Newspaper Clippings of Project Zeus

[Barefoot Friar]

Dear Billy-Bob,

Here are the first few newspaper clippings you requested regarding Project Zeus.  KSC is trying to put a Kerbal on each of Jools moons in one go.  How amazing!  Anyway, I put the clippings in the right order, but they aren't all here yet -- the mission is still going on, after all.  I'll send more of them when I find them.  I also found a stack of photos, so I've included them.  Be sure to look at the descriptions that I wrote on each one.

First, the latest stories.

Project Zeus Begins Exploration of Jool System
By Jebbles Kerman

Y1 D241
KERBIN SPACE CENTER (KerbinPress) -- Kerbin's space exploration initiative began a new era of discovery today with the launch of Project Zeus, which promises to land a Kerbal on each of the five moons of Jool.  Dr. Wehrner von Kerman, Chief Engineer and Program Director of the Kerbin Space Center, spoke at the gala dinner on the floor of the Vehicle Assembly Building at the KSC.

"Going to Jool is not very hard," said Kerman, "and landing on Pol, Bop, or even Vall isn't difficult, either.  What is hard is landing on all five moons in one unsupported mission.  We believe we have developed the right hardware to do the job, and testing has already shown that we are on the right track.  We also have five excellent astronauts in Jebediah, Bill, Bob, Valentina, and Siesa.  They are already hard at work training for the landings and assisting with mission planning.  We intend to launch by the middle of next year, and plant our first flag within three years."

Kerman promised that all of Kerbin would be kept up-to-date with the mission as it proceeded.  "We have every intention of publishing photographic evidence, along with technical information pertaining to the mission so that we can avoid any silly conspiracy theories regarding this effort," he said.

KSC Administration has also released the proposed budget for Project Zeus, which comes in at √1.5 million.  It includes five launches to low Kerbin orbit, where the ship will be assembled.  The main component of the ship is Red Dragon, a nuclear-powered vessel with space for six Kerbals.  Red Dragon will push three other vessels: the Centaur lander intended for Jool's moon Laythe, a second lander, named Lucy, which will land on Tylo and Jool's three smallest moons, and an in-system refueller and tug named Tumnus.  This will be pushed out of Kerbin orbit by a kicker drive which consists of the Urlum V core which will also launch Red Dragon.  Once in orbit and assembled, Red Dragon will mass just over 700 metric tons.

Kerman stated that although excitement for the project is high, the budget "will be a hard one to work with, since it doesn't give us any room for a refuelling mission, should it become necessary," though he noted that in the extremely unlikely case that astronauts were stranded in Jool's orbit the funding would probably come through.  "We hope that we don't have to find out the hard way, however."

The five astronauts associated with the program were not available for comment at press time.

***

Project Zeus Nears Launch; Red Dragon Close to Completion
By Jebbles Kerman

Y2 D227
KERBIN SPACE CENTER (KerbinPress) -- In a press conference today Dr. Wehrner von Kerman, Chief Engineer and Program Director of the Kerbin Space Center, stated that the planning phase of the much anticipated Project Zeus is coming to a close, with a launch becoming more and more likely within the next few days.

"We are pleased to announce that after much planning, many simulations, and even some major software setbacks, we are nearly ready to launch Red Dragon and the other associated modules which comprise Project Zeus."

The software setback Kerman mentioned refers to the "1.1 Fiasco", a rather optimistic software "upgrade" that quickly showed its ugly side.  KSC quickly reverted to a previous, much more stable version to run the ships of Project Zeus, but not before losing several experimental vessels.

Kerman also claimed that so far the project was running under budget, despite the software and planning setbacks.  However, sources within KSC claim that the project has already eclipsed the √1.5 million budget after at least two prior iterations of the Red Dragon were built and tested -- the latest of which fell victim to the 1.1 Fiasco, which lead to the loss of the two vessels.  These same sources claim that after rolling back to a previous software version, all of the crafts had to be completely redesigned.  "Some parts became unavailable, and others were incompatible with the old software," one engineer said, agreeing to speak on the condition of anonymity.  "It turned out that the vessel we had planned to build was simply no longer feasible."

According to a report released by KSC Engineering, Red Dragon will cost √470,690 before launch costs are considered.  Kerman plans to use the massive Urlum X launcher to boost Red Dragon into low Kerbin orbit.  This launcher consists of an Urlum V launcher with four 5-meter boosters and four 2.5-meter boosters, making it one of the largest rockets ever assembled and flown by KSC.  Other components will be launched with the slightly smaller Tylo rocket, a single-stack measuring 3.75 meters in diameter and boasting a single Titan I engine.

Kerman stated that the launches would begin soon, in order to catch a favorable transfer window to Jool that would peak within the next few days.  "We will have to get everything launched and assembled in orbit," he said, "and it will take the hard work and dedication of everyone here at KSC to make it happen."

Jebediah Kerman, mission commander and pilot for all five of the landings, was eager to get started with the mission.  "We've been training hard here on Kerbin, and we've all logged countless hours in the simulators as we worked on our own skills and also helped the engineering team with their proposed designs.  We're all really excited to begin."

***

Red Dragon Launched Amid Fanfare
By Jebbles Kerman

Y2 D240
KERBIN SPACE CENTER (KerbinPress) -- Red Dragon, the main vessel of Project Zeus, successfully launched from Kerbin Space Center today with five astronauts aboard.  KSC Mission Control was more tense than usual immediately before and during the launch, pointing to the fact that they had only simulated it once.  However, the room erupted in a cheer when Valentina Kerman, ship commander and pilot, radioed confirmation that the ship had successfully entered orbit around Kerbin.

Red Dragon rode into orbit atop a massive Urlum X rocket, a 1,407 metric ton beheamoth capable of easily lifting the 368.8 ton Red Dragon into low Kerbin orbit.  At a cost of √977,443, the launch takes up nearly two thirds of the proposed budget of √1.5 million.  However, sources within the administration say that the remaining launches will put the project severely over budget, blaming recent software malfunctions and lost ships for the overage.

The five astronauts selected for the mission have been training for months in preparation for the mission.  The mission's executive officer and Red Dragon co-pilot, Jebediah Kerman, will pilot all of the landings, including the one on Jool's innermost moon Laythe, which will be a solo landing.  For the remaining four moons of Bop, Pol, Vall, and Tylo, he will be joined by one of the other four astronauts, with a different one for each moon.  Bill Kerman, Red Dragon's chief engineer, will accompany him to Vall.  Mission Scientist Bob Kerman is slated to land on Pol.  Science Specialist Sieisa Kerman will land on Bop, while Mission Commander Valentina Kerman will assist him in the Tylo landing.

Although Red Dragon has launched, the mission still has four more launches before the mission can leave orbit around Kerbin.  Still to be launched are the two landers which will be used in the attempt, along with a robotic refueller craft to be used within the Joolian system and an "Interplanetary Kicker Drive" consisting of an Urlum V lower stage, which will be used to push the vessel out of Kerbin orbit.  Additionally, these launches will be accompanied by larger-than-necessary service modules to fully fuel the ship in preparation for the mission.

The next launch is planned for tomorrow, despite cloudy skies forecast over KSC.

***

Project Zeus Underway
Red Dragon Ready to Leave Kerbin Orbit
By Jebbles Kerman

Y2 D241
KERBIN SPACE CENTER (KerbinPress) --After five launches in six hours, Wehrner von Kerman, Chief Engineer and Program Director of the Kerbin Space Center, announced that Project Zeus is ready to begin the next phase: the journey from Kerbin to Jool.  Those five launches mated the five modules of the Red Dragon ship.  Kerman said that the astronauts were excited to begin their three year trek to Jool.

Spirits at Mission Control were indeed high, as all of the launches had gone smoothly, with only minimal need for simulation before the actual flight.  Technicians also reported that their computer software was running smoothly, with no apparent bugs or framerate lags despite the number of modifications being used for this flight.  "Sometimes you have to be careful what you ask for, because what you think is better might not really be better," said Gene Kerman, flight director of KSC.

Mortimer Kerman, KSC's chief financial officer, spoke about the costs of the mission thus far.  He reported that Project Zeus has gone over budget, largely due to unexpected costs associated with launching the Centaur lander.  "All together it comes to √2,055,906.  But remember that in this situation money is basically meaningless.  If we were in a different mode, we might have a problem if we went over budget.  But now?  It's just a way to measure something.  Not sure what, mind you, but something."

Ignition of Red Dragon's twelve nuclear LV-N engines is scheduled for later today, beginning the flight to Jool.

***

 

(Note to the reader: This is a Jool-5 attempt written as newspaper clippings.  I will be updating the Imgur album periodically as I make the attempt, and further news clippings will be added to the OP, so future readers will have a more streamlined experience.)

Edited May 23, 2016 by Barefoot Friar