Adventures with WildBlueIndustries - Blueshift and Kerbal Flying Saucers

[Angelo Kerman]

Is Galaxy Explorer the old or new design? I have both though the original is in my parent’s attic 

[Ooglak Kerman]

From The K.R.A.P. Admiralty:  Advanced Exploration Ship

Recognizing that so far, the exploration and colonization of Nova Kirbani has so far been rather random and ad-hoc, KWX-4200 "The Ruby Slipper" has been designed and constructed.  Though, when fully loaded it does not have significant warp capability, it has considerable science and communications relay capabilities.  With provisions for 9 standard drone science lander probes and a full suite of remote sensors, The Ruby Slipper will be able to perform complete surveys of systems before committing to landings by Kolonists.

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Shown launching on gravatic engine power, this ship will initially travel without a crew to test the new capabilities for a warp drive sentient to control its own ship.

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The Ruby Slipper will not pick up a crew until it reaches the Nova Kirbani B system via the jump ring network.  Oz (full name - The Great and Powerful Oz) - the warp sentient on The Ruby Slipper - has agreed to accept this risky proof of concept.  Full warp capabilities will not be possible until a crew with a Eng-5 "Scotty" is aboard to perform the necessary tuning and maintenance of the warp components, but this is a important first step to providing autonomy to the warp sentients.

In orbit of Leyn in the Nova Kirbani B system on the Blalo Large Orbital Tanker

"Lil Bro!!!  Did you hear?  We're gonna get a warp ship!  We're gonna be pathfinding" exulted Leah
"Yeah sis. Looks like we got some book work before we get transferred on over.  I'm a bit worried about some of the planets on this mission" responded Ronbles
"Ya gotta admit.  It beats driving those boring refueling trucks back at the space center, eh?"
"Good point sis.  Ok.. so Syro........."

Edited April 17, 2023 by Ooglak Kerman

[Ooglak Kerman]

Shortly thereafter, Valentina and Thomus aboard KWT-1 "Gimme Some" conducted a rendezvous with the Blalo Large Orbital Tanker to pick up the crew for "The Ruby Slipper"

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And then over to Alva orbit to rendezvous with "The Ruby Slipper" to transfer the crew.

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"Alva Control, this is KWT-1 docked with The Ruby Slipper.  What do you have on those silly tourists who landed at the Sandwurm area?" asked Val
"Hi Valentina.  Yeah... them.  Research Center reports they had 'issues' and one of their ships is now a bunch of trash on the desert, but that they have loaded up and left"  responded Burely
"Well, good.  The Nova Kirbani-A expansion will need to get bootstrapped and we don't have time to ride herd on stupid tourists"
"True that, Val.  Fly safe!"
"KWT-1 - out"
 

In orbit of Syro in the Nova Kirbani-A system, "The Ruby Slipper" has settled into a 5,000KM orbit to take science readings in addition to those acquired previously by KZAM-11 "Don't Blink" - the science research scout ship.

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Syro is a beast of a world. 
geeASL:  1.8 of Kerbin
pressure ASL: 4863kPa (48x that of Kerbin)
temp ASL: 1249K (6.6x that of Kerbin)

How it has become to be such a hellworld so far from it's star is unknown, but hopefully the science lander that is to be sent down to land will shed some clues.

Edited April 22, 2023 by Ooglak Kerman

[Ooglak Kerman]

The Syro probe has been deployed and is on its path to landing.

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The atmospheric density and heat require an unconventional landing profile that is quite vertical.  At 70KM, orbital speed is over 5KM/sec

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Success!  A landing on Syro and subsequent science readings.  Landing was in the Syro highlands at over 5KM MSL.  Even so pressure and temperatures were very high.

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Shortly after landing, communications with the lander was abruptly lost.  Still, considerable science was gained and will be carefully reviewed.

[Ooglak Kerman]

Alar - now the innermost moon of Syro in the Nova Kirbani A system.  Before the mysterous Great Event where the whole Nova Kirbani system was wierdly rearranged, Alar was known to be rich in graviolium and other useful resources.  It is greatly hoped that it remains so since it would be a vital source for resources given it's low gravity.

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The lander probe has been detached from The Ruby Slipper and is making its way to the surface

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Success!  Another landing.  It's hoped that this probe will last longer than the one that landed on Syro.  Readings indicate continued good concentrations of graviolium and this location is well suited for a mining outpost.

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[Ooglak Kerman]

Setha.  Furthest planet of the Syro system in Alpha Centauri A. Little is known of this little planet and this science mission will fill many gaps.

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It is an eyeball planet by virtue of the gigantic strike this moon took in its past.  It has been decided that the probe will land in the center of the eye and so perhaps poke the beast.

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[Ooglak Kerman]

After detaching from "The Ruby Slipper", the probe is on it's way to the eyeball

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Another successful landing!  Readings from onboard science instruments indicate rich concentrations of valuable resources on Setha.

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Some in the science community were hoping that an eyelid would blink when the lander touched down - but it's just rocks and dust.  Perhaps if the lander were to take off and land a bit harder....

Edited April 29, 2023 by Ooglak Kerman

[Ooglak Kerman]

After completing a K.R.A.P. load of science in the Syro system, it's time to do a closer survey of the Nessus system.  Orus will be the first target and hopefully the strange orbital readings that have been confounding the scientists of Kerbin can be sorted.

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[Ooglak Kerman]

The Orus probe has detached from The Ruby Slipper and is preparing for landing.

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After an uneventful descent and landing, the science team aboard The Ruby Slipper were excitedly reviewing initial imagery at the landing site.  The crystal formations are particularly stunning and will certainly be the topic for future investigation.  Cold there for sure.  Temperature is about 142K.

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The next image left the scientist gabbling in incoherent sci-speak.

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A dome structure.  Obviously crafted by.... something.  And another in the background.

Edited May 1, 2023 by Ooglak Kerman

[Ooglak Kerman]

With a possible first contact at Orus, Rodvis and Julred aboard the warp capable lander KWL-1000 "We're Goin' Down" have been ordered to The Emerald City" on Elno to load out with supplies to kickstart a science colony at Orus

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Fortuitiously (or not) Elno was substantially over staffed with this possibility in mind.  The science staff have resorted to "kneecapping" in order to secure a berth on the Orus station. The pilot and engineering crew have a much greater understanding of the level of effort involved in establishing a colony and so are less.... engaged.

[Ooglak Kerman]

From The Workshop Of Angelo: Warp Drive Improvement

Working tireless in his K.R.A.P. laboratory, Angelo and his K.R.A.P. staff of scientists and engineers have crafted a major improvement for warp drive operations.  When operating in Interstellar space, the drives will now experience a 10% decrease in warp resource usage and even greater efficiencies may be realized.  This efficiency improvement will greatly increase the maximum range of the warp drives and open the possibility of many additional worlds for more K.R.A.P. colonization.

In an interview, Angelo confidently used many arcane and impressive sounding science and engineering terms to explain this breakthrough showing once again that he is a science-engineer of the highest caliber and ability.

[Ooglak Kerman]

At The Emerald City on Elno, after long long hours of packing parts and resources to kickstart the science station on Orus, the last bits are finally being loaded.

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"Well Frandos.. they're loaded and we're done." said Carlie "one of us gets to go help stand up a new colony.. woooo.  Rock-paper-sissors?  Loser goes?"
"Yeah.." replied Frandos tiredly  "all I wanna do is get out of this suit, clean up, and sleep for a day or two"

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Carlie giggled all the way into the work truck

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"Hey Carlie... ya won!  I'm glad you're staying here" said Siggel - the pilot with whom Carlie had been partnered for some time on the work truck
"Hah.. yeah.  Frandos is so easy.  Always leads with rock.  I almost - but not quite - felt sorry for him.  Lot fewer folks here now though" replied Carlie
"Lets head over to the Big Dish Lounge.  Play some Earth Space Program"
"I'm good.  Lets go."

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[Ooglak Kerman]

Enroute to Orus in the Nova Kirbani A system aboard KWL-1000 "We're Goin' Down" from Elno in the Nova Kirbani B system.

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A couple days of hard work and the colony is coming together.  There is a serious shortage of personnel but a plan is underway to correct that.

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[Ooglak Kerman]

The mini-jumpgates are thought to have considerably longer range than that for which they have been used and now it is time to test that.  A crew truck load of volunteers have been volunteered to test if the minigates have the range to make the jump from Kerbin to Nova Kirbani.

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Success!  Much to the great relief of all involved.  Though - the still as yet unnamed colony on Orus is sorely lacking living space.  Hot bunking and sleeping on couches and on the floor will be the order of the day until additional facilities can be fabricated.  This load nearly triples the staff on Orus - which will be needed for the science outposts that are planned.

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[Ooglak Kerman]

The staffing requirements for the K.R.A.P. colonies is beginning to strain the ability of the Space Center to provide trained pilots, engineers, and scientists.  And so when a mob of tourists showed up with phat stacks of funds and wanting to be colonists... what is one to do?  Take their funds, pile them onto a transport rover and ship them to Elno via the mini jumpgate system as quickly as can be done.

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These are tourists.  Untrained and pretty much guaranteed to get themselves killed off if allowed to EVA.  That's just untidy and nobody likes to see dead Kerbals laying around being an eyesore so one of the facility ingress ports is being reconfigured to allow the tourists to gain access without the need to EVA.

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With the crew tunnel in place, the tourists are able to be moved into the facility where they will begin their training to become useful K.R.A.P. colonists.  You can check-out, but you can never leave - unless you can get a ride.

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[Ooglak Kerman]

While tourists are being trained on Elno and the scientists are exploring Orus, The Ruby Slipper has continued on it's exploration tour of the Nova Kirbani A system.  The next destination is Shu - a 1.9KM asteroid that was captured by Orus in the distant past.  There is great desire to determine if its orbit is stable or if it is destined to fall onto Orus.

It is a slow process to deorbit the science probe due to the micro-gravity of Shu.

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Landing was easy - though tedious due to the extremely low gravity.

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It is best that no useful concentrations of vital resources have been detected.  The very low gravity make any operations to and from the surface very cheap but exceptionally time consuming.

[Ooglak Kerman]

Word has apparently gotten out about the mob of tourists that went to Elno and now another mob has shown up at the Space Center waving large sacks of funds - this time for Alva.  Ok!  Load up.  We got this sorted.  Hmm.  Contract says nothing about a return to Kerbin.  Works for us.

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Enjoy your new home on Alva. 

With this massive influx of funds the tourists are throwing at the Space Center, there is discussion of a "Project".  It is thought that if a supernova could be artificially created and the pressures and radiation were controlled and directed, that graviolium could be artificially created.  There are funds to burn now and more tourists are showing up each day.

 

[Ooglak Kerman]

The Ruby Slipper continues its tour of the Nova Kirbani A system.  This stop is at Ile.  A 27KM moon - more like a large asteroid - in orbit of Nessus.  Ile has been subject to several colossal impacts in its history as evidenced by the enormous craters.

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Orbital surveys indicate the presence of numerous useful resources, but the very low gravity - while enabling easy orbit - make landings tedious and time consuming.  Still, a science probe will be sent to investigate.

[Ooglak Kerman]

The lander has been deployed to Ile.  Wow!  Rocks.  Who would have thought?  And gray... but the curiously geometric shapes of the the slopes may bear additional investigation.

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... or maybe not.  On to Ud.

[Ooglak Kerman]

Ud is 2.8KM in radius and has a rather unfortunate rotation.  At 7KM, the orbital velocity is only about 4m/sec.  Landing is tedious and involves driving inward.

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Once landed on Ud, it's not possible to turn off the gravatic engine and remain on the surface due to the very low gravity and the rotation.

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Ud is scenic and has valuable resources.  Harvesting them is probably not worth the effort.

[Ooglak Kerman]

Back on Kerbin, yet another mob of tourists waving giant sacks of funds show up wanting to head out to the stars for the glamorous life of a colonist.  They have obviously gotten their impressions of what it is to be a colonist from playing "Earth Space Program".   They're paying cash up front though and a space program ain't cheap.  And this is becoming kind of routine.  So... off to Elno with them.

 

Edited May 30, 2023 by Ooglak Kerman