Forgotten Space Program

[Cydonian Monk]

Just now, cubinator said:

That's what I thought. Will we get to see what they're up to at Jool in the next episode?

That's the plan. 

[Cydonian Monk]

Still working on the update. Had a nicely busy American Brexit Celebration Day on Monday (yay!) which left no time for KSP (boo!). Still, friends, bratwürste, and imported beverages trump little green men.  

The first Jool capture (K-1) required a ~10 minute burn, which took about 15 minutes real-time. Got that done on Saturday, as evidenced by the screenshot. So I figured it'd be a short task to get the K-2 into the old green wading pool, no? The second Jool capture (K-2) required a 7 minute burn and took 40 minutes real-time. No. So 650-part ships are still a small problem.

And then I started having control issues, which we'll go into later....

 

On June 29, 2016 at 7:22 PM, TotallyNotHuman_ said:

Is there any chance you could post a stock version of the Titanium shuttle to KerbalX?

I'll have something for you in ten hours or so. Almost uploaded it last night, but didn't have the description ready. And boy does it need one.

This is a tough bird to fly in 100% stock, as it has a slightly-low TWR at liftoff (I design for ~1.1, but this hits something like 1.2) and likes to wobble. That's something kOS handles well, but can be awkward when flown by hand. If you let it wobble too much at liftoff, you'll lose control and die. If you don't angle downrange slightly immediately at liftoff, you'll flip to the West and die. If you angle too much downrange you'll have too shallow of an ascent, causing the nose tank to burn up, and you'll die. Once it's above 200m/s it flies like a champ.

Reentry is still tricky. If you don't keep a 30° up AoA on reentry, alternating between 70° and 110° heading, you'll burn up the cockpit and die. If you don't level off once the craft is under 1,400m/s, there's a chance you'll enter a flat spin and die. If you don't keep a 30° down AoA during the final glide slope, you'll stall and die. That's of course why I added the jets, which will let you "fly" a bit, but they still don't add much in the way of flight range, just lengthen the glide. 

Took me a while to find a landing gear configuration I was happy with, but I settled on medium/level-2 gear for the rear and the small/level-1 gear for the nose. Provided most of the landing force is on the rear set you won't have an issue. If you land on the nose gear, you'll destroy the gear and the cockpit and die.

The good news is the craft will generally survive a water landing. And it floats, so at least you won't drown. Might lose a wing or two. 

If after landing from reentry you immediately exit the vehicle, the heat from the nose cockpit will transfer to your EVA suit and you'll die. 

Edited July 6, 2016 by Cydonian Monk
The mobile editor hates us.

[Madrias]

Sounds like the Titanium needs to be given an unsavory nickname like "widowmaker" "Grim Reaper" or "Death From Above" given how many things can go wrong and cause instant death.

Still, those are the most fun crafts to fly, so I don't blame you.

[Cydonian Monk]

Just now, Madrias said:

Sounds like the Titanium needs to be given an unsavory nickname like "widowmaker" "Grim Reaper" or "Death From Above" given how many things can go wrong and cause instant death.

It's by far one of the safest spaceplanes I've ever flown. Of course better than 95% of my 117+ dead kerbals lost their lives in the pursuit of SSTOs, so that's not saying much....

So far none have died in the Titanium except Jeb and Bill when Jeb flew front-wheel first into a hillside, and when Jeb reentrred at a low angle, and when the craft disintegrated during ascent, but they got better. 

[TotallyNotHuman]

8 hours ago, Cydonian Monk said:

[snippy]

Wow.  I, uh, think I'll stay with expendable crew transports for now. Judging by the number of times you used the word "die" in your post, I don't think my limited piloting prowess will be up to the challenge.

I mean, if you had to write a kOS script to make it fly straight, I don't think MechJeb will be much help either. Or... I'm confused. Did you fly that ascent by hand?

Edited July 7, 2016 by TotallyNotHuman_

[Cydonian Monk]

1 hour ago, TotallyNotHuman_ said:

Wow.  I, uh, think I'll stay with expendable crew transports for now. Judging by the number of times you used the word "die" in your post, I don't think my limited piloting prowess will be up to the challenge.

I mean, if you had to write a kOS script to make it fly straight, I don't think MechJeb will be much help either. Or... I'm confused. Did you fly that ascent by hand?

Oh, you'll be fine. I've flown the ascent by hand a dozen times or more, and just use kOS because sometimes framerates get painful.  

Try it for yourself and see: https://kerbalx.com/CydonianMonk/Titanium 

[TotallyNotHuman]

I'll be sure to try it out (once I have the time). Once thing that's been bugging me: how does the nose tank attach to the orbiter? IIRC, the Mk2 cockpit doesn't have a forward attach node...

[Cydonian Monk]

Just now, TotallyNotHuman_ said:

One thing that's been bugging me: how does the nose tank attach to the orbiter? IIRC, the Mk2 cockpit doesn't have a forward attach node...

Magic. 

I have a small cubic strut surface-attached to the nose. I then attach the tank using a tiny decoupler, and use the offset tool to get them lined up so that the cubic strut is centered, straight, not visible, and the decoupler is outside of the collision mesh of the nose. 

[Geschosskopf]

10 hours ago, Cydonian Monk said:

The first Jool capture (K-1) required a ~10 minute burn, which took about 15 minutes real-time. Got that done on Saturday, as evidenced by the screenshot. So I figured it'd be a short task to get the K-2 into the old green wading pool, no? The second Jool capture (K-2) required a 7 minute burn and took 40 minutes real-time. No. So 650-part ships are still a small problem.

You must be quite drunk by now. When faced with such burns, I tend to pour another drink.  And another if the 1st doesn't out-last the burn.

I hope the plan is to drop the part count after these burns

 

10 hours ago, Cydonian Monk said:

you'll die

Use at own risk.  Not responsible for property damage, death, disfigurement, or lesser injury.  No warranties expressed or implied.  This product intended for entertainment purposes only.  Not to be used for actual space missions.  Use only under adult supervision.  Do not hold in hand.  Light fuse and run away.

 

7 hours ago, Cydonian Monk said:

Of course better than 95% of my 117+ dead kerbals lost their lives in the pursuit of SSTOs

I quit keeping count long ago because having a number just tempted me to add to it.  But yeah, the other name for Boosterbottom Gulf is Graveyard of the SSTOs.

[TotallyNotHuman]

52 minutes ago, Cydonian Monk said:

Magic. 

I have a small cubic strut surface-attached to the nose. I then attach the tank using a tiny decoupler, and use the offset tool to get them lined up so that the cubic strut is centered, straight, not visible, and the decoupler is outside of the collision mesh of the nose. 

Ah, magical clipping I gave up on clipping a long time ago because it'd just get FUBAR (e.g. clipping a CubeSat into a structural fuselage).

Edited July 7, 2016 by TotallyNotHuman_

[Cydonian Monk]

9 minutes ago, Geschosskopf said:

You must be quite drunk by now......

Well, I just added more mods than I care to admit, such as all of Near Future and a bunch of glam mods like Engine Lighting. Most are listed in the OP, some I'm just evaluating for the RSS/RO install I may or may not be setting up, some may or may not make an appearance. So... maybe? (Nah, it's a work day.)

[cubinator]

Just now, Cydonian Monk said:

RSS/RO install

Surely that's not for this story, right? You'll make a different thread for it?

[Cydonian Monk]

Just now, cubinator said:

Surely that's not for this story, right? You'll make a different thread for it?

No, thankfully. This save would probably retroactively poison everything that's every been done for RSS/RO. I already have an RSS/RO thread that's been laying dormant for some time that I'll likely just hijack:

 

[cubinator]

27 minutes ago, Cydonian Monk said:

*snippy*

Ok, good. That would just make it way too weird and complicated.

[Cydonian Monk]

It gets very, very dark out here....

Expect an update either later tonight or very early tomorrow morning! (And then we'll [probably] be back to our [not-so regular] regular 2-3 per week.)

[cubinator]

1 hour ago, Cydonian Monk said:

 

 

That's a lot of stuff orbiting Laythe...  

[Cydonian Monk]

Just now, cubinator said:

That's a lot of stuff orbiting Laythe...  

Two mapsats/probes in polar orbit, two Potassiums in a not so polar orbit. Only 4 things..... And only things sent on this mission.  

[cubinator]

2 minutes ago, Cydonian Monk said:

only things sent on this mission.  

Well, that's a big mission then!  

[Cydonian Monk]

Begin Kerbal Space Program Version 1.1.3
 

--
99 Years, 343 Days, 2 Hours

Silence. Nothing but the endless black and the silence of the universe. Ninety-nine years, most of it spent out in the black. Most of it in silence. An occasional bump as something small smacked into the craft at speeds none liked to talk about. Small rocks. Ice crystals. Bolts. Debris. Usually not enough to wake a sleeping kerbal. Usually. Cold. So cold in the freezer. Cold and silent. 

Silence. Nothing but ghosts and whispers. Dying stars, spewing their hydrogen and helium and heavier elements into the void. Into the black. Radio waves, telling distant ears tall tales of their existence. I existed. I was mighty and luminous. Now I whisper. An occasional chirp or scream or wow as some event intruded on the solemnity of the void. Death throes of distant suns. Then silence. 

Yet not silence. Hey. A tug on the arm. Had something hit the ship again? The stars beyond the capsule's tiny windows were spinning, and something was pulling on his arm. A pressure leak? Hey. Wake up. Hey. Thomlock. Was the ship talking to him now? Or was it the universe? A glob of water slashed into his face. Water. How did it get through his helmet? Another splash and he was awake.

"Wake up!"

Thomlock awoke and the dream faded, the memory of his Hawk 3-2 returned to its cage. Jumble of Parts. Right? That's where he was. Gletrix was tugging on his arm and squirting a water bottle at his face, trying to draw him from his slumber. Cold. The ship felt cold. He shivered at the crisp air. Deep space was cold, colder than space near Kerbin. He should know, with 99 years of flight time. Cold. Silent. Endless. Awake. He shook his head to break free of the cobwebs and smiled back at Gletrix. 

"Kids. Everywhere. Can't even escape them and their crazy pranks at the edge of the Solar System. What's up?"

"Oh, not much. We're about to slip down into Jool's SOI is all. First time ever and whatnot. Momentous, ceremonious, blah, blah, get up, you old geezer."

"Ah." Of course. First time kerbals had been in a gravity well that was predominately Jool's... at least that anybody remembered. Unlikely they were actually the first, though hopefully they wouldn't find any murderous space-crazed compatriots this far out. Still, it would be interesting to watch the navball flip. Always a strange sight that.

Macfred had his headset on, strapped into the seat opposite Thomlock, no doubt still scanning through the cosmic song. They would broadcast the event to unhearing ears and unseeing eyes, as they had everything since they lost contact so many years before. It was a ritual, almost a religion now. Somewhere out in the void something was listening, and they needed to talk to it lest the Great Powers take notice. And Macfred was their priest supreme, or perhaps the only one aboard. Thomlock tossed a clipboard at him to get his attention. 

"Any news?"

"Nothing," the usual reply. "Ghosts and whispers. I caught a trace of the Potassium 2 a few hours ago, but it's well beyond the range of our ship-to-ship systems. 500 Megameters to its 1.2 Gigameters. Could use the ultra-high-gain, but I'd rather keep that aimed at Kerbin."

"No worries, kid. We'll pick it up again, assuming our capture goes off without a hitch." Big assumption there. "K-2 has its orders for the burn, so even at worst-case it'll arrive at Jool. I think." He unlatched his seat harness and drifted to the cabin's console where the navball was due to reorient itself. "Now, how about we watch this silly thing flip flop." A glance around showed Agake absent as usual. "What's the whiz-kid up to?"

"Some gravioli experiment."

A kick of the bulkhead and he was drifting towards the science lab hatch. It was open, as most of the ship had been these last three years. Safety protocols only go so far before they become unmaintainable, and now they typically only sealed the bulkheads when everyone was asleep or they were doing something stupid. (And it seemed they were often doing something stupid.)

Sure enough, Agake had her eyes glued to the lab's microscope, one hand on the knob, another taking notes. "C'mon kiddo, get up here and watch the navball do its thing."

"You know I have my own, right?" Didn't even so much as look up to respond.

"Yeah? So?"

"So, I need to watch it to record the gravioli readings as we pass from Kerbol-dominance to Jool-dominance. The waves and particles...."

"Yeah yeah, ok." And back to the main cabin. The three of them would watch while the scientist did her science things.

The anticipation was palpable (it's not like much had happened since their course correction burn more than two years before), and Gletrix jumped when the navball started to move. "There it goes!" Sure enough, it flipped from one orange-blue side to another, now telling them Jool was somewhere below, towards the Sun. Where it had been for a year, of course, but now was close enough to be their gravity lord. Gletrix darted over to the window, scanning the ocean of stars. "Can anyone see it?"

"There!" Macfred pointed into the slightly brighter parts of the black. "Just a tiny splash of green and a faint sliver at that. We're outside its orbit slightly, dropping down to meet up." The cameras came out and soon the two of them were taking pictures of a tiny hint of green clouds and its five tiny dots of moons. 

"And still 36 days from periapsis. Long way off. Save your film." Show over, Thomlock strapped back into his seat, and quickly drifted back into his dream of sleeping in a tin can at the edge of the universe.

And somewhere, somehow, a member of the World's First Society witnessed the ship entering into Jool's orbit. Those guys appear to be as permanent and inescapable as bankers and taxkerbs.

--

99 Years, 376 Days, 5 Hours

Agake had the distinct pleasure of being the first kerbal to perform an EVA while in the Joolian System. At first she was a bit apprehensive, needing to go outside to recover results of the various science experiments. Her mood improved once Thomlock reminded her it was no less safe than any other EVA she'd performed over the years and that she'd have the honor of being numero uno to go jetpacking around the jolly green giant.

The view was growing ever more impressive, even if the science results were a bit lacking in their flavour [text].

It turned out to be quite a bit of work, jetting around to every experiment that was strapped to the ship and extracting its juicy science. In the end she spent nearly two hours outside, though she later admitted most of the time was lost in stargazing and Jooldreaming.

--

99 Years, 379 Days, 3 Hours

"These eight horses of ours are mighty cold. Be amazing if they all work." Thomlock and Gletrix turned their keys to unlock the NERVA safeties simultaneously, as the checklist instructed. To save fuel during the long trip the reactors were scrubbed and the fuel rods locked in retracted positions, returning the fissile elements to their normal, non-critical, natural rates of decay. Now more than two years after their last use, the eight reactors would be coaxed back to life. Hopefully they still had some radioactive gusto left in them.

"Looks good from here. All eight unlocked." The safety protocol for bringing the tug's reactors back online was purely for show. The cores controlling the tugs could independently activate and deactivate the engines as needed, as could kerbals in mission control (if such a place still existed). Yet some genius kerbal in the agency had decided crewed ships should have a two-kerb rule and dual key locks to protect the reactors. The conversation had been short: "Something something accidentally bumping the controls, something something boom. Not open to discussion." So they let it drop and focused on more important things.

Yet that was three years ago, and Thomlock couldn't help but think it was still a dub rule. He worked through the procedure to bring the engines online in sets of two, spooling up those opposite each other simultaneously. All eight showed green with good reactions, so he gave them a very short test burn. Just a tap.

"Ow!" from Gletrix as she went tumbling backwards into the main cabin. Other exclamations echoed into the cockpit as the others also bumped into some unexpected bulkhead. Oops, maybe should've warned the crew first before giving them their first taste of acceleration in two years. He pulled up the intercom system and addressed his captive audience. 

"Good evening kids, this is your astrogator speaking. The main engines appear to be working, so in a few minutes we'll begin our nine-minute thiry-one-second burn to place us into orbit of Jool. An intercept with Laythe will occur in the following orbit, after which we will conduct another, shorter burn to lock us into our watery graves. At this time we request that you please return your tray tables and chairs to the upright positions, secure any loose belongings, and we thank you for flying Jumble of Parts Air, er, Space."

Now that they were in the inner Joolian System views of the three major moons were commonplace, and the crew had all spent their fair amount of time taking random pictures. As it so happened, all three were visible leading into the capture burn. Laythe had been the most interesting of the three majors, and it was now looming quite large in the Jumble of Part's forward cockpit canopy. Soon enough they would be able to reach out and touch it, but not just yet. 

A flare near the innermost moon caught Thomlock's eye, something moving that was clearly in orbit. It was a tiny speck, and he lost it as he looked away. He moved to take a video of the moon, hoping it would jump out at them again later, but just as he reached for the camera the main engines kicked in and his thought process was interrupted. 

And there they were. The acceleration felt nice after so long in the nothingness and microgravity. The sensors told him the engines were producing a thrust-to-weight ratio of 6.4, which must surely have been in relation to Jool as it only felt like half a G to him. He grabbed a notebook and let it "drop" into the lower compartment as an experiment, listening as it bounced off the narrow walls and of the connecting hatchway. He thought about squirting water bubbles out of his water bottle to watch them splash past, but decided it was best to not mix fluids with the irreplaceable equipment he was riding with.

A short nine and a half minutes later they were Jool's newest tiny satellite. He pulled up the map to see the hadn't quite reached a proper rendezvous with Laythe... a bit of a correction would be needed. He calculated the adjustment and dialed it into the flight computer, relaxing as the ship turned itself and performed the burn.

And then they were set - Laythe capture in 3 days, 1.5 hours. More than long enough for another nap. 

--

99 Years, 382 Days, 3 Hours

"Would you look at that!" Gletrix and Macfred were both obsessed with the view of Laythe and Jool as they approached, and Thomlock could understand why. Quite the sight. They had been able to observe Laythe in some detail for the last three days, trailing just behind them in Jool's orbit, and then just ahead as they fell in towards it. 

The buzzer announcing the upcoming maneuver node went off, so Thomlock unlatched and pushed his way upwards into the cockpit, offering up an observation as he went. "Rather a bit too blue, if you ask me. And with all that water and all those storms it's probably not the safest rock in the universe."

Gletrix retorted quickly. "Safer than Moho, I'd think. Not as hot, and easier to get to. Far safer then Eve."

They were coming at Laythe in such a way as to be placed into a 10 degree inclined orbit, as was their intent. Being a full 10 degrees off equatorial opened up a number of different landing sites to chose from, and would let them land anywhere up to a full 30 degrees from the Equator. They'd wait to choose a final landing spot until the two mapsats being delivered by the Potassium 2 had finished their surveys, of course, but that was no reason they couldn't start lobbying now. He already had a couple of ideas.

In a bit of a surprise move, Agake jumped out of the airlock just twenty minutes short of the capture burn to collect another round of experiment results. Thomlock thought of giving her an earful once she was back aboard, but decided it was best to just let her do her science thing as long as she did it quick enough to not be left behind. He was quite relieved when he heard she had stashed the experiment data in the lab before taking her place in the Jumble of Part's main cabin for the duration for the capture burn. All aboard, and all accounted for.

    

The view approaching the capture burn was impressive. First Jool slipped behind the limb of Laythe, then the Sun itself started to dip towards the moon's atmosphere. And then the eight big nukes sprang to life as the flight computer pushed them into their desired eccentric parking orbit around Laythe, red trail of excited fuel venting into the void ahead of them.

The Sun was but a tiny speck, distant enough that Thomlock could stare without it burning into the backs of his eyes. Remarkably he could make out three of the four inner planets (Moho apparently behind the Sun), and another speck he guessed must have been Dres. So very tiny, all four of them. So very far away. They themselves were little more than a splinter against the might of Jool and its moons.

Forty-eight seconds later and they were in the embrace of Laythe. A quick check of the engineering console and the map view assured Thomlock sure they were in a safe orbit, which he then announced to the crew. "Welcome to Laythe, population 4 plus kraken knows what. We've arrived into a 150km by 1,500km orbit, at a lovely 9.8 degree inclination." They would leave the orbit as it was until the Potassium 2 arrived, just in case their second ship entered into a peculiar orbit or didn't have enough ∆v to properly rendezvous. 

Just then Jool slipped out from behind Laythe, the moon's noxious atmosphere casting a red pall over its parent. A strange sight, to be trapped in the shadow of a small and watery moon, its absolute blackness obscuring the Sun, the stars, the mighty green giant itself. From here none of the storms of the moon were visible, just the occasional faint flash of lightening in the clouds. The belching volcanoes, the hazy yellow gasses, the angry oceans, all invisible in the empty black.

So dark. So close. So silent.

Silence. Nothing but the encroaching black and the silence of the universe. Ninety-nine years almost spent, most of it in silence.

 

Navigation: Next Post

Edited December 4, 2016 by Cydonian Monk

[DMSP]

Wow. What a chapter.

And they are finally there. Congrats! You made it!

[cubinator]

I hope Thomlock doesn't go crazy...at least he probably knows how to dock, right?

[kunok]

A good read for a day of hangover

[spacebrick3]

Is every version a year in this mission report? I mean, this was a three-year journey, and this is 3 versions away from 1.1. 

Edited July 10, 2016 by spacebrick3

[Cydonian Monk]

1 hour ago, spacebrick3 said:

Is every version a year in this mission report? I mean, this was a three-year journey, and this is 3 versions away from 1.1. 

Nothing as clear-cut as that. Just a random length of time. 

[Cydonian Monk]

6 hours ago, DMSP said:

And they are finally there. Congrats! You made it!

Yay! It's been more than a year since I sent anything to Jool, and at least two years since I sent anything resembling a science expedition.

3 hours ago, cubinator said:

I hope Thomlock doesn't go crazy...at least he probably knows how to dock, right?

Three of the four kerbsls on the mission should be able to dock: Thomlock and Gletrix because they're pilots (well, Thomlock is still a "Kerbal" class, so technically he can do [almost] anything), and Macfred could likely write a quick docking script for kOS if pressed. 

No space madness yet, just extreme old age.