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

[jimmymcgoochie]

Advanced Audacious Aerospace Research Group: The nuclear option!

Yes, we said we were going to wait for the transfer window to go to Duna. That was the plan. We actually are doing that.

BUT- an intern suddenly burst into the Boardroom yesterday and breathlessly explained his plan to the stunned Board: take the same huge nuclear booster with the 10 metre hydrogen tank, which we already launched to power the crewed mission, and build more of them to power a second set of Duna missions directly to Duna without the near 600 day wait for the transfer window. This meant Rocket! Launches! Now! so the Board were immediately sold on the idea, and commanded that more nuclear interplanetary boosters be made at once and more Duna missions be made to ride said boosters to Duna at once.

Some quick planning and construction later, a second Duna mining rover, a second lander for Ike, a second sample return mission for Duna and a scanning satellite for Duna were all prepared and sent into orbit. First to be launched were two nuclear boosters, which naturally got launched on one gigantic launch rocket- Post-Kerbin Mining were slightly concerned by the sheer size of the thing we had created using their 7.5m launcher components, even if its mass was relatively low for its size. The Duna mining rover was then docked to one of them and sent on its way, but then everyone forgot that we had sent two of them and put separate nuclear cruise stages on the scan sat and the sample return mission- the latter of which warrants a special mention due to its unusual design: a fairing inside a fairing, a docking port attached to the decoupler node of an engine plate with a second, smaller docking port on the plate itself and a two stage lander with the single goal of collecting a mystery goo sample from Duna's surface and taking it back to Kerbin. Unfortunately the only thing that wasn't included in the design was a way to get back to Kerbin's surface, so another launch will be required to collect the sample (or the whole return probe) and get it back to the surface.

And what about the Ike lander? We made that one absolutely tiny and stuck a small grappler on the front, then got it to grab on to the front of the Duna miner to piggyback the larger craft and its powerful nuclear cruise stage to Duna, where it will be released in Duna orbit to make its way over to Ike and land. Being so utterly tiny, it only required a small quantity of fuel and a small but efficient engine from Luciole Space Systems to be stuck on to a QBE probe to get the job done at a fraction of the mass of a more traditional design. Assuming it has enough fuel to actually reach Ike and land, that is, although once the mining lander is deployed that nuclear booster will have fuel to spare and won't even notice if the lander sneaks in and piggybacks it a little while longer.

Spoiler

The strangest part of all this is, all three of the 'fast' Duna missions will have reached Duna almost eight months (or is that munths?) before the first 'slow' Duna mission even leaves Kerbin! Transfers are weird sometimes, especially if you take the nuclear option and force your way from one planet to another!

And we managed to get through the entire update without even mentioning the first attempt at launching a pair of nuclear boosters, which was going fine right up until the fairing separated, but not nearly enough, resulting in this happening:

Spoiler

Wait a second- were we supposed to not mention that? Oops

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

AAARG's space program has been running for 1 year, 72 days, 6 hours and 12 minutes. Three missions are underway to meet the three uncrewed objectives of Phase 4, which if all goes well will allow the crewed mission to depart at the next transfer window or even sooner! There's also a spare nuclear booster parked in LKO and the Board are fiercely debating what to do with it; name calling has begun in earnest; food is now involved; riot police just turned up...

 

[Misguided Kerbal]

I think we're all just waiting for @jimmymcgoochie to win at this point.

[GuessingEveryDay]

Just now, Misguided_Kerbal said:

I think we're all just waiting for @jimmymcgoochie to win at this point.

Same.

[GuessingEveryDay]

@jimmymcgoochie, do you think you can publish the next chapter for your book? *Checks the book* Oh... Keep working on it?

[jimmymcgoochie]

Advanced Audacious Aerospace Research Group: The probe now arriving at Platform 4...

Duna. That red speck in the sky, familiar yet mysterious. Or some such rubbish- we at AAARG have no need for that type of meaningless frivolity when there's serious space stuff to be done. First up was a strange contraption consisting of a 2.5m docking port on one end and a grabbing claw on the other, which was put into orbit and docked to the spare nuclear booster for reasons we can't quite think of right now. Still, any excuse for another rocket launch to keep the Board happy during the long, long wait before the Duna missions started arriving. Speaking of which-

Heads up, Duna! You're about to get orbited, scanned, landed on twice (well, we say 'landed'...) and have your buddy Ike landed on for good measure.

Turns out, there's a small but critical flaw in the 'Duna mining rover' design that we only discovered when it was already plunging into Duna's atmosphere: four of the eight 'Twitch' rocket engines are bolted directly to the probe core at the heart of the rover, which unfortunately means they're not connected to any source of fuel. Despite our best efforts, the mining rover made what could generously be described as a "hard landing" on Duna's surface- and amazingly, it survived! Not all of it, not most of it or even a small proportion of it, but it can be driven around (at least until the batteries run out as all the solar panels and RTGs were lost) so that's a win in our books.

Compared to that, the Ike lander worked flawlessly, even surviving an unplanned trip through Duna's upper atmosphere after its Ike transfer burn was poorly planned. Remember, kids- always check your periapsis! Ike lander landed, the Duna SCANsat arrived to map out suitable landing sites for the crewed mission (and a second mining rover, which will need some upgrades!) followed by the most audacious mission we've tried to date- a sample return mission to the surface of Duna and back to Kerbin again! This required some careful planning, delicate fuel transfers, setting the max persistent debris to more than zero as the nuclear transfer stage has no control point on it (oops...), frantic drogue chute cutting as they destabilised the craft on descent, and then finally we managed to put a rocket on Duna's surface in one piece and pointing the right way up. Mystery goo sample obtained and stored, the rocket took off again, burning the excess fuel in the descent stage to save delta-V in case it was needed, before the little probe linked back up with its transfer stage and blasted back to Kerbin right away thanks to a favourable alignment.

Spoiler

Two big Phase 4 objectives were completed:

• Land a probe on Duna: Duna miner 2, achieved after 1 year, 329 days, 4 hours and 41 minutes.
• Land a probe on Ike: Ike lander, achieved after 1 year, 334 days, 8 hours and 56 minutes.

Additionally, the Duna sample return rocket landed on Duna after 2 years, 74 days, 0 hours and 24 minutes. We're not sure if this actually counts, or if the time only counts when it gets back to Kerbin's surface, but it's better to be safe than sorry.

Full album is here: https://imgur.com/a/1mhYCYv

AAARG's space program has been running for 2 years, 74 days, 5 hours and 41 minutes. Uncrewed landers are now on the surfaces of Duna and Ike (the Duna one on a much larger area of the surface than planned!) and the sample return mission is on its way back to Kerbin, due to arrive in just under a year. A separate craft will be launched to meet it and carry its precious cargo down to Kerbin's surface to be recovered, after which it's footprints on Duna time!

[Misguided Kerbal]

1 hour ago, jimmymcgoochie said:

Additionally, the Duna sample return rocket landed on Duna after 2 years, 74 days, 0 hours and 24 minutes. We're not sure if this actually counts, or if the time only counts when it gets back to Kerbin's surface, but it's better to be safe than sorry.

Yeah, it's better to be safe than sorry. Sample return only counts once the samples are safely landed on Kerbin. Anyway, great job on the landings, and I can't wait to see your crewed mission!

[Misguided Kerbal]

Because of a save problem, @GuessingEveryDay has indicated that he is starting over from his polar orbit satellite, as that's what happened to the save.

[Kraken that doesn't exist]

On 8/9/2020 at 10:53 PM, Misguided_Kerbal said:

I think we're all just waiting for @jimmymcgoochie to win at this point.

that is honestly why i dropped out not just because the koviet union broke into 15 krepublics

[jimmymcgoochie]

Advanced Audacious Aerospace Research Group: Even we don't know what we're doing any more...

So, we fired some stuff into space. And dropped some stuff out of space too. We're barely keeping up with this stuff any more (OOC: I did this one over two days and forgot everything I did yesterday...)

A Duna lander to carry 3 Kerbals, but the DEV (Duna Expedition Vessel) already has two landers on it so it'll be parked in Duna orbit as a spare or rescue ship. Somehow three Kerbals ended up on that one and we had to evacuate them shortly before the launch then tell them to hide behind some concrete while a whole rocket went off right above them. They're fine, really, that humming sound is perfectly normal after falling thirty metres and landing on your head...

A third mining rover for Duna, improved with engines that actually connect to fuel tanks, added sepratrons for slowing down more and some big wings stuck on hinges to act as air brakes. That was stuck to the spare nuclear booster and is hurtling its way towards Duna right now.

And Bill, who was sent up to the DEV to join the rest of the Big Four on not one, but three rockets! For some reason, the Orbiter 2 design we used to perform the first crewed docking- wow, was that really over 2 years ago?- failed to reach orbit on two separate occasions and it took a third launch with an upgraded rocket to get him to the DEV. Weird...

Spoiler

There are two uncrewed missions waiting for the next Duna transfer window, one already on its way to Duna and the sample return probe hurtling back towards Kerbin. All we have to do now is wait...

Full album is here: https://imgur.com/a/2nwKJNI

AAARG's space program has been running for 2 years, 192 days, 6 hours and 56 minutes. All of the Big Four are onboard the DEV and waiting for the sample return mission to return its sample before they burn for Duna.

[jimmymcgoochie]

Advanced Audacious Aerospace Research Group: PLEASE HELP WE ARE TRAPPED IN A Mk-33!!!

"...is it on? Is it working?

HEEEEELP! Our lunatic employers have trapped us all in this Mk-33 "Quintus" and we can't get out! We were all sure that we were never using the Mk-33 again after the first four had various control problems and minor crash landings, but apparently some WBI reps showed up and showed off some upgrades and next thing we knew, we were all waking up inside it with splitting headaches and that horrible chloroform-y aftertaste.

The worst part is, they're sending this humongous spaceplane just to scoop up the tiny little 0.625m diameter sample return probe and bring it down to the surface! A simple rocket could do the job without- wait, was that the engines starting oh no it's launching heeelp AAAAAAAAARG-"

[message ends]

[GuessingEveryDay]

16 minutes ago, jimmymcgoochie said:

Advanced Audacious Aerospace Research Group: PLEASE HELP WE ARE TRAPPED IN A Mk-33!!!

"...is it on? Is it working?

HEEEEELP! Our lunatic employers have trapped us all in this Mk-33 "Quintus" and we can't get out! We were all sure that we were never using the Mk-33 again after the first four had various control problems and minor crash landings, but apparently some WBI reps showed up and showed off some upgrades and next thing we knew, we were all waking up inside it with splitting headaches and that horrible chloroform-y aftertaste.

The worst part is, they're sending this humongous spaceplane just to scoop up the tiny little 0.625m diameter sample return probe and bring it down to the surface! A simple rocket could do the job without- wait, was that the engines starting oh no it's launching heeelp AAAAAAAAARG-"

[message ends]

The beginning of the end.

[jimmymcgoochie]

Advanced Audacious Aerospace Research Group: Just another day at the office!

Greetings, fans of the Advanced Audacious Aerospace Research Group! We are pleased to report that the faked footage of some of our Kerbonauts alleging 'false imprisonment' and 'being launched into space without consent' has now been taken down from all web domains and the hunt for those responsible continues apace. Our entire Kerbonaut corps are absolutely fine except for a minor outbreak of food poisoning, so they won't be available for interviews in the near future, and our employee satisfaction ratings remain at 100%!

And now, on to our latest update!

The Duna miner 2 was dispatched towards Duna without any real excitement, as it's the same design as the first one that crashed. More interesting was Duna miner 3, which arrived into Duna orbit then made its landing attempt. Sepratrons that were meant to cushion the landing were fired too early meaning that it landed a lot harder than intended even with the air brakes and parachutes, something big went boom, but it was only when the sun came up that we realised the extent of the damage- the probe core and everything attached to it were gone. Only the inclusion of a tiny Luciole cubesat, stuck on the side with superglue, meant that the miner could still be controlled and has started mining ore, but without any fuel tanks to store fuel/oxidiser we can't use the ISRU. Blast!

The sample return probe arrived back at Kerbin too and so we sent up an upgraded Mk-33, designated "Quintus" as it's the fifth one we've used, to collect it and bring it back again. Our entire roster of Kerbonauts- minus the Big Four who are on the DEV- ended up in the cockpit by nefarious mysterious means (we're sure that cockpit only held 4 before, must have been an upgrade) so they all got a free trip into LKO and back. Everything was going fine until we noticed that inexplicably, there was a fuel tank hanging out of the bottom of the spaceplane and we had no idea why it was there or how nobody had seen it until it was already at 30km altitude.

Other than that, it was a straight forward mission- rendezvous, dock, deorbit, land. Even with that stupid extra fuel tank hanging off the bottom, the "Quintus" had a flawless landing on Welcome Back Island's runway, although there were some hairy moments on the way down as aerodynamic instability tried to rear its ugly head but was beaten down by RCS and frantic button mashing by the pilot. One sample from Duna's surface, delivered to Kerbin. For health and safety reasons, we have now quarantined all our Kerbonauts as we have no idea what exposure to Duna has done to that mystery goo and we can never be too safe, now can we?

Spoiler

One more milestone falls:

• Sample returned from Duna's surface: Sample return express, achieved after 3 years, 64 days, 6 hours and 51 minutes.

Full album is here: https://imgur.com/a/ZDcl12A

AAARG's space program has been running for 3 years, 64 days, 6 hours and 51 minutes. Now, finally, it's time. DEV, prepare for Dunar insertion burn!

[jimmymcgoochie]

Advanced Audacious Aerospace Research Group: DUUUUUUUUNAAAAAAAAAAA!

We chucked the third mining rover (which was actually number 1, contrary to what we said last time - 2 arrived first, then 3, then 1) at Duna. It crashed too...

We parked a spare lander in Duna orbit. It wasn't needed...

But most importantly of all:

WE LANDED A KERBAL ON DUNA!!!! 

We can now report that the first words ever spoken by a Kerbal from the surface of another planet were as follows:

"HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA IN YOUR FACE FRODO!!! KEEP YOUR SCABBY MUN ORBIT BECAUSE I'M LANDED ON DUUUUUUUUUUNAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!"

We think that this means Val has finally gotten over the bitter disappointment of having the first Mun orbit stolen from her on a technicality (namely, not actually completing an orbit), and we might just send the DEV back to Kerbin as soon as she returns to it to ensure she's the only Kerbal to stand on another planet's surface, for the forseeable future at least.

The trip out to Duna was long and boring, however we were alerted by our favourite- and so far, only- young space fan, Martina D. Kerman (yet another plug, see my forum signature ), that the Breaking History expansion had just been released for Terrin Space Program and were able to transmit the code out to the DEV for the Big Four to while away the long hours pretending to run their own space program, only they seemed to do a better job than the Board ever could.

Spoiler

Final milestone achieved:

• Land a Kerbal on Duna: Valentina Kerman, achieved after 4 years, 120 days, 10 hours and 45 minutes.

Full album is here: https://imgur.com/a/la0HYwe

AAARG's space program has been running for 4 years, 121 days, 4 hours and 52 minutes. All our objectives have been completed! Which is just as well, as there seem to be helicopters buzzing around overhead and a lot of blue flashing lights outside and a lot of black-clad Kerbals with 'KBI' and 'POLICE' in yellow letters on their backs- hang on, they're stealing all our Kerbonauts! And all our computer equipment too! And they've arrested all the Board!

Jeb, Bob, Bill, Val- if you get this message, you'll have to make your own way home as it looks like the Advanced Audacious Aerospace Research Group is being closed down by the authorities, repeat, we're being closed down- hey, don't touch that- get your hands off me!-

[message ends]

 

Spoiler

'Hitchhiker' crew compartment, on board Duna Expeditionary Vessel, y5, d122, 05:17:52.

Jeb: So.... now what?

Val: I landed on DUUUNAAAA!

Bob: We know, Val. We all watched you do it.

Bill: You've told us a thousand times already.

Jeb: I think there's a "Real Kerbolar System" mod for TSP that we can download and use to plan our return trajectory.

Bill: Nope, the DSN is completely offline. No signals to anyone or anything on Kerbin, or even to the probes and satellites around Duna.

Bob: That's not good.

Val: I landed on DUUUUUUNAAAAAAA!

Bob: (whispers to Bill) Should we just lock her in the lab for the trip home? It's not like we brought any science stuff with us to use it.

Bill: (whispers to Bob) I'll get the duct tape, you get the chloroform.

Val: What'cha whispering about?

Bob and Bill: Nothing! (both glance around furtively)

Val: I don't care anyway, because I landed on DUUUUUUUUUUNAAAAAAAAAAAA!

Jeb: Hey, Val? I saw this challenge on TSP earlier where you have to fly a rocket under the Science Department bridge at the Terrin Space Centre, I don't think it's actually possible but-

Val: Outta my way! I landed on DUUUUUNAAAAAA! Flying under a bridge is easy peasy!

Jeb: (turns to Bill and Bob)  Duct tape and chloroform at the ready, boys...

[muffled scuffling sounds]

Val: (sleepily) I landed on duuuuuunaaaaaaa....

[duct tape-y sounds]

Jeb: So, does anyone know how we're going to get home?

Bill: Well, we have plenty of delta-V for the return trip. If we can figure out the best time to make the transfer- wait, what's that smell.

Jeb: smells like... (alarmed) Chloroform!

Bob: Oops, I must have left the lid off... (sleepily) sorry

Jeb: (sleepily) Awww, Bob...

Bill: (sleepily) Well, that's just...

[snoring sounds]

 

 

Val: (barely intelligible sleep-talking)  I landed on DUUUUUUUUNAAAAAAAA!

TO BE CONTINUED(?)

 

[Misguided Kerbal]

4 hours ago, jimmymcgoochie said:

~Snip~

Great job on landing on Duna! Now... just have to wait for @GuessingEveryDay.

[Misguided Kerbal]

Welp, since @GuessingEveryDay hasn't done anything, I officially declare @jimmymcgoochie winner!

 Winner: @jimmymcgoochie !!!!!  

[jimmymcgoochie]

38 minutes ago, Misguided_Kerbal said:

Welp, since @GuessingEveryDay hasn't done anything, I officially declare @jimmymcgoochie winner!

 Winner: @jimmymcgoochie !!!!!  

[KerballingSmasher]

8 hours ago, jimmymcgoochie said:

NOW GO BACK TO THE STORY 

[Misguided Kerbal]

43 minutes ago, KerballingSmasher said:

NOW GO BACK TO THE STORY 

YES!

[jimmymcgoochie]

12 hours ago, KerballingSmasher said:

NOW GO BACK TO THE STORY 

11 hours ago, Misguided_Kerbal said:

YES!

As it stands, I’m still trying to decide if I should split this chapter (and if so, how) or just go all out for the ‘longest fanfic chapter in KSP forum history’ award as it’s rapidly pushing towards 13k words!

(Or were you talking about the little sub-story of the AAARG and their insane scrupulously ethical Board?)

[Misguided Kerbal]

2 hours ago, jimmymcgoochie said:

As it stands, I’m still trying to decide if I should split this chapter (and if so, how) or just go all out for the ‘longest fanfic chapter in KSP forum history’ award as it’s rapidly pushing towards 13k words!

(Or were you talking about the little sub-story of the AAARG and their insane scrupulously ethical Board?)

I think.... both.

[KerballingSmasher]

On 8/20/2020 at 11:52 AM, Misguided_Kerbal said:

I think.... both.

yes both

[Kraken that doesn't exist]

so im british so should i be the united kingdom in the next race or remain russian like i was in this race and be krussia/kroscosmos

[jimmymcgoochie]

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

so im british so should i be the united kingdom in the next race or remain russian like i was in this race and be krussia/kroscosmos

Nah...

Britain’s  contribution to the space race was to build a launch rocket (Black Arrow), get offered free launches by America, cancel their own rocket but launch it anyway, then not get free launches from America. The only nation ever to develop a domestic orbital launcher, and then give it up... Which is a shame, as it turns out you can build a nearly life size replica in KSP using a few Making History parts which matches the thrust, delta-V and size of the real thing, only minus the crazily effective solid third stage.

[Kraken that doesn't exist]

Just now, jimmymcgoochie said:

Nah...

Britain’s  contribution to the space race was to build a launch rocket (Black Arrow), get offered free launches by America, cancel their own rocket but launch it anyway, then not get free launches from America. The only nation ever to develop a domestic orbital launcher, and then give it up... Which is a shame, as it turns out you can build a nearly life size replica in KSP using a few Making History parts which matches the thrust, delta-V and size of the real thing, only minus the crazily effective solid third stage.

they built a lipstick and when it was proven to work they cancelled it

but i meant like a kerbal uk like united kerbal kingdom and make it more advanced than the uk

[Misguided Kerbal]

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

they built a lipstick and when it was proven to work they cancelled it

but i meant like a kerbal uk like united kerbal kingdom and make it more advanced than the uk

Why don't you be Japanese or something? Just look at the HOPE spaceplane concept.