SAI-Kerpollo Program, Chapter 3: Minty Minmus

[sturmhauke]

Quinn spacecraft and Stovepipe lander, en route to Minmus

 

Here is my take on the Kerpollo Program challenge.

Prologue

Difficulty settings are mostly Normal. I also turned on experience points, pressure and G-force limits, require signal for control, plasma blackout, and resource transfer obeys crossfeed.

Spoiler

 

Notable Mods

• DLCs
• visual mods (Spectra, Real Plume Stock, Distant Object Enhancement, etc.)
• utility mods (KER, EEX, Transfer Window Planner, Kerbal Alarm Clock, Precise Maneuver, Trajectories, etc.)
• Airplane Plus
• Community Resource Pack
• Community Tech Tree
• basically everything by Nertea (Near Future whatevers, Cryo Engines, etc.)
• KAS/KIS
• Kerbal Foundries
• KJR
• KSC Harbor
• Mk2/Mk3 Expansion
• Modular Launch Pads
• Planetary Base Systems
• Restock/Restock Plus
• Tweakscale
• USI Konstruction
• Universal Storage 2

 

Chapter 1: Kerpollo

Before the Kerpollo program could get off the ground, so to speak, it needed better tech. To that end, Bill whipped up a succession of dumb amazing science capsules that could be easily deployed and retrieved around the KSC. Which Jeb frequently commented looked different from how he remembered it. Perhaps he had been sniffing too much mystery goo. At any rate, it was enough to build a rocket that wasn't just a stack of Fleas taped together.

Spoiler

 

Bill made a rocket that should be able to get to orbit, probably, on a good day. Jeb said it looked like his old lava lamp from college, so that became its name. Val and Bob just shook their heads. Neither of them was much interested in flying Bill's questionable rocket. However, that presented a problem: Should Jeb fly the rocket for the sake of better flight control, should Bob fly it to take better advantage of experiment reuse and therefore mass savings, or should Bill weld a couple capsules together for the worst of both worlds? After some flight simulations, and Val rolling her eyes so hard she sprained a muscle, the team decided to send just Jeb up with a bay full of extra mystery goo and also a couple of experimental storage containers.

Spoiler

 

Lava Lamp made orbit! Kerpollo was a success! But Jeb quickly got bored up there, and it wasn't long before he was beginning a reentry burn. And just to add unnecessary risk, he also went EVA to get some readings while in the upper atmosphere, before it got too hot. Jeb unfortunately had to jettison the service bay before the last couple of mystery goo containers got used, but he was at least able to transfer all the experiments over to storage.

Spoiler

 

Once the capsule skin had cooled down enough and the capsule had slowed down to a less-suicidal speed, Jeb once again climbed out to get some readings. Overall the mission was a great success!

Spoiler

 

Bob wanted to squeeze a bit more science data out of the mission, using some of the newly-implemented experiments that just became available. So he constructed a couple of perfectly reasonable science, er, vehicles. It was enough to finish Tier 3. Bob wasn't entirely happy with the naming scheme, but whatever. Science!

Spoiler

And that's a wrap for the basic Kerpollo mission! Tune in next time for the finest in Kerbal engineering!

Edited June 18, 2020 by sturmhauke
Chapter 3

[Superfluous J]

11 hours ago, sturmhauke said:

  Hide contents

 

That's quite the modded tech tree! What's that stuff to the left of start?

I don't recognize all of the mods you're using. Do they add any science experiments? I could put you in the Rogue's Gallery but - even with extra nodes - extra science breaks a rule of the challenge.

I can't think of a way to utilize off-planet bases or construction that wouldn't break a rule (or at least the spirit of a rule) in the challenge. Do you just usually have those installed or did you have plans for them?

I look forward to seeing this progress. I don't mean to sound like a downer even if it's not exactly the challenge it sounds like an epic undertaking.

Edited June 5, 2020 by Superfluous J

[sturmhauke]

48 minutes ago, Superfluous J said:

That's quite the modded tech tree! What's that stuff to the left of start?

I don't recognize all of the mods you're using. Do they add any science experiments? I could put you in the Rogue's Gallery but - even with extra nodes - extra science breaks a rule of the challenge.

I can't think of a way to utilize off-planet bases or construction that wouldn't break a rule (or at least the spirit of a rule) in the challenge. Do you just usually have those installed or did you have plans for them?

I look forward to seeing this progress. I don't mean to sound like a downer even if it's not exactly the challenge it sounds like an epic undertaking.

The stuff on the left is for Modular Launch Pads. You get a simple round pad in the start node (the one in the screenshots). The additional nodes I've unlocked are for Mercury, Gemini, Soyuz, and generic medium-sized pads, and the two remaining are for Saturn and Space Shuttle pads. You can mix and match pad parts too.

Some of the mods add experiments in new form factors (e.g. a radial attached Science Jr.), but they behave the same way as the stock experiments as far as the game engine is concerned. There might be one or two brand new experiments but I won't be using those.

I had the planetary base mods, construction mods, etc. installed already, and I didn't feel like adding yet another KSP install. So I probably won't use them much. A few parts might make for decent crew cabins on an interplanetary cruiser or something.

If that's still Rogue's Gallery material, so be it. Should be fun anyway.

[Superfluous J]

2 hours ago, sturmhauke said:

If that's still Rogue's Gallery material, so be it. Should be fun anyway.

No should be fine so long as you don't use the other experiments.

[sturmhauke]

Chapter 2: To the Mun, Alice!

The Frag Four - Jeb, Bill, Bob, and Val - celebrated their successful Kerpollo mission but soon started arguing about whether to tackle the Mun or Minmus next. After many heated words and spilled snacks, Bill finally settled the question by flipping a coin. It came up Mun.

Bill named the new rocket Alice, after an old college girlfriend. R&D hadn't yet figured out things like larger diameter fuel tanks, decent landing legs, fuel crossfeed, or even ladders that wouldn't fall off in space. But at least they had some nice gantries to work with. Last time Jeb had to get hoisted up to the command pod on a crane. This time, all four of them would be going to the Mun.

Spoiler

 

Alice had to make do with a somewhat excessive number of stages, due to the limited part selection. But it was nothing a little extra duct tape couldn't handle. For the launch, Jeb would take command, with Bob in the second capsule for easy EVA access and the others in the passenger cabin. Soon, the Frag Four was in the air.

Spoiler

 

Before Alice completed its LKO circularization maneuver, Bob performed the first of many EVAs to get as much science as possible. Alice was equipped with the new Science Jr. experiment, as well as the previous set of instruments. It also had an upgraded science inventory system, capable of automatically storing two copies of all experiments and discarding any additional copies - Bob determined that a system that could store triplicate data was not worth the extremely marginal benefit.

Spoiler

 

Jeb got Alice into a parking orbit and then waited for the Mun insertion window. It was decided that Alice would transfer straight into a polar orbit before landing, in order to pass over all the Mun's biomes and take readings.

Spoiler

 

Over the course of the next three days, Bob completed many EVAs over the Mun's many biomes, with Jeb assisting as needed. In the interest of speeding the mission along a bit, Jeb made once course correction burn to line up Alice with one of the canyons, to maximize the time over target. The crew also decided to land near the equator on the farside Midlands, in order to pass over the East Farside Crater and a handful of other remaining biomes during the return trip.

Spoiler

 

The following image is representative of how not to land a rocket on the Mun, and is not at all a depiction of actual events that certainly did not occur.

Spoiler

 

Alice landed completely successfully with no usage of the top secret Q.U.I.C.K.S.A.V.E. Protocol. Ahem. And then the Frag Four all exited the vehicle for legitimate scientific purposes, such as testing out the personal spacesuit thruster systems.

Spoiler

 

For the return home, Val took over command so Jeb could rest. Mission Command also trusted Val more with the reentry - it was more technically difficult but also boring, which Jeb had a tendency to make mistakes with. As planned, Alice passed over the remaining equatorial Munar biomes before making the eject burn back to Kerbin.

Spoiler

 

Val set an initial reentry periapsis altitude of 40km. Mission Command wasn't entirely sure whether Alice would require a second pass or not, and didn't want to risk a lower descent profile. As it turned out, Alice did need a second pass before completely deorbiting. Val used the last of the Munar ascent/return fuel to help with braking, before jettisoning the last stage. Meanwhile, Bob managed to run a few more experiments, although there were excess copies from earlier.

Spoiler

 

Once Alice deployed chutes and slowed down enough, Bob insisted on one last EVA in midair over the desert. Mission Command tried to get him to stop, but there was science to be done!

Spoiler

 

The mission was a great success, and led to many new advancements. Bill was like a kid in a candy shop, looking at all the new tech. Onward!

Spoiler

 

Edited June 18, 2020 by sturmhauke
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[sturmhauke]

Chapter 3: Minty Minmus

Now it was time for the Frag Four to tackle the other moon and see just how minty fresh it really was. Mission Command said they had to start training additional kerbonauts; to that end, a young recruit named Pabur was selected to pilot the command/service module in orbit of Minmus.

Bill named this rocket Quinn, after another old girlfriend. He seemed to have a lot of exes. At any rate, it made use of some of the new tech that the Skunkworks crew had worked out, like usable ladders. Oh and hydrogen launch engines, those were nice too. Val was more excited about the ladders though. Meanwhile Bob was most interested in the new experiment modules. They didn't gather new types of data, but they could store two copies of a dataset before they needed to be manually reset, and were also more compact.

Quinn was rolled out to the primary launch pad in the predawn hours for system checks. As luck would have it, a conjunction of four bodies was visible off the coast just before sunrise - Gilly, Eve, Duna, and Moho. (Thanks, Distant Object Enhancement!) The crew of five marveled at the view as they rode the gantry elevator and boarded the spacecraft.

Spoiler

 

Quinn launched just after dawn. Jeb set a course a few degrees to the south, to better match inclination with Minmus. The final inclination was still a bit off, but it was close enough.

Spoiler

 

After Quinn achieved a stable orbit, the next step was to dock the Stovepipe lander (Val said it reminded her of her grandma's old woodburning stove) to the front of the CSM. Once that was done, Quinn set off for a polar insertion around Minmus.

Spoiler

 

While Quinn was coasting to the Minmus capture burn point, Bob went EVA to run and collect a few experiments. At first he thought he had to use his jetpack to reach the materials bay on the front side of the lander, but then he discovered he could reach through a gap from the other side and access it that way.

Spoiler

 

Quinn completed a polar capture and orbited a few times while Bob ran more experiments. Then Jeb maneuvered into an equatorial orbit to prepare for landing. It wasn't intended to be retrograde, but Mission Command worked out the math (but also threatened to reduce Jeb's personal snack allotment). Luckily, Minmus' large flats were forgiving of landing mistakes.

Spoiler

 

Most of the crew transferred to Stovepipe for landing, while Pabur took the pilot's seat aboard Quinn's CSM.

Spoiler

 

Minmus presented more amazing views. In one direction, Kerbin and the Mun were visible, and in the other, Moho, Duna, Eve, and Gilly. Jeb thought he could see Ike, but then Val pointed out that it was moving too fast and too far from Duna. They argued about it for a bit, until Pabur broke in over the radio to announce that she could see them down there - it turned out they were looking at the CSM the whole time.

Spoiler

 

The Frag Four collected a few surface samples to analyze for the presence of mintonium, then headed back into orbit to prepare for the return trip.

Spoiler

 

As Bob transferred the collected science data from lander storage to CSM storage, he wondered if it would be possible to temporarily get far enough away from Kerbin to run a few solar experiments. The service module had lots of excess fuel, so Mission Command gave the green light. At this point Val took over piloting duties.

Spoiler

 

After the jaunt into near interplanetary space, Bob transferred the remaining data into CSM storage, and then Val lined up for an assisted aerobrake maneuver. She jettisoned Stovepipe to burn up in atmo. Val used up some of the remaining fuel in the service module to help slow down, starting just before hitting atmo and continuing until the service module built up too much heat. Then she turned slightly before jettisoning it. so that it would fall away from the command module. Reentry and landing were otherwise uneventful.

Spoiler

 

The mission collected more scientific data than Munpollo, yet Bill was somewhat frustrated with the utility of it all. R&D offered up a list of advancements that didn't seem entirely relevant, but there was enough to work with and he hoped it would lead to bigger and better things.

Spoiler

 

Edited June 18, 2020 by sturmhauke
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