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The Kerbal Space Agency: To Be Continued...?

Drew Kerman

By Drew Kerman
in KSP1 Mission Reports

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Vagrant203

Vagrant203

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Oh my. That was worrying for me too the first time I encountered it, but I managed to combine automated guidance (MechJeb steering toward 90° heading 45° pitch relative to surface) with manually pulsing thrust whenever the nose was above the horizon.

Granted, without MechJeb assistance I'd probably be screwed and unglued.

(I'm a little embarrassed to admit that this procedure has become routine for me due to design flaws. Although maybe MechJeb is oversteering, may need to dial back or toggle some of the reaction wheels or control surfaces.)

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Drew Kerman

Drew Kerman

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gah forgot to come around here with updates. BEHOLD - our first orbital photo!

Orbital Sunset

totally captured by chance. No artistic qualities at all. *cough*

Kerbin I was placed into a stable orbit on the 22nd and has spent its time mostly still in hibernation but each time it swings down into comms range it wakes up to send us telemetry data we can use to continually update its orbital trajectory. After more than a dozen orbits we have a very good idea of where it is and where it is going and where it will go when we tell it to perform a maneuver to return to the atmosphere and face its ultimate destruction. That will be tomorrow, so be sure to tune in! As always, latest updates are available via the Ops Tracker - don't forget as well that's the best place to review any past mission events you may have missed.

This has been the culmination of over 3 years of rocket flights and is just the start of a whole new era in space exploration!!

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Drew Kerman

Drew Kerman

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3 hours ago, Kerballing (Got Dunked On) said:

Yes it is! I assume it has been deorbited at this time?

I meant to post an update earlier today. Yes, Kerbin I was successfully deorbited and we have confirmation it fell over land as planned and is being recovered this week

The entire mission can be reviewed via our website for a compilation of the tweets and/or via our Ops Tracker for a look at the various trajectories and detailed information of each main mission event

Next up in March - Capt Jeb heads to space and the Progeny Mk7-B should have its first flight!

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Drew Kerman

Drew Kerman

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Alright, after engine issues last week we made extra sure this rocket is ready to go with a static fire out on the launchpad today. All is GO for another attempt tomorrow with lift off targeting 16:15 UTC. As usual live mission coverage can be found on the Ops Tracker. Hope some of you out there can tune in!

Launchpad Static Fire

 

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Drew Kerman

Drew Kerman

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I have made the decision to suspend our rocketry programs for a full review and reassessment on all levels (design, administration, operations, vehicle integration, etc) over the next two months, at least. This move is especially difficult because we started this year out so strong, putting a probe into orbit and once again sending a kerbal up into space after a 5 month hiatus of crewed flight. This month we were also due to launch the first Progeny Mk7-B rocket and begin testing booster recovery and re-use. However despite the increasing momentum we seem to be surpassing our capacity to manage the increasing complexity of our missions and run the risk of compromising safety.

Initial review of the recent kerbed mission has found out why the rocket did not travel as high as planned – it was 53kg heavier than expected. We don’t have a scale that can measure a rocket after it’s been fully assembled. We know the mass of a rocket because we know the mass of all the individual parts plus the mass of the fuels and the mass of the crew. At some point in this mission improper mass figures were given to the mission design team, or proper ones were given but then failed to be updated when changes were made to the rocket’s assembly. We’re still working down the fault chain to identify all the reasons why this mass discrepancy occurred.

Although this was a relatively minor mistake that did not lead to any actual issues with the mission itself, ignoring it could lead to larger mistakes that in turn lead to disastrous consequences. I don’t feel that it is enough to recognize the issue and say “we’ll get it fixed” as we also continue to move on with operations that may already be compromised. Shutting everything down will allow us to go back to missions and vessels already in progress of being deployed to ensure that they are properly put together.

This decision is also influenced by the recent shut down of the Genesis program, which allowed us to identify and rectify numerous issues that had creeped their way into the program over the years. While we haven’t yet lost a pilot in Genesis due to maintenance or operational errors, there have been numerous close calls and the margins for crewed rocket flight are even tighter, not to mention how much more expensive it is to lose a rocket and unkerbed payload in flight.

This shut down will affect launches and construction only at this time. Engine testing on our static stands will continue and Wernher von Kerman’s team over at R&D also remain unaffected, so some things will continue to move forward. The Progeny Mk7-B that was recently assembled will receive another thorough inspection, mission plans for it and future Mk7-B flights will undergo full reviews. The recent Ascension Mk1 flight will continue to be analyzed and a report published. The upcoming Ascension Mk1 and Mk2 missions are all undergoing the same review scrutiny and we will also be taking another look at what we need to accomplish between now and the late-2021 launch of the first Extremis mission. Crew training will be suspended so our astronauts can be involved in the review aspects oriented towards their mission preparations – we expect training exercises to resume prior to the operational suspension being lifted.

Lead Engineer Simon and Flight Director Lanalye are both in agreement with me on this decision and we are confident that this will work to ensure we finish this year as strong as we started.

– Drew Kerman
Founder, Operations Director

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Drew Kerman

Drew Kerman

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10 hours ago, Clamp-o-Tron said:

I've always wondered how you do your weather

*waves hands in the air*

I've got some rough guidelines written down as to how the weather behaves on Kerbin, some from doing basic research some from just a perspective of interesting story telling. I try to keep things as consistent as possible over the course of the KSA's history but it's all just decided based on how I want things to go. It's useful for creating suspense during launches, or delaying them if I have an IRL issue that forces me to take longer than planned to get the launch ready. That's basically it

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Clamp-o-Tron

Clamp-o-Tron

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Thanks Drew! I guess I'll just write a python script of my own. I plan to use it to put more constraints on when I can launch or land, kind of like @ShuttleHugger has done in their mission reports. Maybe I'll eventually port it to c# so it can be in-game, but with no graphics. (I can barely run EVE on medium settings!) Once I do that, I can make it cause part failiures through OhScrap! and wind through FAR. Probably never going to reach that stage, but I can dream!

Edited by Clamp-o-Tron
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