Albatros. (Yes. One 's'. I assure you they knew what they were doing...)

[GarrisonChisholm]

This story will not sound original or unique to everyone, but it is a first for me & with a craft that I simply think looks cool.  Therefore, perhaps embarrassingly simply out of pride, I am going to post here the tale of the Albatros program.

 

The Kerbal Space Program had had 6 unfortunate deaths in its conquest of Mun, so as the the 70s became the 80s an automated exploration program for the solar system was prioritized.  Mun and occasionally Minmus were still visited by the Muna program missions so that hard earned expertise was not lost, but after that lander was mastered there was nothing new innovated in crewed spaceflight for a long while.  After the Plock fly-by was completed every world had been visited however, so new and more compelling missions were sought.  Eventually it was decided that it was time to attempt to visit Kerbin's nearest world, and the Phoenix program was initiated.  A single-use mission craft, it was tested unmanned in LKO and then Phoenix-2 went out to an 80 million kilometer orbit for a multi-year duration validation of the craft's ability to maintain two crew for the trip to Eve.  Having passed this, Phoenix-3 was sent un-crewed to Eve, where it entered orbit and then successfully returned to Kerbin at the next transfer window.   Finally Valentina and Ronble Kerman departed Kerbin for Eve, completing the first crewed visit to another planet in the 2020s.

 

 

Having completed this milestone and for the moment declining the concept of a crewed landing on Eve, thoughts turned to Duna where a crewed landing would be possible.  Phoenix would make the trip, and with modification maybe even Jool,  but if a new ship were going to be manufactured every time a world was visited it would make for a very expensive achievement.

 

Then in roughly 2030 a science proposal was seen where-in access to an advanced stand-alone atomic motor would be granted if a certain testing environment would be used.  This motor was decades ahead on a research path that the KSP was intentionally bypassing, so the administration's eyes lit up when they saw the failure penalty of only 200k funds.  With no intention what-so-ever of completing the contract it was accepted, and - using the general specs of the Phoenix craft as a guideline - a craft was designed and, with perhaps irrational enthusiasm and an apathy towards spell-checking, commissioned for construction in under an hour.  Thankfully, experience with Phoenix had provided just enough knowledge, and a few months before the contract deadline passed Albatros was launched into LKO.  There had been not a THOUGHT about what the mission plan would be, everyone had been single-mindedly focused on getting the motor into service, so the next steps would have to be now considered.

A crew was sent up and a long-duration Kerbin-orbit test of the craft was initiated, shortly followed by the first crewed fly-by of Duna.

 

 

But now, what about a lander...

Edited August 26 by GarrisonChisholm

[GarrisonChisholm]

The lander would be the tricky part.  By the legacy of the hastily assembled Albatros the lander would have to be carried radially.  However additional fuel would need to be carried due to the mass of the lander when attached, meaning 2 masses added with only a ventral docking attachment.

First things first, the lander.  It would have to be as compact as possible, so-as to keep its center of gravity as close to the craft as possible.  These thoughts eventually lead to a nested design.

The crew would be unhappy with their view of the tank wall, but the Mk2 Lander Can was able to be neatly nestled into the fuel ring.  The lander was simmed and found to be capable of landing on Duna and returning to an 80km orbit.  Now the question of adding enough extra H2 to the Albatros to carry the unit to Duna, without exceeding the gimbal range of the engine.  Perhaps ingeniously, an extension was devised which could carry extra fuel above the frame of the craft, while being attached below, and a somewhat touch-and-go mission to attach this unit was devised.

 

After it was attached, a servicing flight was sent up to top off all consumables.

So the craft was ready.  But it was not.  When simming the launch of the craft to Duna it was found fuel did not drain from the newly attached tanks.  A laborious investigation was launched to discover if it was a software or hardware issue, finally discerning through numerous ground tests that a single plate attached (unnecessarily) to provide the mounting point for the tanks had constricted the flow-pipes.  After long debate, a servicing mission would need to be sent up or else miss the launch window with needing to replace the whole additional tank assembly.

Two space-planes were possessed by the program, neither of which had ever been flown up to the 120km orbit reserved for Albatros.  The cargo bay was however dutifully filled with extra fuel and monoprop and the mission was flown, with Jebcas Kerman managing to remove the interfering plates and restoring normal flow.

 

The mission was completed and the crew returned, after they first circularized their orbit at 72km to reduce their entry energy.

There were 50 days to go before the crew would ascend to Albatros and embark upon their journey.

Edited August 26 by GarrisonChisholm

[GarrisonChisholm]

Seven days before orbit departure Tanbro and Jebcas with Tansted Kerman stuffed into the airlock launched towards their rendezvous with Albatros.

Reaching orbit they found that haste had again bitten the program, as if launch had been delayed probably just 30 minutes a much more expedient rendezvous could have been had, none-the-less sufficient time had been built into the mission plan and after 3 days the DUAL (DUna/ALbatros) lander at last met up with Albatros.

The transfer stage was then de-orbited, and Albatros was fully configured for flight through several orbits.

Albatros will depart for Duna in 3 days.

Edited August 26 by GarrisonChisholm

[GarrisonChisholm]

 

TDI Day.

The crew now departed for Duna.  With some mild protestation the launch from orbit had not been simmed after the orbital tank repairs, but everyone had high confidence in Jebcas' work, and after all he was on the flight.  If he was confident, why shouldn't everyone else be?

For some reason on ignition there was considerable starboard yaw, which could only have come from the rotating ring as the craft was symmetrical.  Tanbro was advised to activate computer trajectory guidance which helped significantly.  A modest mid-course correction burn would be needed but it was quite acceptably within parameters.

The burn was completed, and Albatros came out of Kerbin's shadow on course for its rendezvous with history.

The lander was powered down but the crew would check on it every 10 days, and in some 282 days would be entering orbit.

[GarrisonChisholm]

After the approach had been aligned, out of an abundance of caution it was decided to save some Dv and aerobrake into orbit, taking advantage of a favorable Ike alignment as well- despite having never planned such a maneuver.

All externals were stowed and the maneuver was executed after a heated internal debate.

It did not go as smoothly as expected...

Spoiler

...however it was successful.

And after a 20km flyby of Ike a 300 m/s burn was planned upon the ship's return to periapsis.

A stable orbit was finally achieved, and the landing planning began with the goal of alighting close to one of the program's automated landers, to examine weathering on the probe and collect non-transmittable science.

Edited September 3 by GarrisonChisholm

[GarrisonChisholm]

After 10 hours in orbit Tanbro and Jebcas made their way into the lander, powering up its computer and opening the mono-tanks.

After 20 minutes and on the dark side of Duna Tanbro decoupled the lander and gave a very short RCS burst to move away from Albatros while Tansted monitored things from the observation cupola.

Passing over the landing site at 80km the crew made sure they were aligned for maximum battery charge until they reached the point of their de-orbit burn.

The 56 m/s burn was made, and then adjusted slightly normal, attempting to get close to the MLL lander.  The crew then watched their monitors waiting for acquisition of MLL's signal beacon.

Spoiler

"signal acquired."

The chutes came out at 5km, and fully deployed at 1200.

Due to the density of the atmosphere at this lower-than-test altitude descent would likely have been manageable on only the chutes, however knowing they were coming down on an apparent rocky shelf a modest landing burn was decided upon by Tanbro.  At 100m descent was reduced to 3 m/s, and with a rocky clatter they touched down.

The first Kerbals on another planet.

Tanbro and Jebcas spent a few minutes securing the lander, then Tanbro crawled through the access tunnel to peer out through their only tiny actual window onto the surface.  Jebcas prepared the excursion package for Tanbro while he made sure his suit was fit.

It had been decided that for excessive caution a kerbal would remain on the Albatros, and with even more caution that an engineer would be on the lander in case repairs were needed to return.  This left Tansted, their only scientist, in orbit, but they hoped to bring him lots of data and samples for him to study over the coming year.

Tanbro depressurized the airlock and stepped out onto the ladder, climbing down to their rocky shelf, which looked an awful lot like a long-dry watery basin.  He took a few steps to a spot where the sand showed, and planted their flag.

He spent a few minutes checking the horizon, and then their ship, before climbing back on board.  Tanbro would be staying home, while Jebcas would be the one to walk the 7km to the MLL lander to retrieve all the science that could not be transmitted.

...though recent telemetry indicated the sample scoop was for some reason a horribly mangled mess.  Perhaps they should reconsider approaching the probe, seeing it in an unknown damaged state.  Mission Control huddled on the topic...

Edited September 4 by GarrisonChisholm

[GarrisonChisholm]

With the landing successful Tansted breathed a sigh of relief - now she would be able to get on with her observations and experiments.  But first she had some station keeping chores to do.  Primarily, now that DUAL was out of the way the extra tanks could be drained and ejected, increasing their Dv for the trip home.

After all of the hydrogen had been pumped out Tansted initiated the separation motors and selected UNDOCK on the display.

Spoiler

"KRANG!"

the unbalanced additional tank truss spirals away

A horrendous bang reverberated through the ship as one of the tanks crashed into the hull, because the other tank... was still there.

(the baguette tank had accidentally been affixed to the hull, despite the fact that I had been able to place it exactly corresponding to its partner during the orbital repair mission)

Tansted stared at the screens in front of her, and then keyed the comms.  "Jebcas!!!"

Spoiler

...

This discovery had a huge, and negative, impact on the mission.  Jebcas would need to do an EVA to cut free the 'wires and detritus' that still held the remaining tank adhered to the hull of the cabin.  Jebcas was the only person with the skills to do this task, which immediately made him indispensable, meaning he would not be going on the hour's hike to the MLL probe.  Given that he needed to return to the ship in orbit, that also meant that Tanbro would not be going on the hike.  In fact after less than an hour's debate back-and-forth to Kerbin they were ordered to return to orbit immediately.

It was a dodgy ascent, as it seemed they were burning fuel much faster than in the simulations.  Tanbro and Jebcas both realized that that thicker lower atmosphere that made their landing softer was now making their escape from Duna a lot harder.

But finally they were able to reach a stable orbit.  Unfortunately, the only rendezvous that would match their remaining fuel was 12 days.  Fortunately they had enough supplies for it, but it was a long time with a view of only instruments.  Never-the-less, they made it.

Spoiler

"Good to be home Albatros.  ...s."

Fortunately Jebcas didn't need to stray too far from the cabin door, and the tank was removed and tossed aside with as much force as he could manage.  - which turned out to be less than 1 m/s.  The ship's RCS was used to slightly more securely assure that they wouldn't bump into it in their remaining 500 days in orbit.

They would save detaching the lander until before their departure, as the extra living space - as small as it was - was not something to throw away so hurriedly.  Tansted settled down to examining the soil and rock samples that were brought back, and the whole crew devoted themselves to staying busy and sane until it came time for their departure.

Edited Thursday at 10:31 PM by GarrisonChisholm

[Kerbalsaurus]

I really like the saucer shape of the lander, but I feel like that flat shape may be a little difficult to fly. Also, Albatros is a really cool looking habitat. Very Martian-esque.

[GarrisonChisholm]

That may have been a sub-conscious allusion but it wasn't deliberate.  I think it looks "appealing" because I was worried about the contract expiring before I got it into orbit so it was built in total and launched as one unit, and hence looks somewhat aerodynamic.

The lander I am very pleased with, and with 4 of its 5 engines being high gimbal units it steers very surely on SAS.  Duna's atmosphere is thin enough for it to work, but I doubt it would be able to climb through any thicker atmosphere.

The second mission to Duna is going to have a lot more support.  I want to send a fueler for both H2 and LOx so the lander could make two descents (with the second to Ike), and a rover to permit easier excursions.  A rover was supposed to be waiting there for this mission but it seems to be exploring Booster Bay...

[GarrisonChisholm]

While the crew of Albatros awaited their return window, there were actually two other missions in progress.

The first was a very old mission, which was a proof-of-concept outer planets exploration probe carried up and launched by the Kondor spaceplane 30 years ago.  It had visited Jool and then gotten a kick out to the deep places of the solar system and was now encountering Neidon retro-grade.  A probe had flown by Neidon already, but this mission would be able to visit Nissee.  It was out of communication at the moment, but still had a few shreds of power in storage so data could be recovered from the flyby which would then hopefully be transmitted home somewhere between Sarnus and Jool.

The second mission was the 4th Local Body Ion Explorer probe, also encountering its target retrograde after an earlier encounter.

LBIE-4 would brake into Jool orbit with a Vall flyby, which would hopefully end with a flyby of Laythe in the cards.

Laythe had been a hot topic for the last year as the first Laythe probe to not splash down had returned images of obviously flourishing flora, and everyone was gobsmacked.  Had Albatros not already been deep into the planning (and funding) stages then Laythe would have assuredly been Kerbalkind's first attempt at a non-Mun/Min landing.

With any luck once the crew was back from Duna there could be some funding for exploring not just a 2 year mission, but the 6 that would be required for the Joolian system.

Edited Thursday at 10:35 PM by GarrisonChisholm

[GarrisonChisholm]

Further missions of note were occurring at the KSC, as a long duration planetoid was coming into its close approach to the sun.  Kerbin's first outer-planet and, subsequently, interplanetary probe was an Othello, so another was created.

It was an older probe, but it checked out, so it was cleared for launch.

Unfortunately, upon reaching orbit it was discovered the plane change needed was almost as much as the trans orbital burn, so an alternate subject was chosen, the as yet un-visited Plockoid, Havous.

Given the infrequency of the original planetoid's periapsis a new launcher was prioritized, namely the launch body of the Phoenix "Planetship" given it had the same diameter, to which the Othello upper stage was attached and renamed Prospero.  The cost consequently more than doubled.

With top priority this rocket should be able to be built and launched within the year, and would be on its way before the Duna crew started homeward.

Edited Tuesday at 11:51 PM by GarrisonChisholm

[GarrisonChisholm]

The 30 year wait for the flyby of Nissee were, to say the least, underwhelming.

The moon turned out to be a small dusty rock, likely a captured plockoid.  None-the-less the instrument buffers were filled with data, and a transmission timer set for the occasion of the probe's return to the orbit of Sarnus set, an unfortunate 35 years in the future.

On the other hand, the Ion Explorer's encounter with Laythe was very nearly the polar opposite of underwhelming.

Spoiler

A fortunate sun alignment matched the probe's approach, and about 4 million copies of this poster were sold at every grade school Science Day in the coming spring.

The magnetosphere science was captured and transmitted, and a burn made for a Tylo encounter that would also send the probe out to the orbit of Pol executed.  Hopefully a full survey of Jool's moons could be completed with the substantial onboard fuel.

The last to-dos before Albatros' return burn were the departure of the orbiting Othello probe to Havous, and the launch of the deep plockoid probe, Prospero.

Edited Thursday at 02:38 AM by GarrisonChisholm