JNSQ: Flight of The Endeavour - Epilogue

Angelo Kerman · March 6, 2023

This short mission report takes place in the same verse as To The Mün, Shuttle Launch System, and Commercial Space Ventures. It is set in the time between Commercial Space Ventures' Chapter 40 and its Epilogue. As a quick refresher, Nautilus (DSEV-01) is on her way back to Kerbin...

Chapters

Prologue

Interlude: The Discovery

Interlude: New Uniforms

Interlude: Discovery Leaves Spacedock

Chapter 15

Epilogue

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Mod list

A mapping of months

Listed below are the names of the 12 months in my save, mapped to the Gregorian calendar months:

Acama                 January
Huitzil                    February
Chimal                 March
Itzcoatl                 April
Moctez                 May
Axaya                    June
Jool                        July
Tizoc                      August
Ahuit                     September
Cuitla                     October
Cuahoc                 November
Montezu             December

Angelo Kerman · March 6, 2023

Prologue

To The Mün had been an expression among kerbals to describe something impossible until two nations, the Kerman States and the vonKerman Republic, landed on both of Kerbin’s müns. After that feat, nothing seemed impossible. The Kerman States- via their Kerbal Space Program- set their sights on a kermanned mission to Duna, but they knew it would be expensive, so they created the reusable Shuttle Launch System to replace their expendable rockets. Then they partnered with the mcKerman Kingdom’s Ministry of Space to build Starlab, their Kerbin Orbiting Station. With their reusable infrastructure in place, the two nations began planning for their trip to Duna. Then the Laythe Surveyor sent back some intriguing results about Jool’s innermost mün.

The space agencies immediately pivoted away from Duna and created Project Laythe. Due to the increased challenge and cost, the agencies invited the vonKerman Republic to participate, and the Kerman States seceded cisminmar space to various commercial space ventures. At great expense, the three spacefaring nations of Kerbin collaborated to build the First Jool Fleet. Among the many vessels in the Fleet, Nautilus, the first Deep Space Exploration Vessel, brought eight astronauts and kerbonauts to Jool’s innermost mün. After assembling Laythe Base from a collection of modules shipped with the Fleet, the crew spent sixty days on the surface conducting experiments before they had to spend another three years in cryostasis traveling home.

Landing on Laythe- and finding phytoplankton in its oceans- was a huge accomplishment! But the Ministry of Space never lost site of their dream of visiting the Rusty Planet. So, as the brave kerbals orbiting Jool began their journey home, the three space agencies brought their dreams to reality. They leveraged orbital construction methods that were unavailable when the First Jool Fleet launched to inexpensively build Kopernicus (DSEV-02) and the Third Duna Fleet. Then they sent eight kerbals to the Rusty Planet.

This is their story…

Angelo Kerman · March 7, 2023

Chapter 1

Several months ago, the Third Duna Fleet aimed for the Rusty Planet. The fleet consisted of Estonian 3- the lander, a Sandcaster 3D printer, a pair of Orbital Dynamics-supplied Buffalo rovers, and Kopernicus, the second Deep Space Exploration Vessel. With its crew of eight in cryogenic slumber, Kopernicus and the Third Duna Fleet made the months-long journey without incident.

Sandcaster arrived three months ahead of the Fleet and set down at Knights Landing, a site located in Gale Crater that was scouted by previous robotic expeditions to Duna. Like its predecessor that the Ministry of Space tested on Kerbin, Sandcaster built its entourage of automated workers before printing the base itself. By the time that Kopernicus and the remaining vessels arrived, Sandcaster completed the base, made it warm and cozy, and turned on the lights. It even began working on the base’s warehouse.

Not long after the crew woke up, Ribler mcKerman, the mission commander and captain of the Kopernicus, directed Estonian 3 to dock with the ship so that the crew could depart DSEV-02 and land. Everything went smoothly; Estonian 3 docked with Kopernicus, the crew transferred vital equipment to the lander, and they put DSEV-02 into hibernation mode. They departed the Deep Space Exploration Vessel with no issues. The deorbit burn completed on time, the deorbit motor was jettisoned as expected, and Estonian 3’s heat shield jettisoned the descent engine cap as expected. It even deployed its chutes right on time.

Everything went like clockwork-except when it didn’t.

Estonian 3 ignited its landing engine too late and the lander crashed into the desert floor. Everything from the landing gear to the descent stage crumpled and sheered away from the vehicle. But by some fortunate twist of fate, the crew cabin, and its occupants, survived the crash. They were marooned and suffered some injuries, but the crew of eight made the first crewed landing on Duna.

Estonian 3 crashed 2.2km away from Duna Base- easily within range of the Buffalo rovers- so Ribler directed them towards the crash site. After they arrived, the crew stepped outside for the obligatory photo op before piling into the rovers for the trip to the base.

They linked together before making their return trip. Shortly after arrival, Ribler directed the crew to set up the external science instruments. It didn’t take long, and the crew settled into their new home after completing their work.

That’s when Ribler collapsed to the ground.

Angelo Kerman · March 9, 2023

Chapter 2

The autopsy report concluded that Ribler suffered a severe concussion when Estonian 3 crashed, but he thought that he only had a minor head injury and kept going. The crew solemnly buried Ribler outside, said several kind words, and drank a lot of “hydrazine” in celebration of his life. When they sobered up, they continued with their mission. Ribler’s passing left Dudmon Kerman, formerly second in command, in charge of the expedition. Tobias vonKerman, the expedition’s lead engineer, expected the job, but he was too busy trying to keep things running.

Dudmon (Dude-mon) was one of Kerbal Space Program’s most experienced astronauts. He made a name for himself on his first flight into space when he commanded Münflight 3, the third Münflight mission and the second flight to the Mün. On that flight, the Lindor 5’s third stage decoupled from its second stage- while the second stage was still burning! Dudmon expertly balanced the third stage while the second depleted its propellants. His efforts saved the mission- and earned him the Medal of Heroism. Later in his career, Dudmon was the copilot of STS-1, the first space shuttle flight, and he made numerous flights in the shuttle. Eventually, he became Chief of The Astronaut Corps, and he commanded MBE-1, the first expedition to establish a permanent presence on Minmus via Minmus Base.

It bothered him to be passed up for the first kermanned mission to Laythe- Jeb and Val always got the best assignments- but he pulled rank and got himself assigned to the first kermanned mission to Duna. He would’ve overseen the expedition had the Ministry of Space not footed most of the bill. He wanted command of DBE-1, but not because of Ribler dying…

“How long will our supplies last,” Dudmon asked Ferwin Kerman, the most experienced scientist on the mission. Like Dudmon, Ferwin was aboard Münflight 3, and the two had been friends for many years. So, when he assigned himself to DBE-1, he made sure that Ferwin had the opportunity to go too- and he couldn't say no. Dudmon’s only regret was that he couldn’t get Jebman, the flight engineer from Münflight 3, on the mission as well. Unfortunately, Jebman retired from the Astronaut Corps before he could recruit him. As it was, both Dudmon and Ferwin knew that this was their last spaceflight- especially after the stunt that they pulled with the Kerbin flag. In fact, many of the old timers like Bill, Bob, Jeb, and Val, Tesen, Hensen, Samger, and several others were looking to retire. Sure, a few were jumping over to fly with Orbital Dynamics, but many were just getting older and wanted to move on.

“Well, Raald should be answering this question,” Ferwin said. Technically, she oversaw the science contingent, but both Raald mcKerman and Calbro mcKerman were rookie astronauts, so Ferwin became their de facto lead. “But anyway, between the Buffalo rovers and the supplies we scavenged from the lander’s wreckage, we’ve got about a year, maybe a bit more if we ration our uh, rations.”

“Hm,” Dudmon murmured.

“What’s up,” Ferwin said. He knew his friend was concerned.

“How long until the arboretum can support us,” Dudmon asked, referring to the Castillo’s large agriculture dome.

Ferwin immediately saw the problem. “Kerbin can’t send a rescue flight for another year or so, right? And it would take them six months to get here?”

“Yeah. And our transfer window back to Kerbin opens in just under a year.”

Ferwin nodded. “Yeah, that’s a problem,” he admitted. "The arboretum was designed to support crews for years, but it will take two years for its ecosystem to build up. We were supposed to live off of our supplies and get the arboretum started so that it would be ready to support DBE-2,” Ferwin reminded Dudmon.

“Can we speed up the process?”

“Not with the seeds we brought with us,” Ferwin admitted. “And sadly, we don’t have any potatoes handy that we could grow in our own soil.”

“That leaves us with one option,” Dudmon said.

“Which is?”

“We need a new lander.”

Angelo Kerman · March 9, 2023

Chapter 3

After speaking with Mission Control, their engineers worked the problem for a few days, during which time Sandcaster completed the base’s warehouse. With no more buildings or robots to produce, it went into hibernation mode. When Bobak contacted Duna Base during their regular check in, he had some encouraging news: Estonian 2 was still orbiting the Rusty Planet!

Launched as part of the Second Duna Fleet, Estonian 2 was the Ministry of Space’s second attempt to test their lander design at Duna. Their first attempt was Estonian 1- part of the First Duna Fleet- it failed to land softly when its main chutes proved incapable of deploying in the thin Dunan atmosphere. The drogue chutes deployed, but they proved unable to slow the lander long enough for its descent/ascent engine to soft-land the craft. As a result, it crashed into the ground and scattered debris everywhere.

The Ministry of Space went back to the drawing board, fitted Estonian 2 with all drogue chutes instead of a mix of drogue and main chutes, and made a few other minor adjustments. Once the other vessels in the Second Duna Fleet completed their objectives, MoS Mission Control began its test of the revised lander. This time, it landed successfully.

After performing some science experiments, Estonian 2 decoupled from its ascent stage and launched into orbit again. It even simulated a rendezvous with a Deep Space Exploration Vessel by flying to and linking up with the Duna Fuel Depot. With the design proven, the Ministry of Space felt comfortable placing kerbals in an Estonian Lander. But two weeks ago, of course, Estonian 3 proved them wrong…

Engineers back at Kerbin determined that the prototype lander had just enough propellant to land back on the surface. The ascent stage wasn’t designed to land again, and its parachutes were already deployed, but if it landed softly, it could rest on its aerospike engine long enough for the expedition to refit it and refuel it via modified converters in Duna Base’s factory dome. So, the teams got to work.

Mission Control uploaded new instructions to Estonian 2- it couldn’t be remotely flown from Duna Base- and they triple-checked the numbers to ensure that everything was accurate. When there were no other concerns, they commanded Estonian 2 to perform its deorbit burn.

On Ahuit 15, 2004, the ascent stage made a 239 m/s deorbit burn right on time- though a little off course.

Fifteen minutes later, it made a shallow reentry to reduce atmospheric heating on its exposed hull. The thin Dunan atmosphere produced plasma shock as the spacecraft slowed down, but it wasn’t enough to cause damage. Though off course, the lander fired its engine to kill its horizontal speed, and then shut it off to conserve propellant for the landing burn.

Less than 500 meters above the surface, Estonian 2 ignited its engine one last time- just a bit too late. Like its sister ship, Estonian 2 landed hard. In this case, the spacecraft crushed its aerospike engine and crumpled its ascent stage tank.

When they saw the impact, the crew of Duna Base Expedition 1’s hopes were as crushed as Estonian 2’s engine. They needed a new plan, and as Dudmon looked across the desert to the Sandcaster, he had one.

Angelo Kerman · March 10, 2023

Chapter 4

“Let me get this straight,” Dudmon began, “Sandcaster can print up resource seeds, mining rovers, storage rovers, and the entire base, but it can’t make us a replacement lander?”

“That’s right,” Tobias vonKerman, the expedition’s chief engineer, answered.

“Explain.”

“Sandcaster was hardwired so that it could only create the robots that it needed to build Duna Base along with the base itself.”

“Why, exactly?”

“To avoid it becoming a Berserker.”

“A what?”

“A Berserker,” Tobias repeated. He saw Dudmon’s confused look. “A Berserker is a malignant version of a Neumann vonKerman Probe.”

Dudmon’s confused expression remained unchanged.

“Ok, uh, Neumann vonKerman proved that the most effective way to conduct large scale mining of planets and asteroids is to send self-replicating machines. The machines would harvest local resources, replicate themselves, and their progeny would continue to self-replicate. With their exponential growth, the probes could quickly mine the resources for whatever purposes desired- such as building bases. These probes could even send copies of themselves to other planets and asteroids.

“A Berserker is a Neumann Probe designed to seek out and exterminate lifeforms. The term was named after killing machines depicted in Saberhagen Kerman’s fictional novels. Technically, the berserkers were the warships doing the exterminating, but they along with the automated, self-replicating harvesters and miners and shipyards collectively constituted a Neumann Probe.”

“Okay….” Dudmon said tentatively.

“Sandcaster’s design pattern core was hardwired to ensure that the 3D printer couldn’t be altered and allowed to self-replicate- or to be messed up by cosmic radiation, which might result in a runaway replication. The Ministry of Space was so paranoid, they only gave it the patterns that it needed to build the Seeds, the Worker-B, Worker-T, and Duna Base. To replace those patterns would destroy its core programming and render the automated printer useless.”

“But the base’s printers don’t work that way,” Dudmon pointed out, “we just upload a pattern and hit print.”

“Yeah, but we are in control of uploading,” Tobias countered. “We feed in the resources, and we hit the print button. The Sandcaster is completely automated. No kerbals needed…”

“Couldn’t we just wire up the base’s 3D printer brains to the Sandcaster,” Dudmon asked.

“Unfortunately,” Tobias lamented, “they’re a completely different design.”

“How convenient,” Dudmon replied sarcastically.

“It might be possible,” Tobias quickly added, “but we’d need to build an... electronic bridge between the base’s printers and the Sandcaster. That’s going to take help from Kerbin and likely take months to design.”

“Got it,” Dudmon said. “So, if we want to build a replacement lander, we’ll have to use the printers in the base.”

“Yeah, but there’s a problem.”

“Which is?”

“We don’t have doors big enough to fit critical components like fuel tanks and engines. We could print them, but they wouldn’t fit through the door.”

“Right,” Dudmon said. He sighed. “Wait… The First Duna Fleet.”

“What about it,” Tobias asked.

“They had a lot of trouble with their landers. All of them failed, including Estonian 1. They wanted a win. So, they deorbited an Arrow 5 Upper Stage. To their amazement, it landed fully intact.”

“How does that help us?”

“It isn’t far from here. If we can retrieve it,” Dudmon continued, “and it still works, then we can use it. If we can salvage one of the Estonian crew cabins, and repair it…”

“We can build a new rocket,” Tobias finished for him.

Angelo Kerman · March 11, 2023

Chapter 5

Dudmon radioed Mission Control with their intention to conduct a salvage survey, and they immediately agreed, having come to the same conclusions. The expedition’s first task was to assess the condition of Estonian 2 and 3, search other debris sites for salvageable equipment, and examine the Arrow 5 Upper Stage. Once they knew what they had to work with, they could figure out how to transport it back to base.

Dudmon and Tobias hopped into Rover 1, undocked from Rover 2, and set out to assess the various crash sites. Their first stop was Estonian 3, just a couple minutes’ drive from the base. When Dudmon and Tobias exited the rover, Tobias took the opportunity to unbolt and discard the payload mounting bolts that strutted the rover to its landing frame.

Then, as Dudmon went inside to double-check the inventory, Tobias planted the flag for each space agency participating of Duna Base Expedition 1. Originally, a representative of each nation was supposed to plant their flag, but given the circumstances of their arrival, they elected to just plant the Kerbin flag. Following the crew of Nautilus' example, they planted the Kerbin flag in protest against the three space agencies constantly jockeying to determine who was in charge of the mission. And like the Nautilus crew, they got in trouble for it, but there wasn't much that Mission Control could do about it. Once completed, he performed a walk-around to assess the condition of the spacecraft before joining Dudmon inside the vehicle.

“How’s it looking,” Dudmon asked.

Tobias shook his head. “Not good. Estonian 3 landed pretty hard and cracked the outer hull. Several of the RCS nozzles are broken as well, and the upper transfer tunnel is, how you say, ‘a lost cause.’ The electronics appear to be intact along with the control panels, and the life support systems are working as well. We can live in it if we patch the cracks but I wouldn’t want to risk flying it.”

Dudmon sighed, it wasn’t the news that he wanted to hear. “Let’s go check on Estonian 2,” he said simply.

The pair exited the wreck, hopped into the Buffalo, and drove about 6km to Estonian 2. It didn’t take long as the second Estonian was downhill from its sibling. Off in the distance, the pair spotted the downed craft along with wreckage from the Sandcaster’s lander. Minus the flag plantings, the two repeated the process they used at Estonian 3; Dudmon peered inside to check the status, and Tobias performed a walk-around.

“The crew capsule is intact,” Tobias began, “and didn’t suffer any major damage upon impact. The ascent tank took the brunt of the impact. It’s cracked and unusable. The RCS thrusters look good, and the crew tunnel isn’t warped like Estonian 3’s. But the interior…”

“Yeah,” Dudmon said. “Aside from the flight computers, there effectively isn’t an interior.”

“At least we’ve confirmed what the Ministry of Space told us,” Tobias responded. “We’ll need the interior panels, the seats, the control panels, and the life support from Estonian 3. At least the two hulls are essentially the same. Oh, and we’ll need to remove the probe core that’s blocking the docking port.”

“We need to install the guts of 3 into 2, and then lop off 2’s ascent tank,” Dudmon summarized.

“And clean off the uh, barnacles,” Tobias added.

“Barnacles?”

Tobias pointed to the externally mounted science instruments.

“Ah,” Dudmon said and nodded. “Getting the capsules back to Duna Base is going to be fun,” he added.

“Mission Control is already working the problem…”

The two explorers boarded the Buffalo once more and drove to the Sandcaster's wrecked lander since it was a little over a kilometer away. When they approached it, the lander was embedded in the dirt at an odd angle.

“That’s not something you see every day,” Dudmon remarked. He stopped the rover a few meters away, which was a good thing. Apparently, the vibrations of the rover approaching was enough to upset the delicate balance of the lander, and it began to tumble. It flopped around like a hog in the mud for a few minutes until it finally settled down onto its two remaining landing gear. The explorers waited a few moments to ensure that it wasn’t going to suddenly explode or wander off before approaching it.

“Well, the fuel tanks aren't waffled,” Tobias said.

Dudmon looked confused, then understood. “Toast,” he corrected.

“Ah. Yes. Toast,” Tobias answered. “They might be usable with some repairs and reinforcements. The structural girders bore the brunt of the impact. They are sturdy and show just a few scrapes and dents here and there, and the saddle trusses are in a similar shape. Obviously, the lander lost its back legs- and it looks like one of the chutes failed to deploy. But there’s some good news: there are three Fulcrum engines still intact! We could probably get them working again with a few repairs.”

“Great,” Dudmon said. “Looks like we’ll have engines to salvage. Let’s go check out that geology probe.”

The Sandcaster Lander crashed near DGL-4, one of the Duna Geology Landers sent to the Rusty Planet with the Second Duna Fleet. It took just a few moments to reach the probe. The explorers stayed long enough to visually inspect it, which had been resting on the surface for a couple of years, and then returned to the rover. They knew that it was intact thanks to MoS Mission Control contacting the probe recently and running diagnostics. Tobias made a note of its working 48-7s Spark engine.

The last two items on their list were going to take awhile to reach. DGL-2 landed 27 km away from their present location, but they needed to assess its condition nonetheless. The road trip reminded Dudmon of Münflight 5, where Bill and Jeb landed on the Mün to set up Billstown and then set the record for the longest off-world road trip in their Münar Ground Module Rover (169 km). Dudmon and Tobias were going to travel about a third of that distance as they assessed various spacecraft. He wondered how long it would take to break their longstanding record…

The explorers drove for about an hour, and the rover had no trouble scaling the crater walls. That bode well for future rovers attempting to drive out of Gale Crater to go explore more of the planet. Finally, they found the probe where it had crash-landed onto Duna two years ago. It lost its primary science instrument and one of its solar panels, and it had punctures in its fuel tanks, but its Spark engine looked serviceable after moderate repairs. The landing legs also looked functional, though one of them appeared stuck. Tobias gave the probe a salute, and the two got back into the rover for the last stop on their tour.

It was a long 51 km trip, and the explorers found some interesting rock formations that they’d want to investigate once their ride back into orbit was settled. Despite the growing dust storm, the explorers located the landed Arrow 5 Upper Stage standing on its engine bell approximately 26 km away from Duna Base. Sent to Duna over 4 years ago, the upper stage delivered the Duna Basecamp, an experimental space station, into orbit around the Rusty Planet. Given the worsening conditions, the astronauts stepped outside quickly and got to work making a visual inspection of the landed stage.

“It sure is big,” Dudmon noted aloud.

“Yes, it is,” Tobias agreed. He took note on the still working navigation lights. That was a good sign that despite weathering years of dust storms, the electronics still operated. He had to check out the top of the stage, so he went back to the rover and grabbed the jetpack for a brief hop. After setting the pack to full throttle, he leaped into the air and jetted over to the top of the stage. It took a few minutes, but he was satisfied.

“How’s it look,” Dudmon asked.

“Working lights, some dust in the instrument unit but nothing we can’t clean out. The payload fairing mounts are in good condition. The antenna connections are sandblasted but they can be repaired… I think it might work.”

“What’ll work?”

“If we can somehow bring this stage back to base along with the two Estonians,” Tobias answered, “and we can rig up a refueling plant, then we can refit Estonian 2 with 3’s interior, and then mount it to the upper stage. It’ll take some work, but I think we can build ourselves a new rocket.”

Angelo Kerman · March 12, 2023

Chapter 6

While the Duna Base Expedition 1 crew waited out the dust storm, engineers both on and off the planet poured over the images and notes taken by DBE-1’s salvage survey team. After some deliberations, the consensus was that DBE-1 should salvage as much as possible from all the wrecks, bring them all to Duna Base, and then assemble the new rocket. Since the Arrow 5 Upper Stage was the largest item to salvage, engineering teams focused on creating a vehicle that could haul it back to base.

Meanwhile, another engineering team began designing a propellant refinery that could either be made from parts printed at Duna Base and/or created by modifying the Seeds or the Worker robots produced by the Sandcaster. Given the instability of the Seeds- they weren’t designed for long-term use- engineers focused on the Worker robots instead. They were confident that they could produce a refinery from them; it was only a matter of time to figure it out.

The salvage engineers examined their options for building trailers and or self-propelled flatbed cranes, and to their delight, they discovered that the Buffalo rover system built by Orbital Dynamics was highly modular and capable of being assembled from components printed by Duna Base’s 3D printers. Even better, the parts could fit through the doors and assembled outside. It wasn’t ideal, but it was possible. To that end, the Ministry of Space negotiated with Orbital Dynamics to send very encrypted plans for their Buffalo rover system to Duna Base. The company would receive royalties for any Buffalo rover part printed up by the base...

WaltKerman.JPG&width=986&sign=GXxTRjIxcw

Meanwhile, the Public Relations teams from the Kerman States, the mcKerman Kingdom, and the vonKerman Republic worked overtime to quell rumors that the crews of Nautilus and Kopernicus had mutinied when they planted a flag of Kerbin ahead of the three participating space agencies. The official response was that “the Kerbin flag is the interim symbol of a new international partnership currently being formalized.” That response was the result of KSP spokeskerb Walt Kerman (known for his antics of wearing a hazmat suit during press briefings) panicking when reporters pressed him for an answer to the Kerbin flag, and despite attempts to retract the response, the idea stuck.

MoS Mission Control- the designated control center for the mission- reprimanded the astronauts and kerbonauts on Duna. Although there wasn’t much that they could do while the crew were away on mission, their respective space agencies quietly made it clear that the crew of Kopernicus would never fly again. For some on the crew, that suited them just fine, and when they woke up from their cryo-nap, the crew of the Nautilus probably wouldn't care either.

But KSP Administrator Gene Kerman had to admit that the two crews had a point: having to answer to three different space agencies, each vying for control at various points in the mission, was causing strife amongst the crews in the field. And with more Deep Space Exploration Vessels in planning, the situation was only going to get worse. As annoyed as he was with Walt Kerman’s panicked response, Gene thought that the idea had merit. So, while the PR teams got to work, behind the scenes, representatives from Kerbal Space Program, the Ministry of Space, and the vonKerman Space Agency gathered to find an acceptable way forward…

Fifteen days of hunkering down later, the dust storm finally cleared, and Tobias, Jonas, and Emma were ready. The vonKermans took the time to print some test parts and practiced assembling them so that when the storm cleared, they could step outside and try to build a rig capable of retrieving the Arrow 5 Upper stage. Initial assembly went well; the jack lift made it easy to bolt the chassis components on top, lift it up, and place other components like the wheels. After ~~reloading KSP to fix the EVA constructed wheels~~ adjusting the wheels, the team repeated the process of attaching new chassis segments, mounting a jack lift underneath and extending it, and attaching more wheels. Six days later, they completed the Arrow Upper Stage Trailer. Tobias also welded a trailer hitch to Rover 1.

The trailer was self-propelled thanks to its Auxiliary Electronic Navigator- the same design used on the Buffalo rovers- but for now it was relegated to deploying its solar array, moving forward and backward, and pivoting its alligator hinge. For now, the trailer simply backed away from Duna Base to give enough room for the Buffalo rover to hook up to the trailer. With that task completed, Tobias and Emma waited a day for the latest dust storm to dissipate before they hopped into the rover and set out to collect the AUS.

After driving at unsafe velocities for half an hour, Rover 1 arrived at the AUS. The engineers carefully backed the trailer up until it was right next to one of the AUS’s refueling ports. Then they commanded the stage to retract its solar panels and antenna. Tobias and Emma hoped out of the rover to ensure that everything was lined up properly. Then, after adjusting the trailer’s docking port, they docked to the stage. Carefully, they abused the stage's refueling port when they lowered the stage onto the trailer for the trip back to Duna Base. The port shrieked, protesting that it had to perform a function that it wasn't designed for, and it would never again accept propellant transfers. But, it worked- though they blew out one of the wheels in the process. Tobias decided to leave it for now; the weight of the stage now rested on the front trailer wheels. Instead, he added a pair of struts to support the weight of the stage, and then got back into the rover. Once they settled some control issues by shutting down the stage’s reaction wheels, they began the 26 km journey back to Duna Base.

They had a mishap on the way back to the base- one of the jack lifts scraped too close to the ground and sheared off- and yet another dust storm overtook them. Then, the rover kept jackknifing, so Tobias stopped the rig, got out, and replaced the broken wheel with one from the back of the trailer. Between that and adjusting the shock absorbers, they finally got the rig under control. It took about two hours to drive the rover and AUS back to Duna Base...

“Well done, you two,” Dudmon said to Tobias and Emma as he looked at the AUS on the trailer. “Well done!”

After setting the AUS back upright, the engineering team worked tirelessly to install decouplers and makeshift pylons- modular girder segments, truthfully- to mount the landing legs on. They also supplemented the RCS thrusters with ones fueled by liquid fuel and oxidizer. It was an ungainly solution, but it worked. The Arrow 5 Upper Stage was no longer condemned to rest on its engine bell, and it finally had a set of legs.

Angelo Kerman · March 13, 2023

Chapter 7

Scott Kerman, majority shareholder, chairman of the board, CEO emeritus, and Chief Test Pilot of the company that he founded, Orbital Dynamics, sat in the Kondor- the first new orbital-class vehicle that the company had produced since introducing the Mk33 almost five years ago. Revolutionary for its time, the Mk33 was the world’s first SSTO that had also put his company on the map. It was instrumental in creating several world’s firsts including sending the first space tourist into orbit, building the first space hotel, and building the first orbital shipyard. But as revolutionary as the Mk33 was, it paled in comparison to the Kondor and the technology that it possessed.

While the Mk33 was built to carry cargo and crew into orbit like the retired Shuttle Launch System, the Kondor could only carry a pilot and up to three passengers- though larger models were also being considered. Kondor was perfect for those times when you just needed to ferry passengers into orbit and didn't need the payload capacity of a cargo plane. It was the size of a Buffalo rover like the ones on Duna; in fact, it shared the same body construction. It could easily fit inside a Mk33 payload bay and yet it too was an SSTO. It accomplished this amazing feat thanks to new propulsion technology that would forever change the nature of spaceflight.

Kondor was powered by a gravitic engine.

Developed as an application of graviolium- the exotic matter first discovered when his company captured an asteroid, dubbed “Magic Boulder” by the media, the gravitic engine worked by zapping graviolium with an electric charge, which in turn distorted a small, localized volume of space-time to form a mini gravity well. When electric charge is no longer applied, the distortion field dissipates quickly, and space-time reverts to its natural state. The field is projected a fixed distance in front of the ship- or above it or behind it- and the ship “falls” towards the artificial gravity well if the field’s strength is greater than the local gravity field. Gravitic engines aren’t powerful enough to continually apply electric charge and constantly warp space-time, but by rapidly blinking the distortion field- also known as a virtual singularity- on and off like how brakes are applied in an anti-lock braking system, the ship will fall in the desired direction of travel. Best yet, the occupants won’t feel the acceleration.

Graviolium had numerous applications, and the gravitic engine was just one of them. Frolie Kerman, the company’s Chief Technology Officer/Chief Engineer, and “The Father of Gravitics”, kept thinking up new ways to harness the stuff. Just the other day, for instance, he proposed a ground-based training facility that would simulate weightlessness and make zero-g trainer aircraft obsolete. Today though, he set aside his inventor hat to be the flight engineer on Kondor’s last test flight before it was put into production.

“Where are we going today, boss,” Frolie asked his friend.

“Up to the Yard,” Scott answered, referring to the Orbital Dynamics Shipyard.

“Not to Magic Boulder?”

“We can if you want,” Scott said.

“Yup, definitely want,” Frolie answered excitedly. “They just finished the new construction. Why the Yard though?”

Scott searched for words to answer his friend. “I’ve got an idea… but… there are parts of it that I need context? Inspiration? for. It’s… hard to put into words… It’s right on the tip of my tongue but I can’t quite… articulate it… I think sitting in the Finch will help.”

“Missing a sense of adventure, are we,” Frolie chided.

“Heh. Something like that,” Scott admitted.

Scott powered up the Kondor’s gravitic engine, extended its wings, and got permission to take off from the control tower. The spacecraft, dubbed a “shuttlepod” by its creators, lifted off vertically and hovered a few meters off the ground while the last system checks were performed. Scott selected a projection angle that let the Kondor both float in the air like one of the old hexium-gas airships and accelerate forward, and the craft rapidly gained speed. When it was flying fast enough to generate lift, Scott set the projection angle forward and raised the nose, and they began to fly into space…

Three hours later, Kondor arrived at the Orbital Dynamics Shipyard, and the little craft docked at the forward port along its spine. After shutting down the engine and putting Kondor into hibernation mode, Scott and Frolie greeted the station crew before making their way over to the Finch. Scott and Frolie took their familiar places inside the vehicle, switched some systems online, and turned on the lights.

During the Shuttle era, Kerbal Space Program requested proposals for a Münar Shuttle Module that would transport crews from the Kerbin Orbiting Station to the Mün and Minmus. The @RocketologyDesign Group (RDG) proposed the KSOI-1 Hermes Cycler, a vessel capable of traveling anywhere within the Kerbin Sphere of Influence.

Budget constraints and technical limitations ~~(Hermes was designed for stock scale, but I play in JNSQ scale, but it's one of my favorite ships by Rocketology)~~ evolved the nuclear-powered design into the Magellan, a smaller, cheaper design that could be fitted with a conventional cryogenic propulsion system. KSP added a Münar Excursion Module-derived Münar Surface Access Module into the mix, and the pair visited both of Kerbin’s müns.

Orbital Dynamics licensed the design from RDG and created the Finch-class Multipurpose Space Vehicle. Named after the first MEM, the Finch-class had a command module that could be fitted with a variety of different accessories that enabled it to become the first spacecraft to orbit and land on the Mün and Minmus. It took several iterations of the propulsion system to accomplish those feats, though… After landing on Minmus, Orbital Dynamics retired the Finch and stored her at the Shipyard. Scott wasn’t ready to send it to the Boneyard, he had many an adventure in the well-traveled spacecraft, and he felt like there was still some life left in it.

Scott and Frolie sat in silence for a few minutes, remembering their previous adventures and resisting the urge to play like kids sitting in a cardboard spaceship. Finally, Scott spoke up. “The Kerbal Space Program, the Ministry of Space, and the vonKerman Space agency are teaming up again. We got a Request for Proposals from them as part of their DSEV(X) Program. That’s uh, the Deep Space Exploration Vessels-Experimental. Before they commit to the next iteration of DSEV, they are asking for two teams to create a prototype vessel within 60 days of selection. They’ll evaluate each design for 30 days before selecting the winner. The winning team will have just under 200 days to build the next DSEV and have it ready for the upcoming transfer window to Jool, and they'll build the next two DSEVs after that as well.”

Scott paused to let Frolie absorb the information. "What are they evaluating that requires a prototype," Frolie asked.

"Good question! A number of items, but chief among them is that they want to pit our gravitic engine against Kerbodyne's new graviolium-catalyzed fusion engine," Scott answered.

"The KF-1 Supernova? I read about that," Frolie said. "It's a pretty clever way to drastically reduce the energy requirements needed to achieve ignition. I thought it was just a paper study. No wonder why they want a prototype..."

“Yeah, makes sense," Scott responded. He looked around and then snapped his fingers. "I'm glad we’re here, I’ve finally figured out the questions that I wanted to ask.”

“Sure, go ahead.”

“Okay, so, we made Finch to be modular, right?”

“…Yeah…?”

“The DSX- uh, Deep Space eXperimental prototype that they want has a bunch of requirements. And each ship has a limited budget- but we can contribute our own funds too if we want to. I want us to have a ship that’ll meet all the requirements, and I think the Finch is a good starting point. But, I wonder if there’s a way to build a ship like Finch- only bigger, more modular, like, uh, like having an extended cabin, one or two of the vonKerman cryo-modules built in, an airlock- that sort of thing.”

“Oh, and dock them together like Finch,” Frolie asked.

“No, DSX wants more capabilities in the command hull. I was thinking that we'd meet the requirements, but like Finch, it can add additional modules like extra habitat areas, maybe a uh, cargo rack, modular engines, and so on. We could add modules to, say, have enough space to rescue the crew at Duna if their plan fails. If that happens, we’d have just under a year to prepare. We’ll need a shuttlepod to land, unless we use gravitics to land the ship…”

“Yeah, ok,” Frolie said, already thinking about potential designs. “To move fast, we’d need several gravitic engines to move a larger ship- unless we build a bigger one… hm, maybe for a new Mk33… but yeah, I think we can do it… let me think on it…”

*

After their layover at the Orbital Dynamics Shipyard, Scott and Frolie boarded Kondor once more for their trip to Magic Boulder. A couple of hours later, they arrived at the asteroid. Formally known as VDP-762, Magic Boulder became so named for unusual glowing striations of graviolium ore. In fact, it had high concentrations of the stuff. The handful of other asteroids visited had nowhere near as much graviolium, but that wasn’t stopping various companies that had sprung up from proposing missions to go hunting for more.

Thanks to rock-powered mass drivers generously provided by Drax Aerospace as a gesture of goodwill- and as part of the reparations for their industrial espionage- the company finally moved Magic Boulder into low orbit. Then, with Orbital Dynamics Shipyard’s help, they recently completed a newer, larger shipyard. The company wasn’t quite ready to decommission its predecessor, but it was only a matter of time.

Frolie gasped. He was momentarily mesmerized as he watched the new shipyard’s centrifuge spinning off in the distance. “I know the yard was impressive on paper,” he said finally, “but seeing it in person… wow…”

“Kinda takes your breath away,” Scott said.

“I’ll say! Direct access to Magic Boulder’s resources, two docks to build Nautilus-sized Deep Space Exploration Vessels or supertankers, the largest orbital habitat in Kerbin’s SOI…”

Scott got clearance to dock at Ventral Yard’s docking pier. The pier would have to be relocated to enable the construction manipulator to do its job, but for now it provided a handy location for shuttles with construction crews to dock. Once they shut down Kondor, the two commercial astronauts headed for the command deck to greet the skeleton crew and check out the new facilities. Scott could see that there wasn’t much to do aboard yet- he knew that the permanent staff wouldn’t arrive until next week, and they were still working out issues with the upgraded Payload Maneuvering Vehicle, but the station really was impressive to see in person. If his company could get the DSX-01 contract along with its production model, they could be built here too…

After touring the station, Scott and Frolie boarded Kondor once more and departed the station. An hour later, they landed back at Orbital Dynamics’ headquarters.

Vanamonde · March 13, 2023

Oh my, so fancy! This is very elaborate work. :D

Rocketology · March 14, 2023

I like the story telling! You could put this all together into a Kerbal themed digital comic.

Angelo Kerman · March 18, 2023

Chapter 8

After the latest dust storm passed, the engineering team got to work again. This time, they repaired the trailer and built a tall crane using a series of modular girders and winches. “Girders assemble,” Jonas vonKerman yelled. Nobody got the movie reference. It took them a week, but by the time they were done, they had a 20-meter-tall crane to perform their next tasks with.

Tobias and Jonas hopped into the Buffalo rover and drove out to the Estonian 2 crash site. The ~~player~~ engineers appreciated that it was just a short drive away- only 4km. Once they arrived, the kerbals attached some cable attachment points to the space frame, extended the crane’s cables, hooked up the capsule to them, and lifted it into the air. As another dust storm rolled in, the engineers drove the capsule back to base…

It didn’t take long to drop off Estonian 2, so the engineers took their rig and drove the 2.2km to Estonian 3- and promptly forgot that they needed to bring more cable connectors! Despite their embarrassment, Emma calmly grabbed the connectors that she’d printed, stuffed them into Rover 2, and drove out to the recovery site. Since she had the connectors, Emma attached them to the capsule- and slapped the “pirate” Kerbin flag onto its sides as well for good measure. She even took the time to clean the landing frame mounting bolts from Rover 2. With her work completed, Emma returned to base.

After having lunch, Tobias and Jonas got to work again and hooked up the cables to Estonian 3. Once they hoisted the capsule into the air and secured it, they drove back to Duna Base and plopped it down next to its sister capsule. Then they went back inside to help print up the next set of components…

It took ~~a frustrating evening~~ some doing, but Tobias finally managed to install a set of ladders up the side of the rocket stage and, after barely fitting it through the door, he rolled the docking port over to the AUS and installed it on top as well. After adding the keep-alive solar panels, Tobias grabbed Jonas and Emma for the next construction phase…

The team re-positioned the Buffalo crane rig, and then Emma cleaned the “barnacles” from Estonian 2. Unfortunately , the dust storm was getting worse, so they went back inside to print up some containers to temporarily store Estonian 3’s interior and to begin working on a new project for the scientists…

The next day, Jonas stepped outside to assess the remains of the two Seeds created by the Sandcaster to see what could be salvaged. MoS MC wanted to see if anything was useful for their fuel production plant. He took several pictures and then assessed the condition of the Worker-T and Worker-B rovers before he joined the other engineers working on Estonian 2 and 3.

The team stepped outside and assembled a mobile storage shed to hold Estonian 3’s interior components while they worked on Estonian 2. While Jonas and Emma worked on disassembling 3’s interior, Tobias removed 2’s docking port assembly with the probe core that was plugging up the crew tube. With that completed, it was clear that there were some design differences between Estonian 2 and Estonian 3. They’d need to build a new docking port for the craft. For now, he simply covered up the hole and went back inside to build a new port. A short while later, he had the new docking port installed…

By late afternoon a couple days later, the team had moved the interior parts from Estonian 3 over to Estonian 2. The flight controls and displays would need extensive testing, but they were in place. Then, with Jonas operating the crane’s winches, Tobias and Emma cut Estonian 2’s ascent tank away from the crew capsule. Next, they welded a Buffalo docking port to the underside of the capsule. Finally, they tried to back the trailer up next to the AUS and lift the capsule up top, but they quickly realized that the trailer wasn’t wide enough to fit around the stage’s new landing legs. The engineers sat the capsule down to rethink the problem...

Emma vonKerman had to point out the obvious. “Why not just widen the trailer,” she asked. So, they did. Emma ran the printers in Duna Base to print up more chassis parts, and then she welded them to the sides of the trailer. After repositioning the other pieces, she greatly expanded the trailer/crane’s width to easily accommodate the AUS’ legs. A short drive later, Jonas positioned the capsule directly over the AUS and slowly lowered it into place.

With the heavy lifting literally completed, Tobias climbed the ladders that he installed and unhooked the cables from the capsule. Next, he used the control box that he brought to command the Buffalo docking ports to snap their alignment and then rotate to the proper orientation. Satisfied with their work, Tobias climbed back down so that Emma could go up and add struts between the capsule and the AUS to improve the connection between the two.

At last, they had a new rocket! All they needed to do is refuel it. But after sitting on the ground for over four years, would the engine still work?

jimmymcgoochie · March 18, 2023

Quote

Nobody got the movie reference.

Cap understood that reference though :wink:

Angelo Kerman · March 21, 2023

Chapter 9

The Deep Space Exploration Vessel- eXperimental Program team took one last review of the three Deep Space eXperimental (DSX) proposals. One team was led by the Arrow Space Corporation, another was led by Drax Aerospace, and a third was led by Orbital Dynamics. Given their recent industrial espionage scandal and a “suggestion” from the heads of all three space agencies to downselect the Drax proposal, the DSEV(X) Selection Committee settled on the proposals from Arrow Space and Orbital Dynamics. They flipped a couple of coins to assign the DSX-01 registry number to Orbital Dynamics’ Newton, and DSX-02 to Arrow Space’s Halley.

Both designs met the minimum requirements for the DSX prototype- and then some. Both could support a crew of eight on active duty for a minimum of 200 days or a crew of eight in cryostasis for ten years. Both had a small 3D printer lab for spare parts and, if needed, new construction. Both had a Nautilus-derived habitat ring and had a pilothouse based on a cupola. But that’s where the similarities ended.

Halley (DSX-02) consisted of a single hull with interchangeable sensor masts while Newton (DSX-01) had a far more modular hull to meet changing mission requirements. Additionally, Newton’s command hull had a greenhouse that Halley’s lacked, but Halley’s command hull had twice the 3D printing capacity of Newton, an integrated mobile processing lab, a hangar bay for a Compact Payload Maneuvering Vehicle, and a sickbay, none of which Newton possessed. Plus, it had eight docking ports for various accessories or cargo modules versus Newton’s three, and designers considered adding one or two more to the command hull’s spine. In terms of the command hull, it also cost more than Newton’s.

The biggest difference between Newton and Halley were in their propulsion systems. Halley favored a revolutionary graviolium-catalyzed fusion engine from Kerbodyne, while Orbital Dynamics’ Newton had an equally revolutionary gravitc engine. The Kerbodyne KF-1 Supernova needed a small amount of graviolium as a catalyst to achieve fusion ignition. After charging the capacitors to start the engine’s fusion reactor, it became self-sustaining. Once started, the Supernova performed like a “standard” nuclear thermal rocket; it heated propellium and expelled it to produce thrust. The difference is that the Supernova heated propellium into a plasma with an unbelievable specific impulse of 16,000 seconds! With Halley’s propellium tanks, DSX-02 had a whopping 35,000 m/sec delta-v.

By contrast, Newton’s four GND-00 “Baryon” Gravitic Engines consumed graviolium to warp space and “fall” towards the localized artificial singularity that it created. Though it used more graviolium than the Supernova, a ship equipped with gravitic engines and a sizeable store of graviolium had the potential to produce hundreds of thousands of meters per second of delta-v. Ships could potentially travel for years without the need to refuel, much like the nuclear submarines that the nations used to pit against each other. Plus, with such a vast delta-v reserve, gravitic ships could potentially perform interplanetary travel in a fraction of the time of a traditional Hohmann transfer orbit.

The two competing designs had much to offer the DSEV(X) program, and the Selection Committee looked forward to testing their capabilities. Both proposals offered more than the minimum requirements that the Committee would have to take into consideration. With the two teams selected, and both receiving written notification by next-day courier, they each had 30 days to produce their spacecraft…

*

Emma and Jonas took the Buffalo crane rig out to the Sandcaster Lander’s crash site to raid it for parts. They were particularly interested in acquiring the Fulcrum engines and part of the lander for use as an engine test stand. If for some reason the RE-J10 didn’t work, they didn’t want to make another trip to fetch the Fulcrums.

The two vonKerman engineers made quick work of detaching the Fulcrum engines from the lander frame and temporarily mounted them to the crane’s rig. Salvaging what would become the makeshift engine test stand proved slightly more difficult. The engineers had to dismantle the back half of the landing frame to get what they needed: an engine plate and a fuel tank. They also transferred all the propellants out of the aft tank- enough to fully refuel the front half of the landing frame. They’d have to find a way to scavenge the propellants, but that would take another trip…

The engineers drove back to Duna Base with their prize in tow- in the middle of yet another dust storm. At this point, the engineers were used to it and just kept working. Once they parked their rig and lowered the makeshift test stand, Emma hopped out to weld some additional parts to it: a battery and probe core that Tobias had printed, and a solar panel scavenged from Estonian 3. Then, after Jonas moved the rig out of the way, Emma connected a fuel pipe from Duna Base to the test stand. They still didn’t have a working fuel processing plant, but they were ready for when they had one. In the meantime, they had a plan to scavenge the remaining propellant from the landing frame.

Emma walked over to one of the Worker-T rovers and unceremoniously dumped its contents onto the desert floor. Then she re-positioned the grabbing unit and reconfigured the tanks to store propellant. Finally, she commanded the robot to grab onto the back of Rover 2. Then, Jonas rigged up a propellant transfer hose to the back of the Worker-T, and then joined Emma in the rover’s control cab.

A short drive later, the rover and tanker trailer stopped next to the landing frame’s remains, drained its remaining propellants, and returned to Duna Base. After disconnecting from the Worker-T, Emma parked Rover 2 and then got to work hooking up the Worker to their new test stand. Then, Jonas and Tobias stepped outside to lend a hand as she dismounted the RE-J10 Wolfhound engine from the bottom of the Arrow Upper Stage. Then the team moved it over to the test stand and mounted it to the engine plate.

Normally, when rocket engines are tested, their nozzles point downward, but this wasn’t possible on Duna. There simply was no way to provide a proper anchor for the test stand, so the team flipped the Wolfhound upside down. Once they wired up the pipes and electrical connectors, they commanded the test stand’s probe core to start the engine- it failed. The team rechecked their connections and tried again with the same result. Jonas even attached an external fuel line to the engine, and that too failed. No matter what they did, the Wolfhound simply would not ignite…

Saddened but undeterred, the team dismounted the Wolfhound from the test stand and grabbed one of the Fulcrum engines. Once again, they connected the fuel line and electrical connections, and then stood back as the test stand’s probe core went through its firing sequence. This time, the replacement engine worked!

The last thing that they had to do was mount the replacement Fulcrum to the underside of the Arrow 5 Upper Stage. They had no issues doing so, save for one: the ~~engine plate won’t route fuel to the new engine after being attached in the field~~ stage’s plumbing wasn’t designed to handle the Fulcrum. Fortunately, they had a plan. Tobias cut a small opening into the engine plate, mounted a sump tank, and routed a fuel line from the tank to the engine. After a quick check aboard the rocket, the flight systems registered the new engine and noted its proper fuel flow status. Once again, the vonKermans proved that they were the undisputed masters of in-flight field modifications, repairs, and Jerry-rigging parts…

The entire expedition team stepped outside to admire the engineering team’s handiwork- and their new ride into orbit. They just needed to wait for Mission Control to radio them a process to produce new fuel for their new rocket.

“That is a marvelous piece of work,” Dudmon praised. “You guys did an outstanding job. And since you built her, you get to name her. Anything come to mind?”

“Thanks,” Tobias vonKerman, the engineering team lead said. “It was quite an endeavour.”

The name stuck.

Angelo Kerman · April 10, 2023

Chapter 10

Due to an unfortunate accident, the engine test stand ~~exploded from a kraken strike~~ spilled its propellants onto the desert floor and became a hazard. The spill had to be cleaned up and the test stand dismantled before something worse happened. And while they were at it, the engineers also cleaned up the refuse from the defunct Seeds. They took all the garbage and recycled it, printing up new components and assembling them outside. When they were done, Duna Base had a new vehicle in its fleet: the Buffabus!

The Buffalo rovers sent to Duna were equipped with a scanning arm as well as a small exploration lab that doubled as a small sleeping cabin. They were fine for day trips around Gale Crater, but like any SUV or minivan, they quickly became inadequate for extended trips. The Buffabus solved those issues.

Engineers took the standard Buffalo rover design and stretched it to add a habitat module and a mini mobile processing lab while retaining the exploration module, its docking ports, and its aft ramp. Then they worked with Ferwin and the science team to devise new scientific instruments and covered the back of the bus with them. Finally, they installed a new fuel cell that Orbital Dynamics developed for their Buffalo Rover System. It ran on liquid fuel and oxidizer and allowed the bus to operate at night. Once the inspections were complete, the engineers decided to attach additional solar panels on the bus’s flanks to catch sunlight when it was low on the horizon.

With the Buffabus completed, Emma vonKerman, Calbro mcKerman, and Frewin Kerman boarded their new ride and set out for Zone 7MF-SP, a location that had a sensor anomaly according to the Duna Surveyor orbiting the Rusty Planet. The location was 137km away- which meant that Emma, Calbro, and Ferwin would break Bill and Jeb’s off-world road trip record. With Emma in the driver’s seat and Calbro and Ferwin staffing the exploration module, the Buffabus set out on its long journey…

Eighty-three kilometers into their trip, the Buffabus’s autopilot drove straight into a pile of rocks and took a tumble. It lost one of its antennas as well as its low-altitude surface scanner and its scanning arm. That’s also around the time that the crew realized that they forgot to pack repair kits. Fortunately, Emma managed to get the bus back onto its wheels and continue onward despite the setback. Nonetheless, the engineering team had some repair work to do when they got back to base- and some upgrades. If they were going to investigate the anomaly readings further out, Buffabus needed additional tanks for the fuel cell and some improved solar arrays...

After driving for half the day, the Buffabus arrived on site, but found nothing. With some closeups of the area, Ferwin suggested another location, Sector S-0F, that was 21 km away, and off they went.

“Wait, stop,” Ferwin yelled from the exploration cabin. By accident he bumped the BTDT scanner resolution an unusual rock formation that was clearly a different color than the surrounding landscape. With some back tracking, they drive right next to it. Sadly, it was just a sand dune.

“And us without our scanning arm,” Calbro quipped.

“I blame Tobias for not packing repair kits,” Emma added.

“At least we know that the BTDT works,” Ferwin countered. “Ok, let’s check out Sector S-0F.”

Another half-hour of driving later, the explorers found the anomaly about a kilometer away from Sector S-0F. It was another discolored sand dune- except for one odd thing…

Sitting atop the sand dune was a small rover with six wheels and powered by solar panels.

Calbro gasped. “Is it- is it… aliens?”

Emma walked around the robotic rover. “No markings,” she noticed. “The wheels look like one of the old vonKerman rover designs… Aha! Sorry, Calbro, but this was made by Kerbals. I know this battery pack. It’s a Zaltonic Z-100 rechargeable battery pack. It’s an old design, though, at least forty years old. Maybe older… But it was definitely built before the post-war Restock, when the various parts companies redesigned their stuff. And look at these individual solar cells. I haven’t seen anything like that in decades.”

“Emma,” Ferwin began, “did the vonKerman Republic have a space program before the Last War ended?”

Emma shrugged. “I don’t honestly know,” she answered. “But from what we’re seeing, it sure looks like it...”

By the time that the Buffabus returned from its first expedition, the news media hailed the explorers for beating Bill and Jeb’s long-standing record for the longest off-world road trip. And the World’s First Organization commended them for their discovery of the remains of a previous scientific endeavor on Duna.

But who sent the rover, and when?

*

The crew of Starlab transmitted the final science results from the Newton lab, shut down the core module’s experiment stations, and deactivated the few recyclers that still ran. Well over a decade and a half old, Starlab’s systems slowly died as they failed and couldn’t be repaired. As sad as it was, it was time to decommission the old station.

The crew boarded their Phoenix Aerospace Firebird- derived from the old K-24 Kerbal Return Vehicle, itself derived from the OG K-20 KerbalSoar- refueled it from the station’s propellant reserves and undocked for the last time. As the winged craft departed, flight computers aboard Starlab switched off the lights. And a little at a time, the station’s computers switched off its air circulation fans, leaving the interior mostly silent.

Three hours later, Firebird arrived at the former Starlab station crew’s new home: Sky Reef. An Oasis-class commercial space station, Sky Reef was almost entirely built and assembled on orbit by Orbital Dynamics out of the same modular components that comprised Oasis and Refuge, orbiting the Mün and Minmas, respectively. Only its Nautilus-derived centrifuge was ground-launched into orbit. Sky Reef’s first crew shutdown their taxi and began setting up shop in the new station…

Starlab was assembled piece by piece via the Shuttle Launch System- retired before its time- and served as a world-class station to study the effects of microgravity on the kerbal body. It was instrumental in testing the cryostasis technology that’s now regularly used aboard deep space exploration vessels. It served as a waystation for the Magellan Münar Shuttle Module and her expeditions to both of Kerbin’s müns. And it hosted countless station crews- including a delegation from the vonKerman Republic. Starlab earned its place in history, but rather than deorbit the large complex, KSP filed an exemption to the Kerbin Orbital Transportation Services portion of KOMETS and commissioned Orbital Dynamics to move the retired station into a higher orbit. The commercial space company used their new Gravitic Payload Maneuvering Vehicle to latch onto the station and haul it into its retirement orbit. There it would stay, preserved for future generations to visit and to see how early space explorers lived and worked.

Angelo Kerman · June 13, 2023

Chapter 11

Bolstered with the success of their first outing, Dudmon authorized another outing- after repairing and upgrading the Buffabus. While the Buffabus crew rested, Tobias handled repairs to the rover as well as stocking up its repair kits. He also attached additional propellant tanks to the outside of the factory building for storage of liquid fuel and oxidizer. Once Emma got some rest, all three engineers worked on the additions to Buffabus.

To investigate the anomalies further away from Duna Base, Buffabus needed to be more self-sufficient. That required additional facilities to handle contingencies. To expand its capabilities, the vonKerman engineers planned to dock support rovers to the sides of the bus and drive them as a single unit- much like how the two Buffalo rovers joined together during DBE-1’s landfall.

Both support rovers had the same basic design with a standardized chassis, sloped front, a docking module, a set of retractable solar arrays, and an aft-mounted large-scale fuel cell array and drill. But that’s where the similarities ended. The port support rover had a small 3D print shop and a galley, while the starboard rover had a sickbay and a gym. Together, the three linked rovers essentially formed a mobile base to conduct extensive research with. By the time they were done, the Buffabus was fully stocked with resources, ample repair kits, work lights, exo skeletons, and science experiments.

“I wish I could go with you,” Dudmon lamented, but he knew that he couldn’t. As the only pilot, he had to remain behind to fly the Endeavour into orbit and bring DSEV-02 back to Kerbin. Instead, Ferwin, Calbro, and Emma set out once again into the vast rusty desert to see what other sensor anomalies would reveal…

Their first anomly site was a whopping 387km away from Duna Base and it took a day to reach. On the trip over, Emma vonKerman took the time to take her engineering exam, and she passed. “Congratulations, you’ve earned your 3-star rating,” Tobias radioed.

The explorers finally located the anomaly- a pair of discolored sand dunes out in the Midlands. The larger of the two had what appeared to be a camera mast sticking out of it. From the looks of it, the team had discovered a second rover. Emma carefully examined the mast and compared it to pictures of the one from the old rover that they’d found a week ago. The two designs were very similar. “I wonder what caused this one to become buried in sandstone,” she asked. Neither scientist had an answer.

After taking detailed pictures of the site, Calbro decided that they would stop for the night and set up a science station in the morning. As Calbro prepared a meal in the galley, Ferwin got some exercise time in the gym while Emma did some work in the exploration module. After dinner, Calbro and Ferwin insisted that Emma sleep in the hab module, while they stretched out in the two support rover’s airlock modules. There wasn’t a lot of space in the Buffabus even with the additional support rovers, but there was enough for each crewmember to have their own sleeping quarters.

The next morning, while Calbro made breakfast, Emma and Ferwin set out the first set of science instruments to study midlands biome. It didn’t take long for them to complete their task; they set up the basic infrastructure along with instruments like the seismic sensors, graviolium detector, and the cosmic ray detector.

Once that was completed, Emma attempted to diagnose the problem with the retractable solar arrays on the support rovers. They would extend ok, but for some reason they kept retracting, and nothing in the control software appeared to command them to do that. Frustrated, she entered the print shop and printed up a set of non-retracting solar arrays and attached them to the sides. Finally, she deployed the drills and started the converters to replenish their liquid fuel and oxidizer reserves before sitting down to breakfast.

After their morning meal, the explorers tapped in the coordinates to their next anomaly, a site known as FRN-3G- the rock cropping that Duna Copter 1 discovered over 4 years ago. At just under 400km away, it would be a hard day of driving for the rover autopilot, but they’d break their previous record for the longest off-world road trip. Before they set out, Buffabus drove over to the nearby “Duna Blueberries” and the sand dune to scan them with their scanning arm. With the results of the scans stored in the B2 Laboratory Module for analysis, the Buffabus set out for its next destination…

Along the way, Emma finally sorted out the software issues preventing the retractable solar arrays from staying deployed. It took them the better part of a day to drive the long distance, but by sundown, they arrived at the strange rock outcropping. After the team stepped outside to take a quick look at the anomaly- and the mangled remains of the Duna Copter that crashed years ago- Emma took a moment to install a core sampling drill before they went back inside for dinner.

“I just heard back from Wernher,” Emma said while working out in the gym, “some of the vonKerman Rocketry Corps ballistic missiles from the Last War were technically capable of launching a probe towards Duna if they were modified. But he hadn’t heard of any space program from back then. If they did launch probes, they were very quiet about it. He thinks it’s the most likely explanation though.”

The next morning, Emma and Ferwin set up another science station- the map said that they were in some notable mountains- before Emma programmed the Buffabus to auto-drive to the next anomaly a “mere” 687km away…

As the Buffabus drove itself, the team took core samples at various locations, and in the highlands, they discovered 33,838 units of graviolium! It was the first source of graviolium discovered on another planet, and the largest concentration of graviolium outside of the Magic Boulder. The team carefully noted the location and continued towards their destination…

Two days later, they arrived at the next site after sundown. In the glow of the rover’s lights, they found it- but what they found was astonishing. The explorers deployed the drills and then stepped outside for a look before bedding down for the night.

“Why- how- is there a Kermantian monolith on Duna,” Ferwin asked.

*

Back in Kerbin orbit, yard workers at the Ministry of Space’s Space Operations Center just finished docking Halley (DSX-02) to the airlock module’s ventral docking port and unfolded its habitat ring. The command hull and habitat ring needed a lot of interior work to finish, its sensors needed to be wired to the ship’s flight computers, volumes of code needed to be written, and its revolutionary graviolium-catalyzed fusion engine had yet to be tested, but the shipwrights celebrated nonetheless; they completed the hull of the Halley ahead of schedule- and more importantly, before Orbital Dynamics and their team completed the Newton. The construction crew held a brief celebration before immediately getting back to work.

*

The next morning, Emma installed a pair of radiators to handle some heat issues with the drills. “We’re lucky that the drills didn’t explode,” Emma noted. The radiators made quick work of the heat buildup threatening to cook the occupants alive.

Then, Ferwin and Emma got to work setting up a new science station specifically to study the “Dunalith” as Calbro dubbed it. By the time that they finished, Mission Control informed them that they were working on locating Adsii Kerman, the foremost expert on the Kermantian Empire. According to Orbital Dynamics, he was currently on sabbatical, and they didn’t know his current whereabouts. In the meantime, the Buffabus’ spectral analysis showed that the “Dunalith” was made of granite- just like the one at KSC. The only difference was that the one on Duna had a green tint due to some feldspars such as Amazonite. There didn’t appear to be any variable densities like the one at KSC, nor were there any magnets nearby to enable the stone slab to levitate. The monolith also had some writing on it that appeared to be different from the one at KSC.

With nothing more to gain from staying at the site, the team double-checked the cameras that they set up and verified that the data links were solid before programming the rover autopilot for their next destination, known as Zone 6-HML. It was “only” 445.6 km away…

Two days later, the team arrived at the next anomaly after navigating some treacherous mountains. The anomaly turned out to be another rock formation like the one that Duna Copter 1 found several years ago. Strangely, it appeared to have the same arrangement of rocks, suggesting that the formation was deliberately constructed. Given the previous anomaly suggested that somehow, Kermantians landed on Duna despite not having the technology to do so, it’s possible that they assembled the rock formations.

The team took the time to set up a small research station by the monument before plugging in the coordinates to the next anomaly on their list and heading out. They had a 146 km dogleg maneuver to get around the mountains before they could reach their next target, known as Sector R6-V…

After three days of driving, the Buffabus finally arrived at Sector R6-V. The crew was tired- Ferwin was already snoring in the lab- since they arrived at local midnight. Emma and Calbro looked at the anomaly through the Buffabus’s cockpit windows.

“Should we wake Ferwin,” Emma asked.

“Nah,” Calbro answered. “It’s just a large boulder. It can wait until morning. Let’s get some rest…”

*

Arrow Space Corporation’s completion of the Halley inspired the Orbital Dynamics- led team to step up the pace and as a result, a week after Halley slipped free of the Space Operations Center’s construction dock, shipwrights at Magic Boulder docked the Gravitic Propulsion Module to the Newton. As with the Halley, the Newton’s engineering team still had a lot of work to do to outfit the ship’s interior, but they were proud of their handiwork.

The ship’s design remained virtually unchanged from the initial proposal with the only difference being the addition of a docking ring on the front of the cockpit cupola. Though it sacrificed a small amount of forward visibility, the docking ring provided an additional location to dock other modules to the vessel.

Newton also gained an experimental version of the Buffalo Shuttlepod, docked to its ventral docking port. Unlike the standard shuttlepod, “Pod 1,” as it was called, had the ability to separate its cockpit and engine section from the passenger cabin. Chassis couplers mounted to the roofs of the engine section and cockpit enabled Pod 1 to dock to a cargo frame. In theory, that would enable the shuttlepod to deliver various cargo modules to the surface of a planet or moon. Designers weren’t sure if the modular approach was better than having a dedicated cargo shuttle for a DSEV, but that’s why test projects existed.

At any rate, with the main hull completed, both DSX teams had just over a month to complete their respective spacecraft and basic systems testing before the three space agencies evaluated the craft and chose the winner.

*

The team slept for what felt like weeks, but the next morning, the intrepid explorers of the Buffabus stepped outside to look at the seemingly non-descript boulder.

“Huh,” Ferwin said, adjusting his helmet. He tilted his head. “Almost looks like a pair of eyes…”

“What,” Emma asked.

“The outcroppings at the top of the boulder. They look like- eyes.”

The trio walked towards the large boulder to get a closer look. Calbro examined the rock’s surface. “Those look like chisel marks,” he said.

“Yeah,” Ferwin said, lost in thought. “Emma, can I borrow your jetpack?”

“Sure,” she responded, “It’s in the port storage compartment.”

A few minutes later, Ferwin returned to the rock face after rummaging around in the storage compartment to find Emma’s jetpack. “Found it in the starboard compartment, he said.”

“Oh, sorry,” Emma apologized, “I thought I left it in the port one. Anyway, the jets aren’t powerful enough to lift you off the ground, so you’ll need to jump and hit the jets at the same time.”

Ferwin did as he was told- though it took a couple of tries- and was rewarded with an amazing sight. “Incredible,” he exclaimed.

“What, is,” Calbro asked.

“If we had any doubts that the ‘Dunalith’ was made by kerbals before, there should be no doubt now. This entire rock is a carving of a kerbal’s head.”

Angelo Kerman · October 7, 2023

Chapter 12

“You weren’t supposed to plant the ISC flag,” Charles mcKerman, head of the Ministry of Space, thundered. Given the time delay between Kerbin and Duna, the chewing out wasn’t live, and Calbro mcKerman took advantage of that fact to pause the video. They had printed up the new flag- the proposed new flag- of the soon-to-be International Space Consortium to check out the new design, and Calbro mistakenly grabbed it instead of the Kerbin flag. Then Calbro planted it before a “live” audience at the base of the giant carving, only realizing his mistake partly through the unveiling. They were already in trouble for using the Kerbin flag instead of their respective countries’, and now they were in even more trouble for showing one of the international space exploration organization’s proposed flags for all the world to see. Now, the spacefaring nations of Kerbin had to scramble to finalize and approve the International Space Consortium Treaty before the avalanche of reporters bombarded them with their inevitable questions…

“You have no idea what a mess you made,” Charles said, after Calbro unpaused the video. “Thanks to you, we’re not going to be called the International Space Exploration Agency. The International Space Consortium was a rejected name! Now, countless reporters from around the world are asking us about the new flag. And they couldn’t help but notice not three, but six countries on the flag, before anyone had a chance to even sign the ISEA- no, the ISC Charter, let alone announce it! I will personally make sure that you and your team never flies again!”

This time, Ferwin paused the video. “So, he’s going to ground the kerbals that made the greatest discovery in kerbalkin history since the discovery of phytoplankton on Laythe,” he mused. “Good luck with that…”

Calbro chuckled and again unpaused the video. The two listened to Charles mcKerman rant about their colossal error for several minutes before he finally ran out of epithets and abruptly ended the transmission.

“So, uh, yeah,” Dudmon said finally, over the video link, “we’re in big trouble back home. But I agree with Ferwin, it’ll look bad if they ground us, especially after you made that amazing discovery. Discoveries, plural. The news outlets are going crazy with ‘Ancient Astronaut’ theories about how the Kermantians, with their primitive, Neolithic technology, made it to Duna and created the Face on Duna- that’s what they’re calling it. And you should see the documentaries that they’ve been airing on you guys, ‘hero explorers’ and all that. Anyway, you’ve been ordered to set up a base at the… anomaly… and conduct an extensive study of it. You’ll be receiving printer instructions for the Pathfinder base components shortly…”

*

Drax Kerman, former CEO of Drax Aerospace- the company that he founded- looked at his orange prison jumpsuit and sighed. Not long ago, he led a decadent lifestyle befitting his aristocratic origins. But his ambitions got the better of him. In his youth, he concocted a brilliant plan to make the world depend upon his company when he defaced carvings on an ancient Kermantian pyramid to make it look like the world was going to end. He kept everything secret and over the decades he slowly unfurled his plan, hooked the necessary world leaders, and got the contracts flowing.

Things were going well: his company squashed any attempts to use the Lindor 5 rocket for the new reusable orbiter in favor of his Shuttle Launch System. Next, he pressured the government to make Drax Aerospace one of the commercial contractors for KOTS- the Kerbin Orbital Transportation Services program that freed KSP funding for Project Laythe, the first mission to Jool’s nearest moon. Then he maneuvered Drax Aerospace so that it received the lion’s share of the contracts needed to assemble the First Jool Fleet. Finally, he muscled his way into the commercial space markets pioneered by Orbital Dynamics- their chief rivals- and were poised to take over the markets despite their rivals’ technological edge.

And then it all fell apart.

Practically overnight, someone figured out Drax’s plan as well as his attempt to poof Dolores Kerman, the other student with him on that Kermantian expedition so long ago, and the only other person at the time who knew the full extent of Drax’s plans. As it turned out, Leando Kerman- one of his executives- also found out about his plan and turned over evidence in exchange for leniency. And just like that, Drax Kerman was quickly convicted of the attempted poof, given the harshest sentence possible, and thrown into a maximum-security prison.

Drax thought that with him in prison, that would be the end of the fallout from his hoax, but apparently not… Like the meeting with him that they just concluded, federal investigators questioned him vigorously for several days about Project Eve, the unofficial name for his grand hoax. So named for its fake proposal to send kerbals to Eve using a modified SkyBase space station, Project Eve detailed how Drax intended to use the “end of the world” to funnel vast amounts of funds into his company. The investigators were especially interested in his plans for Duna for some reason, but he insisted that he had none. They even used truth serum and multiple lie detector tests- oh, the indignity! But he spoke the truth: he had no plans for Duna, no secret missions to the rusty planet. The stone tetrahedron launched into high Kerbin orbit- at great expense- was the extent of his “alien” hoax, but no, he didn’t secretly send any kerbals to Duna. And he knew that their meticulous search through Drax Aerospace’s records would prove his claims.

Harsh as it was, their rigorous questioning was intriguing to the former CEO. What did they find on Duna? They said nothing, of course, but whatever it was, he wasn’t a part of it, and that angered him. No, the fact that he was permanently banned from anything to do with space exploration angered him.

While Project Eve was a hoax, he had to admit that he caught “space aficionado fever” like so many others. He yearned to explore the worlds above, to be the first to set foot on new lands, to go where none have gone before. Oddly, it wasn’t until he was forced out of his CEO role that he realized his calling. Perhaps he was just too busy focusing on his company and his plot to really notice… But now, here in prison, he was denied his new obsession.

And Drax Kerman was determined to not let that continue…

*

Project Pathfinder- not to be confused with the Drax thermalnuclear space shuttle of the same name- was an old design proposal from the early days of the space program. It consisted of several prefabricated modules- essentially airtight tents- that crews unpacked and assembled and outfitted with various types of equipment. Standard air pressure and an internal frame kept them expanded, but their modular design enabled crews to pack them up again so that they could move to another location. The DSEV-01 crew even tested a prototype module on Laythe that had shipped with Laythe Base.

For the ongoing “road trip” mission, KSP engineers redesigned the Pathfinder base components so that they could be 3D printed by the Buffabus’s printer. It was slow work, so the scientists occupied their time by setting up a research station to let remote scientists study The Face. They immediately regretted the actions; they received endless requests to get closeups of this or that, take more aerial photos, and even chip a sample here and there for analysis.

From what Ferwin and Calbro could determine, the Face was carved from ordinary granite, but the devices used appeared to be a combination of Neolithic tools and advanced, precision cutting instruments. In fact, the Dunalith seemed to share the same advanced techniques as parts of the Face, suggesting that they both were created similarly. Exactly how the advanced techniques avoided cut marks remained a mystery, but some experts suggested that high pressure water could do the job. So, if aliens helped the Kermantians reach Duna and carve The Face, as some Ancient Astronaut theorists believed, then why were there no mentions of them in Kermantian texts? And if there weren’t aliens involved, then where did the Kermantians get their advanced technology from- and where is it today? It was a question that none could answer…

After three weeks of work, the team finally completed the Pathfinder outpost, dubbed Face Base by the media. The specialized equipment needed for extensive research of The Face had to be shipped from Kerbin. Until then, Ferwin and Calbro had their samples and pictures and other research to keep the scientists back home busy for a while. As a bad sandstorm rolled in, the team boarded the Buffabus once more for the long trek to the next anomaly a “mere” 885 km away…

What felt like weeks was only days later, but the Buffabus made it to their next destination. The team found another artificially created arch- it seemed that the Kermantians really liked building them for some reason. After their previous discovery, finding yet another arch felt like a letdown; hoping for something more exciting like a Lost City or a crashed spaceship, the media barely gave it a mention in their broadcasts. Nonetheless, the team cataloged the find and noted its location, but Mission Control elected to not set up any science instruments to study the structure. It appeared just like the other crude stone arches built on Duna. Instead, they pressed onward to the last anomaly on their list…

Looking at their map, their last stop was another 480 km distant- not including detours around mountain ranges. It would take a couple of days at least to get there. If nothing else, at least their destination, Sector SNJ3, would give them a view of Duna’s Southern Lights. The crew took turns driving the Buffabus (more like letting the autopilot drive, and just monitoring the instruments), and a couple of days later, they approached the last anomaly on their list. According to Dudmon, the casinos back home were taking bets on what they would find. Another Face? Another Dunalith? Another arch? Perhaps another forgotten space probe. As they got within 20 kilometers of the anomaly, their BTDT sensor started pinging, helping them home in on the exact location. What they found had 200:1 odds on the betting circuits.

“Holy mulch…” Ferwin said and trailed off.

“That’s not something you see every day,” Emma finished for him.

*

If there was any doubt that Kermantians had somehow visited Duna seemingly without advanced technology, all those doubts were shattered by Team Buffabus’s latest discovery. Though several times smaller than the Pyramid of Tut-Un Jeb-Anh, there was no question that the construction of the stepped pyramid matched its Kerbin cousin. Why the Kermantians built the mini pyramid out in the middle of nowhere was a mystery, but hopefully the inscription on its base would help solve that mystery.

Adsii Kerman, an astrophysicist and astronomer by trade, was the foremost expert on Kermantian history and language. His expertise resulted in his sudden departure from KSP’s science division in pursuit of his hobby. Only a handful knew that Adsii’s investigation into Kermantian history led to the downfall of Drax Kerman and his elaborate hoax that the world was ending.

“I leave on sabbatical and the world goes to mulch,” Adsii grumbled. He looked forward to settling into his new role at Orbital Dynamics when he got a call to aid KSP once more- this time, translating the inscriptions on the Dunalith- which was interrupted to translate the glyphs on the pyramid. Once he got over his shock that Kermantians somehow toured the solar system, he got to work…

Angelo Kerman · December 20, 2023

Chapter 13

Emma stepped outside once again to install Pyramid Base’s second solar array. It didn’t take long for her to complete the work thanks to the electrical connectors on the Multipurpose Roof Rack. Next, she grabbed an extendible light fixture and attached it to another MRR that she’d mounted atop one of the Casa modules attached to the base’s lab. Finally, as the sun crept below Duna’s lowlands, she mounted a communications antenna that the Buffabus’s 3D printers had just completed. At last, she had the pleasure of turning on the lights.

“It’s very cold in here,” Emma said, sitting in the lab, “but the air pressure is steady. The heaters will warm the place up in time… Pyramid Base is open for business- at least for the next crew. They’ll have to bring the instruments that we can’t make...”

“I just want to personally congratulate the Buffabus crew on a job well done,” Charles McKerman, head of the Ministry of Space, said a few minutes after Emma returned to the Buffabus. His eyes kept flickering between the camera and something beside it and out of view. From the tone of his voice, it was clear to Calbro that Charles was less than enthusiastic about delivering his speech.

“The crew has made some smashing finds such as the unusual rock formations, the ‘Dunalith,’ the Face, and of course the Pyramid. Your efforts to adapt to the changing situation and the extra work you provided to build the Pathfinder bases have- uh- have paved the way for future expeditions to the anomalies that you discovered.”

Charles paused a moment. “Not acknowledging us by name,” Ferwin noticed.

The Director of the Ministry of Space continued. “As there are no more anomalies near your location, and given the current state of the Buffabus, I agree with Sir Randal’s assessment that you should return to Duna Base post haste. Unfortunately, a trip to the South Pole would be unwise at this time. It’s time for the Buffabus to return to base. Again, well done. Sir Randal has the specifics about your journey,” Charles concluded. The screen switched to a kerbal in MoSMC.

“We estimate that it will take approximately a month and a half to return to Duna Base, accounting for regular maintenance stops as well as unscheduled breakdowns,” Sir Randal McKerman, Flight Director for DBE-1 began…

*

“It’s an engraving, like what you’d put on a tombstone, and, interestingly, an apology,” Adsii said, during his presentation. Several kerbals moved closer to the edge of their seats. Adsii took a deep breath and continued. “The pyramid is the final resting place of Tut-Un K’vin-Anh. Curiously, I haven’t found any other references to Tut K’vin, but there’s much of Kermantian history that’s either lost or missing. Anyway, the inscription reads, ‘Here lies the great Tut-Un K’vin-Anh, leader of Kermantians, who let our spirits soar.’

“The builders of the pyramid also apologized to Tut-Un K’vin-Anh for not building a larger pyramid befitting his status. They stated that they had limited time and resources to build his tomb, and they hoped that he liked the view of the aurora australis dunae, more popularly known as Duna’s Southern Lights, and what the Kermantians called ‘dancing spirits.’ The Kermantians hoped that after some rest, his spirit would be able to join them. There’s no mention of why Tut K’vin was entombed out in the middle of nowhere on Duna, but we presume that the site had some significance to the Kermantians.

Finally, there’s an odd quote on the tomb. It reads, ‘When we left Kerbin, we didn’t see ourselves as giants. We were humbled as our world became small.’ The way it was phrased was… out of character… with the rest of the inscriptions, but we don’t know why.

“Now, I’ll take your questions…”

*

The discovery of the small Kermantian pyramid on Duna spurred the spacefaring nations of Kerbin to ratify the International Space Consortium Charter sooner rather than later. Shortly after Adsii delivered his press conference, the six space agencies- the Kerbal Space Program, the vonKerman Space Agency, the Ministry of Space, and three newcomers- signed the charter and had the networks air the event. Not long after, the ISC took over the Deep Space Exploration Vessel (eXperimental) program.

With gravitic technology in its infancy, conventional rockets were still very much in use. Hence, the Ministry of Space fielded their Arrow 6 launch vehicle, which blasted off its pad and flew into space a few minutes later. Upon reaching orbit, A6-5, the reusable upper stage- its companion booster had already landed on an awaiting barge- opened its payload bay and revealed the passenger pod contained within. Three hours later, the upper stage arrived at its destination…

With Newton (DSX-01) and Halley (DSX-02) completed, the ISC brought a flight crew to each ship to begin their evaluation. Each crew would spend time flying to the Mün and Minmus and back while evaluating the ship’s performance, and then swap spacecraft and repeat the process. Once completed, both crews would compare notes and present their findings to the ISC to make a final decision. In the case of A6-05's first stop, Hanse vonKerman (PLT), Samny Kerman (PLT), Danwig Kerman (SCI), Richny Kerman (ENG) and Karl vonKerman (ENG) formed the first evaluation crew of the Newton.

As the first crew boarded DSX-01, Frolie couldn’t help but feel envious as Steve Kerman, one of his protégé engineers and Orbital Dynamics’ liaison, said his goodbyes and joined the evaluation crew. Frolie would’ve loved to join them- as would Scott- but as the “Father of Gravitics,” his celebrity status would have given Orbital Dynamics an unfair advantage in the evaluations, so he recused himself from the crew. At least he got to see the Newton leave the shipyard and begin its journey…

“You are free and clear to navigate,” Dildun Kerman, Air Traffic Control for Magic Boulder radioed. Hanse vonKerman acknowledged the clearance, pitched the ship upward, and gave the gravitic engines a brief pulse. The Newton immediately shot away from the shipyard, but the crew felt no acceleration. “Remarkable,” Hanse said.

A couple of hours later, Newton arrived at her first destination: the retired Starlab Kerbin Orbiting Station. The crew noted some abnormalities in the engine ~~exhaust plume~~ operations and ~~didn’t grab any screenshots~~ Steve ~~fixed the plumes~~ made some adjustments to correct the issues. Truth be told, the ship was overpowered, and it took several tries to match velocities with the station. Hanse had to be careful touching the throttle to avoid overshooting. But thanks to his careful maneuvering, Newton approached within a few meters of the aft docking port.

Once the crown jewel of the Kerbal Space Program, Starlab was retired and replaced by Sky Reef, Orbital Dynamics’ Oasis-class commercial space station. But in her heyday, Starlab was one of the first permanently staffed stations that was constructed in orbit thanks to numerous Space Shuttle flights. KOS also formed part of the transportation hub that enabled kerbals to venture to both of Kerbin’s müns on a regular basis. But Starlab’s increasing breakdowns required KSP to shut down the aging space station and boost it into a higher “museum” orbit to reduce the increasing traffic in low Kerbin orbit.

A few minutes later, Hanse deftly maneuvered DSX-01 to Starlab’s secondary Shuttle docking port and linked up with the old station. Given its condition, they didn’t stay long. This was a test flight, not a service call, after all… The ship took on some xenon gas to replenish their reserves as well as some water that the station no longer needed.

“We used more propellium than I would have liked,” Hanse said, taking notes, “and she’s far more powerful than I thought. Pilots will need to be gentle with the throttle, especially when fine tuning our position. Shooting past the station multiple times was a bit embarrassing, I must admit…”

“Steve, can we rig up some electrolysis stations in the habs,” Richny asked. “Might as well make use of the water and compost that Magic Boulder stuffed into the cargo pods…”

“Absolutely,” Steve responded. It didn’t take long for the engineers to configure the habitation modules’ omni converters.

“Can’t we just use the gravitic engines for reaction control too? That would eliminate the need for propellium altogether,” Karl vonKerman said.

“That’s… well, actually, now that I think of it, the engine module was built before we had fine control of the gravitics,” Steve admitted. “The Buffapod doesn’t have traditional RCS thrusters, it uses gravitics. So, yeah, I can make a note of that and make sure that the DSX can use them too.”

With the first leg of their journey completed, Newton departed from Starlab and the crew said farewell. Hanse programmed the autopilot to orient the spacecraft prograde. Thirty minutes later, DSX-01 performed a maneuver burn towards the Mün. It took a mere 5 seconds to build up the 1km/sec delta-v needed to break Kerbin orbit. The crew barely noticed the acceleration.

“Newton can easily enter solar orbit if we’re not careful,” Samny noted. “We’ve got a 3-day coast to the Mün, but with this ship’s engines, we probably could get there in a matter of hours…”

*

As Newton departed Magic Boulder and headed for the Mün, Arrow 5 also departed the enigmatic construction station and docked with the Space Operations Center an hour later. Hensen Kerman (PLT), Sofia vonKerman (PLT), Rolf vonKerman (ENG), Maxbret Kerman (SCI), and Guest Astronaut Munvan Kerman (SCI) all boarded the Halley (DSX-02). When A6-5 arrived at the Space Operations Center, astronauts could see the contrast between the large cargo shuttle and the smaller Galileo-class shuttle. The Ministry of Space was debating whether to discontinue the Galileo, with its expendable service module in favor of the fully reusable Arrow 6. Both used the Arrow 6 booster, but while Galileo could carry six astronauts, the Arrow 6 Crew Pod could carry twice that.

“Reactors on, centrifuge started, fusion engine charging,” Hensen stated as Halley pulled away from the Space Operations Center. The Kerbodyne KF-1 graviolium-catalyzed fusion engine took a full minute to charge before igniting its fusion reactor. Given the amount of electric charge required, the ship’s flight computers stopped the centrifuge’s rotation and paused the redundant recycling systems.

Finally, the engine started, and the centrifuge and recycling systems came back online. “Power hog” was the nicest comment that Rolf could make about the engine startup sequence. But at last, the fusion engine became self-sustaining, providing all the power that it needed. The long startup time was a tradeoff for using far less graviolium than the Newton.

The Halley lit its engine for the first time to increase its orbit as the first leg of its journey. The crew noted that the spaceframe flexed as the burn continued. The ship’s RCS thrusters compensated for the flexing, and the ship remained on course. Some ~~autostruts~~ software tuning of the engine’s thrust pulses to avoid resonating frequencies resolved the issue. But even with the software changes, the ship had problems staying on its burn path. Leaving the fusion engine on during the coasting burned through some of its fusion pellets, which gave the crew some concerns. At least the ship’s propellium supplies gave it an impressive 25,000 m/sec of delta-v… Three hours later, Halley arrived at its first destination.

In contrast to the mothballed and dormant Starlab, Sky Reef was a bustle of activity. The lights were on everywhere, its greenhouses and labs and habitation units were in use, and even its centrifuge module- a leftover from Project Laythe- was spinning. Phildas Kerman, Sky Reef’s current commander, gave the crew of Halley a tour of the new space station. “We have all the amenities of Oasis,” Phildas explained, “including a dedicated Sandcastle 3D print lab, a mobile processing lab, and Homestead habitation modules. The design is less complicated than Starlab while offering more habitation space and modernized facilities.”

A couple of orbits later, Hensen and his crew thanked their hosts for their hospitality and then departed Sky Reef. A half-hour after that, DSX-02 performed a four minute, 30-second burn to put it on course for the Mün. Like the Newton, Halley had a 3-day coast to Kerbin’s nearest natural satellite. As planned, Newton had a day’s head start on them, though. Not long after shutting down the fusion engine, Rolf started sneezing uncontrollably, and his eyes itched like crazy. He knew exactly what was happening. “Mulch,” he said, exasperated, “I’ve caught a cold…”

*

In a first for space vessels, DSX-02 had a sickbay to handle medical situations ranging from minor diseases and injuries to major surgery. It was a breakthrough capability, especially given the microgravity conditions that made medical procedures more challenging to accomplish. Halley’s sickbay could hold up to six patients, though today, as Halley coasted towards the Mün, Rolf was the only patient, and Maxbret took up residence.

“I’ve no idea how I caught a cold,” Rolf began, “I was careful and never broke quarantine before launch.”

“Maybe you touched a contaminated surface,” Maxbret responded. “I’ll ask the crew to help wipe down anything you touched. Nobody else seems to have contracted anything.”

“It’s just embarrassing,” Rolf admitted. “I was supposed to test out the Compact PMV today.”

“It’ll wait,” Maxbret declared. “You need to rest. There’s plenty of time in the schedule to test it later. Oh, and check your email.”

To distract from his misery, Rolf checked his email. His inbox was full. Not only did he receive well wishes from his own crew, but he 4also received them from the DSX-01 crew and from Mission Control as well. All the good cheer made Rolf even more embarrassed.

*

As Rolf received his diagnosis, Phoenix Aerospace launched Phoenix Station, a renovated backup to the old Starlab module that formed the core of the now retired Kerbin Orbiting Station. The former Starlab 2 languished for years in storage until the Kerman Air Force acquired it. At the time, Starlab 2’s new mission was to serve as the core of a station designed to discreetly process blutonium from Magic Boulder. When that idea was shelved in favor of simply returning the blutonium to Kerbin, Starlab 2 was shelved along with it. The station module again sat in storage until Phoenix Aerospace found a use for it: the company wanted to use the refurbished module as a waystation for trips to the Mun’s surface. Phoenix Aerospace hoped to offer tourist trips to paying customers, but business analysts questioned their ability to compete with Orbital Dynamics and their polar orbiting Oasis station. It was a desperation move; things were not looking good for Phoenix Aerospace…

Phoenix Station blasted off from Pad A at KSC early in the morning courtesy of an Edna 1F- itself a relic from the early days of Münflight. Though on the verge of retirement many times, Edna survived into the modern day thanks to repeated upgrades. But with gravitic technology making its debut, Edna’s days were finally numbered. Nonetheless, the launch vehicle lifted off the pad flawlessly and climbed into the sky. One minute later, it jettisoned its reusable side boosters while the core booster continued its trip uphill. Five minutes after that, the expendable core stage departed the spacecraft, leaving the upper stage to finish the job. Phoenix Station entered a 119.4 km by 130.6 km orbit and deployed its solar arrays and high-gain antenna. At long last, the venerable station core reached orbit!

Four hours later, the E1F upper stage dropped off the module and got out of the way to enable PPE-1 to dock with the module. With its business completed, the upper stage flipped retrograde and made its death burn. Then, after a few false starts, PPE-1 lit its ion engines and propelled Phoenix Station towards the Mün. A course correction six hours later ensured that it would reach its target in three days…

A day after Phoenix Station blasted off, Phoenix Aerospace launched a spare Resupply Module along with a tank of xenon gas to refuel PPE-1. The REMO, named Williams after an obscure movie reference, sat in orbit awaiting PPE-1’s return from the Mün…

*

A day later, Newton entered the Mün’s sphere of influence. A quick calculation showed that the ship would hit the ground if it continued its course, so three hours later, she made a quick correction burn to raise her periapsis to 223.7 km. Once again, the crew had to gently increase the throttle to avoid overshooting their required delta-v. It took another half-day before DSX-01 entered münar orbit and lower it to 22.8 km by 30.5 km. Hanse only cursed twice as he overdid the sensitive throttle…

Once safely in orbit, Samny, Karl, and Danwig got the privilege of testing one of Newton’s unique features: its Buffalo Shuttlepod! The trio boarded the diminutive craft, powered up its systems, and extended its wings. Hanse then gave the go ahead to depart, and Pod 1 undocked from Newton. Samny let the shuttlepod drop away for a few seconds before starting its gravitic engine. It was hard for the away team to believe that such a small craft could go anywhere on the Mün from any orbit, but such was the advantages of advanced technology.

Five minutes later, Pod 1 executed a 224 m/sec burn- technically an incorrect term, but tradition dies hard- to drop out of orbit. Within minutes they halted their forward velocity and hovered over the ground as they searched for their target. “Amazing,” was all that Samny could say. They searched and searched, and then realized that they missed the target and had to turn around. That was a trivial maneuver for the shuttlepod. “We have to have at least one of these on every DSEV,” Samny said.

“If we can find more graviolium,” Karl countered.

“Drax found some in their asteroid,” Danwig pointed out, “so we know it’s out there. We just don’t know how much.”

“There! 12-o-clock low,” Karl yelled, interrupting the conversation. “We’ve found it.”

Samny set Shuttlepod 1 down on the ground- with a heavy thump that broke two of the static electricity dischargers. They’d have to repair them when they get back to the ship. Nonetheless, the craft became the first gravitic-powered spacecraft to set down on another celestial body.

“Nice landing,” Danwig quipped.

“Hey, you try flying this thing for the first time,” Samny growled.

Resting on its side just a few meters away was Miss Piggy, the original Münar Ground Module Rover that Bill and Jeb drove during their famous “road trip” on the Mün. They held the record for the longest off-world land driving distance for many years until the Buffabus utterly demolished that record on Duna. Unfortunately, in an attempt to drive Miss Piggy to Billstown’s new location, the rover hit a rock and broke apart on the landscape as it tumbled to a stop. The Newton away team were the first to visit the wrecked rover in over fifteen years.

“With a shuttlepod, rovers are going to be obsolete,” Samny said. “Let’s go take a look.”

The away team suited up, depressurized the shuttlepod, and stepped outside for a closer look. They were careful not to disturb the crash to preserve history, but they did take a few pictures of the wreck for closer analysis back home.

“Look at that construction,” Karl vonKerman said, admiring the handiwork. “Designed in the Munflight era- you can see some of the standard connections over there. Remarkable. If the vonKerman Republic had resources like your Kerman States did back then…” He walked over to the other side of the wreck. “Look at how sturdy the chassis is. The fuel cell tanks are still intact. Too bad the crew cabin wasn’t as durable.”

Once the away team took their pictures and made their damage assessment, it was time to go. They piled back into Shuttlepod 1 and lifted off to their next destination. The craft had no trouble restarting its gravitic engine and effortlessly floated away from the surface. Samny had hoped to find the landing stage of the Own Münar Excursion Module but the away team was unable to do so. With their excursion time running out, Samny elected to point Shuttlepod 1 at Newton and firewall the gravitic engine. A few minutes and failed rendezvous attempts later, Shuttlepod 1 docked to Newton once more.

“What an amazing spacecraft,” Samny concluded. “We landed, explored the surface, and got back to the ship before Newton went over the horizon. Absolutely amazing.”

*

Karl was about to print some replacement electrostatic dissipators for Shuttlepod 1 when he realized that Newton’s 3D printer was out of ore. Then he checked the ship’s stores and found the ore bins empty. “Huh,” he said quizzically.

“What’s up,” Richny asked while searching for the EVA maneuvering packs. The search wasn’t going well.

“We’re out of printer ore,” Karl stated.

“Well, that’s a problem,” Richny answered.

“Yeah. Any luck finding those jetpacks?”

“No, and I’ve looked everywhere that they should be, and a few places where they shouldn’t.”

“Who puts to space without a full load of printer ore and jetpacks,” Karl wondered aloud. They looked at each other.

“Better call Halley,” they both said…

“Halley, this is Newton,” Sofia vonKerman heard on the ship’s radio. She was taking a turn at piloting the ship while Hensen had other tasks to do. It sounded like Hanse’s voice.

“Hallo, Hanse,” Sofia said in their native vonKerman.

“Hallo! How is Rolf,” Hanse asked in vonKerman.

“Still embarrassed,” Sofia said, chuckling. “Rest of the crew is fine.”

“Good to hear! We’ll leave him some get well cards when we swap ships.” Hanse’s voice became more serious. “Uh, Halley, Newton,” Hanse said, switching back to Kerman- the official language of the ISC- “do you have any printer ore aboard, or any jetpacks?”

“Uh, that’s an unusual question, Newton, any particular reason why you ask,” Sofia asked.

“Humor me,” was all Hanse would say.

With Rolf out sick, Maxbret conducted the inventory. “We don’t have any jetpacks,” he reported a few minutes later.

“Huh,” Sofia responded. “Well, we can print them up in the ship’s Sandcastle printshop. How much ore do we have?”

“None,” Maxbret said.

“Ok, great. We can- wait, none?”

“None,” Maxbret repeated.

“Uh, Newton, Halley,” Sofia began over the radio. “We have zed jetpacks and no printer ore.”

“Same here, Halley,” Hanse radioed back. “Someone forgot to stock up our inventory and resource stores- on both ships.”

*

Forgetting vital provisions for one ship was an oversight. Forgetting them on two ships was a process error, one that the ISC intended to correct. That would take some time and wouldn’t alleviate the situation aboard DSX-01 and DSX-02. In the meantime, Mission Control scrambled to find jetpacks, ore, and repair kits, which both ships also lacked. While looking through their resources, they realized that Sky Reef had what the two ships needed- they just needed to get them out to the Mün. Fortunately, Phoenix Aerospace had the answer: their REMO Williams, currently waiting in orbit for PPE-1 to return. A quick consultation and negotiation session later, Phoenix Aerospace agreed to fly REMO Williams over to Sky Reef to be refueled and have some of its monopropellant replaced with some ore for Newton and Halley. The station crew would also add a small cargo box stuffed with the needed jetpacks and repair kits.

So, while neither ship was originally scheduled to dock with a space station while orbiting the Mün, ISC quickly changed their plans and directed both Newton and Halley to rendezvous and dock with Phoenix Station when it arrived in münar orbit, and then wait for REMO Williams to reach the station as well. It wasn’t ideal, but it would give the two DSX crews opportunities to compare notes on their respective vessels, and Phoenix Aerospace would get their REMO to the Mün sooner…

When the Sky Reef’s station crew got their new directives, they were in the process of replacing their Power Tower solar array. An accident with their PMV shattered most of the Payload Maneuvering Vehicle’s solar arrays and both arrays on the Power Tower. Orbital Dynamics quickly printed up a replacement and sent it over. The station crew swapped out Power Towers without incident, and the broken tower deorbited since its support vehicle didn’t have the propellant needed to return to the Orbital Dynamics Shipyard. By the time that they finished their work, Sky Reef experienced its latest orbital dawn…

As Halley crossed over into the Mün’s SOI and plotted a maneuver burn to raise its periapsis, Phoenix Aerospace worked with ISC to bring REMO Williams to Sky Reef. As soon as it docked with the station, the crew refueled its propellants and converted four of its monopropellant tanks into ore tanks. Then, the station’s 3D print lab got to work printing up a pair of small cargo containers and veteran astronaut Gerrim Kerman stepped outside to attach them to REMO’s flanks. Finally, she filled the containers with jetpacks and repair kits. With the work completed, REMO departed Sky Reef for its trip to the Mün.

*

Back at the Mün, Halley took several minutes to power up her fusion engine in preparation for her orbital insertion burn. Once again, the ship’s flight computer stopped the centrifuge to conserve electric charge, but this time it shut off several lights as well. Nonetheless, Halley powered up her engine in time for the insertion burn. By engine stop, DSX-02 entered a 412.6 km by 416.9 km orbit. “The problem is the amount of charge needed to start the engine,” Rolf said between coughing fits. “We need about ten times more electric charge than the ship has. We could probably retrofit the Halley to add extra batteries, but we need a shipyard to help us...”

Three hours later, Phoenix Station and PPE-1 entered the Mün’s SOI. It took another eight hours to settle into low münar orbit, but once completed, it waited for its first visitor. DSX-02 arrived first and docked to the forward docking node. Once it took over support and power generation for the diminutive station, PPE-1 folded its solar arrays and antennas in preparation for the next phase of operations. Then, Halley demonstrated another one of its unique features, a hangar!

DSX-02 had a small hangar bay to house the ship’s Compact Payload Maneuvering Vehicle. The Compact PMV made it possible for the ship to maneuver components around without the need for a space station. In this case, the PMV latched onto PPE-1 and docked it to Halley’s dorsal docking port to make room for Newton’s arrival…

Two hours later, Newton docked with Phoenix Station, and for the first time, the two spacecraft met each other in space. Both ship crews welcomed each other and gave their counterparts a tour of their ship- something they weren’t supposed to, but there wasn’t much else to do while they waited for REMO Williams to arrive. “How do you like the sickbay,” Danwig asked. “What’s it like flying the Shuttlepod,” Sofia asked, and so on. Granted, the two crews were supposed to compare notes, but not until they swapped spacecraft…

It took another two days for REMO Williams to arrive at Phoenix Station, where Hanse vonKerman took manual control and docked the craft to the station’s ventral port. Everyone at Mission Control breathed a sigh of relief when it docked and brought much needed supplies to the two prototype Deep Space Exploration Vessels. REMO Williams resupplied PPE-1 as well as Newton with xenon gas; Shuttlepod 1 used up more than expected. Both crews also unloaded the supply ship’s stores of repair kits, jetpacks, and printer ore. Next, with its larger print shop, Halley made several new sets of plasma contactors to repair Shuttlepod 1 with. Finally, both ship crews gave REMO Williams’ Edna 1F Upper Stage a grateful sendoff as it departed Phoenix Station for its destructive deorbit. Its münar adventure was at its end. Mission Accomplished!

With both prototypes resupplied, it was time for them to depart Phoenix Station and resume their respective space trials. Newton departed first, using her gravitic engines in reverse to back away, to free the aft docking port for PPE-1. Then, after putting the Power and Propulsion Element back in its place, Halley stowed its Compact PMV and resumed its mission as well. And on behalf of the International Space Consortium, Gene Kerman sent Phoenix Aerospace’s CEO a personal thank you letter for their help with resupplying both experimental spacecraft.

Little did Gene know that Phoenix Aerospace was in serious financial trouble.

*

Newton (DSX-01) and Halley (DSX-02) both departed the Mün not long after resupplying at Phoenix Station. Halley’s crew were envious of Newton; they had to wait a few minutes to charge up the fusion engine before igniting it, compared to just a few seconds to start Newton’s gravitic engines. Both ships exited the Mün’s SOI within hours of each other…

The boring parts of spaceflight stuck again as both ships fell back down Kerbin’s gravity well and executed another burn to reach Minmus in a couple of weeks. Someone suggested that they “try out” each ship’s cryobay to relieve boredom, but with no stasis fluid aboard either ship, that was out of the question, So, both crews occupied their time by running various drills to test their respective ship’s capabilities, met with the designers over video link, and gave their feedback. They had hundreds of comments like:

‘We love the shuttlepod!’

‘The sickbay is a must for DSEV.’

‘The hangar is great for protecting small craft from micro meteors.’

‘We have gravity engines. Do we really have to wait for orbital launch windows?’

‘With a crew of 12, we could have three standard watches of four hours each.’

‘Can we get actual beds to sleep in? I feel like a hitchhiker stuck in a storage can. Even hot bunking would be better than this!’

‘Every time we power up the fusion engine, we lose the lights!’

Both design teams recorded and collated everything and tried not to take the criticisms personally. They also knew that they’d have to repeat the process when the crews swapped ships…

As the Buffabus reached the midpoint of their journey back to Duna Base, DSX-01 and DSX-02 reached Minmus’ SOI. For the all-veteran crews, it wasn’t anything new to them, but they welcomed the sight nonetheless. For their next stops, Newton navigated towards Gateway Station while Halley headed towards Drax Aerospace’s Minmus Fuel Depot to refuel. Strictly speaking, Halley didn’t need to refuel as she had over 75% of her propellant remaining. But the space trials required both experimental Deep Space Exploration Vessels to test their refueling capabilities.

DSX-02 had no trouble docking to the Minmus Fuel Depot, but DSX-01 had to perform some careful maneuvering to link up with Gateway Station, including flipping upside down relative to the station’s orientation- it was a tight fit! “Halley better park on Magellan’s nose,” Hanse vonKerman noted.

Newton’s arrival at Gateway Station provided a stark contrast between DSX-01- one of the most advanced spacecraft in Kerbal history- and Magellan, the Mϋnar Shuttle Module, first flown during the Shuttle era. Originally just a simple orbital transfer vehicle that used a cryogenic space tug to get around, Magellan underwent several refits as it gained and lost various space tug designs, obtained a laboratory/support module, and was eventually cut apart and rebuilt- in orbit- to add additional crew quarters. Its final configuration, Magellan was powered by a nuclear variant of Orbital Dynamics’ Orbital Cargo Transfer Vehicle while its laboratory/support module sprouted various converters and external storage boxes and other equipment tacked on in “after the fact” fashion. For its day, Magellan offered much more comfortable living and working arrangements for crews heading to and from Kerbin’s müns compared to the cramped quarters of the Münflight-era K-20 KerbalSoar. But its days were numbered- the winner of the DSEV(X) competition would replace Magellan and help train crews to fly the next-generation Deep Space Exploration Vessels.

*

With Karl vonKerman finally feeling better, he and Hanse vonKerman took Shuttlepod 1 down to Minmus’ surface for their away mission. They had no trouble undocking from Newton and deorbiting; a half-hour later, the two kerbonauts were hovering over the surface and searching for their landing zone. “The Shuttlepod needs lights,” Hanse commented- Shuttlepod 1 was landing at night.

“There it is,” Karl said, pointing towards the ground. Despite the years, the object’s LED lights still functioned. Shuttlepod 1 landed on Minmus for the first time, right next to a piece of history. Drakken Hause 3 was just over eleven years old, but it had been abandoned not long after Project Laythe reached Jool. It was a product of the latter half of the Kold War, what the Kermans had called the “Shuttle Era” after their Shuttle Launch System.

While the Kermans focused on launching and building their “Starlab” Kerbin Orbiting Station via their Shuttle orbiters, the vonKerman Republic used their tried-and-true Fliegenross (“Flying Steed” in Kerman) rockets to launch their own stations- the Drakken Hause series- into orbit. Though ailing and badly in need of retirement, Drakken Hause 1, known officially as Drakken Palast, was still in use today, circling endlessly in Low Kerbin Orbit.

Drakken Hause 3 was a product of the Kold War, built during a time when the vonKerman Republic and the Kerman States competed for the prestige of space exploration. The outpost was the VKR’s answer to Billstown, the Kerman States’ outpost on the Mün. Originally slated to expand Drakken House 1, the third Drakken station was hastily fitted with wheels and further modified to handle landing on Minmus. Later, the VKR sent three additional modules to extract ore and process it into propellants that were then shipped to awaiting tankers parked at Unity Station. The whole operation was a testament to vonKerman ingenuity- but it was rendered obsolete thanks to the vehicle sitting next to it.

The two kerbonauts spent the better part of an hour switching on the base’s lights and performing diagnostics and noting the smell of aging plastic in the air. By Minmus sunrise, they’d completed their tasks and headed outside to inspect another Kold War relic sitting a couple hundred meters away.

“A first-generation Drakken Tanker Tug, modified to handle landing on Minmus,” Karl said, whistling. “My dad worked on these. The original design lacked a heat shield up front and landing legs on the bottom. This iteration was the first attempt at bringing propellants back to Kerbin.”

“They didn’t work too well, as I recall,” Hanse mentioned.

“No, they didn’t. They kept exploding during aerobraking. We eventually switched to the inflatable heat shield design, of course, but we kept this one around to ferry propellant up to Unity Station…”

The two kerbals made their way back to Shuttlepod 1 for the return trip to orbit. Karl noticed that the lower plasma contactors were gone- again. “Those bottom contactors are in the wrong place,” Hanse noted. Before long, they were back in orbit and on their way to their next destination. Three and a half hours later, they arrived. They found an old Fliegenross Upper Stage that had orbited Minmus for over fifteen years. There were no records of what mission it belonged to, but it looked like one that delivered a landing craft to Minmus’ surface. There was nothing else they could do with it, so Shuttlepod 1 headed back to Gateway Station and arrived after a day of travel…

With their tasks completed at Minmus, Newton and Halley departed the Mint Mün and headed back to Kerbin. 11 days later, they both docked to Sky Reef for a brief stopover and crew swap. Over the next three weeks, the two crews evaluated the other ship, provided their feedback, and wrote endless evaluation reports before the two vessels returned to Sky Reef and boarded their ride for the trip home. The International Space Consortium thanked both DSEV(X) teams for their efforts and began their final evaluation process.

Angelo Kerman · December 22, 2023

And now for something completely different and unrelated to the story...

Spoiler

Angelo Kerman · January 15

Chapter 14

Although it felt like several long months, Emma vonKerman, Ferwin Kerman, and Calbro mcKerman had spent just over eighty days driving the Buffabus to various “anomaly” sites on Duna. It was difficult to adjust to the relatively cramped quarters at first, but the trio eventually fell into a routine that worked for all of them as they partook in the longest offworld “road trip” in the history of kerbalkin. By the end of their journey, they drove nearly two thousand kilometers- easily surpassing Bill and Jeb’s famous driving record on the Mün. “When Jeb wakes up, he’s going to be mad,” Dudmon Kerman commented.

Cheers went up in the Buffabus and at Duna Base as the trio triumphantly returned to Knights Landing. Despite its wear and tear in the harsh and dusty environment, the Buffabus endured the long trip as well as its crew did. Emma took a “victory lap” around the base before parking it near one of the engineering building’s airlocks. She hooked up an umbilical hose to the Buffabus as the rest of the team headed inside.

“Welcome back,” Dudmon shouted as everyone stretched their legs in the habitat building’s hydroponics garden. When the trio left, the space had been barren. Now it had grass, some fake plastic trees, and even a couple of park benches!

“We printed the trees up to remind us of home,” Raald mcKerman said. “They’re hollow inside and have lights to help the seeds grow. We’ll take them down before we leave to give room for the real trees to grow. They should be fully grown in a few years.”

“We’ve been building out the insides of Duna Base since you guys left,” Dudmon said. "We have more printers in the engineering building, the individual crew quarters in the hab are done, and even the labs are ready to go- minus the stuff we can’t make on Duna, of course. We also worked with Mission Control to devise a bypass to the Sandcaster’s hardwired memory core. We’ll be able to print up just about everything we need with enough resources once we install the bypass. As soon as you guys get settled in, we’ll get to work on that.”

“What will you build next,” Emma asked.

Dudmon grinned. “We’ve been watching you guys have all the fun exploring the planet while we’ve been sitting here building out the base,” he began. “But when you guys were ordered home, Tobias pointed out that there were a couple of anomalies on your list that you wouldn’t get to. So in between jobs, He and Jonas designed a new lander and flyer to go hunt for them.”

“Lander? You can print engines now,” Emma asked.

“No,” Dudmon admitted, “that would take a complete rewrite of the software just to print the tools that we’d need. But we have two working Fulcrums that need something to do.”

*

The commercial success of Orbital Dynamics’ gravitic engine hinged upon finding multiple sources of graviolium, and many companies were trying to figure out which asteroids might contain more of the stuff, and whether veins of the exotic matter existed on celestial bodies. In the vonKerman Republic, engineers at Das Kosmos, the semi-civilian supplier of the VKR’s rocketry, investigated a different approach in hopes of cornering the graviolium market. Their research into the exotic matter suggested that dust-form graviolium may exist within the magnetic fields of celestial bodies like Kerbin and Jool. If that was indeed the case, then it could be collected-albeit slowly. The day’s launch was intended to test that theory.

The Fleigenross rocket lept off the pad without its side boosters. It didn’t need them given the mass of the payload. Within a few minutes, the first stage expended its propellant and dropped away to perform its automated landing sequence, and the second stage continued its climb into orbit. It almost ran out of propellant as it lofted its payload into a 511.7 km by 512.1 km orbit. Once the new craft reached the dayside of Kerbin, the upper stage dropped off its client and lit its engine one last time for a destructive reentry.

Soon after, the client satellite deployed three large solar arrays and then unfurled several hexagonal collectors. The collectors contained dozens of aerogel cells that Das Kosmos hoped would collect graviolium dust. The satellite even had a storage container ready to hold collected graviolium dust and a standard docking port for visiting spacecraft to transport the graviolium elsewhere. The satellite, known as Stardust 1, was open for business.

Unfortunately, it didn’t work.

The engineers poured over the data, looking for faults. The collector cells were in working order, the transfer system checked out, and the storage tanks were in good working order. The problem was that there was no graviolium to be found. There was only one thing left to try…

Das Kosmos convinced the VKR to let them borrow the Raumschlepper, Drakken Palast’s space tug that was used to transport kerbals and cargo to and from Minmus. The venerable aerobraking space tug departed the station- leaving its passenger module behind, and made its way over to Stardust 1, arriving an hour and a half later. It had no trouble docking with Stardust. Once the satellite retracted its solar arrays and its collectors, it was ready to move.

The problem was where to go; was it too high? Too low? The vonKermans didn’t know. For their first attempt, they decided to drop Stardust’s periapsis down to 87 km- just above Kerbin’s atmosphere. If that failed to produce results, then they would raise the apoapsis to 2,000 km, and see what they could find. If that too, failed to produce results, they’d try once more at 5,000 km.

Raumschlepper executed the burn to lower its orbit, dragging Stardust 1 along with it. After the burn was completed, the graviolium satellite re-deployed its solar arrays and collector. Kontrol monitored the graviolium detector all the way down to periapsis. They found nothing. Going for broke, Kontrol commanded Raumschlepper to drag its client satellite all the way up to 5,000 km, and then went fishing.

As the tug and satellite crossed 1,300 km, Stardust’s graviolium detector started picking up whiffs of dust. That excited Kontrol, but their hopes faded as the combined spacecraft flew past 2,000 km. It appeared that Kerbin did indeed have a “graviolium belt” but it was very slim. At apoapsis, Raumschlepper increased its periapsis to 1,400 km. Then, as Kontrol monitored the readings, they realized that the best concentration of graviolium existed at about 1,500 km.

“We’re collecting 0.000022 units of graviolium per second,” Amber vonKerman said, confirming her readings. Though successfully testing their theory, the rate of graviolium collection- almost one unit per day- meant that it could take months to obtain viable amounts of the exotic matter. In Kerbin orbit, graviolium dust wasn’t commercially viable without deploying large numbers of collectors. But out in Jool orbit, they might have better luck.

In the meantime, Raumschlepper disengaged from Stardust 1, performed a plane change maneuver, and returned to Drakken Palast- nearly out of propellant- two hours later.

*

Back at Duna, the vonKermans finished modifying the Sandcastle printer and put the finishing touches on their prototype Duna Drone. Given the difficulties over the years of flying aircraft in Duna’s atmosphere, they were taking no chances with wasting their precious rocket engines on a design that simply couldn’t fly. Tobias wanted to ensure that they had a working design before building a lander around it.

The first attempt flat out didn’t work. At 410 kg, the drone was simply too heavy for its 4 propellers to handle. Disappointed, Jonas took the drone back inside and dismantled it. He rebuilt the drone to double its rotors, and that worked. The next version of the drone lifted off Duna’s surface and hovered around successfully! With a couple of modifications, it would be ready to be fitted to a lander…

With the Sandcaster working around the clock, Jonas modified the drone to finish its construction, and the team mounted it inside the printed launch vehicle. “It can’t reach orbit,” Jonas pointed out, “but it has enough delta-v to make a hop to an anomaly.”

The first location, dubbed Lem’s Knoll, was approximately 818 km away. The engineers mounted one of the salvaged Fulcrum engines to the rocket, fueled it, and sent it on its way. The unnamed rocket reached an altitude of 228 km and jettisoned its payload fairings before plunging back through the thin atmosphere on its way down. Nobody was sure if the plan would work- if it would have enough delta-v to slow down or not. But the good news is that if nothing else, it proved that the Fulcrum engines still worked.

The landing burn began and just as immediately flamed out after running out of propellant. The rocket slammed into the desert floor, but the landing gear absorbed the hard landing. Then it bounced a couple of times before resting on its side, intact. Luckily, clever use of the gyros and landing gear got the craft upright again. Once everything settled, the team took stock of the situation; they landed 7.3 km from their desired landing site. And after final checks, Duna Drone 1 powered up its fuel cell and lifted off of its transportation.

A half-hour later, Duna Drone 1 landed next to its quarry- yet another stone arch. The anomaly was the original target of Duna Gravity Probe 5, but it never made it to the site due to the poor navigation technology at the time. Knowing that they’d discover little about the stone arch, the DBE-1 team decided to try and locate the old probe. It didn’t take long for Duna Drone 1 to find the probe. The exploration team noted the location of the probe- just 7.5 km from its intended landing site- and tried for one last location…

It took another hour and a half, but the helicopter probe finally found its last target, resting in one of Duna’s many craters, and getting windblown by a powerful windstorm. “You can see the vortices of dust coming off of the RCS ports,” Ferwin noted. The cracked hull of the very first Estonian Lander laid partially buried in the Duna sand. It crashed into the crater nearly six years ago when its main chutes failed to open. The useless wreck was nothing more than a footnote in history now, but even still, it served as a reminder of the failed Estonian design that cost the life of Ribler mcKerman.

With no other artifacts relatively nearby to explore, the Duna Base science team quietly shut down each of the drone’s electric propellers. Duna Drone 1’s mission came to an end, resting next to the wrecked spacecraft.

*

With one Fulcrum left, there was another anomaly that proved to be well out of reach for either the Dunabus or the Duna Drone and its current rocket transport. The problem was how to reach it, and the only solution was to add additional tanks to the current design to reach the distant site. The engineers elected to spread out the rocket by adding side-mounted drop tanks. A week later, the new delivery vehicle and Duna Drone was completed. The vonKermans carefully dragged the launch vehicle over to where they could install the last available Fulcrum engine and fuel it for launch. At last, it was ready to fly…

Tobias vonKerman gave the Duna Drone 2 a salute before the trio of engineers went back inside for the launch. Site 04-9 was about 1,608 km away from Duna Base. The countdown proceeded normally, and Duna Drone 2 lifted off the desert floor without incident. It had some issues with its trajectory, but a few course corrections got it back on track. Mostly…

“Dee Dee 2 is overshooting,” Dudmon noted, looking at the projected landing site.

“Aeroshell deployed,” Tobias noted, reading the telemetry. That was by design. If the launch vehicle lacked the propellant to land safely, Duna Drone 2 had a chance to use its propellers to abandon ship and possibly slow down. It was a slim chance, but it was better than nothing. Fifteen minutes later, Duna Drone 2 hit its namesake’s upper atmosphere once again.

“Core tank is fully fueled,” Tobias said, satisfied. “Final course correction burn completed… Drop tanks, uh, dropped… Looking good so far.”

As the explorers watched the telemetry intently, Duna Drone 2 encountered shock heating, but the bulk of the launch vehicle protected the drone from the heat. It looked worse than it actually was due to the craft’s relatively slow velocity and the thin atmosphere. After the plasma shock dissipated, everything happened quickly. The craft performed a braking burn to slow down, gunned the engine at the last moment, and touched down safely, just 4.34 km away from the desired landing site!

“Ok, engine stopped and safed,” Dudmon said triumphantly. The launch vehicle worked well, delivering the drone within acceptable parameters. After ensuring that the Fulcrum wouldn’t accidentally ignite again, Duna Drone 2 turned on its navigation lights, extended its comm antennas, and deployed its BTDT cameras. The probe was ready for launch.

Duna Drone 2 reved its electric propellers and broke away from its delivery vehicle. Moments later, the drone began searching for the anomaly, got a reading, and headed towards it. The drone had a mishap and scraped the ground, causing it to lose one of its props, but thankfully it was still airworthy. A few minutes later, Duna Drone 2 found the anomaly.

“All that work for yet another of those strange arches,” Ferwin said and sighed. With no other anomaly, probe, or other lander in the vicinity, Duna Drone 2’s mission was at an end.

*

“After careful deliberation,” former KSP Administrator and newly appointed ISC Chairman Gene Kerman began, “the International Space Consortium has selected Orbital Dynamics’ Modular Deep Space Exploration Vessel as the winner of the Experimental DSEV Program. Both teams provided outstanding designs, but Orbital Dynamics’ revolutionary concepts offer the best path forward. With that said, neither the Newton-class nor the Halley-class provide exactly what we’re looking for, and admittedly, our requirements have changed because of feedback from both crews.”

Gene paused a few seconds to let that sink in before continuing. He put a new image on screen.

“This is the Discovery-class Deep Space Exploration Vessel, a new class of ship that meets the ISC’s needs. The Discovery-class provides living quarters, deep freeze pods, a laboratory, a sickbay, and a briefing room for a dozen crew members. The command hull also has a large hangar bay capable of holding a Compact Payload Maneuvering Vehicle as well as a single Shuttlepod with its revolutionary gravitic engine. The Discovery-class is also powered by a gravitic engine module, but it can also accommodate other engines, such as Halley’s fusion engine, should graviolium prove to be too scarce to mine in quantity.

“The modular nature of the Discovery-class enables the ship to be configured at an orbiting shipyard for a variety of missions- and enables the ISC to spread the production contracts around. Orbital Dynamics is responsible for the ship’s command hull, gravitic engine module, its Shuttlepod, and for the integration of all vessel hull components, while the Arrow Space Corporation and Drax Aerospace will provide other modules such as hab rings, cargo racks, and bulk fluid containers. In short, Orbital Dynamics is the primary contractor for the Discovery-class, but everyone wins with this new ship design.

“Finally, the International Space Consortium has placed orders for two ships. Discovery, designated DSEV-03, is the lead ship in the class, and DSEV-04, whose name will be announced after the student naming competition. Both ships will serve as pathfinders for the next two vessels in the fleet. Given the tight time constraints, all our efforts will be focused on building Discovery in time for the next launch window to Jool. DSEV-04 will follow soon after. Now, I’ll take your questions.”

“The Kerman States spent a lot of funds on the Nautilus,” Karbal Kerman, reporter for GNN, prompted before the other reporters had a chance to speak up. “That’s, uh, DSEV-01, the first Deep Space Exploration Vessel, right?”

“Yes,” Gene answered. Gene hated that guy. He’d hoped that Karbal would’ve been promoted to news anchor by now so that he wouldn’t have to deal with him… “If you could direct your questions towards the DSEV(X) Program…”

“What’s going to happen to the Nautilus,” Karbal interrupted. “For that matter, what will happen to Kopernicus- uh, DSEV-02?”

Gene sighed inwardly, but publicly didn’t miss a beat. “The Nautilus is currently just over a year away from returning to Kerbin,” he began. “The crew is still in cryosleep, and the ship’s systems are functioning normally. Nautilus represents a huge investment for not just the Kerman States, but also for the mcKerman Kingdom and the vonKerman Republic. She was state of the art when she launched but that was over five years ago, and a lot has changed since then. Project Laythe originally planned to turn her into a space station when she returned, but that changed when we leased Sky Reef from Orbital Dynamics. Once she returns, Nautilus will be placed in a storage orbit and kept in ready-reserve status until DSEV-05 and 06 are operational. At that point, Nautilus will be decommissioned and offered to private ventures as a museum ship.

“As you’re well aware, Kopernicus is still on active duty and orbiting Duna. She and her crew have another 190 days until they return to Kerbin. Given the decisions made during her design and construction and the technology available at the time, Kopernicus cannot meet the new quality of life standards set by the International Space Consortium for Deep Space Exploration Vessels. As a result, she will be decommissioned and recycled upon her return to Kerbin unless a private venture steps forward to preserve Kopernicus as a museum ship.

“Now, if there are questions related to Nautilus’ and Kopernicus’ successors…”

Angelo Kerman · January 21

Interlude: The Discovery

This mission report is almost at the end, but I'm already planning the next one. In the meantime...

With the excitement on Duna almost over- for now- the crew of Duna Base Expedition 1 settled into their new routine of building out more of Duna Base, processing the data from their historic land trip, and training for their upcoming launch. Over the next few months, their daily reports were informative but, frankly, boring. At least in Kerbin orbit, things were more interesting: Magic Boulder Shipyard got to work building the SCV Discovery.

The core components of DSEV-03 consisted of the command module, followed by the habitat ring. Yard workers carefully built both components- Orbital Dynamics was responsible for building all the components for the lead ship in the Discovery-class- and assembled them in the Portside Yard. Then they filled all the resource bins and locked them until the ship was ready to launch. After that, they started building the next set of components.

Except for the propulsion module, everything aft of the habitat ring was optional and mission specific. For her maiden flight, the Space Consortium Vessel Discovery would be fitted with a Shuttlepod Hangar to deliver two Shuttlepods to Laythe Base. Aft of the hangar, crews mounted a Type 1 Cargo Rack, followed by Liquids Container Module. Crews filled its tanks with propellium for the ship’s reaction control system- gravitic RCS “thrusters” for a ship the size of the Discovery-class were still in development, so DSEV-03 and likely DSEV-04 would need a refit once ~~I make the part~~ the new system became available.

Finally, they built and mounted the ship’s Gravitic Propulsion Module, filled its stores of graviolium and xenon gas, and locked the tanks until the ship’s maiden flight. Except for the Shuttlepod Hangar, the International Space Consortium considered the modules comprising the ship’s keel as the standard layout for the Discovery-class. They provided the most versatility given the ISC’s current needs. But while the shipyard completed the ship’s initial configuration, they had more work to do…

DSEV-03 had a few things to haul to Laythe to expand the kerbal presence there. First, the crews attached a pair of docking extension tunnels to the Type 1 Cargo Module. Next, they docked two large Drop Pods to the tunnels. Designed specifically for a one-way journey to Laythe’s surface, the Drop Pod landed large amounts of cargo and then shot away from its payload to dispose of itself. In this case, one drop pod carried a Sandcaster 3D printer while the other one had a submarine for exploring Laythe’s oceans.

Once yard workers secured the two Drop Pods, they began docking additional modules to the ship. The starboard side of the ship received an Orbital Outpost designed and built by Drax Aerospace as a competitor to the Oasis-class station. It had six docking ports, a habitat cabin for up to 4 kerbals, a small laboratory, and a storage area. Its mid-section had a pair of solar arrays, but they’d be useless as Laythe orbited the dark side of Jool, so ISC ordered a pair of SAFER nuclear reactors and mounted them to the Outpost’s port and starboard docking ports.

With that completed, workers mounted another docking extension tunnel, and then docked and secured an Orbital Dynamics Homestead Mk 4 station module to Discovery’s portside. When combined with the Orbital Outpost, the two station modules would form the core of Laythe Station.

Finally, the Cargo Module gained a pair of half-sized Standard Shipping Containers that held graviolium and fusion pellets, along with a prototype Stardust satellite and a GPMV. While the containers would stay at Laythe Station, Stardust and the GPMV would cruise around Jool orbit and attempt to find the Green Giant's graviolium belt- if it had one.

At last, the SCV Discovery (DSEV-03) was fully assembled and ready for its maiden flight- but it would have to wait a couple of weeks for the launch window to open, and it was time for Duna Base Expedition 1 to return to Kopernicus...

Angelo Kerman · January 26

Interlude: New Uniforms

A few weeks ago...

Gene Kerman looked at the image on the screen behind him, and then at the kerbals assembled beside him. They all wore the brand-new International Space Consortium Duty Uniform depicted on the screen, with slight variations depending upon division and experience level. He had to admit, their outfits looked spiffy.

He continued his speech. “These brave astronauts represent the next generation of space explorers that will take kerbalkin farther than we’ve ever gone before. But before I introduce the first crew of the SCV Discovery, which is nearing completion, I’d like you to take a moment to notice that while they originate from the many different space agencies that comprise the International Space Consortium, they all wear the same uniform. The uniform is a symbol signifying that the modern nations of Kerbin, like the ancient Kermantians before us, stand united in our purpose to explore what lies beyond our skies.

“But more than just a symbol, these duty uniforms are the most advanced spacesuits ever devised…”

---

ISC isn’t a military organization, so its ranks are compacted. Initially, there are only three ranks: Cadet Astronaut (experience level 0), Junior Astronaut (experience level 1-3), and Senior Astronaut (experience level 4-5). That’s enough to handle ship crews of a dozen or less (Deep Space Exploration Vessels have a crew of 12). The ISC is already considering command ranks as crew sizes and the ISC exploration vessel numbers inevitably increase, but they’re only proposals. For now, Senior Astronauts with a level-4 experience level are eligible to command a DSEV.

TwoCalories · January 26

Excellent suits! Are these in one of your mods? I'd love for my space program admins to be dressed up in a suit and tie rather than a pressure suit.

Angelo Kerman · January 27

19 hours ago, TwoCalories said:

Excellent suits! Are these in one of your mods? I'd love for my space program admins to be dressed up in a suit and tie rather than a pressure suit.

Yes, this is my Wild Blue Suits mod. You can find it here (It's not on CKAN since I made these largely for my own use). Fair warning, it's pretty rough. It has my older WBI suits, the business suits, TOS-style suits, and TWOK-style suits. I recreated the TOS-style suits for Kerfbleet: A Jool Odyssey after the originals got lost (I don't know who made them), but I removed all the Kerbfleet references since that mission report is dead and I didn't want the suits to go to waste.

The mod is set up so that you can delete the folders of suits that you don't want. It doesn't include the ISC suits that I just made as those are specific to my mission report.

Angelo Kerman · February 11

Interlude: Discovery Leaves Spacedock

In just a few days, Endeavour, the makeshift launch vehicle would make its attempt to reach Duna orbit. In the meantime, with Orbital Dynamics’ Mk33 booked and Drax Aerospace’s OV-300 series suffering severe, uncontrollable rolling, the ISC chose to launch the crew of Discovery on one of the mcKerman Kingdom’s Arrow 6 launch vehicles. The crew- the very same ones who evaluated the two DSX prototypes- plus two rookie astronauts boarded the Arrow 6’s passenger module without fanfare and launched into orbit just before sundown.

Two hours later, A6US-5 docked with Magic Boulder Shipyard, where the crew thanked the shipwrights for all their hard work before boarding the SCV Discovery.

The crew stowed their personal effects before they got to work powering up the ship, turning on the lights, and unlocking resource stores in preparation for launch. Before Samny could take her station, Hanse beat her to it and sat in the helmsman’s chair. Hensen, sitting in the other piloting chair, gave him a puzzled look. So did Samny. “I’m driving,” Hanse said by way of explanation. "Captain's prerogative..." He looked at Samny and then pointed to the center chair. “Take us out, XO,” he smiled and said.

Samny just shrugged and took the captain’s chair. Technically, ISC rules only allowed Rank 4 astronauts to command a Deep Space Exploration Vessel, but there was a problem with that- nobody had that level of experience! Both Hanse and Samny were Rank 3, experienced enough to be second in command, and would qualify for Rank 4 by the time that they arrived at Jool. In the meantime, the ISC had to waive their experience requirements for the first few missions until their Astronaut Corps had enough members to meet their rules.

“Blue Alert,” Samny ordered as she took the chair. An old mcKerman Navy tradition, Blue Alert was used whenever a ship entered a harbor to dock or when it left. It was also used during secure communications since ships didn’t enter or leave the docks very often. And in typical bureaucratic fashion, the ISC added other situations that qualified for Blue Alert as well…

“Blue Alert, aye,” Hanse responded.

“Helm, arm RCS thrusters,” Samny directed.

“RCS thrusters armed,” Hensen said.

“Richny, signal to Magic Boulder that we’re ready to depart.”

“The Harbormaster says we’re cleared to depart,” Richny answered a few seconds later, “and ‘fair gravity waves’ too.”

“Helm, release all hard locks and undock the ship,” Samny ordered. With a satisfying clunk, the Discovery unlatched from her mooring. For the first time, she was flying on her own.

“Helm, all back 0.5 meters per second,” Samny said. Throughout the ship, the crew could hear the RCS motors fire as Discovery slowly backed out of the yard.

“Helm answering all back 0.5 meters per second,” Hanse responded. Several seconds ~~per frame~~ later, DSEV-03 majestically pulled away from the shipyard, put some space between herself and the asteroid, and aimed prograde. “We’re free and clear to navigate,” Hanse said not long after.

“Very well. Helm, power up the main engines and make orbit for 500 kilometers.”

“Powering up the main engines and making orbit for 500 kilometers, aye,” Hanse answered. A half hour later, SCV Discovery settled into a 500-kilometer-high orbit where she’d stay until the Jool window opened and she could begin her journey…

JNSQ: Flight of The Endeavour - Epilogue

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