[Completed] JNSQ Space Race 2: Two Race, Two Space

[Kraken that doesn't exist]

1 minute ago, Misguided_Kerbal said:

I'll permit it for this mission, but I think the Mk-33 is a bit OP. Thoughts?

im copying this from the mk33 thread 

[Kraken that doesn't exist]

'aight it's august for me now so uhh im going to sleep see ya guys in the morning

[jimmymcgoochie]

7 hours ago, Misguided_Kerbal said:

I'll permit it for this mission, but I think the Mk-33 is a bit OP. Thoughts?

Mk-33 was designed for JNSQ. If launching stuff using a space shuttle is fine, then I can't see how making the shuttle launch itself is any different.

8 hours ago, Kraken that doesn't exist said:

hey AAARG did you steal my spaceplane research because i lost my mk33 files and you used mk33

Advanced Audacious Aerospace Research Group strenuously deny any and all accusations of industrial espionage 

[jimmymcgoochie]

 Advanced Audacious Aerospace Research Group: Deliberately leaving our Kerbals in space!

The Board had some reservations about the Mk-33 spaceplane. It had suffered control issues during orbital insertion and descent to landing with no pilot aboard. With Valentina screaming (literally) towards the Mun and Natagard nowhere to be found (it later transpired she had stolen an inflatable dolphin and was paddling frantically towards Welcome Back Island, in the middle of the night) it fell to space veteran Jebediah to pilot the Mk-33 "Secundus" mission.

This mission would carry the Space Station One into orbit where scientists Bob and Siesy would 'do science' and engineer Bill would 'do engineering'. The station was equipped with retro-rockets, a heat shield and some parachutes so it could theoretically be deorbited by itself, although the survivability of that re-entry is questionable.

After achieving orbit, the same control issues with the Mk-33 reappeared causing the station to be deployed in an irregular and elliptical 180x90km orbit and narrowly averting disaster as the engines started firing while Bob EVA-ed towards the station in an attempt to start up its faulty control systems. At which point we realised that the station's control systems weren't merely faulty, they were nonexistent! An egregious design oversight which could be corrected in a future mission, if not for the time it would take to launch such a mission. Looks like Bill, Bob and Siesy are going to be in space for a while!

Spoiler

On this occasion the Mk-33 began tumbling uncontrollably at around 2km/s, shedding speed and altitude at an alarming rate before Jeb wrestled it back under control and made an emergency landing some distance beyond the C. Yeager runway which was the intended target. The Board were alarmed to see the footage shot from C. Yeager showing "Secundus" hurtling through the sky completely out of control, and have decided to suspend all Mk-33 missions until the cause of the control issues is found and rectified. A new launch system will need to be procured before we can fly out to the Mun and Minmus again.

Full album is here: https://imgur.com/a/x5qqdzx

AAARG's space program has been running for 3 hours and 20 minutes. As well as the ongoing relay network deployment and Val's Mun mission, we now have a fully/partially/vaguely functional space station in orbit of Kerbin.

(OOC: The Mk-33 is proving to be a real pain here, which is really odd as it worked fine when I tested it before the Race started and in my JNSQ career game. I suspect that switching engine modes during the ascent is causing GravityTurn to freak out and bungle the control systems somehow, so I'll try it one more time without switching engine modes. The uncontrollable tumbling during re-entry, I have no idea...)

[Kraken that doesn't exist]

1 hour ago, jimmymcgoochie said:

Mk-33 was designed for JNSQ. If launching stuff using a space shuttle is fine, then I can't see how making the shuttle launch itself is any different.

Advanced Audacious Aerospace Research Group strenuously deny any and all accusations of industrial espionage 

i was going to use mk-33 but then i accidentally deleted the files so let's just say you stole it but deny it lol

[jimmymcgoochie]

 Advanced Audacious Aerospace Research Group: Next stop: Minmus!

After the suspension of the Mk-33's operations, a new launch system was needed to send a Kerbal at Minmus. The Board insisted on a 'stock' solution, whatever that meant. The choice of pilot was a simple one- Val was already going to the Mun and Jeb had barricaded himself in his room, but Natagard had just been returned to us by the Coastguard and was distracted with chocolate until someone could chloroform her bravely volunteered to be the first Kerbal to visit the little minty moon.

Due to the low gravity and small SOI of Minmus, a decision was made to skip the free return trajectory and instead aim for a direct insertion into low orbit to save fuel for the return; a free return trajectory would have required an extremely high Minmus orbit, requiring a longer braking burn and resulting in a very slow orbit, delaying the return.

Spoiler

It turned out to be a pretty boring launch, with orbit being established in a relatively quick 6 and a half minutes. The Minmus transfer and insertion burns took a bit longer to plan as the margins are pretty tight, but now Natagard has a 30 minute wait before her transfer burn and the Board are keen to do something else with that valuable time. 

Full album is here: https://imgur.com/a/2jufC63 (not that there are any more pictures in it than are included above)

AAARG's space program has been running for 3 hours and 33 minutes, and now has Kerbals heading to both of Kerbin's moons plus a space station and a relay network being deployed. Next up- a lander for Minmus! Which will end up departing very soon after the orbiter and might even arrive before it 

 

[Kraken that doesn't exist]

i assume docking a manned capsule to a probe is aloud right?

[jimmymcgoochie]

2 minutes ago, Kraken that doesn't exist said:

i assume docking a manned capsule to a probe is aloud right?

That's what I did. If it's good enough for Neil Armstrong...

[Kraken that doesn't exist]

Just now, jimmymcgoochie said:

That's what I did. If it's good enough for Neil Armstrong...

yep

[jimmymcgoochie]

  Advanced Audacious Aerospace Research Group: Minmus again, part one.

Since we have some time before Minmus Orbiter heads out to Minmus, the Board decided to launch the Minmus Lander as well. A few upgrades to the orbiter to give it more fuel and some landing legs, and it should be more than capable of a Minmus land and return mission. In fact, with a little more fuel, it should be capable of a Mun land and return mission too!

Two new Kerbals have joined our ranks: Dunler and Hilsey. Unlike the last lot of new Kerbals, who were selected because of their (supposedly) high levels of courage, these two have been chosen because they're pretty stupid, and thus are expected to cope better with being locked in a tin can for many days on end, surrounded by the cold, dark, merciless vacuum of space. They'll be easier to catch and stuff in a pod, at any rate, and that's all that matters to the Board- chasing after the others has wasted enough time as it is!

Due to the long flight times to Minmus (over 9 days), this report is relatively small and uninteresting. The cool stuff will happen when the spacecraft actually gets to Minmus, leaving plenty of time to launch some probes and try to put a control system onto Space Station One which is drifting around Kerbin with no control whatsoever.

Spoiler

With the transfer burn loaded, all Hilsey has to do is wait. She seems to be using the time to practice screaming our name; the Board commend her dedication!

Full album is here: https://imgur.com/a/ZomigwX

AAARG's space program has been running for 3 hours and 44 minutes, with 2 satellites, 1 space station, 2 crewed orbiters, 1 crewed lander and 3 relays in flight. The Mun Lander will likely follow in the next report, followed by the Mun and Minmus probes. (The original plan was to include those on the landers, but I forgot about them this was not possible within the design parameters.

 

[The Dressian Exploder]

Ok, time for the NDSC to get in on the action!

[Kraken that doesn't exist]

Koviet Union: attempted docking, first woman to space, and a tragic failure

we attempted to have a docking with 2 manned new spacecraft called "Союз" the first one to launch with Jebediah Kerman and Bill Kerman, it managed to get to orbit, the 2nd one, with the first woman to space, Valentina Kerman and Bob Kerman, it launched successfully too, but when trying to rendezvous it didn't go so well, and Союз 2 accidentally deorbited itself trying to rendezvous and they tried to just make an unscheduled landing but i forgot to deploy the main chutes and tried to land with the drogue chutes there was a failure with the staging system and the craft crashed, we managed to recover the bodies and it seems they got killed instantly, they will be buried with all koviet honors and will be awarded the hero of the koviet union.

[jimmymcgoochie]

Advanced Audacious Aerospace Research Group: Ticket to the Mun, part one.

A few more upgrades (and a few MOAR BOOSTERS) later, Mun Lander is ready for launch. This time, a little cubesat was added to the nose of the rocket to fulfil the 'Mun probe' objective as efficiently as possible; it will be dropped off in Mun orbit before the lander descends to the surface. Dunler was surprisingly lacking in dedication- he only screamed our name three times during the launch, well below the average of 9 seen in all other missions to date. The Board have requested a disciplinary hearing be scheduled after his return, however since that's going to be at least 9 days away they'll probably have forgotten about it by then.

Spoiler

The Board were particularly pleased by the action shot of the main boosters separating from the first stage; the separator motors in the boosters provided just enough light to see what was going on. They remain insistent that daylight launches are preferred, however the need for speed takes precedence over the need for pretty pictures to put on the Boardroom walls.

Full album is here: https://imgur.com/a/aMwiQBb

AAARG's space program has been running for 3 hours and 52 minutes. Mun and Minmus orbiters and landers are now all in space and the Mun orbiter is already on its way to the Mun, with the Mun lander due to follow suit shortly and the Minmus duo after that. Further missions are planned to get control of Space Station One and launch several advanced scanning satellites at Kerbin and its moons, in order to find suitable sites for future landings and surface bases on the latter. And also because they look really cool.

[jimmymcgoochie]

Advanced Audacious Aerospace Research Group: Orchestral Orbital Manouevres in the Dark.

Our Kerbals say, they should have stayed at home yesterday. We got their message on the radio, conditions dreadful and please bring us home!*

ahem... Now that we've got that out of our system we can report on a number of orbital burns, with varying success rates. First up, the transfer burns for Minmus orbiter and both Mun and Minmus landers, which had rather poor accuracy due to fat fingering the time warp buttons poor execution by the pilots. Correction burns were completed for both Minmus craft to set them on course for equatorial orbits, however the Mun lander will enter into a polar Mun orbit and will then have to land on the equator in order to return to Kerbin as efficiently as possible.

Next, a scan satellite was launched from C. Yeager launch site (because daylight!) into a polar orbit of Kerbin, however a miscalculation meant that it was left with a delta-V deficit of around 100m/s to complete its orbital circularisation. It's in orbit, just with an unhelpfully low periapsis; the Board have changed their position on methalox rockets considerably, railing against the decision (made by them!) to use the untested cryo engines for this mission.

We also deployed the first keostationary relay into its orbit, with the other two left in a resonant orbit to be deployed in 8 and 16 hours' time respectively.

 

Spoiler

 

Full album is here: https://imgur.com/a/0CACvHY

AAARG's space program has been running for 5 hours and 7 minutes. We currently have three satellites in orbit of Kerbin, one keostationary relay in position with two more to go, crewed missions to orbit both Mun and Minmus, and crewed missions to land on both Mun and Minmus. We also have a mission underway to get control of our space station and the control module is in orbit of Kerbin waiting to make a transfer burn to intercept the station.

(*In case you missed it, that was Enola Gay by Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark)

[jimmymcgoochie]

Advanced Audacious Aerospace Research Group: Moar Probes!

Rather than waste the down time between comms relay deployments and the various correction and insertion burns for the crewed missions, the Board has decided to deploy scanning satellites to both the Mun and Minmus. This will fulfil the 'Mun/Minmus probe' objectives more convincingly than 'stapling a cube sat to the lander' and will also be beneficial for future missions involving landings and bases. The satellite was unchanged from Scan Sat 1, but was given a larger second stage fuel tank plus drop tanks and a nearly identical first stage to the Mun and Minmus landers giving it a generous fuel margin to complete its mission. Scan Sats 2 and 3 were identical, and after Scan Sat 2 missed the Mun transfer window by a matter of seconds the decision was made to launch Scan Sat 3 from a helipad at the equatorial airfield that Jeb failed to land the Mk-33 Primus at only a few hours ago.

Spoiler

Unfortunately Scan Sat 3 lost a solar panel when a part of the fairing failed to separate properly and struck the panel, but the second panel was undamaged and can still power all the scanners with a healthy margin on top. The Space Station control module is now on course for an intercept with the Space Station itself and will carry out a transfer burn in a few orbits' time. Time which the Board intend to use to test various systems that will come in handy later like atmospheric entry systems for probes, mobile surface bases and a three part sample return rocket which will eventually be used to return samples from Duna's surface to Kerbin for detailed analysis.

Full album is here: https://imgur.com/a/l39WYOG

AAARG's space program has been running for 5 hours and 57 minutes. The sun is about to come up over the KSC and the Board are ecstatic. There are also two new satellites in orbit, travelling to the Mun and Minmus respectively, taking our total active mission count to 5 satellites, 3 relays, 2 orbiters, 2 landers, one space station and one 'probe'- the Space Station control module. Several spent drop tanks were deposited into orbit, however the data from the Tracking Station suggests that these have all mysteriously disappeared; some have suggested 'the space Kraken' is responsible, and that we should continue to feed it debris and spent rocket stages to keep it from attacking our active missions.

 

[The_Stinky_Broccoli]

well i went on to my save today and it got corrupted  can i start a new save? i wasn't that far in anyway.

[The_Stinky_Broccoli]

also please tell me if using KRASH to simulate flights without flying them so i can change stuff with out it effecting my time is cheating.

Edited August 1, 2020 by epicfailure2020

[jimmymcgoochie]

1 hour ago, epicfailure2020 said:

well i went on to my save today and it got corrupted  can i start a new save? i wasn't that far in anyway.

Check inside the folder for your save, there should be a 'backups' folder inside that with some files called persistent-2020-08-01-01-02-03 or something similar, the numbers will be date-time stamps. Those are backup save files, grab the one with the most recent date and copy it into the save folder itself (up one folder level) then rename that persistent.sfs which should then make the game use that file to load your save game and everything should be back to where it was, only a little bit behind.

1 hour ago, epicfailure2020 said:

also please tell me if using KRASH to simulate flights without flying them so i can change stuff with out it effecting my time is cheating.

To my eyes, simulating a mission without doing it is the same as flying it then reverting to try again, and shouldn't be allowed.

[The_Stinky_Broccoli]

31 minutes ago, jimmymcgoochie said:

Check inside the folder for your save, there should be a 'backups' folder inside that with some files called persistent-2020-08-01-01-02-03 or something similar, the numbers will be date-time stamps. Those are backup save files, grab the one with the most recent date and copy it into the save folder itself (up one folder level) then rename that persistent.sfs which should then make the game use that file to load your save game and everything should be back to where it was, only a little bit behind.

 

i tried and they are ell corrupted. 

32 minutes ago, jimmymcgoochie said:

To my eyes, simulating a mission without doing it is the same as flying it then reverting to try again, and shouldn't be allowed.

they are different. simulating a mission is not actually flying it just testing if it works which you cant do otherwise. and if you simulate something and it goes well you still need to fly the mission for real for it to count.

[The_Stinky_Broccoli]

 The United Kerbal Republic of Snacks new save entry

using new methods of attaching a nosecone and computer to a booster we launched a rocket carrying a failed nuke thermometer. 

2 minutes in!

 

[Misguided Kerbal]

4 hours ago, epicfailure2020 said:

well i went on to my save today and it got corrupted  can i start a new save? i wasn't that far in anyway.

sure, why not

also... not to bother you @jimmymcgoochie, but can you please provide a list of everything you've done so far. I'm sorta confused. Also, I'm pretty sure I missed something.

[jimmymcgoochie]

@Misguided_Kerbal so far I've:

• Launched something. (I now realise that I may have skipped this one  but launching the docking target probe fulfills this milestone as the crew pod completed the 'crewed docking' milestone and the 'docking' achievement, not the target probe )
• Launched a satellite.
• Launched a polar satellite.
• Launched a Kerbal (I had to go back and do that one before moving on as I misread the rules).
• Launched a Kerbal into orbit.
• Performed a docking between a crewed pod and a target probe.
• Launched a set of 3 relays into a keostationary network (incomplete, only 1 of 3 relays is deployed so far)
• Launched a probe to the Mun (incomplete, en route to Mun right now)
• Launched a probe to Minmus (incomplete, en route to Minmus right now)
• Launched a space station (complete, but currently has no control as I forgot to put any command pods/probe cores on it  )
• Launched a crewed Mun orbiter (incomplete, en route to the Mun right now)
• Launched a crewed Mun lander (incomplete, en route to the Mun right now)
• Launched a crewed Minmus orbiter (incomplete, en route to Minmus right now)
• Launched a crewed Minmus lander (incomplete, en route to Minmus right now)

 

[Kraken that doesn't exist]

@Misguided_Kerbal i've tried at least 50k times to dock and have failed can i just skip it with your permission

[jimmymcgoochie]

Advanced Audacious Aerospace Research Group: Killing time Experimenting until missions reach their nodes!

We have three Mun missions, three Minmus missions and one keosynchronous relay constellation being deployed. There's a lot of time between the various nodes where nothing is happening. "No more!" Cry the Board. "Do something interesting!"

While launching rockets just for the sake of it seems a bit counterproductive, we at AAARG strive to keep the Board happy (or at least, less grumpy until their next shipment of sugar-rich confectionery arrives) so we decided to try a couple of things. A joint mission with two goals: launch and test a 10 metre inflatable heat shield during a high-energy re-entry, as a simulation of a future Eve landing (the lessons learnt might apply to Duna, although its atmosphere and gravity are pretty wimpy); and test a new configuration of the Mk-33 as a last ditch attempt to make it usable and resolve the problems that have occurred in all (both) of the previous flights. How? Simple- stick an extra pair of tail fins on the front to act as canards.

But first, a minor course correction for the Minmus scanner sat that put it on course for a polar orbit insertion at Minmus in a little over 9 days.

But more importantly: A LAUNCH IN DAYLIGHT AT KSC! The Board are absolutely over the Mun about that and have ordered copies of all the launch pictures for their second (and in a few cases, third) homes. One of them asked how we managed to take pictures from outside the ship while it's flying through the air, or indeed how we do it in space. The hapless intern who got asked this question mumbled something about 'fourth wall breaches' and shoved some chocolate in the Board member's general direction, and a rather tricky predicament was averted.

Spoiler

Unfortunately, the new canards didn't resolve the Mk-33's control issues during the ascent or the descent; interestingly it was later found that the tail fins (and by extension, the copies functioning as canards) had their authority limiters set to zero meaning they didn't function as active control surfaces. After some violent tumbling at 2km/s and 10g, Tertius was finally brought under control but expended too much fuel to make it back to the C. Yeager runway it had (once again) overshot, resulting in an unplanned but remarkably un-crashy water landing.

In better news, Space Station One now has control! The control module successfully rendezvoused and docked to the station, much to Bob's relief as the sun had been blazing in through the lab windows into his face for several hours by this point.

Full album is here: https://imgur.com/a/O6qDyEE

AAARG's space program has been running for 10 hours and 20 minutes. One new mission was added- the re-entry prototype- and one mission was completed- the Space Station control module docking to the Space Station. All Mun and Minmus missions are proceeding as planned and the first Mun mission will be arriving in the Mun's SOI in a little over 3 days. By that point all three comms relays will be in position as well, ticking off a minor but nonetheless important objective in our Race To Space.

24 minutes ago, Kraken that doesn't exist said:

@Misguided_Kerbal i've tried at least 50k times to dock and have failed can i just skip it with your permission

I think you can just make a couple of rovers with command chairs on them and dock those together on the ground- it doesn't say 'docking in orbit' after all!

[The_Stinky_Broccoli]

so i can  use sims to test my rockets?