A very Kerbal history (Koyuz-IV interlude)

RobertJPowell · July 29, 2016

Kerbal Space Agency

(A very Kerbal history)

OOC Introduction:

Normally this is the part of the blurb where a writer explains in great detail every mod they are using. I'm not going to do that, but I will list the key mods that I feel make this an interesting play through. (But more on those later.) 'Kerbal Space Agency' a.k.a. 'A very Kerbal history' is a play through of the historic mission pack created by @Whitecat106 by me, @RobertJPowell. Through a series of photo albums (note, currently via direct link until imgur album bug found, squashed and fed to the Space Kraken!), and hopefully interesting and fun to read blurbs, I intend to document Kerbal Space Agency's quest for the stars. Quite how far I will get in this quest, I do not know, but i hope you will come along and join me for the ride. With this little introduction out of the way, I'll now move on to the boring preamble.

Key mods list:

Spoiler

MechJeb

Stage Recovery

Kerbal Construction Time

KSPCasher

Deadly Re-entry

Research Bodies

Historic Mission Pack

SETI Balance Mod

Unmanned before Manned

TAC Life Support

KCT Settings:

Spoiler


KCT_Preset
{
	name = KSA
	shortName = KSA
	description = A custom set of configs for my KSA Save
	author = Robert J Powell
	allowDeletion = True
	career = True
	science = False
	sandbox = False
	KCT_Preset_General
	{
		Enabled = True
		BuildTimes = True
		ReconditioningTimes = True
		TechUnlockTimes = False
		KSCUpgradeTimes = False
		Simulations = False
		SimulationCosts = True
		RequireVisitsForSimulations = True
		TechUpgrades = True
		SharedUpgradePool = True
		StartingPoints = 5,5,5
	}
	KCT_Preset_Time
	{
		OverallMultiplier = 25
		BuildEffect = 1
		InventoryEffect = 100
		ReconditioningEffect = 576
		MaxReconditioning = 13500000
		RolloutReconSplit = 0.25
	}
	KCT_Preset_Formula
	{
		NodeFormula = 2^([N]+1) / 86400
		UpgradeFundsFormula = min(2^([N]+4) * 1000, 1024000)
		UpgradeScienceFormula = min(2^([N]+2) * 1.0, 512)
		ResearchFormula = [N]*0.5/86400
		EffectivePartFormula = min([c]/([I] + ([B]*([U]+1))), [c])*[MV]*[PV]
		ProceduralPartFormula = (([c]-[A]) + ([A]*10/max([I],1))) / max([B]*([U]+1),1) *[MV]*[PV]
		BPFormula = ([E]^(1/2))*2000*[O]
		KSCUpgradeFormula = ([C]^(1/2))*1000*[O]
		ReconditioningFormula = min([M]*[O]*[E], [X])*abs([RE]-[S]) / (3-[L])
		BuildRateFormula = (([I]+1)*0.05*[N] + max(0.1-[I], 0))*sign(2*[L]-[I]+1)
		SimCostFormula = max([C]/50000 * min([PM]/[KM], 80) * ([S]/10 + 1) * ([A]/10 + 1) * ([L]^0.5) * 100, 500)
		KerbinSimCostFormula = max([C]/50000 * ([L]^0.5) * 10, 100)
		UpgradeResetFormula = 2*([N]+1)
		InventorySaleFormula = ([V]+[P] / 10000)^(0.5)
		RolloutCostFormula = 0
		NewLaunchPadCostFormula = 75000*([N]^3)
	}
	KCT_Preset_Part_Variables
	{
		Part_Variables
		{
		}
		Module_Variables
		{
		}
	}
}

This makes for a rather interesting build time, especially early game. (long rocket launch times.)

A set rules is as follows:

I may only use upgrade points at the start of a new year.

Only 1 point may be spent on build point science every year (this does not roll over! either use it or lose it)

Build times may only be accelerated to a point where they will be completed with enough time to meet contract deadlines.

One upgrade point may be bought per year for science, and 1 point per year for Kerbits.

The points may only be redistributed and reset once every 5 years and only with that years science/cash purchase.

Core Game Settings:

Spoiler

           AutoHireCrews = False
           MissingCrewsRespawn = False
           BypassEntryPurchaseAfterResearch = False
           AllowStockVessels = False
           IndestructibleFacilities = False
           ResourceAbundance = 100%
           ReentryHeatScale = 100%

           StartingFunds = 100,000 (N/A - modded to enable slightly boosted start)
           StartingScience = 30
           StartingReputation = 0
           FundsGainMultiplier = 50%
           RepGainMultiplier = 50%
           ScienceGainMultiplier = 50%
           FundsLossMultiplier = 200%
           RepLossMultiplier = 200%
           RepLossDeclined = 0

END boring preamble!

Table of Contents:

Spoiler

1950's:

1: In the beginning (This post)

2: Meet the Kerbonauts (Second post)

3: Codename: Alpha (Third post)

4: 1951 state of the agency report: (Fourth post)

5: Project Orbit (Eighth post)

6: Stayputnik-III (Ninth post)

7: Interlude (eleventh post)

8: Project Mun - Phase I (Coming soon)

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In the beginning:

It is the Kerbal year 1950. Following a decade of massive infighting between the kountries and kontinents of the planet Kerbin, peace has finally settled. On the 12th of Docenam 1948, which by chance happened to be a Brant, the 1st kerbernational peace accords were signed, aptly named the Docenam Brant treaty. It turns out that the governments of the planet Kerbin had managed to realize something that most average Kerbals had figured out already, that they were all just little green males and females living on the same small rock, orbiting a big orange thing in the sky, with a little tiny rock orbiting around them.

One of the biggest ideas to come from the unilateral peace was the theory that there might just be things out there beyond what the naked Kerbal eyes could see, way out there in the deep, dark inky blackness of space. Almost immediately the greatest scientific and engineering minds on Kerbin began talking and discussing the possibilities of perhaps reaching out, beyond the confines of the tiny planet, out there into the great beyond. The newly formed Transkerbonian Authority took a shining to the idea, and a budget of 1.3 million Kerbits was pledged to fund this great adventure. By 1950, at a total cost (including labour) of 1.2 million Kerbits Wernher Von Kerman Space Centre (referred to from now on as WVKSC) had been completed, and the tiny planet's greatest minds were strategizing and formulating ways of reaching into the inky blackness.

(WVKSC, 1950)

The team that had been given control over the fledgling space agency were as follows:

Gene Hackenbacker and Wernher Von Kerman, crewed and unmanned mission specialists respectively. These two were the hive mind of mission control, with both dedicated to the same goals very early on in the space program. Wernher of course had a much more in-depth role in the early years of course, given that KSA had absolutely no intention of launching manned projects until the space program had proved itself. That being said however, Gene paid very close attention to the performance and reliability of various rockets being used. He would of course need the detailed information garnered from early testing for his own manned programs, if/when they ever got off of the ground.

Mortimer Willson, although not very scientifically or technically minded, was a very dab hand at financial matters, having been the CEO of the Bank of Kerbland for 20 years prior to his appointment as Chief of finances. Although he himself had no vested interest in the inky blackness beyond Kerbin, he certainly could not resist the huge pay cheque that KSA was offering.

Linus Jones graduated from Kale University with a doctorate in physics. He had been a key member of the team that first cracked the atom, and was awe inspired by just how much energy was produced by doing so. It was probably his paper on 'Nuclear physics of today and tomorrow' that ultimately earned him his place as lead scientist at KSA, a role that would see him liaising very closely with both Gene and Wernher over the coming years.

Walt Franks was just your normal average Kerbal until he stumbled upon his previous job quite by accident. Whilst working as a janitor at the KBC (Kerbal Broadcasting Company) in the former Unified Kerbdom head anchor of the 3 O'clock news, Justin Lavery feel violently ill. Walt Franks just happened to be in the right place at the right time. With no chance of finding a replacement anchor, and no Kerbal at the KBC willing to try to step into Justin's shoes, Walt found himself thrust into the limelight, broadcasting live to millions of Kerbals in their own homes. The rest as they say is history. It was probably a combination of his electrifying personality and his ability to be succinct yet entertaining that earned him his spot as chief of public relations for the KSA.

The final member of the team, Gus Michaels is the head of operations at WVKSC. Although not strictly a part of the chain of command, his role is no less important than any other member of the team. As the operations chief, he is responsible for the hundreds of staff employed by the KSA as well as the Kerbonaut team. This includes the health and well being of those under him as well as their morale. Gene Hackenbacker even went so far as to say that Gus may well have the most important job in the entirety of the KSA.

Throughout the years to come, strategy would play a huge part in how the space program at the KSA would develop. In the early years, the budget would only allow for a small strategy team, managed by Gus himself. This meant only a maximum of three strategies, closely monitored at all times, could be in effect at any given time. It was decided very early on that due to cost constraints, there would only be limited scope in what could be done very early on. Gus, after conferring with both Wernher and Gene settled on just three strategies to begin with:

One: The public relations directive, codenamed Free Ice Cream phase I.

Free Ice cream phase I would heavily involve Walt Kerman and his team of public relations experts. The general idea was that every kivilian that walked through the doors of WVKSC would be given a free ice cream, on the stick of which was a code that when redeemed at any participating news outlet, would grant the bearer a free 6 month subscription to the monthly KSA news bulletin, a glossy magazine created by Walt's department that detailed what had been happening at WVKSC over the past 30 days. Gus was most impressed when Walt informed him that the whole project could be done for a small budget of just 5,000 Kerbits a month, and an initial setup fee of just 35,000 Kerbits. Of course, that monthly budget was more than any of the early initial costings for space program rockets (not including overtime costs to get builds completed to strict contract deadlines!), but over time, with the press and goodwill generated would probably prove fruitful. After all, the better the agency was doing on the public relations front, the more money the Transkerbonian Authority would be willing to provide to them in the quarterly budget.

Two: Scientific endeavours I, code named local Science phase I

This strategy involved Gus working very closely with Linus Jones on an appropriate plan of action regarding scientific experimentation. Phase one simply involved a down payment of 5,000 Kerbits from the budget to kick-start the development of new scientific instruments, all of which would need to be trialed at WVKSC to test their validity and performance before being inserted onto expensive probe cores for experimentation out in the big bad world! (and beyond!). This strategy was of course much less glamorous than project Free Ice Cream, but it was no less important. The key deciding factor in implementation though, the cost. All that would have to be paid for on top of the initial outlay of 5,000 Kerbits was the cost of the experiment modules themselves.

Two: Scientific endeavours II, code named To Boldly Go phase I

To boldly go was more of a Government project rather than a proper strategy. Gus somehow managed to convince the Transkerbonian Authority that paying the KSA Kerbits every time new information was found out about a biome wasn't necessarily a bad idea. The Authority bought the preamble and immediately signed up, though they did state unequivocally that the funding would be limited to just 1.5K Kerbits. Gus was completely fine with this and signed the contract there and then. Wernher thought he could have gotten slightly more but Gus explained that the plan was so audacious he did not want to pus his luck.

The greatest of things more often than not are born from the most humblest of beginnings. This is very much the case with regards to the technology at the disposal of the engineering and scientific teams at the KSA. Seen below is a snapshot of the technology tree as it was at the start of the program.

Coming next... Meet the initial successful Kerbonaut Program applicants.

Edited August 4, 2016 by RobertJPowell
TOC update

RobertJPowell · July 29, 2016

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Meet the Kerbonauts:

Over 500 Kerbals applied to become a Kerbonaut with the KSA, and over a period of 9 months and over 200 hundred gruelling physical and mental tests and trials, that number was whittled down until just 5 remained. Walt Kerman in a bid to garner some publicity for the idea of a manned space mission, named the group the 'Wernher Six' after the father of Rocket technology and current head of the unmanned section of the space agency, Wernher Von Kerman. Of course at first Gene was a little put out by this until Gus explained that he would have his time to shine front and centre soon enough.

The Wernher Six from L to R: Lisa Jones, Robert Johnson, Ann Reynolds, Mark Donaldson, Jennifer DeWalt and William Jacobs.

Mark Donaldson came into the program with 1000's of hours of combat flight experience. A decorated war veteran he was expected to excel and easily make the cut, or at least that was the theory. When it came down to the psychological evaluations, he barely managed to scrape through. It turned out that Mark here hadn't become a hero through bravery but by sheer dumb luck. It turned out that despite being an extremely good pilot, mark was also incredibly reckless, deliberately flying into incredibly dangerous situations and pulling often times absurd manoeuvrers that would have caused less physically able pilots to black out. It was only an I.Q. test that proved that he wasn't stupid. By virtue of being the most qualified he was awarded the first position, and team lead of what would become known as the Wernher six. There was however one caveat; Any reckless behaviour in the simulator would result in him being grounded pending a formal investigation, with the maximum penalty being expulsion from the program!

William Jacobs graduated with a first in Engineering from Kambridge University in the Unified Kerbdom in 1942. He had aspirations of becoming the chief engineer at a ship construction firm until the war broke out when he was press ganged into the UK military. Following the war, he sought to return to his dream when happen-stance would change his fate. Whilst sharing a quiet beer with a few of his former squad mates in their local drinking establishment, William overheard a news broadcast declaring that the search was on for male and female Kerbals who would be interested in the possibility of going into the inky blackness. He was about ready to tune out when the broadcast mentioned that they were looking for Engineers and scientists as well as pilots. Over the next few days, he pondered over whether he should sign up. Finally, four days after hearing the broadcast he made up his mind and applied. The rest as they say, his history.

Robert Johnson is a rather gifted individual. At the age of two, he was reading at an age of 7. At age 11, he was already studying advanced physics and by 17 he had a degree in physics from Kale university. Aged just 31, Robert is the youngest male on the Wernher six team, but every bit as dedicated as the older members. He stood out from the other candidates in the scientific field simply by just how quickly he was able to run equations through his head. His ability to extrapolate data quickly, process it and present it in a clear and concise manner earned him major brownie points with Wernher Von Kerman himself. In training Robert has already shown great aptitude for his work and it appears that some of his logic is starting to brush off onto Donald.

Jennifer DeWalt became a pilot quite by accident. When her father and brothers were called away to war, it fell to the females of the family to tend to the farm. Her sisters and her mother were all far too scared to touch 'that deathtrap' sitting in the barn. Jennifer on the other hand was enthralled by it, her father having taken her up in the second seat on several occasions and had even been known to let her fly stick at times. After the war, it was her returning father who convinced her that perhaps she might want to think about becoming the first female Kerbal in space, after all, there was no harm in trying. When she first arrived, her fellow applicants had dismissed her as a country bumpkin. By the end, it was Donald, the first Kerbal chosen for the Wernher six that remarked to Gene Kerman he could think of no other Kerbal on the course he would rather have fly by his side.

Ann Reynolds, a former school teacher and amateur mechanic. She initially applied to the program on a dare from her colleagues. Nobody thought that Ann Reynolds, including Ann Reynolds herself, would make it past the first day, let alone the first week, or even month. By the end of the program, she had proved herself the best of the five female engineers and in fact, was second only to William in the Engineering rankings when all was said and done. It was probably her ability to pick new things up so quickly that helped her become one of the best in her field.

Finally rounding out the Wernher six is Lisa Jones. Lisa was a very shy, quiet girl before joining the program, having been orphaned at young age after her parents were involved in an accident. She earned the final slot of the team on the simple fact that she had grown from a rather frail scared young woman into a strong courageous lady. A Kerbal with exactly the kind of gumption KSA were looking for. She broke the ceiling of her bunk room after jumping for joy upon receiving the news.

Coming next... Codename Alpha

Edited July 30, 2016 by RobertJPowell
Mini reboot, slight change in plans!

RobertJPowell · July 30, 2016

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Codename Alpha:

KSA had already informed the Transkerbonian Authority that the program, with it's modest budget would be starting small. Codename Alpha was the designation for that small start. This project would be split into two different sections; The Alpha series Rocket program and the Kerbin discovery program. Wernher had made a decision that no expensive experiments would be going on any rocket of any designation until they had been tested thoroughly at WVCSC. (That and the fact that despite having a two year head start, the R&D teams had still not settled on a satisfactory design for the casings for many of these various experiments!)

Kerbin discovery program:

(Kerb I as it is projected to look upon completion)

The Kerbin discovery program's sole focus is to test any scientific equipment in the field before it is certified to be loaded into probe cores and launched into the inky blackness of space. The first of these projects has been designated by the lads at R&D as Kerb-I. Kerb-I is a simple ATV designed to haul the various experiments around WVCSC and it's outlying areas. Although good battery life is predicted, the lads aren't entirely sure just how much range it will have. The vehicle has a crew capacity of 1, and as much as the intrepid pilots of the Kerbonaut program want to drive this puppy themselves, Wernher has already chosen Robert Johnson as the driver given his scientific credentials. He has high hopes that the second vehicle will have a higher crew capacity of two or even three allowing both Lisa Jones to accompany Robert and perhaps have either Jennifer DeWalt or Mark Donaldson drive them around. In any event the vehicle will not be ready before the first quarter of 1951.

Vehicle Cost: 11,249 Kerbits

Construction time: 409 days @ 0.15 BP/s.

Alpha-I:

(The completed Alpha I design)

(Alpha-I ready for roll out.)

Alpha-I, the first rocket of the Alpha series was a very simple 2 stage design adapted from the deadly rocket weapons that had been so prevalent in the war of the previous decade. The core stage was the mighty Kerbton 0.625m Solid Rocket Booster (SRB) which was designed specifically to give the rocket that first mighty kick off of the ground. The upper stage utilized the liquid fuel guzzling Kerbtos engine, it's purpose to punch the Alpha Rocket through the less dense atmosphere and into the black inky void beyond, on a suborbital trajectory of course.

As much as Wernher would have loved to launch the Alpha-I straight into a sub-orbital situation, something he was sure the rocket would be capable of, he thought it might be prudent to thrust check the SRB and the Kerbtos engine on the pad, only releasing the upper stage from it's clamp when it's fuel reserves hit 25%. This would give the R&D and design teams plenty of information to work with on the project going forward.

Cost: 2,355 Kerbits

Build time: 93D @ 0.3 Bp/s

After a nerve wrecking 93 days watching the Alpha-I going through final design tweaks and construction, it was finally ready to launch. It took the VAB team just 45 minutes to get the monstrosity to the Pad where it would await final countdown to the test. Over at mission control, Wernher could be seen biting his fingers and pacing up and down. All the maths said that the rocket should show the computer predicted results, but when working with volatile chemicals one can never be sure. Needless to say, his nerves proved unfounded as the test went off without a hitch. Valuable data was obtained regarding the performance of both stages. Below is a small gallery of the test.

Spoiler

(Alpha I SRB Ignition)

(Alpha I SRB flame out and detach)

(A slight miscalculation causes the discarded SRB to explode as the upper stage ignites)

(As the tank reaches 25% capacity, the clamp releases allowing the upper stage to race skyward)

(The upper stage collides violently with the ground as planned 2.5KM NW of WVCSC)

Alpha II:

(Alpha II in the CAD program (which mocks up the VAB/SPH) showing estimated construction time based on materials used.)

Alpha-II was built to the exact same specifications as the Alpha-I launch test vehicle. The mission parameters set by Wernher were that the rocket simply had to obtain a sub-orbital flight trajectory. As the rocket would be using already designed parts, the build time would be significantly shorter.

The simulation for the Alpha-II appeared to show that the rocket would not have enough Delta Velocity to reach the assigned mission parameters. Upon hearing this WVC insisted that the SRB be hollowed out slightly more to allow more solid fuel to be packed inside. The engineering team complied despite protestations from Gene that there had been a miscalculation in the simulation software and that any such change would have them overshoot the desired parameters by some margin.

Cost: 2,380 Kerbits

Build time: 64D @ 0.3 Bp/s

Simulation cost: 816.3 Kerbits

Alpha-II was completed on schedule and for just over the 3,000 Kerbit budget Wernher had allowed for once simulation costs were included. On day 157 of the Kerbal year 1950, the staff of the KSA gathered at mission control to witness on baited breath the launch of what would hopefully be the first Kerbal made device to break through Kerbin's atmosphere into the inky black void before plummeting back to Kerbin.

The countdown passed without any delays and MechJeb's automated systems kicked in as expected igniting the first stage SRB and launching the Alpha-II Rocket skywards. The room erupted into a loud cheer until WVC ordered quiet, noting that premature celebration was a bad omen. He needn't have worried in all fairness, but he was always one to rest on the side of caution rather than optimism. Minutes later, as planned, the decoupler fired and the liquid fuel fed upper stage motor fired up, starting to propel the rocket out towards space.

(Predicted Alpha-II trajectory)

Gene could only just manage to stifle a laugh as the tacking station began sending in reports of the probes predicated trajectory which showed that the probe would peak at a height of over 300Km, well beyond what the simulator showed. Later investigation into the telemetry transmitted from Alpha-II showed that it had only been about 450 D/v short of a highly eccentric but stable orbit. WVC couldn't understand what had happened until Gene rather calmly told him that one of the technicians, he wasn't sure whom, had managed to shift a decimal point to the wrong position in the simulator back-end code causing the D/v predictions to be off by a kountry mile. He did manage to avoid uttering the words 'I told you so' much to his credit.

As it was, the only result of this miscalculation was that rather than surviving re-entry to impact in the ocean east of WVCSC, it burned up harmlessly during re-entry half way around Kerbin. This proved to be a rather fortunate miscalculation as the data recovered before the probe stopped transmitting about the composition of the upper atmosphere, would allow the KSA to design highly effective heat shields. Below is a small gallery of the test.

Spoiler

(Alpha II ignites and the clamp releases)

(Alpha II heads skyward, approaching cloud level)

(Alpha II blasts through the clouds)

(Alpha II SRB separation)

(Alpha II burns skyward towards the heavens)

(Alpha II nears the end of its burn)

(Alpha II descending on a sub orbital trajectory)

(Alpha II just prior to burning up on re-entry)

Alpha-III:

Alpha-III would be the penultimate phase of the Codename Alpha project. Essentially Alpha-III was a carbon copy of the Alpha-II rocket with only a slight variation. The Transkerbonian Authority who had been incredibly satisfied with the performance of the KSA set the fledgling space agency a new major goal, with a 70 day deadline: Launch a probe body onto a sub-orbital trajectory and recover the probe core intact. WVC was said to have cussed at such a stringent deadline, knowing that the alterations required to an Alpha series rocket would cause the Engineering team to miss the deadline unless he could convince the other members of the team to stump up the cash from the budget to pay for overtime and express delivery of parts from the agency's various suppliers.

Gene Hackenbacker took one look at the books, then a look at Wernher before giving a gentle nod. Although funds were getting tight there was enough in the budget, at least in his professional opinion to push the construction of the Alpha-III forward. Mortimer Wilson didn't even bother looking at the books. Completing the contract within the deadline would yield the agency a not insignificant funding boost whilst failure would result in a much larger penalty. Simple mathematics said spending the Kerbits was a prudent move. Walt Franks rubbed his hands together in glee, nodding emphatically at the request. Meeting the deadline would be a sure fire way of boosting the reputation of the agency, brining in more interest and potentially a higher annual subsidy from the Transkerbonian Authority. Linus Jones and Gus Michaels, having no opinion on the matter themselves simply deferred to the professional opinion of their colleagues. The budget was adjusted accordingly and the project got under way in earnest.

Cost: 2,711 Kerbits (including increased overtime wages and express part manufacture and shipping)

Build time: 66D @ 0.3 Bp/s

Simulation cost: 698.2 Kerbits

Launch of the Alpha-III rocket and it's sensitive pay load occurred on the 224th day of 1950. Everything went smoothly with the SRB separation occurring as planned and the LFB jettisoning the payload following the exhaustion of it's liquid fuel and oxidiser reserves. Splashdown in the ocean nearly 125KM to the east of WVCSC occurred just 8 and 1/2 minutes after launch at a lower than expected speed of just 1.2 M/s. Below is a small gallery of the flight.

Spoiler

(Alpha-III SRB ignites on the pad)

(Alpha-III SRB separation)

(Alpha-III Payload ejection)

(Alpha-III parachute deploys)

Alpha-IV:

Alpha-IV would be the last rocket of the Codename Alpha program. It's designated mission was in fact very similar to the Alpha-III. Because of this, WVC decided that he would like to take some risks, ordering the boys in the R&D centre to design a rocket consisting of three stages, the first two of which would be fused together whilst the tech boys worked with suppliers on adapting the information gained from the stack separators into lovely radial decouplers.

The final design as seen above, although not the most aesthetically pleasing did prove in the simulator to be viable. Of course, WVC had learned to take simulator results with a grain of salt following the Alpha-II debacle but also trusted his team not to repeat the mistakes from that launch. Once again WVC had to ask his colleagues about boosting the funds. This time the team summarized that it was his over eagerness to test the full capability of the Alpha SRB that led to the indication that the rocket would miss the deadline so they denied the request, instead pointing him towards the various Universities on Kerbin. Luckily for WVC, Kale University was more than willing to stump up the cash as long as they got to view the scientific data gathered by the probe. He reluctantly agreed and the deal was done.

Cost: 4,299 Kerbits

Deadline rush: 1,720 Kerbits

Build time (pre rush): 85D @ 0.3 Bp/s

Simulation cost: 978.4 Kerbits

On the 292nd day of the year 1950, Alpha-IV was rolled out to the pad and prepared for launch. As with the Alpha-III the launch went without a hitch. However, a computer glitch in the MechJeb software caused the LFB to shut down it's engine prematurely. With the team unable to re-ignite the engine, the decision was made to jettison the probe package early and hope that it still reached the 50KM minimum height demanded by the Transkerbonian Authority mandate. It did (but only just!) leaving all those at WVCSC quietly happy. Upon recovery of the probe core, WVC ordered the MechJeb guidance system removed for investigation. Faulty soldering on the unit had caused it to short causing an emergency shutdown of all but the most important systems on the probe. WVC was glad he had ordered fail safe manual redundancies for the detachment manifold be installed on the rocket. Below is a small gallery of the Alpha-IV launch.

Spoiler

(Alpha-IV stage I SRB's ignite)

(Alpha-IV stage II SRB burnout and separation)

(Alpha-IV probe body post emergency ejection)

(Alpha-IV heat shield jettison)

(Alpha-IV parachute deployment)

(Alpha-IV just prior to splashdown)

Coming next... 1951 state of the agency report.

Edited July 31, 2016 by RobertJPowell
Alpha III and Alpha IV

RobertJPowell · July 31, 2016

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1951 state of the agency report:

Day one of 1951 saw WVC take to the outside of the mission control centre at WVCSC to address the amassed press and those lucky few select members of the general public who had obtained tickets for the 5 star event through a lottery process. Sat behind him on the podium, were the other members of the upper echelons of the KSA and beaming smiles could be seen on all of them following the outstanding success of the first year of the project - 4 missions, 4 completions, a 100% record that the team intended to keep. Wernher cleared his throat, tapped the microphone a few times before starting the speech he had prepared.

"Ladies and gentlekerb's of the associated press, distinguished guests from the Transkerbonian Authority, and those lucky few of you who won a seat for this event in the first annual KSA all access day lottery. It is my great pleasure to report that 1950 was an excellent year for the agency. We managed 4 launches on a very strict budget, and all four completed their mission parameters and in some cases even exceeded them."

"We punched beyond our own atmosphere, pushing out as far as 300KM's above our heads into the inky black void. We safely launched and recovered no less than two telemetry recovering probes into our atmosphere. But most importantly, the data we gathered in our early endeavours has allowed us to design and develop new technologies to start pushing us out further."

"But enough of the past. I'm sure you are all waiting on baited breath to hear about our present and our future. First of all, the data we recovered has allowed us to increase efficiency at our VAB and SPH facilities. Our primary build rate at the VAB is now 0.4 Bp/s whilst the VAB has increased efficiency to 0.25 Bp/s. On top of this, our research teams have hooked their systems in with the lads at both facilities, allowing them to observe build techniques and begin to research new, more modern and more efficient methods of manufacture as well as increasing efficiency on existing part designs." Wernher clicked a button in his hand and the display behind him switched from the current KSA logo to the current tech tree map.

"As you can see on the chart behind me, the boys in the lab have been rather busy over the past 12 months research, designing and simulating new, more exciting parts for our space program. Progress has been slower than expected but the team here at KSA are still happy with what they have managed to achieve on such a low budget. Speaking of the budget, I am happy to report that we finished year one with a budget surplus of just over 15.5 thousand Kerbits. Our current annual budget based on our performance to date is 602,819.40 Kerbits a year, paid at a rate of 1,651.56 Kerbits a day. Our reputation globally stands at just 165 on the Kerbpoll scale. A little lower than we would have hoped, but still not bad all things considered. After all, five.." Wernher paused for a moment. "I'm sorry, four launches in a year isn't a huge number. We do hope to have doubled that amount by 1955."

"Now a very brief look at our near future." Wernher clicked his clicker again. "Ladies and gentlekerb's, I give you a brief glimpse at Project Orbit! The KSA's first foray into Kerbal made orbiting satellites. What you are looking at is the Alpha-Bravo-I - Koyuz-I - Stayputnik-I combined launch vehicle, more than capable of placing a small object into a 95KM equatorial orbit. How do I know that you ask? Well, you'll just have to pay attention to the news over the coming days when all will be revealed." He grinned at the gathered audience allowing them to take in the image on the screen behind him.

"Now if you would like to follow the wonderful members of our hospitality team, they will guide you over towards the Kerbonaut complex where delicious snacks will be served before we commence the facility tour." With that said, Wernher turned to his colleagues and said: "I think that went rather well, don't you?"

Coming next... Project Orbit

The Raging Sandwich · August 1, 2016

This thread is genius! I can't wait for more!

RobertJPowell · August 1, 2016

OOC Interlude:

The final mission in project orbit is complete.. However... it took nearly an hour to get Stayputnik III into it's final orbit due to frame lag. I've had to uninstall some mods, and tweak SVE down to a lower resolution. I'll be doing the project Orbit/kerb-I write up tonight as I have all the screenshots and information I need ready to go. Stayputnik-III will be getting it's own separate post as it was quite an epic tale

Update1:

Just repeated Stayputnik-III in a test environment and might be able to go back to high-res SVE. Will update on progress following another test.

Update 2:

Huzzah and sadness - The bug has been squished but with a disappointing result. One of the mods I have added to my game, and I've no idea which, was causing contract configurator to spawn and immediately close the strategia mun contract. To this end, I will post What I have of this version of A very Kerbal History so far over the next 24 hours and then start removing added mods one by one to see if the contract spam gets fixed. Fear not intrepid adventurers - I will endeavour to finish this series!

Update 3:

Sadly the awesome mod Research Bodies maintained/updated/added to by the amazing @JPLRepo and originally by @simon56modder was found to be the mod causing some sort of conflict with the Strategia (by @nightingale) missions. It has been nuked from the save game to allow the missions to continue. This may allow me to re-add Search and Rescue by @TMasterson5 to add to the immersion of the game. (I had thought this had been somehow causing me to lag before doing some research)

We now return you to your regularly scheduled programming...

Edited August 2, 2016 by RobertJPowell
update: 3

nightingale · August 2, 2016

6 hours ago, RobertJPowell said:

Sadly the awesome mod Research Bodies maintained/updated/added to by the amazing @JPLRepo and originally by @simon56modder was found to be the mod causing some sort of conflict with the Strategia (by @nightingale) missions.

I'll make some updates to make Strategia compatible with Research Bodies (should be easy, since I just did the same updates for Contract Configurator). But, the only updates will be not to offer strategies that relate to bodies that are not yet offered. So when you say it "conflicts", would that resolve the issue, or is there something more?

RobertJPowell · August 2, 2016

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Project Orbit:

Under secrecy towards the end of 1950, without even a mention in the monthly glossy magazine being produced by the KSA to boost interest in the space program, WVC ordered the construction of a new probe, one designed not to return to Kerbin, but to sit in a low orbit, to transmit data about the make up of the planet and then fall silent as it's battery power depleted. It's designation: Stayputnik-I.

Stayputnik-I:

(Stayputnik-I sattelite.)

(Koyuz-I upper stage)

(Alpha-Bravo-I SRB with Koyuz-I upper stage)

With Kerb-I still at least 100+ days from being completed, WVC was forced to adopt a less robust probe body with less instrumentation than he would have preferred on the Stayputnik-I. It would simply be carrying radio monitoring devices and a telemetry recorder to send back data to WVCSC for the duration of it's short life. Every single last Kerbal at the KSA was under a strict NDA regarding information about the fledgling project Orbit.

Project Alpha had garnered the team at WVCSC valuable data regarding the performance of both Solid and Liquid fuelled technology but Project Orbit was going to require something bigger than the 0.625m design of the Alpha series rockets. Stayputnik-I itself would of course use a 0.625m stage for orbital insertion, but to get it there would require a two stage 1.25m launch vehicle. from this requirement, the Koyuz and Alpha-Beta series liquid and solid fuel rockets were born. These new rocket's carried with them both a much higher Delta-Velocity potential and much heavier launch weight potential.

During the design phase, it was discovered that the launch clamps used for Project Alpha were completely unsuitable for these new, heavier rockets. The kuys and kals over at WVCSC R&D stuck there head's together and came up with the Launch Clamp MK-II. This new clamp was capable of holding over 30 tons by itself and had the added advantage of being able to fuel the tanks on the pad, as well as supply a stable electricity supply to the rocket before launch. This was a major development as it meant that a probe or satellite could have its lifespan increased as electricity was no longer expended whilst being rolled out or waiting on the pad for launch.

(A-BI - K-I - Stayputnik-I with new launch clamps.)

Cost: 5,411 Kerbits
Rush cost: 6,492 Kerbits
Build time (pre rush): 126D @ 0.3 Bp/s
Simulation cost: 1,451.7 Kerbits

By day 360 of year 1, just 5 days before the end of the year, the Stayputnik-I was sitting on the launch pad awaiting launch. A complete media blackout was in effect at WVCSC with a no-fly zone established covering a 150 km radius around the launch site. WVC and everyone else who had been a member of the project gathered at mission control to witness the historic event. If all went to plan, the KSA would have put the first Kerbmade object into orbit around the planet. If it failed, nobody needed to know about it.

The clock hit 0 and the Alpha-BI ignited as expected propelling the Stayputnik-I satellite skyward. A huge cheer erupted from Mission Control as it soared towards cloud level. WVC managed a small smile, still deciding to wait to cheer until the Stayputnik-I was in a stable orbit. The rocket roared up through the cloud line, already 15KM down range and 6.7KM high.

At a height of 10KM, the Alpha-BI burned out and the Koyuz-I stage ignited heading upwards towards the heavens and towards history. This brought about more cheering in mission control and gave WVC a little more hope that this secret and rather foolhardy plan of his would actually work. Gene sat silently next to Wernher, he knew the maths was right for this launch, all it needed was for the parts to hold together and do their job. He stared with intent at the large tracking screen hoping against hope that nothing would go wrong.

At 60km, fairing separation happened as intended and the shell's drifted harmlessly back down through the atmosphere. They would burn up at approximately 25KM above Kerbin's ocean. Owing to WVC's tendency to overcompensate during the rocket design phase, by fairing separation, MechJeb had already shut down the Koyuz-I engine, deciding via its telemetry that it had burned enough to set an apogee in excess of 90KM, high enough to fulfil its mission parameters with the fuel onboard the satellite itself. At 70KM Stayputnik-I jettisoned the Koyuz-I upper stage and drifted towards apogee whilst aligning itself for the orbital insertion burn.

Approximately 7 seconds before apogee (95KM) MechJeb ignited Stayputnik-I's orbital insertion motor and began the orbital burn. Just 14 seconds later the satellite was in it's intended 95KMx95KM orbit. MechJeb performed one final turn to discard the spent OIM and relayed its final message simply reading "01001101 01101001 01110011 01110011 01101001 01101111 01101110 00100000 01000011 01101111 01101101 01110000 01101100 01100101 01110100 01100101" (Mission Complete) before shutting down and handing over to the satellites internal systems. Stayputnik-I transmitted for 72 hours before finally signing off as its battery reached critical levels. Below is a gallery of the Stayputnik-I launch.

Spoiler

(Stayputnik-I on the pad)

(Stayputnik-I launches)

(Stayputnik-I blasts through the clouds)

(Alpha-BI separation and K-I ignition)

(K-I ascending)

(Fairing jettison)

(K-I separation)

(Stayputnik-I preps for OI burn)

(Stayputnik-I post burn)

(MechJeb preps Stayputnik-I for OIM Jettison)

(OIM Jettison)

Interlude - Kerb-I:

Kerb-I was finally completed and rolled out of the SPH on the 19th day of 1951, ahead of the original schedule owing to the improvements made to the SPH on the orders of the heads of the various KSA departments. Although it was originally intended that the data from the experimentation modules would be held internally, it was decided to enter into financial contracts with multiple universities on Kerbin for access to the data. This was due to the fact that although the new yearly budget was healthy, it certainly would not support the aspirations of the KSA to launch a further two satellites into increasingly higher orbits around Kerbin within the year nor WVC's stretch goal of at least one Munar fly-by before the years end.

Robert Johnson and Lisa Jones drew lots to decide which of them would drive the Kerb-I around WVCSC and beyond. Robert won the best of three draw, and with a firm handshake from Gene and a congratulatory hug from Lisa jumped into the cab and began his exploration. The drive lasted just over 1 hour and 30 minutes with the battery powered vehicle obtaining an average speed of 10.2 M/s. The battery banks were on reserve on the vehicles return from it's trip, giving the vehicle an approximate range of a 1 hour drive away from WVCSC in any direction.

After all the research was divided up between the contracted Universities, the KSA found themselves with a budget in excess of 5 million Kerbits. This money was used to fund important research into new, better, rocket technologies but more importantly, provide a much needed upgrade to the VAB, Launchpad, Mission Control and Strategy buildings. WVC could now get project Stayputnik-II off of the ground. Below is a gallery of Robert Johnson's adventure in the Kerb-I rover.

Spoiler

(Kerb-I at the runway)

(Kerb-I at WVCSC)

(Kerb-I near the mock monument)

(Kerb-I at the SPH)

(Kerb-I at Mission control)

(Kerb-I at the VAB)

(Kerb-I on the crawler-way)

(Kerb-I on the pad)

(Kerb-I at the tracking station)

(Kerb-I at R&D)

(Kerb-I at the Kerbonaut centre)

(Robert Johnson with Kerb-I at the farthest point reached)

Stayputnik-II:

Stayputnik-II would be another leap forward in the space program. The Transkerbonian Authority set the KSA the task of launching a second orbital satellite but this one was to be more challenging. Before sending any Kerbals into space, they wanted to be absolutely sure that green blooded creatures could survive in the deep dark inky black up there beyond the clouds. WVC had already been hard at work wit the R&D team designing Stayputnik-II when this new mandate came in. Thankfully, the satellite only required a minor redesign by Gene's team to include a capsule capable of holding a sentient life form.

Gene not wanting to send any old animal on a one way trip to the stars, decided that he would sacrifice his own kog, Krex as the first living being in the inky black void. He noted to Wernher that sometimes sacrifices had to be made in the name of science, and he would rather it was his own pet than anybody else's. Wernher agreed at the Stayputnik-II went into production. Using what they had already learned, the team were able to design a machine that in the simulator launched Stayputnik-II into a nigh on 300KM equatorial orbit.

The rocket consisted of the Stayputnik-II sattelite with integrated OIM, the Koyuz-II upper stage, and the Alpha - B-II two stage SRB system. This build, owing the 70 day deadline was a very expensive and incredibly rushed one which left all involved feeling nervous, let alone Gene who had fears that he had sacrificed his kog in vein.

Cost: 21,194 Kerbits
Rush cost: 33,912 Kerbits
Build time (pre rush): 152D @ 0.4 Bp/s
Simulation cost: 7986.5 Kerbits

As it turned out on the day, he need not have feared. On day 85 of year 2, the largest and heaviest rocket yet built by the KSA blasted off into the sky with invited members of the press and the Transkerbonian Authority watching on. The whole mission was flawless, not one thing went wrong. History says, it is perhaps this that caused the KSA to become complacent, to over stretch themselves.

Why you might be asking yourself. Well, all will be revealed with the Stayputnik-III report becomes available. Below is a gallery of the Stayputnik-II launch.

Spoiler

(Stayputnik-II on the pad)

(Stayputnik-II launches)

(A-B-II stage 1 separation)

(A-B-II stage 2 separation)

(Fairing Jettison)

(K-II separation)

(Stayputnik-II performing experiments in stable orbit)

Coming next... Stayputnik-III (or how I learned to stop hating Wernher and love it's need for large Delta Velocity margins!)

RobertJPowell · August 2, 2016

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Stayputnik-III:

_{(Or how I stopped hating Wernher and learned to love his need for large Delta Velocity margins!)}

A lot of Kerbals at WVCSC tended to talk behind Wernher's back about his constant requirement for rockets to carry more Dv than they actually needed for the task at hand. Both the previous Stayputnik satellites had been carrying near enough an estimated 1K M/s of Dv worth of fuel in their tanks by the time they had inserted themselves into their desired orbits.

Stayputnik-III was to be no exception to that rule. During the extensive simulations that were carried out owing to the sheer scale of this latest design, (The Alpha-BIII - K-III - Stayputnik-III was easily the heaviest and tallest rocket built to date by the fledgling KSA.) it was shown that upon reaching it's desired orbit of 250km, the satellite would still have near enough 1K Dv's worth of fuel left in her tanks. Mortimer Wilson plead with Wernher to reduce the fuel but he refused, stating safety margins were built into rockets for a reason. Besides, it wasn't like the program couldn't afford it.

After what seemed like an eternity, launch rolled around at just before dawn on day 153 of 1951. Just moments before the launch a yellow light blinked on meteorological control station signifying a wind speed caution over the launch site. The station was detecting wind speeds approaching an abort situation but still within expected safety margins. Wernher simply gave the nod and the final launch sequence was initiated.

(The two SRB's of stage one of A-BIII ignite on the pad as the launch clamps release)

(A-BIII blasts through 2.6km at 160 M/s)

(A-BIII stage 1 shuts down and stage 2 ignites as the clamps release stage 1)

Disaster at T+47, 4.7km above WVCSC. Whilst everybody in the control room was watching in awe at the power of the A-BIII 1st stage the yellow warning light on the console had turned from yellow to red. Wind speed between 4 and 5KM above WVCSC was now exceeding the safety margins. As stage one of the A-BIII released, both parts were caught in a sudden gust and instead of falling clear of the accelerating and climbing second stage had smashed into it, completely obliterating it and leaving the rocket at risk.

Almost by instinct Wernher throws the staging over ride button igniting the K-III starting the Rocket back on a path skyward before it lost enough speed to drop like a stone. "I'm initiating an abort to low orbit procedure on the rocket!" Kerbals are seen dashing from console to console as a eerie quiet descends on mission control. The exhaust from K-III ignites the falling debris below the ascending rocket as pieces further below continue to collide.

(Debris continues to collide as the K-III powers upwards, the control room watching with baited breath)

(K-III achieves Mach 1, 7.6km up, 3km down range)

(The escape to orbit procedure has caused K-III to take a much shallower, more rapid climb, placing high G stresses on the rocket)

Further issues with the rocket arise at the 70KM mark as the K-III fairing jettison system fails, forcing a raid roll to release the Stayputnik-III and ignite it's OIM. Wernher stares blankly at the screen in mission control as the controllers rush to make sense of the information being provided by the satellites MechJeb system. One of the controllers states that the readings indicate it will be touch and go if Stayputnik-III can achieve orbit. Wernher starts biting his nails.

(Stayputnik-III begins the circularization burn at its new parking orbit)

(Muted cheering could be heard as it was announced not only had the Abort to Orbit been successful there would be enough in the tanks to make the originally intended orbit of 255KM via a few modest course correction burns)

At perigee in the parking orbit, MechJeb fired up the engine as instructed and made a 2 second burn taking the apogee above 255KM. Wernher scheduled a follow up burn to be made at the new apogee to circularize at a nice even 255KM equatorial orbit. There were no loud cheers in mission control as the orbit was achieved, just muted clapping and some pats on the back. The mission had been successful yes, but they had come a fraction from abject disaster. All it would have taken was one small downdraught pushing the K-III back into the exploding A-BIII and the Stayputnik-III would have failed miserably, more than likely surviving the 2 minute fall through the atmosphere only to be obliterated on contact with Kerbin's ocean. Radially attached boosters designed to separate were going to need a complete redesign.

(Stayputnik-III performs experiments high above Kerbin)

At T+ one hour, 7 minutes, 7 seconds, a fuse ails in the Stayputnik-III and the probe ceases transmissions to Kerbin. The engineers at the KSA hypothesize that the extra stresses placed on the probe during it's shallow, rapid ascent might have jiggled a few wires loose inside the probe causing them to eventually short the fuse. From this day forward, no Kerbal would ever question Wernher's to over design rockets. After all, a safety margin isn't necessarily a bad thing. Even Mortimer conceded it was probably good forward planning!

Coming next... Project Mun - Phase I

Spoiler

OOC: The KRASH simulation for this rocket went off without a hitch. When I attempted the real thing, the boosters fell into the second stage (I was trying to cheap on the build so no sepatrons!) I cursed thinking I was doomed to be recording the first KSA failure. Imagine my surprise when It dawned on me that due to a rather large miscalculation on my part, I had actually over designed the rocket enough that it could still achieve its mission parameters despite the stage 2 catastrophic failure. All I could think to myself was "How very Kerbal!" (It still had 452 M/s in the tank when the battery life ended!)

MarkWatney · August 2, 2016

I LOVE IT MOAR PLEASE

RobertJPowell · August 3, 2016

OOC Interlude:

I have completed Project mun - Phase I today and have the images collated ready to upload to imgur and to do the write up tomorrow. Reputation levels have reached such that the KSA now has the option of trying for manned launches on it's current technology, or returning to the drawing board and developing new technology for future launches. I am unsure as to which way I will go yet but needless to say, it's going to be exciting. In the meantime here is a little sneak at the primary boost stage used for Muna-I through III.

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Koyuz-IV a snacks and stuff report for project ice cream:

Greetings everyone, Walt Franks here bringing you a very special look at the 4th generation Koyuz-IV LFB that will form an integral part of our first forays to our closest natural satellite, the Mun! Yes you read that right folks, the KSA is going to the Mun, or at least into orbit around the mun! Koyuz-IV was born out of the need for a launch vehicle capable of reaching the highest parts of out atmosphere in one stage owing to R&D still scratching their heads over how to over come the problems of separating booster stages colliding with the primary stack. Stage one involved designing a suitable liquid fuel engine. Ladies and gentlekerb's, I present to you the KW-Maverick-1D x5 0.65m engine.

This mighty engine has an extremely large TWR range, and we expect it to be suitable to as far as a 30km altitude with a maximum 5 ton payload. Of course the Munar mission payloads are expected to weight far less than that, probably in the region of the 1-2 ton mark. The engine stack has a vectoring capability of 2.0 degrees and will produce up to 350 KN of thrust per engine with an ISP of between 280 and 300 per engine. For all Munar launches, simulations show that a thrust setting of 78.5% of maximum on the stack will provide the best ascent profile, with the lowest g forces and keep the rocket below temperature thresholds.

Now, the Koyuz-IV itself would consist of the KW-Maverick-1D x5 0.65m mounted under 5 1.25m diameter and 2m long liquid fuel tanks that were bolted and welded together before being filled. This was expected to provide plenty of fuel to supply the gas hungry engine block. Simulations showed the rocket performing admirably so the time had come to test her potential on the pad. Ladies and gentlekerb's, meet the Koyuz-IV liquid fuel booster!

(Koyuz-IV in VAB)

(Koyuz-IV pre ignition)

(Koyuz-IV ignited)

(Koyuz-IV shutdown)

(Koyuz-IV restart)

(Koyuz-IV burnout)

Coming next... Project Mun - Phase I

RobertJPowell · August 10, 2016

OOC: Sorry for the delay - life sometimes has a habit of getting in the way of things. Complete HD failure and more work to pay bills has meant a stall on the project. Below is the Muna-I design phase i had uploaded to imgur. Normal service will be resumed soon. Currently rebuilding mods and tweaking things to get back to post Muna-III

Muna-I:

(The Muna-I probe)

(Revised Muna-I and the Koyuz series Orbital insertion motor)

(Muna-I and its OIM on top of the mighty Koyuz-IV rocket)

A very Kerbal history (Koyuz-IV interlude)

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