved into a higher orbit, so as to [reduce the part count in the vicinity of the K-2] make it less likely that any parts of the K-2 stack would collide with it.

--

And with that, two thirds of the heavy payloads bound for Jool were ready. The third, mostly a collection of tanks and extra fuel, would be launched next. After completing a few more grindy equipment tests and making some more crazy promises, that is.

Yay.

 

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Edited December 4, 2016 by Cydonian Monk

[cubinator]

I'll be interested to see how that "plant a flag on Eve" contract pans out in the future. A one-way trip would be greatly frowned upon...

[Cydonian Monk]

1 minute ago, cubinator said:

I'll be interested to see how that "plant a flag on Eve" contract pans out in the future. A one-way trip would be greatly frowned upon...

Easier to get a single kerbal back form Eve now than it was the last/first time I did it. And as of 1.1.x we've got that big inflatable heatshield, which makes landing on Eve a bit easier. We'll see. I doubt I'll get to that contract any time soon.