SkyTech Aerospace [Chapter 3]

[Skylon]

This is a story about Skyla Kerman and her SkyTech Aerospace. I may include pictures and I am basing it off of my rockets and launches in these threads made by @TheEpicSquared and @Oliverm001x: 

Spoiler

 

Prologue

Skyla Kerman was woken up by her alarm. She turned her radio on to listen to the news. She smiled when she heard her name: "Kerbal Payments founders including Skyla Kerman gain millions of funds after they sell off to kPort". She had received multiple calls from friends and relatives which wanted to congratulate her on her 'winnings'. A lot of them just wanted some of her money. She told them that she had other ideas for the money. She wasn't selfish, but she had plans. Big plans. 

She was a very intelligent young lady who originally came from a small town in the South of Gednalna. Her family then moved to Ligartabia and on to Kelpogart where she went to university and co-founded Kerbal Payments. Kerbal Payments took the internet by storm, and it grew exponentially. Then she started to think of what she could do with the money. She imagined a world with no climate change, and one where space can be accessed by all. 

The first company she started was Kerbol Energy, which made solar panels. She then made Keesla, which made solar powered cars which could run forever. However, she quickly got bored of this and sold 50% of the shares to others, gaining a few more millions of funds, enough to make her own space company.

She contacted a few friends from the 'KPayments Mafia' and together they founded SkyTech Aerospace. They hired a team of engineers, with her friend Mike Kriffin as Lead Engineer. They started work on a fuel tank, engines and attitude control thrusters. Little did they know it, but they had begun a new age of spaceflight and civilisation itself.

Edited May 7, 2017 by Skylon

[Skylon]

Chapter 1

Just over a month after their work began (a kerbals month here is 50 days, the orbital period of Minmus) their first stage engine had finished development on Day 54, Year 1. Skyla had not yet given it a name, as she wanted her fans to decide what it would be called. However, she quickly realised she had no fans (yet ), so she named it the Albus 1. The test would come 14 days later on Day 68. Meanwhile, the engineers realised that they would need a fairing, guidance and power systems for their rocket, so they started work on those too. On Day 58 it was reported that the engineers had been having issues with the attitude control thrusters, as they couldn't get the mass down to the expected level. However, they soon realised that it was because Jeb kept hiding Bob's clipboard inside the nozzle after they took notice of his profuse complaints. On Day 63 the tank, which used the latest lightweight technology, was tested at the correct pressure successfully with no rapid unplanned disassembly. 

The rest of the days leading up to the test flashed by, and suddenly Skyla could hear the countdown to ignition start...

"10,9,8,7...Turbo pump start...6,5,4...fuel flowing as planned...3,2,1...Ignition!"

A rumble could be heard by the inhabitants of a nearby village as the engine burned its fuel, producing the expected 205.5kN of thrust, at an Isp of 265.5. The test was declared a success, and was broadcast afterwards (not live, in case something went wrong) on their Kerbtube channel, which subsequently gained subscribers.

Skyla took a picture during the test, to put on her SkyTech progression chart:

The fairing test was ready on Day 72, and went swimmingly; they deployed without fail in their vacuum chamber, which was the second largest vacuum chamber in the world at the time of its completion. The attitude control thrusters were also tested a day later, and ,other than a slightly lower efficiency than expected (this did not matter too much) , also went well.

All systems on the first stage were ready, so the engineers focused on the second stage engine and guidance systems.

Edited April 16, 2017 by Skylon

[Skylon]

NOTE: Any feedback is appreciated  

[Skylon]

Chapter 2:

The second stage engine had finished development by Day 76, and the test took place on Day 78. This was less impressive, as it was a smaller engine designed for vacuum, but nonetheless successful. Mike Kerman joked that they could use it as a barbeque, which made Skyla chuckle, but she did think that preparations should be made for a celebratory dinner for a successful launch. The engine was named the Albus-1V.A meeting was then held to discuss what they should use as a demo payload.

'So, what should we stick on the first privately funded rocket to go to orbit?' asked Skyla at the head of the table.

'A huge crate of snacks!' said one kerbals,

'A giant picture of me!' said another,

'No, a giant picture of ME!' argued another,

'Okay, calm down, we all want a picture of ourselves in space, but...' Skyla was cut off by the annoying ringtone of the company phone.
'I thought we changed that,' grumbled Skyla as she gestured to her left, 'Mike, could you answer that?'

'Sure,' he answered, ending the musical torture which was emanating from the phone.

'Hello, this is SkyTech Aerospace Industries, how can I help?' asked Mike Kerman, lead engineer...
'Yes...' a slight smile appeared on his face,
'Well...of course you can, if you are willing,' he said as his smile turned into a grin
'That will be 22,000 kerbucks,' he said, trying to control his excitement, 'Pleasure doing business with you'.

'Ready the rocket,' said Mike, 'We've got a satellite to launch!'

 

Edited May 7, 2017 by Skylon

[Skylon]

This thread can be closed now

[StupidAndy]

aww...I was enjoying it

[TOMMY (JEB 2.0)]

me 2

[Skylon]

Okay I will continue this then, but I will put more time into the Mission Idea: Emulating Real Life thread

[KSK]

Hey folks,

Not to get too snarky (I hope!) but if you liked Skylon's work, posting a quick 'I like this' post after reading, would have been good, rather than waiting for the thread to be nearly closed down. Doesn't have to be an essay but a quick word or two of appreciation goes a long way! Constructive appreciation (I liked it because of this....) is even better.  

Edited May 5, 2017 by KSK

[Skylon]

Interlude

Three days later...

krendit/Spaceflight/New mobile boom thingy company!

kickback_clusterer: So I was looking through ExplosionsNow.kerb and I discovered that a couple kerbals from the KPayments lot were building a new privately funded rocket, called the Arthur-1 (wonder why they gave it such a dull name). But here's what's even more interesting: it's actually practical. 

Truth_tellar: Kerbin is flat, don't listen to the government propaganda

privatejet: explain why SSTOs disappear under the horizon bottom first. Anyways it is a private space flight company, not owned by the government

Truth_tellar: CGI!

kickback_clusterer: get off my post @Truth_tellar

Truth_tellar: I will believe in rockets when I see them launch!

notblind: we have provideded enough evidence for are theory, prove you'res!

kickback_clusterer: what evidence? You can watch a rocket launch. If you have a couple funds you can ride an SSTO to orbit

SSTOdreamer: you can never post anything here without the FK lot trying to disprove what is clearly the truth. Back on topic i suppose. I hear they aren't even doing a demo launch. What crazy company decided to launch their payload on a rocket which has never flown?

privatejet: seems like the FKers have gone now. Apparently it was just a collaboration of Ubacian universities that wanted to launch a couple of cubesats

kickback_clusterer: well, let's just hope it goes well, or they will lose a lot of funds and reputation. Seems like they haven't told us the launch date

notblind: @kickback_clusterer that is coz it is faik! 

kickback_clusterer: I give up... 

Truth_tellar: so you admit it is all a lie!

SSTOdreamer: ...

Edited May 7, 2017 by Skylon

[Skylon]

Formatting with cropped/resized pictures is weird...

Chapter 3

Day 87, Year 1
I'm not the kind of kerbal who likes to write cheesy stuff in diaries...but I am writing in one now. Following a couple explosions small hiccups in production, the launch date is getting delayed further and further. Luckily, we haven't told the public the exact date... but the universities are getting impatient. And I'm getting worried. My colleagues and I have put a lot of money and effort into this 'project', and we don't have much left. Enough for two launches. That's all we've got. The second stage is nearly finished though, just working on the fairing now...

Day 88, Year 1
The second stage is ready! Jerbod Kerman, an intern, got crumbs in the battery case, but he assured me they will function just as well, if not better, with crumbs in them. Work begins tomorrow on the first stage, right when Mike finds the blueprints!

Day 95, Year 1
The rocket is complete! It really is good looking, and our simulations (which we only just remembered to do) show that it functions well, if a little low on thirst. Thirst?  I didn't mean that, I meant thrust. Having said that, I am quite thirsty...and tired...tomorrow I will ask Jerbod to make me some coffee.

Day 96, Year 1
Remind me to fire Jerbod. He managed to get me that coffee...on his second try. On his first try, he spilt it on the first stage engine, which was still horizontal, like the rest of the rocket. The residual coffee was relatively easy to mop off, but the same can't be said for my lab coat...seriously, that was new. Oh well, no time to complain, we have got a payload to mount!

Day 98, Year 1
It turns out that not even 5 kerbals cant lift 2.970 tons. We found this out yesterday, and we had to build a crane quickly to mount that payload and fairing, but before long the rocket was rolled out and ready for lift off in two days...

Spoiler

Three cubesats, each with one antenna and one dish, and two solar panels. Above is the crane
Arthur-1 silhouetted against the sun, ready for a morning launch

Tell me if there were any typos/errors, and feel free to give constructive criticism. Sorry if the chapters are a little short, but I need time to think between chapters. Most of this, as you can probably tell, is relatively unplanned, mostly due to impulsiveness and laziness.

Edited May 7, 2017 by Skylon

[TOMMY (JEB 2.0)]

coffey on first stage engin so hlairias  ceep up the good work  

[Skylon]

...I don't think that this will be able to sustain interest for very long, so I will leave this after next chapter. I may, however, start a career/mission report based off of this though, but starting with sounding rockets etc.

Sorry for changing my mind so many times...

[KSK]

Oh crumbs - hope nothing goes wrong with the launch.  

[TOMMY (JEB 2.0)]

I has ida give tred to some one with intrest or ceep up this tred as a side project?  Just a ida