HSP: Mission complete.

[Hotaru]

21 minutes ago, something said:

What kind of OS / processor / graphics combination do you use (and what's your FPS?) to get these images? They look pretty stunning and I guess that comes at a certain requirement, concerning your hardware...

Not as impressive as I expect you're picturing. 2009 Mac Pro with Windows 7 in Bootcamp, although I sometimes play KSP on OS X as well. Can't remember what the processor is off the top of my head but the graphics card is a Radeon 5870. It's not spectacular but considering it's nearly a decade old and has had about half its parts upgraded or replaced over the years, it handles modern games surprisingly well.

FPS is anywhere from 10 or so up to around 30, depending on what I'm doing. The graphics mods don't actually cost me much FPS, most of my lag seems to be from part count. Persistence and Endurance stations are both near 200 parts with a couple of spacecraft docked, and the FPS there is around 15. It's a steady 15 though, which I find a lot more tolerable than a stuttery 45 (which is what, for instance, GTA V gets).

I also keep my physics delta per frame very low (like 0.005 or something, I don't remember) which runs everything in slow-motion but improves FPS by 50% or so. I use physics warp as a sort of "turbo boost," taking advantage of a glitch that causes it to reset the delta per frame setting, if I want to switch to worse FPS but real time, but I have to restart if I want to go back to slow-but-smooth mode.

Edited February 18, 2017 by Hotaru

[StupidAndy]

three down...add eeloo, and apparently dres exists here,,.NINE TO GO

[Hotaru]

@StupidAndy Let's not get ahead of ourselves... so far we've only proved the gravitational influence of Dres. We still haven't made absolutely sure. (Also I'm curious how you figure nine to go. I count twelve!)

 

The Bravado 4 landing craft, LC-3, during its descent to the surface of Ike.

 

Bravado 3: back to Duna.

Spoiler

Half a year after its departure from Kerbin, the Bravado 3/4 flotilla begins arrival maneuvers in the Duna system.

 

Bravado 3 is the first to enter Duna's sphere of influence; it deploys its sub-satellite, which is directed into a polar mapping orbit while the main spacecraft adjusts its course to rendezvous with the LC-2 lander.

 

The sub-satellite successfully burns into polar orbit and surveys the surface of Duna for ore deposits.

 

Because of the two Aqualung tankers launched with the flotilla, fuel is less of a concern for these missions than it was for Bravado 2. Bravado 3 performs a full propulsive capture, without aerobraking, to put it on course to encounter the landing craft on the next orbit.

 

The orbiter rendezvouses with LC-2, left behind by Bravado 2, in low Duna orbit.

 

Unkermanned tanker ship Aqualung 14 arrives in Duna orbit a few days later and refuels the combined Bravado 3 spacecraft.

 

Once the tanker has been jettisoned, flight engineer Deblian performs an EVA to repack LC-2's parachutes.

 

After surveying several potential landing sites, the crew boards the landing craft and begins the descent to the surface, targeting a site Duna's lowlands.

 

They land safely, though about 30 kilometers beyond the intended site, successfully proving the spacecraft's ability to land at higher elevations. Left to right: scientist Kathelyn, commander Lodald, engineer Deblian.

 

Bravado 4: Ike!

Spoiler

Meanwhile, Bravado 4 performs a direct capture into orbit of Duna's satellite Ike.

 

The combined spacecraft is refueled in low Ike orbit by tanker Aqualung 16. Unlike Bravado 3, which will only have enough fuel for a single landing on Duna, Bravado 4 will have enough for at least three--and possibly more--landings on Ike. Although the lander makes its first descent to the surface fully-fueled, later landings may be performed with the side tanks empty to save weight.

 

Traissa: first Kerman on Ike!

 

Obligatory group shot: scientist Johndo, commander Kerzer, engineer Traissa. The crew will remain on the surface for a while before returning to the orbiter to refuel and performing additional landings; Mission Control hopes they will ultimately be able to perform a fairly complete survey of Ike's equatorial biomes.

 

Sagacity 7: investigations into the existence of Dres.

Spoiler

Although the Rationality 5 orbiter had confirmed that Dres shows up on sensors and can be orbited, some skeptics remained unconvinced of its actual existence. Sagacity 7 arrived in Dres orbit with two mini-landers to answer the next big question: can Dres be landed on?

 

Lander "A" touched down in a crater in the northern hemisphere, returning the first science data and images from the surface.

 

Lander "B" landed in the lowlands. The engineering team confirms that both probes definitely landed on something; while the scientific community agrees this is result definitively proves the existence of Dres, there are still lingering suggestions that Sagacity 7 actually suffered a bizarre navigational error and the photos are actually of the Mun.

The Space Program administration concludes that a kermanned mission is necessary to demonstrate once and for all the existence of the purported "planet." Although beyond the reach of the Bravado system, Dres will be the first objective of its successor, built around the Brillig rocket and tentatively named Project Daring.

 

[StupidAndy]

I miscounted...my math brain not working right now

lets recount

Moho, Eve, Gilly, Dres, Laythe Vall Pol Bop Tylo, Eeloo, what am I missing?

theres 16 right?

10 down? I really cant math today...

Edited February 20, 2017 by StupidAndy

[Hotaru]

Actually now I figure 14 to go (11 if you only count solid-ground landings) and 3 done (4 if you count Kerbin). [Kerbol], Moho, Eve, Gilly, [asteroids], Dres, Ike, [Jool], Laythe, Vall, Tylo, Bop, Pol, Eeloo.

[StupidAndy]

cant really land on asteroids, more like fly over and touch them on EVA, and...the less said about kerbol the better, jool if you break it you can have some funny science things when you land

[rkarmark]

DRES DOES NOT EXIST THOSE PHOTOS WHERE FROM THE MUN! 

[StupidAndy]

no...they were from IKE!!!

[Hotaru]

Brevity II exploring the highlands of the Mun.

 

Base Constancy and Brevity II: surface ops on the Mun.

Spoiler

A Brillig IVB rocket launched Base Constancy, the Space Program's first attempt to establish a permanent presence on the surface of another celestial body.

 

It's not much more than a science lab and hab module with legs, but it will provide more science income and serve as a base for surface exploration of the Mun.

 

The crew of station Persistence landed LC-1 in the Northwest Crater to rescue from the Kraken make minor repairs to dropship Impertinence 1. (OOC: There's a persistent bug where landed vessels sometimes load at odd angles. I've figured out some ways to avoid it, such as loading a flag or Kerbal near a landed ship rather than the ship itself, but none of the workarounds worked for the dropship so I had to make it load properly by bringing the lander within physics range.)

 

Meanwhile, another Brillig IVB launched Brevity II, a Mark IV rover.

 

Shuttlepod Defiance 10 carried the six-kerman crew of Expedition Constancy 1 to the rover, where flight engineer Paty made repairs to wheels damaged by the rocket's payload fairing.

 

The crew--commander Geneming, pilot Vasya, engineer Paty, and scientists Eririne, Darina, and Gledia--rode the Brillig second stage aboard the rover to Munar orbit, where they werepicked up by the dropship.

 

Impertinence 1 and the rover landed safely about 15 kilometers from Base Constancy; pilot Vasya watched the dropship return to orbit. (OOC: He was on EVA so I could load him instead of the rover to avoid the loading-at-an-angle bug. I think at one point I had figured out what mod was causing that issue but damn if I can remember now and it's not serious enough to bother narrowing it down. I'd be curious if anybody else knows about it, though.)

 

Brevity II made the short drive from the landing site to Base Constancy.

 

Once the base was operational, Vasya, Paty, and Gledia made a roughly 140-kilometer round trip to the Farside Crater, collecting data from several biomes to fill up the base's lab. (OOC: Manual on the way out, BV on the way back.)

 

Constancy will operate the same way as the other stations, with six-kerman crews on two-year tours, while Brevity II keeps it supplied with science data.

 

Bravado 4: exploring Ike.

Spoiler

The crew of Bravado 4 continued the exploration of Ike, returning to the orbiter to refuel after each landing. They explored the Southeast Range...

 

...the Western Ridge...

 

...and the Central Range. Enough fuel remains in the orbiter for at least one, and possibly two, additional landings--targeting the Midlands and the Eastern Ridge.

 

Defiance 11 and 12: Kerbin system ops.

Spoiler

Crew rotations: shuttlepod Defiance 11 launched to station Patience II with P2 Janbe, P0 Chadgan, P0 Jate, E0 Corrick, S2 Tangel, and S2 Alvis, returning to Kerbin with the previous crew. Defiance 12 (above) brought P2 Lemlock, P0 Gilbree, E3 Lizdrien, E2 Joelin, S4 Ziggy, and S1 Valcee to station Endurance I. The crew made a landing in the flats of Minmus (the science team at KSC discovered that biome was still unvisited) before handing off the spacecraft to the previous station crew, who returned to Kerbin after a stop at Patience II to deliver data and get that station's lab producing science again.

 

[Hotaru]

Boring stuff:

Spoiler

So I got to fiddling around with mods in an effort to reduce lag. After much painstaking adding, removing, and testing framerate, I only ended up losing a couple of fairly unimportant ones. I did, however, update Stock Visual Enhancements, and whether because I switched to the low-res version from the mid-res one, because @Galileo has severely optimized it since the version I was using, or both, my framerate is--no exaggeration--double what it was before. Station Endurance in Minmus orbit was my benchmark--it was getting 10-15 FPS in slow motion before, and now it's up to 25-30 in real time. Night and day. Words cannot express how nice it is to have the game running really smoothly again.

In fact it now runs so smoothly that I decided to have yet another try at installing Stock Visual Terrain. I've already tried that mod twice before in this save and both times decided it was too big an FPS killer--but for whatever reason (again, it's possible Galileo has improved it since I last tried), it now works great and costs me less than 5 FPS. So I think I'm finally going to be able to stick with it, which is brilliant because it really does make terrain look absolutely spectacular. It's not in use in most of the screenshots in this update (most of them were taken before I started messing with my mods) but it should be really noticeable in the next one.

Also I've decided to cancel the Leadership Initiative strategy, mainly because for some reason it was slowly draining my reputation (it has declined from almost 70% to 60% since activating the strategy). I honestly think the strategies are a bit bugged; for some reason rep is a condition for activating the science to funds strategy, and the game has strange ideas about which strategies conflict with which other ones. So I'm just going to stick to good old Patents Licensing for the time being. Right now it's at 91%, once my rep is high enough I'll re-buy it at 100% and then probably be done with the admin building entirely.

TL;DR: Fixed lag issues, updated SVE, installed SVT, fiddled with strategies.

 

Starbus Valerie on the Mun.

 

Starbus S-100: a new passenger rocket.

Spoiler

A Brillig IVC rocket orbited Starbus Valerie, the prototype of a new class of passenger rockets built for operations between planetary orbits and the surfaces of airless bodies.

 

The launch went smoothly, including the off-center deployment of the boosters to avoid hitting Valerie's landing pods.

 

Defiance 13 met Valerie at station Patience II to transfer the crew for the new ship's shakedown cruise, pilot Melxie and engineer Erithis.

 

Normally the ship needs only a single pilot and accommodates sixteen passengers. For this test flight, Melxie flew it from the cockpit...

 

...while Erithis tried out the passenger cabin. (OOC: There's a lot of unused space in the Mk 3 crew cabin so for roleplay purposes I tend to assume it has sleeping and living spaces on an unseen lower deck as justification for using it on interplanetary trips.)

 

They make a safe landing in the Munar East Crater.

 

Spoiler: Mun anomaly (visible from orbit if you look hard enough).

Spoiler

 

During the ascent back to orbit, the crew observed a rock arch on the rim of the crater; a future expedition from Base Constancy will investigate it more closely.

 

 

Valerie returned safely to a 250x250 kilometer orbit where it met Defiance 13 to return the crew to Kerbin. On the whole the S-100 behaved very well, although the crew noted a disconcerting habit of sliding very slowly downhill while landed and suggested some changes to its reaction control system. It will remain in Kerbin orbit to await refueling before commencing regular passenger operations to the Mun and Minmus.

 

Bravado 5: Gilly expedition.

Spoiler

A Frumious VI rocket launched Bravado 5, the Space Program's first kermanned expedition to Gilly. The crew are commander Melxie, engineer Erithis, and scientist Agalinne.

 

After tanker Aqualung 19 refueled the spacecraft and delivered its comms array, a Brillig IVB launched Aqualung 20 to act as a departure stage.

 

Unlike previous Bravado missions, the KSC engineers decided it would be easier to equip the entire Bravado spacecraft for landing on Eve's tiny satellite than to bring a separate landing craft. Bravado 5 will make a complete survey of Gilly before returning to Kerbin.

 

Bravado 6: Objective Jool and the end of an era.

Spoiler

Kerbin-based telescopes have recently observed major changes to the giant planet Jool: in addition to developing a ring system (!), the weather patterns of the planet's atmosphere have changed as well. (OOC: Obviously this is because I updated SVE.)

Originally, Bravado 5 was intended to be the final mission of the program. But the public is much more taken with the new, more interesting Jool than with a rock orbiting Eve, and when the science team pointed out that the next window to Jool opened just a few weeks after the previous mission's departure, even the notoriously stingy KSC administration couldn't resist taking a closer look. (The scientists conveniently forgot to mention that three probes are already in the Jool system with a fourth outbound.)

 

The administration authorized Bravado 6, the final mission of the program and the final flight of the venerable Frumious rocket. Aboard are mission commander Burmin, flight engineer Carena, and scientist Laselle.

 

Aqualung 21 delivered fuel and a comms array to the spacecraft in Kerbin orbit, while Aqualung 22 acted as a departure stage.

 

The combined Aqualung 22/Bravado 6 spacecraft departed Kerbin, targeting an arrival at Jool just over a year later.

 

Bravado 6 will complete a close flyby of the Joolian satellite Tylo which will redirect it on a course back to Kerbin.

 

Edited February 26, 2017 by Hotaru

[KAL 9000]

After the conclusion of the Bravado program, what's next for HSP?

[Hotaru]

Just now, KAL 9000 said:

After the conclusion of the Bravado program, what's next for HSP?

The successor to Bravado is Project Daring, which will be similar in general concept but built around the Brillig rocket and using more complex staging to achieve longer ranges. Daring 1 is planned to target Dres, although new kermanned missions will probably be on hiatus at least until the return of Bravado 5, if nothing else to keep my KAC window from getting too cluttered and this thread from getting too confusing.

[KAL 9000]

1 hour ago, Hotaru said:

The successor to Bravado is Project Daring, which will be similar in general concept but built around the Brillig rocket and using more complex staging to achieve longer ranges. Daring 1 is planned to target Dres, although new kermanned missions will probably be on hiatus at least until the return of Bravado 5, if nothing else to keep my KAC window from getting too cluttered and this thread from getting too confusing.

Cool!

[Hotaru]

Boring stuff: Finally got tired of babysitting my science labs endlessly and edited the config to increase the science buffer from 500 to 2000. Don't think this will have any gameplay effect other than not having to transmit science as often to keep them running.

 

Bravado 5 in the lowlands of Gilly.

 

Super Aqualung 1: next-generation unkermanned tanker.

Spoiler

The first Brillig VI rocket launched unkermanned tanker ship Super Aqualung 1, the prototype for a new class of tanker designed to service larger ships such as the Starbus S-100 and Persistence-class mobile station.

 

Although it had to use some of its own fuel to achieve orbit (even the Brillig VI, the Space Program's largest current launch vehicle, isn't able to put it all the way in orbit), Super Aqualung 1 successfully rendezvoused with and refueled Starbus Valerie in Kerbin orbit.

 

It then completed a transfer to the Mun, where it refueled station Persistence before deorbiting and impacting on the Munar surface. The two tasks together would've required at least half a dozen standard Aqualung missions; even with a less-than-adequate launch vehicle, the new system was able to accomplish them in a single flight. (OOC: And after two years, I think I've finally managed to come up with a Vernor quad design I'm satisfied with.)

 

Kerbin system ops.

Spoiler

The crew of station Persistence explored the Mun's Northern Basin.

 

Defiance 14 lifted off with Expedition Persistence-3, P2 Gemliana, E2 Chris, E2 Phoberta, E2 Mitrie, S2 Thomptrey, and S2 Addan. 

 

It returned to Kerbin with the previous crew.

 

Gilbree took the Pugnacity lander down from station Endurance to collect samples and data from the highlands of Minmus.

 

Bravado 4: finishing up on Ike.

Spoiler

The crew of Bravado 4 completed the final two landings of the mission, on the Eastern Range...

 

...and in the midlands. With the midland landing, the sixth of the mission, Bravado 4 has now surveyed all the equatorial biomes of Ike.

 

Ordrin: asteroid retrieval. 

Spoiler

The science team had long wanted their very own asteroid to study, so the engineers devised a plan to retrieve one with a specially modified Aqualung and a purpose-built deorbit module.

 

A Brillig IVB rocket launched Aqualung 23, with a claw in place of the standard docking port, to encounter and capture a recently-discovered Class A asteroid, XQF-459 Ordrin. (OOC: Ordrin Kerman was my first ever Kerbal on the Mun, back in 0.90.)

 

As the Aqualung approached its target and returned the first clear images of it, the scientists began to suspect that Ordrin was not an ordinary asteroid.

 

It proved to be a "Magic Boulder," a class of asteroid with distinctive veins of glowing ore, the existence of which was, up to now, only theoretical. Aqualung 23 captured it and moved it into a 250-kilometer Kerbin orbit.

 

The science team wanted samples from the asteroid before it was exposed to Kerbin's atmosphere, so Defiance 15, with pilot Eiliel, engineer Statha, and scientists Wenmy and Erigee, rendezvoused with Ordrin and collected material from it in Kerbin orbit.

 

Once Defiance 15 was safely back at KSC, a Manxome IV rocket launched Asteroid Descent Module 1.

 

The module attached itself to Ordrin, and after a final nudge out of orbit from Aqualung 23, the pair entered the atmosphere of Kerbin. The asteroid landed about 100 kilometers west of KSC.

 

The engineers hadn't given much thought in advance to how to move Ordrin around once it was on the surface; they hastily rigged up a flatbed version of the Mark IV rover. The idea was that the rover would lower its ramp and reverse quickly under the asteroid so it would roll up onto the flatbed and connect with the claw. (OOC: What I wouldn't give for a KAS winch right about now.) Eiliel, Statha, and Erigee set out in the modified rover to attempt to retrieve the asteroid.

 

To the amazement of everyone, it actually worked. It didn't hurt that Ordrin was apparently made of magical space pumice; despite its size, it only weighed just over 2 tons (for comparison, the rover weighs 10 tons).

 

The rover proved to handle surprisingly well even with the asteroid on its flatbed, and the crew made the long drive back to KSC with little trouble. (OOC: Most of the drive was with BV but the first and last 10 kilometers or so were manual.)

 

The "asteroid truckers" with their cargo in front of the Kerbonaut Building. Left to right: Erigee, Eiliel, Statha. The administration wants to turn Ordrin into a permanent monument; the engineers are still working on a way to pick it up and mount it on a pedestal.

 

Bravado 5 at Gilly.

Spoiler

200 days after its departure from Kerbin, Bravado 5 entered the sphere of influence of Eve.

 

A burn at periapsis made it the first kermanned mission to enter orbit of the kerbolar system's largest terrestrial planet, while another burn at apoapsis put it on course to encounter Gilly.

 

Aqualung 20 was jettisoned and set on a trajectory to impact Eve, while Bravado 5 captured into Gilly orbit under its own power.

 

After surveying landing sites and collecting science data from orbit, the crew brought the ship down to the surface for a landing in the lowlands.

 

Agalinne: first kerman on Gilly!

 

 

Edited March 1, 2017 by Hotaru

[DunaRocketeer]

What a great idea that asteroid flatbed is. You keep coming up with interesting spins on routine missions.

Any thoughts as to creating more economical boosters? Those Brillig rockets can't come cheap!

[KAL 9000]

7 hours ago, DunaRocketeer said:

Any thoughts as to creating more economical boosters? Those Brillig rockets can't come cheap!

A giant, booster-powered SSTO!

[KAL 9000]

7 hours ago, DunaRocketeer said:

Any thoughts as to creating more economical boosters? Those Brillig rockets can't come cheap!

A giant, booster-powered SSTO!

[Hotaru]

@DunaRocketeer Not really. Economy isn't much of a priority at the moment; the Space Program has 8.4 million spacebucks in the bank right now and plenty of income both from contracts and from science labs.

In my last career save, in 1.0.2, I had fund rewards set much lower, basically to the point that everything had to be as close to fully reusable as possible. (I also used KCT, which meant turnaround time was an issue as well.) Setting up the reusable systems was a fun challenge, but actually using them in practice was pretty tedious. After a while it felt like 90% of my time was spent cycling Aqualungs between Minmus and LKO and babysitting reusable rockets back down to KSC. So I made a conscious decision for this save that my priority would be playability rather than cost-efficiency.

That said, I do have some future plans that will involve recovering payloads from orbit, and those will require some sort of reusable vehicle with a payload bay, whether a shuttle, a reusable rocket, or a spaceplane.

 

Boring stuff:

Spoiler

A pretty big new mod this time: UbioZur Welding Ltd.  It's a bit of a stretch calling this stock gameplay (I inquired in the Jool-5 thread and was told that, while allowed, it would count as modded), but it'll allow me to do a lot of severely cool stuff that just wouldn't be possible on my computer otherwise, and frankly the structural rigidity it provides can be pretty easily achieved these days with autostruts anyway.

My practical part count limit is around 250, and while that's generally enough for basic spacecraft, complicated structures like toruses can inflate the part count pretty quick considering they serve very little actual gameplay purpose. I did a quick test flight of a Persistence doppelganger with the torus section welded; it saved about 50 parts compared to the original and ran a lot smoother. More elaborate welding will allow for much more impressive structures--bigger toruses, space hangars, monuments... I've been getting all sorts of interesting ideas.

TL;DR: Part welding.

 

The crew of Bravado 3 return to Duna orbit aboard LC-2.

 

Roley and Ordrin: more fun with asteroids.

Spoiler

The engineers were divided on how to lift Ordrin onto its pedestal; some suggested a traditional crane while others favored a VTOL aircraft. In the end the crane camp won, and the complicated machine they came up with successfully lifted the asteroid onto the pedestal. Fears that connecting the asteroid to a non-active claw would destroy the planet proved to be unfounded. (OOC: I've never done much of this kind of engineering before but I was surprised how well the crane worked. It's built around two @Majorjim!-style thermometer hinges, which proved both surprisingly easy to set up and a lot sturdier than they look.)

 

Although nobody is quite sure what it's a monument to exactly, everybody agrees Ordrin looks quite nice on the lawn outside the Kerbonaut Building.

 

The operation to retrieve Ordrin went so well the engineers decided to send up Aqualung 24 to try and get another one, MWP-797 Roley. (OOC: Roley Kerman was the first kerbal on Minmus in one of my old 0.90 saves, and the subject of one of my first forum posts.)

 

To the astonishment of the science team, Roley turns out to be another Magic Boulder. (OOC: Everyone agrees the spawn rate of Magic Boulders is somewhere in the neighborhood of 1 in 20, which means the chances of getting two in a row--let alone the first two of the entire space program--are about 1 in 400. Not completely impossible, but if it happens a third time I'm going to start investigating whether some mod or other is making ALL asteroids spawn as Magic Boulders, which would be severely annoying. Fortunately there's no real gameplay benefit to them.)

 

A Manxome IV rocket launches another descent module to meet Roley and Aqualung 24 in Kerbin orbit.

 

Roley is quite a bit denser than Ordrin, but the descent module still manages to land it safely.

 

Bravado 3 and 4: departures from Duna and Ike.

Spoiler

After a year and a half on the surface, the crew of Bravado 3 board LC-2 to return to Duna orbit.

 

The landing craft is once again left in orbit for future reuse, and the crew transfers to the orbiter to return to Kerbin.

 

The crew of Bravado 4 return to their orbiter as well; LC-3 is left in Ike orbit.

 

Bravado 4 departs the Duna system via an Oberth maneuver, saving a considerable amount of delta-v compared to Bravado 3's direct departure.

 

Lucidity 1: probing the atmosphere of Jool.

Spoiler

More than a year after its launch, Lucidity 1 arrived in the Joolian system, greeted by an unusual triple shadow on the giant planet's surface. Also it has rings now, for some reason.

 

The probe completed the Space Program's first full gravity capture with a close flyby of Tylo.

 

It then used the gravity of Vall and Laythe to lower its periapsis to just above the Joolian atmosphere.

 

The probe approached the planet, returning the first close-up images of its rings.

 

Most of its remaining fuel is spent circularizing in low Joolian orbit, 50 kilometers above the edge of the planet's atmosphere.

 

The last of the fuel was spent on the deorbit burn, and the probe entered the atmosphere of Jool.

 

To the surprise of everyone, it survived entry without any trouble, deployed its parachute and high-gain antenna, and transmitted science data back to Kerbin during the long descent through the Joolian atmosphere.

 

It was eventually destroyed by atmospheric pressure, having completed the Space Program's first descent into the atmosphere of the kerbolar system's largest planet. Its readings suggest that an ascent from the lower atmosphere may be possible, although such a mission would require an enormous amount of delta-v.

 

Immutability and Starbus Valerie: a new Kerbin space station and tourism ops.

Spoiler

A Brillig V rocket launched Kerbin station Immutability, which will eventually replace Patience II, into a 250-kilometer orbit.

 

Built around the same torus module as Munar station Persistence, Immutability lacks its own propulsion system and uses welded construction, which the engineers are convinced is both sturdier and higher-performance than duct tape.

 

The ultimate plan is for a permanent fuel depot to be placed in Munar orbit; in the meantime, a Brillig VI launched Super Aqualung 2 to serve as a temporary depot for Starbus Valerie.

 

Two Defiance shuttlepods operating as Hotaru Star Lines Flights 3 and 4 carried a load of six tourists to the station for Valerie's first regular passenger run. The flight crews were P1 Virlina and E1 Statha on HSL-3 and P2 Hayberta and E2 Rotine on HSL-4; P2 Eiliel went along to pilot Valerie.

 

The shuttlepods met Valerie at station Immutability; because the station has only two docking ports, they had to perform a complicated series of dockings and undockings to transfer their passengers to the Starbus.

 

In a stupid hotdog stunt carefully planned demonstration of precision maneuvering, HSL-3 commander Virlina navigated the shuttlepod through the station's torus.

 

The passengers and flight commander Eiliel boarded Starbus Valerie, which departed the station for the first commercial landing on the Mun.

 

Valerie was refueled in Munar orbit by Super Aqualung 2 before departing for Minmus.

 

None of the passengers actually had tickets to land on Minmus, but the PR people wanted some shots for the brochures so Eiliel took Valerie down anyway and posed for a picture in the Great Flats of Minmus before taking the ship back to Immutability.

 

The crew and passengers returned safely to Kerbin aboard the two shuttlepods. Due to a shortage of kerbonauts, Immutability has not yet received a full crew; the upcoming hiring of the sixth kerbonaut class and reduction in standard station crews from six to four at the next rotation will free up more kerbonauts for expeditions to the next generation of space stations.

 

[Majorjim!]

5 hours ago, Hotaru said:

snip

gorgeous pictures mate!

[Hotaru]

The sixth kerbonaut class with a prototype heavy mobile base. Left to right, back row: Ribnard, Leeuna, Barsen, Tambe, Asene, Jenra. Front row: Gergun, Daphthy, Madette, Gregger.

 

The second Duna flotilla: station Permanence and Starbus Elizabeth.

Spoiler

With Bravado 3 and 4 on their way back to Kerbin, the administration decides it's finally time to move on from preliminary reconnaissance of the Duna system to full-scale exploration, beginning by establishing kermankind's first (mostly) permanent presence outside the Kerbin system.

 

A Brillig V rocket launched Duna station Permanence.

 

Defiance 16, piloted by P2 Eiliel and P1 Virlina, delivered the station's first crew, commander P2 Hayberta, engineer E2 Jochelle, and scientists S1 Wenmy and S0 Tambe.

 

The station departed Kerbin orbit for Duna under tow from its orbital stage, which will be jettisoned after the spacecraft arrives in Duna orbit.

 

To provide fuel for further landings, two Super Aqualungs were sent to the Duna system as well. Super Aqualung 3 was launched by a Brillig VI...

 

...while Super Aqualung 4, a revised model with a more efficient engine, went up on an experimental Brillig VII, which proved only marginally more efficient. While a more powerful Brillig VIII is on the drawing board, the engineers are forced to admit that the Super Aqualung will never really live up to its potential until a new generation of launch vehicles becomes available.

 

Finally, a Brillig IV launched Starbus Elizabeth, the first of three planned spacecraft of the new S-101 type, to Duna. The S-101 incorporates lessons learned from the prototype S-100 Valerie--notably an improved reaction control system, a ventral docking port, and a high-gain antenna for interplanetary travel. Two of the spacecraft will operate a regular passenger service between Kerbin and Duna; the third will be used for operations within the Kerbin system.

 

Munar ops.

Spoiler

The crew of Mun station Persistence explored the Polar Crater aboard LC-1.

 

Bravado 3 and 4: return to Kerbin.

Spoiler

Bravado 3 returned safely to Kerbin at the conclusion of the second kermanned mission to the surface of Duna.

 

A few days later, Bravado 4 reentered Kerbin's atmosphere at the end of the first mission to Ike.

 

 

 

Edited March 6, 2017 by Hotaru

[Mister_Spaceman]

Wow. Really cool. This thread inspired my latest career saves. In my visual save (Visual mods only. I wonder where that idea came from.), I completed my first ever landings on Minmus. (I would give a quick report, but this isn'the the place.)

[Hotaru]

Bravado 6 during its initial encounter with Jool.

 

Station Permanence: arrival at Duna.

Spoiler

Super Aqualung 4 was the first ship of the flotilla to arrive in the Duna system; it parked in Duna orbit, where it will provide fuel for future landings.

 

Next was station Permanence, with its four-kerman crew.

 

The station was refueled by Super Aqualung 3, and the transfer stage was jettisoned to impact Duna.

 

Super Aqualung 3 then rendezvoused with and refueled lander LC-2, which docked at the station. The station crew will use it for further exploration of the surface of Duna.

 

Bravado 6 at Jool.

Spoiler

The original flight plan called for Bravado 6 to encounter the Joolian satellite Tylo, the gravity of which would redirect it back toward Kerbin. During the flight out, however, the engineers realized that the planned trajectory would result in the spacecraft arriving back at Kerbin nearly a decade after its launch. While a burn at Tylo periapsis could have cut two years off the return trip, they came to the conclusion that it would actually be faster for Bravado 6 to enter Joolian orbit, even if it had to wait for resupply from Kerbin to return.

 

So as the spacecraft approached Jool, it was redirected from its original course to encounter Tylo onto a new trajectory to fly by Laythe, using the innermost moon's gravity to reduce the capture burn.

 

This was mission commander Burmin's view of Laythe and Jool during the spacecraft's approach.

 

Burmin, Laselle & Carena: first kermen in the Joolian system!

 

The spacecraft passed within 200 kilometers of the surface of Laythe, close enough to collect detailed scientific data and observations.

 

It then flew through the moon's shadow and approached Jool.

 

The crew became the first kermen to see the recently-inexplicably materialized-discovered rings of Jool up close.

 

Scientist Laselle performed an EVA to make close observations of the rings. Fortunately for her, ionizing radiation hasn't been invented yet.

 

The spacecraft passed into the shadow of Jool and the crew prepared for the capture maneuver.

 

Bravado 6 completed its insertion burn at periapsis, putting it in a wide elliptical orbit of Jool.

 

It still has plenty of fuel left; the current plan is for it to complete encounters with the three inner Joolian satellites before eventually using the gravity of Tylo to eject itself out of the system and back towards Kerbin.

 

[Hotaru]

Bravado 6 during its second flyby of Laythe.

 

Bravado 6: exploring the moons of Jool.

Spoiler

Bravado 6 returned to the inner Joolian system after its first orbit, using the gravity of Laythe to lower its apoapsis and redirect it to a distant encounter with Vall...

 

...a third pass by Laythe...

 

...and its final encounter, a close flyby of Tylo.

 

A burn on the night side of Tylo sent the ship out of the Joolian system and on course to return to Kerbin in about two years.

 

Duna flotilla: Starbus Elizabeth arrival.

Spoiler

Starbus Elizabeth, which was launched on a slower transfer than the rest of the flotilla, arrived in Duna orbit and was refueled by Super Aqualung 3.

 

Crew rotations and Kerbin system ops.

Spoiler

To keep more kerbonauts available for interplanetary missions, standard station crews are being reduced from six kermen to four. Defiance 17 brought P3 Lodald, E3 Deblian, S3 Kathelyn, and rookie S0 Jenra to Base Constancy on the Mun via station Persistence; it returned to Kerbin with the previous crew. Defiance 18 (shown) delivered P2 Eiliel, E0 Barsen, S1 Darina, and S0 Leeuna to station Patience II for the final expedition to that station.

 

Defiance 19 carried P4 Kerzer, E3 Paty, S2 Tangel, and S0 Ribnard to station Endurance I at Minmus, making a landing to collect science data from the satellite's slopes before returning to Kerbin with the previous crew.

 

Bravado 5: exploring Gilly.

Spoiler

Bravado 5 lifted off from its initial landing site in the lowlands of Gilly to explore the other biomes.

 

It landed next in the small satellite's midlands...

 

...and finally in the highlands. The three landings constitute a complete survey of Gilly; apart from possible future mining in support of Eve operations, the Space Program administration has little further interest in the moon.

 

Having completed what may be kermankind's first and last visit to Gilly, Bravado 5 departed for Kerbin.

 

Daring 1: test flight.

Spoiler

A Brillig IV rocket launched Daring 1, an unkermanned test flight of the seven-kerman capsule for the next generation of interplanetary expeditions.

 

The spacecraft completed a circuit around the Mun before using its service module engine to put it on a hyperbolic trajectory back towards Kerbin, simulating an interplanetary reentry at 4 kilometers per second. Although there was some overheating (OOC: Heat shields continue to not correctly protect same-sized fairings, as we learned a while ago with the Circumspection program), the spacecraft survived reentry and made a safe splashdown near KSC. The first operational use of the new vehicle will be Daring 2, currently planned to be a kermanned mission to Dres.

 

[KAL 9000]

How do you get the decals with the vehicle names and numbers?

[Hotaru]

@KAL 9000 Nebula decals. Actually I'm still using the same old 0.25 version of it I've been using since 0.90, which works fine; not sure what is updated about the one on Spacedock other than the bundled dependencies, but whatever. Good to know it's being actively maintained, anyway.