UKS MASEC Mission Logs [Picture Heavy] | UPDATE: Back in business, again!

[macdjord]

Why are you hauling so much Kethane around? I've always found it far more efficient to put a converter on my lander and mostly transport converted fuel. (This has the added bonus of giving my lander and tanker absolutely stunning amounts if delta-v.)

Also, you should consider slapping a Kethoelectric Generator on the lander. That would eliminate the dependency on solar power.

If you're having that much trouble launching from Minmus, you might be in real trouble on Bop. Maybe you should consider adding a couple extra engines? Ones with better TWR but less ISP; use them only at the start of the heaviest of launches.

Leaving off the Monoprop seems like a false economy; a relatively small amount of it would add a lot of flexibility (e.g. the ability to dock with stations in the absence of the tug) for relatively little additional weight.

[Cashen]

Why are you hauling so much Kethane around? I've always found it far more efficient to put a converter on my lander and mostly transport converted fuel. (This has the added bonus of giving my lander and tanker absolutely stunning amounts if delta-v.)

Also, you should consider slapping a Kethoelectric Generator on the lander. That would eliminate the dependency on solar power.

If you're having that much trouble launching from Minmus, you might be in real trouble on Bop. Maybe you should consider adding a couple extra engines? Ones with better TWR but less ISP; use them only at the start of the heaviest of launches.

Leaving off the Monoprop seems like a false economy; a relatively small amount of it would add a lot of flexibility (e.g. the ability to dock with stations in the absence of the tug) for relatively little additional weight.

It's a combination of things. Having the drills and converters separate (drills on the lander and converters at the station) means the lander doesn't have to burn fuel to lug around the weight of the relatively heavy converters, which makes the process a little more efficient. Also, conversion in-situ doesn't work when you consider that the end use may not be in the same ratio that the normal fuel/oxidizer tanks carry. For example, if you're refueling a lot of SSTO jets at the orbital station, the amount of fuel might be way higher than oxidizer, and unless your lander has dedicated fuel-only tanks, this wouldn't make sense. You'd either be carrying around extra oxidizer or not maximizing the carrying capacity of the lander. Hauling the raw kethane to the point of use allows conversion into whatever fuel happens to be necessary at the time. The reason I do such large batches is a) economies of scale, fewer trips required, and c) because I can.

The use of the kethane mod was taken with some consideration when I started this thread. I'm a chemical engineer by trade and so resource extraction and conversion really appeals to me. However, kethane also makes the game easier, which I wanted to avoid. Brotoro for example did his entire Laythe mission using fuel imported from Kerbin, which would be even more challenging, which I admire. I find the addition of kethane however adds more to the story, which is something else I think about. So some decisions I made are for my own personal gameplay preferences. A good example is the flying fox and the logistics I plan to use for it. Slapping small drills and converters on it on Laythe would be easy. Too easy, for my tastes. So I prefer the challenge of developing a dedicated infrastructure to support it, instead. This same reasoning is why the Tylo lander (not revealed yet) doesn't include kethane equipment - I like the asthetics of having deidcated equipment for kethane handling and separate exploration vehicles. It's just my style, I guess. I also find it more realistic, at least in my opinion.

The TWR on Bop will be lower than Minmus, true, but still good enough to get into orbit (I did the math beforehand). Amphion only used about 25% of its fuel during its part of the mission, too, which means it has a slight excess. This will be helpful on Bop, as I can a) use the extra fuel to ensure I get to orbit, or use less fuel to increase the TWR. This will require experimentation once I get there.

I do plan to make a version of Amphion MkII with RCS and use it at Minmus, and retire the old design. The one at Jool probably won't need it since I don't plan to have a station at Bop or Pol, so it'll always require a tug. Solar power has never been a problem, as I always target landings at local sunrise. Days on Bop and Pol are much longer than on Minmus.

[Commander Zoom]

Another great post, and congratulations on the lucky expert rendezvous!

[FishInferno]

Yay! Jool is very close...

[Scotius]

Cashen, you might like what KSPI offers in the field of resource extraction and utilisation. No more One Substance To Turn Into All

[Cashen]

Cashen, you might like what KSPI offers in the field of resource extraction and utilisation. No more One Substance To Turn Into All

I'll have to look into that! However, for the purposes of this thread, I think I'm committed to kethane for now. I made sure to hand-wave my own science to explain its properties much earlier in the story.

[Cashen]

Osiris Development Mission 5: Laythe Lander Manned Test

The Laythe Crew Transport and Rescue Vehicle was tested unmanned during ODM 1, and failed due to lack of parachutes. So, this is simply a re-test of a redesigned lander, but it will also be a manned test, so the crew will be testing some other functionality as well. This will be the final development mission before Laythe Station is partially constructed in Kerbin Orbit, and the hardware assembled to depart with Phase 1. After this mission, the crew departing with Phase 1 will also be announced.

Mission Outline & Objectives

• First manned flight of the Osiris LCTRV.
  
• Achieve Kerbin orbit, dock and refuel at Kerbin Station.
  
• De-orbit and precision land at KSC.
  
• Test vehicle egress, Fennec undocking and redocking, and parachute repacking.
  
• Crew: Richbur Kerman and Jonbart Kerman
  

The launch is exactly as before, riding atop a SRB before separating and consuming most of the lander's fuel to get into orbit. Richbur and Jonbart have some history together, having driven on the Mun together, and walked on Ike together. Some crew get paired together because of this mutual experience, like Mac and Wildon earlier.

The additional parachutes. In this case, two of the drogue chutes were replaced with the big yellow mains, and each outboard pylon was given a radial chute as well.

The crew docks to the station in the dark, and take on a full compliment of fuel. Note the tug still docked from the previous mission.

They undock and attempt a new kind of landing. They're actually 270 degrees ahead of KSC when they perform a single de-orbit burn from the altitude of the station, and use the new landing prediction software to pinpoint KSC, requiring an apoapsis of just 47km. Previously it had been thought the optimum place to de-orbit was from the landing site's antipode, but there's no reason you can't de-orbit from even further away. This saves fuel and will be something that requires additional experimentation.

They re-enter engines first and with the lander can's window facing down, so Richbur can actually see KSC out the bottom part of the window.

Richbur: Drogue parachutes are out. Man, the RCS translation to fine tune the landing is awesome. If we'd had the foresight, we could have targeted landing right on the runway. I didn't realize this kind of fine control was even possible!

The vehicle rolls 90 degrees to the left so the window shows KSC as they come down, just after main chute deployment.

Coming down on the mains. It's one of the closest landings yet.

The two of them get out and do all the little tasks planned for after landing. Fennec undocks and is able to drive out from under the lander just fine. Coming down the ladder is no problem. All but the back two radial chutes can be reached for re-packing. Those back two however cannot, so those four radials will be moved to the core of the lander instead to bring them into reach. Testing all these little things beforehand makes sure everything works. Laythe is far away in time and distance, it's best to discover all the little things now.

Edited July 13, 2014 by Cashen

[FishInferno]

Yay! next stop laythe:)

[Cashen]

Yay! next stop laythe:)

Don't get too far ahead of yourself. I have stuff planned to happen while Phase 1 is in transit. The next update will be me setting up the Phase 1 hardware in Kerbin orbit, which is a lot of tedious, time consuming stuff to do, which is why it's taking a little while.

Soon enough, though!

[Fox62]

Will we see a mother ship that winds up becoming the core of a station around Laythe? It just seems to me that that would make the mission cheaper, as you wouldn't have to send a separate core module up as payload, you just send up the mother ship, or it's first module, and that becomes the station core when you get to Laythe.

[Cashen]

Project Osiris Phase 1 Preparations

Pase 1 and Phase 2 will each see crews of six Kerbals leaving for Jool. These crews have now been announced. For Phase 1, which will mostly be setting up equipment and doing tests of the hardware in the Jool system, three of the six are engineers, and the other three are science personnel. Phase 2, where the real science and exploration will happen, will have just 1 engineer, and 5 scientists. The Phase 1 crew is a mixture of experience Kerbals and a couple rookies. One decision made is that none of the returning Project Anubis guys are leaving with Phase 1: They'll get some more time on Kerbin to rest. Here's the team selected for Phase 1:

Commander: Milke Kerman. Milke is (along with Mac and Dunlie), one of the original three engineers. The first of the engineers to fly, on Geb III, and the first to fly the Aten CSM during Aten I, Milke is one of MASEC's most experienced kerbonauts. He was also the first to be launched by a Lupus V and the first to fly the Aten Moon Lander in Kerbin orbit during Aten IV. Unfortunately he did not leave Kerbin Orbit during project Aten, which was ended after just two landings. However, he was immediately given command of Minmus Station upon its completion, and there was the third to set foot on Minmus. His experience includes operating the Amphion KERV and the Fennec rover on Minmus, and his experience running an important station, and overseeing kethane production, is the reason he's being chosen to command Phase 1.

Science Leader: Milgas Kerman. Milgas, one of the original three scientist kerbonauts (along with Wildon and Kennie), his first mission was paired with Mac Kerman on Aten V, and he became the second kerbal to set foot on Mun, and the first to operate kethane extraction equipment on another celestial body. He was later transferred to Minmus Station as the Chief Scientist, and, like Milke, has experience working with the Amphion and Fennec vehicles.

Chief Engineer: Elmon Kerman. Elmon is currently the chief engineer at Minmus Station, and is being assigned a similar role here for his experience there. Since Phase 1 involves kethane production using a similar vehicle, that experience is considered an asset.

Engineer: Ellorf Kerman. Ellorf has experience with the Fennec rover, most recently the expedition that explored the lowest point on Mun's surface. He's a fairly experienced engineer but his path forward is blocked by Kirmin Kerman, the chief engineer at Mun Station, so this is one path to get him some more experience.

Geologist: Carson Kerman. A rookie, currently serving on Kerbin Station. He's one of the two kerbonauts chosen for this mission that have limited experience.

Climatologist: Thompler Kerman. Another rookie on Kerbin Station, Thompler is one of the two climatoligists hired on before Project Anubis. Thompler was not selected to go to Duna, so they're selecting him now specifically to study Laythe's climate and assist in selecting a location for a permanent base.

In all, three of the six are being brought in from Minmus Station, one from Mun Station, and two from Kerbin Station. In the case of Minmus Station, all three management roles are being vacated. Bartvin Kerman will be promoted to Chief Engineer, while Ludzer Kerman, from Kerbin Station, will fill an engineer role. For the commander and chief scientist roles, two Project Anubis veterans, Richbur and Jonbart Kerman, are being sent to Minmus. Both Richbur and Jonbart enjoyed their experience in Project Anubis and expressed a particular desire in continuing work on Duna. Since the exploration of Duna is currently on hold, MASEC has decided to give these two veterans some additional experience in the Kerbin system, particularly with respect to kethane processing. In the case of Ellorf, his post on Mun Station will be taken by Milmon, also currently at Kerbin Station.

Four of the six Phase 1 kerbals will be assembled at Kerbin Station. Two of them, Milke and Elmon, will be brought down to Kerbin, for the purpose of flying the two Flying Foxes up into orbit to be packaged for the transfer to Jool.

Milke, Elmon and Milgas board their Aten COV and depart to come home to Kerbin. They'll dock at Kerbin Station and do a crew switch.

Similarly, Ellorf Kerman departs Mun Station. This kind of crew shuffling took place before Anubis, as well.

Hardware Assembly

It's time to begin assembling the unmanned hardware to be shipped to Jool. This will include the upgraded tug for Amphion, the partial assembly of UKS Laythe Station in Kerbin orbit, as well as the lander and refueler.

Mission Outline & Objectives

• Launch a second, larger Hercules MkIII Heavy Nuclear Tug and rendezvous with Kerbin Station
  
• Have the new tug swap with the old one in ferrying Amphion. Take on fuel and move into a parking orbit in preparation for departure.
  
• Have the old, smaller tug move into a parking orbit and await the Laythe Station Service Module, which the tug will ferry to Laythe.
  
• Assemble the Laythe Station Habitation Module in Kerbin Orbit.
  
• Re-activate one of the old Hercules MkII tugs which constructed Mun Station, refuel it at Kerbin Station, and have it dock to the Laythe Station Habitation Module, which it will transport to Laythe.
  
• Launch the Osiris Laythe Lander, and the Osiris Refueler, dock them to Kerbin Station to take on fuel, and then dock them together in a parking orbit, as they'll make the trip to Laythe together.
  

The first order of business is launching a new tug to carry around the new Amphion KERV. This one has larger outboard fuel tanks to increase the delta-V available, as well as a large battery and larger solar panels.

Once at Kerbin Station, the old tug undocks and turns, as shown here, while the new tug waits off to the side. The old tug would then release Amphion and move away into a parking orbit where it would wait. The new tug would grab Amphion, dock to the station to take on fuel, and then undock, moving into a different parking orbit and await the transfer to Jool.

Now it's time to start constructing UKS Laythe Station. This is the station core, which consists of three node modules stacked together, with four cupola modules and an array of docking ports. This launch uses a new first stage, consisting of the Griffon XX, an old engine but one MASEC has not used before. They're trying out 3.75m KW Rocketry lower stages as an alternative to the 5m Lupus V stages built by NovaPunch.

The core module arrives in parking orbit, attached to its L-IVC upper stage. It has different types of docking ports on it. Some special ports are designed for docking with other station modules, while the old, traditional ports are for docking with spacecraft.

Attached to the core will be a total of five habitation modules. Four of them will have stand-off docking ports, and one will have a crew airlock/hatch. All five modules would be carried into orbit on identical carrier rockets, shown here.

A look at one of the four habitat modules with the stand-off docking port. Laythe Station is expected to have a lot of spaceplanes docked to it, and these modules proved effective for docking when they were attached to Kerbin Station.

The first habitat module is attached.

Then the second. The first three were launched on three consecutive orbits of the core module, and then performed rendezvous later, each catching up one after another. Kerbal Alarm Clock comes in handy once again.

The third habitat module in place. After the first three were attached, the other two could be launched.

The first four in place, now. The upper stages are all still attached. The four that ferried up the habitat modules can be de-orbited with their RCS fuel, so any residual rocket fuel will be saved for when the tug arrives.

Here's one of the Hercules MkII tugs that assembled Mun Station. There were two of them that did that job, and they were left in Kerbin Orbit all this time, until they were needed again. This one's been given the task of taking the Laythe Habitation Module all the way to Laythe. Here, it takes on fuel. It keeps enough room in the tanks to absorb the excess in all the upper stages at the habitation module.

A short while later, the completed Laythe Habitation Module, with the tug attached and the upper stages de-orbited. Larger than Kerbin Station, this will comfortably house 12 or more Kerbals, with six docking ports, four of them raised up for extra clearance, plus an air-lock, and with plenty of windows.

The Laythe Service Module, which consists of three separate modules (The structural truss/utility module, the kethane module, and the fuel conversion and storage module) stacked together, is launched all in one shot atop the lower two stages of a Lupus V.

The small tug that wasn't up to the task of ferrying Amphion during its test flight is being put to good use, as it will ferry the service module to Laythe. Note the truss module, which is longer than the ones used presently. It contains an extra set of 3 solar panels, large batteries, and small fuel tanks inside the truss, making use of what was empty space before. It also contains a canister for Xenon gas, in case ion engines are developed and put into use.

To better balance the center of mass of the whole assemble, the tug breaks the service module in half and inserts itself in the middle. Three solar panels are extended to provide some power for the whole assembly. Laythe Station, assembled in two large pieces, is ready to go. Final assembly will happen in Laythe orbit.

After the station is assembled, Ellorf arrives from Mun Station, and Milmon then departs for the trip back to Mun.

More hardware assembly. The Osiris Laythe Lander is launched, unmanned, to rendezvous with Kerbin Station. The radial parachutes were relocated to the core after the last test flight revealed re-packing issues.

Not long after, the Osiris Unmanned Refueling Vehicle is launched in similar fashion. Retractable ladders have been added since the test flight, also to facilitate manual repacking of the chutes.

Both the lander and refueler dock to the fuel module at Kerbin Station, where both take on full load. The refueler's jet fuel tanks are left empty to save weight.

The two vehicles are then docked together in a parking orbit, and will travel to Laythe together, using the lander's four engines as primary propulsion, while the refueler's core fuel tank will act as spare fuel for the journey.

Crew Management

Richbur and Jonbart Kerman are Minmus bound, while Milke and Elmon are headed to the surface. Since this is only a two person crew swap, the big Horus SSTO isn't needed. Since flight experience with the Flying Fox is important, and it seats two, Richbur and Jonbart will fly one up to Kerbin Station, and Milke and Elmon will fly it back. Here, Richbur takes off from the runway. This is the "light" version of the Flying Fox, without its rover wheels or exploration equipment. This version is purely used as a means of transportation for 1-2 Kerbals.

Richbur activates the rocket engines during the climb to orbit.

The view from one of Kerbin Station's cupola modules, with the Aten IEV on the left, and the docked Flying Fox on the right.

The guys from Minmus arrive in their Aten COV. Richbur, Jonbart and Ludzer take their places. Milke and Elmon then climb into the Flying Fox, while Milgas remains on Kerbin Station.

Richbur, Jonbart and Ludzer depart for Minmus, with Kerbin Station visible in the background.

Meanwhile, Milke and Elmon undock the Fox, and prepare to return to the surface.

The two of them make a textbook landing. We're almost ready for the departure to Jool!

NEXT TIME: Isis sends a probe to Dres, and the last bit of hardware bound for Laythe is assembled, followed by Phase 1's departure to Jool.

Edited July 13, 2014 by Cashen

[Scotius]

Wow. That's some heavy lifting. Wonder how long will ejection burns be for station core and service module.

[FishInferno]

How often will there be Laythe crew transfers?

[Cashen]

Wow. That's some heavy lifting. Wonder how long will ejection burns be for station core and service module.

Probably long. I might stage the ejection into two burns to make the burn times manageable if they're too long; first to kick into a highly elliptical orbit and then a final ejection.

How often will there be Laythe crew transfers?

Don't know yet. The guys will be there a while I imagine, since it's good "character development" and it's easier if they stay a while. I haven't thought that far ahead yet.

[FishInferno]

Don't know yet. The guys will be there a while I imagine, since it's good "character development" and it's easier if they stay a while. I haven't thought that far ahead yet.

Well im glad they will get to go back to Kerbin... eventually

[Cashen]

It's a big day for MASEC, so brace yourself, this is going to be a long post, broken up into a few parts. We've got a lot of activity to cover!

Project Osiris Phase 1 Final Preparations

Last time, we saw the crew for Phase 1 picked, and we also saw the assembly of all the hardware that is being shipped unmanned to Laythe. The Laythe lander and refueler were packaged together for transport, as well as the Amphion/Tug combination. We also saw the partial assembly of UKS Laythe Station, in two large parts. These four hardware packages are in parking orbit and waiting for the go-ahead. Now it's time to assemble the fifth hardware package, and the one that will actually carry the crew to Jool/Laythe.

Mission Outline & Objectives

• Launch NAMLARV/Fennec unmanned into low Kerbin orbit.
  
• Have Ellorf, Milgas, Thompler and Carson Kerman board the Aten IEV, depart Kerbin Station, and rendezvous with NAMLARV.
  
• Boost the IEV/NAMLARV combination into a slightly higher orbit.
  
• Two Flying Fox SSTOs will take off, piloted by Milke and Elmon Kerman, and dock to the IEV/NAMLARV combination.
  
• Boost all five hardware assemblies into temporary elliptical parking orbits, with apoapse out near Minmus' orbit, and periapse at the proper ejection point for Jool, in preparation for departure.
  

We're taking NAMLARV/Fennec with us, but NAMLARV has been given some slight modifications. A larger fuel tank from KW Rocketry replaces the smaller AIES one, which provides more delta-V for landings on Vall. The old design was capable of Vall landings, but this will add an additional safety margin. The weight is not significantly increased, because in turn the large monopropellant tank has been removed, in favor of four smaller radial ones. The original NAMLARV design carried a large excess of RCS fuel. Other changes include 45 degree offset RCS thrusters; these ones have their thrusters pointed at 45 degree angles so they still point along the proper coordinate axes, but are now out of the way of the ladder. To facilitate this, the landing legs are no longer at right angles to each other either, having been moved closer to the engine pods, giving NAMLARV a rectangular footprint, and more importantly, giving greater room for Fennec to drive under the lander (which had always been slightly tricky). Perhaps the biggest change, and this is a temporary, mission-specific hardware addition, is the large docking node on top of NAMLARV. This is where the crew vehicle will dock (top) and where the two SSTO spaceplanes will dock (both sides)

NAMLARV launches unmanned on the ALS rocket, as per usual. Here the solid lower stage falls away and the upper liquid stage begins firing.

Into orbit at around 70km, NAMLARV waits for the crew to arrive.

Ellorf Kerman jumps into the pilot's chair, while the three science personell, Milgas, Carson and Thompler, ride in the passenger compartment. Desbree Kerman wishes them well on their journey to Laythe, before they depart Kerbin Station. This is the beginning of a the longest journey Kerbals have yet attempted. This is the same Aten Interplanetary Exploration Vehicle that went to, and returned from Duna, with Project Anubis.

While the IEV is preparing to dock with NAMLARV, and then boost into a higher, 100km orbit, it's time to bring some more toys with us. Here, Milke Kerman flies a Flying Fox SSTO, solo, up through the clouds, to join the other Phase 1 guys.

The IEV, NAMLARV, and the first of the foxes are docked together using the temporary docking node. Milke transfers by EVA to the crew vehicle, because it would be very uncomfortable to sit in the Flying Fox cockpit for the extremely long time it takes to get to Jool.

The next morning, Elmon Kerman takes off from KSC in the second Flying Fox. Two of them are being brought to Laythe. These are the "heavy" versions, with rover wheels and instrumentation, as opposed to the "light" version we saw last time.

All four vehicles are now stacked together and ready for departure.

The route to Jool is going to be a fast one. Rather than a low-cost long-duration Hohmann transfer, which was used for most of the probe missions, this one is a manned mission and there is a desire to "get there quickly". So the transfer orbits will not be optimal for fuel, but for time: around 140 days or so. This is about half the travel time of a Hohmann transfer, but will mean the hardware will arrive at Jool with a large excess velocity. Because of this, the ejection burns are long, so it's decided to break them up into two burns. An initial burn, of around 900 m/s, will boost the hardware into highly elliptical orbits with an apoapse just short of Minmus. Then, the final ejection burn, around 1500 m/s, will take place three days later at periapse.

The lander/refueler are the next for the orbital boost. This assembly uses more powerful but lower efficency engines, and has the shortest burn length.

Followed by Amphion and its integrated tug.

The service module comes next. The big spherical tanks are empty, of course, as trying to push around that much weight would be tricky. They'll be filled in-situ, utilizing kethane available in the Jool system.

The habitation module of Laythe Station is the last to boost into the pre-departure orbit. It's been a policy so far of station hab modules to be transported empty, and only crewed after final assembly.

An overhead view of the Kerbin system, with the five elliptical pre-departure orbits shown. The lower orbit that intersects Minmus is Richbur, Jonbart, and Ludzer still making their trip back to Minmus, which stared during the last post. Fortunately, Mun didn't get in the way during all of this. As mentioned previously, the elliptical orbits have a period of 3 days, and during that 3-day wait, the transfer window to Dres opened...

Isis XXI: RAMSES Dres

Mission Outline & Objectives

• Launch a RAdar Mapping and Search for Extraterresterial reSources probe bound for Dres.
  

Dres is the only celestial body that doesn't either have something landed on it, in orbit around it, or on its way to it so far. It's the last planet MASEC has decided to visit. But the opportunity is there now and we're taking it. So, a Lupus V-B is launched carrying the mapping probe bound for this tiny planet.

The Lupus V-B is just a Lupus V with a larger, more powerful upper stage (The L-IVC, instead of the L-IVB) and uses a pair of large SRBs to lift the extra weight. Two of these were launched for the RAMSES probes that went to Vall and Tylo. This one is slightly different as it uses a nuclear engine (FtMN 40) on the RAMSES probe instead of the KW Vesta, and it uses the new, more powerful Kerbodyne upper stage engine. These two changes gives it nearly 2 km/s more delta-V, since aerobraking at Dres is impossible, and Dres' orbit is inclined. However, Dres doesn't require the even more powerful Lupus X rocket, which we saw when RAMSES was launched to Moho and Eeloo.

The L-II second stage is jettisoned, and we see the larger, but more efficient and more powerful Kerbodyne engine, which has generally replaced the KW Rocketry engine for large 3.75m upper stages.

The ejection burn for Dres takes place on the night side of Kerbin, of course. MASEC now has hardware at or headed to every known celestial body in the system. Now that that's taken care of...

Project Osiris: Phase 1 Departure

Mission Outline & Objectives

• Eject all five Project Osiris hardware assemblies on a course for Jool.
  

The crew of Phase 1 look back at Kerbin near the apoapsis of their temporary orbit.

The orbital periods varied between the different hardware assemblies, and Laythe Station's habitation module is the first to leave. These burns were nearly twice as long as the initial ones, some lasting in excess of five minutes, but the initial orbit boost helped a lot.

The lander departs next.

The sun rises over Kerbin's night side before Amphion finishes its ejection burn.

The crew vehicle has the longest burn times due to the fact it only has one engine, but the boys are Laythe-bound at last.

The service module is the last to leave. Once Phase 1 gets to Laythe, they won't have much spare fuel. Enough to fill Amphion and its tug once, so the first order of business once they get there is getting some kethane and making their own fuel.

A look at the solar system. You can see the very aggressive and fast transfers to Jool. The arrivals will be spaced out over a period of about 10 days or so. Also visible are the transfer orbits of the RAMSES probes headed to Eeloo and Dres.

We're on our way!

Edited July 13, 2014 by Cashen

[Scotius]

Good luck! Can't wait to see aerobrakings for every mission part. With such fast trajectories there will be a lot of fire in Jool's atmosphere

[FishInferno]

Aw yeah:cool:

[Cashen]

Osiris Development Mission 6: Laythe Kethane Production Rig

Phase 1 has departed on their 150-ish day journey to the Jool system. It's going to be a little while before they get there. In the meantime, preparations for Phase 2 are already underway. The recent advancements in precision landing from orbit have been encouraging in the field of dropping unmanned kethane production devices from orbit onto the surface of Laythe. This advancement in landing prediction based on trajectory is made possible due to a complete pressure and temperature profile of the atmosphere, which was recently accomplished on Laythe. However, landing from inclined orbits on targets away from the equator has never been attempted before. In the meantime, an unmanned drilling and refining platform has been put together, so for the next ODM we're going to try the most precise landing yet attempted

Mission Outline & Objectives

• Launch the Osiris Kethane Production and Conversion Module into a circular, polar orbit.
  
• Wait for Kerbin to rotate and bring the small island at 31 degrees South, 128 degrees East under the orbital track.
  
• Perform a precision landing on this island, and test all KPCM systems.
  

The small island in the red circle is the target landing site. There's a known kethane reservoir under it. In actuality, this reservoir extends to land both east and west, but there is at least one large kethane reservoir on Laythe that is only accessible from a small island like this. Therefore, this mission will serve as an ultimate test of precision de-orbiting. If MASEC can successfully drop the KPCM from orbit onto this island, then we're good to go with landing these things on Laythe.

This is the KPCM itself, on top of its launch vehicle. It's a miniature kethane drilling rig and refinery all in one relatively small package, with four small radial drills and a large converter. There are also small buffer tanks for raw kethane and finished fuel, four large solar arrays to provide power, and both active and passive fuel connect systems, to interface with both the Flying Fox (which uses a passive port) and the Horus Shuttle (which has an active retractable fuel line for refueling the Flying Fox). Below is the de-orbit maneuvering stage. There are eight radial parachutes and one large top-mounted one, underneath the docking port, which can be jettisoned to allow the chute to open.

Launch takes place atop a standard Latrans III booster.

Booster separation and jettison. Previous polar launches were sent north, but from this point forward all polar launches must turn south to avoid dropping parts over land. The choice of a polar orbit is done to allow any spot on the planetary surface to be targeted for landing eventually, given enough patience with Kerbin's rotation.

Here's a look at the KPCM in orbit, with its panels extended. It's using the light and efficient but low-thrust KW Rocketry SPS engine. This engine was originally intended for the original Aten CSM spacecraft, but lost out to the higher thrust NovaPunch Orbital Bertha. In this case, power isn't needed, fine control is. While in orbit, MASEC controllers on the ground familiarize themselves with quickly aligning the thrust vector of the craft four different ways: Forward, back, right and left. These four vectors will be used after de-orbit to fine tune the landing site on a precise spot. Forward and back will adjust the landing point north or south, and left and right will alter the inclination to adjust east and west. The landing computer takes Kerbin's rotation into account as well. The procedure is a de-orbit burn 180 degrees from the general target area, and then fine tuning in the upper atmosphere when 90 degrees from the target (where the inclination adjustments will have maximum effect). Once re-entry effects begin around 30 to 40km up, dynamic attitude control is lost and the landing point is committed.

De-orbit happens on the night side of Kerbin, and the KPCM enters the upper atmosphere over the north pole. In the northern hemisphere, the four-axis adjustments are made to bring the target point over the desired island, which can be shown here. Note how the target is offset from the orbital track, showing the computer compensating for Kerbin's rotation. The adjustments have gone well, and the long passage through the upper atmosphere leaves a lot of time for fine tuning.

Once re-entry starts, the KPCM can no longer alter its attitude from engine-first, so its committed to whatever landing coordinates were achieved. The target island can be seen ahead, and everything is looking good.

The docking port is ejected and the chutes open. The de-orbit stage falls away in the distance. We're right on target. The only issue is that the de-orbit stage seemed to get caught on something (either the landing legs, or simply aerodynamic forces) and didn't properly detach until chute opening. Something we'll have to look at later. Also, the large RCS tank is probably not needed either - originally MASEC had thought to use RCS for the forward/back/left/right translation during entry, but it was decided to just turn the whole vehicle and use the SPS engine instead, since attitude control is still possible in the upper atmosphere. So there will be some changes there, too.

The eight small landing legs extend. Part of the de-orbit stage actually survived crashing on the island (NovaPunch parts have far too high impact tolerances, and the fuel tank was NovaPunch. I may switch to a KW Rocketry tank because it's less likely to survive impact.)

Successful landing on target. The solar panels extent, the drills dig in and the converters fire up. Everything works as expected. The solar panels have enough power (at least at Kerbin) to run everything. The converter is faster than the four drills, so the kethane buffer tank is usually empty. Production is a little slow and the tanks are small, but this is meant to operate while connected to the craft being refueled, so it drills, converts and transfers all at the same time.

To quote Jim McDivitt when discussing the LM after Apollo 9, "Worked just as planned!"

Edited July 13, 2014 by Cashen

[Cashen]

Before we get started, here's something interesting in terms of orbital mechanics. Remember when all of those Project Isis probes arrived at Jool? Remember how the transfer stage of RAMSES Bop was lost in an inclined orbit that would carry it close to Vall and Laythe? Well, it's been perturbed a couple of times from its original orbit. The most recent one must have been a very close encounter, probably with Tylo, and the dead stage was thrown into a nearly perfectly polar orbit around Jool. The orbit was also enlarged, no longer coming close to Laythe or Vall. We didn't track the actual encounter that did this but we assume it was Tylo since, by orbital mechanics, the stage has to pass close to the point where it was encountered, and we know as well that it must have been perturbed once before this because the orbit it was left in did not approach Tylo.

A look inside UKS MASEC hardware development

Typically the inner workings of MASEC's R&D isn't shown. Development missions are, but a lot of planning, building and testing goes on behind the scenes. In this installment, we'll get a closer look at some behind the scenes development and testing of several new upcoming pieces of hardware. MASEC's Chief Engineer, Cashen Kerman:

"Well, for me personally, as an engineer, the development phase is my favourite phase of anything. Thinking of new ideas, designing, building, testing, making adjustments, until you have a vehicle or piece of hardware that you're happy with. Once the thing is ready and on a mission, it's kind of out of our hands, and we're committed to the hardware as it is. It's exciting to see things being used and working well, but nothing is quite as much fun as the development phase. One of my favourite projects was the Horus Shuttle, because that's something we had worked on for a long time, and to see it come together and work so well was really nice. The Fennec rover was another good one. The initial design worked great on Kerbin, and amazed us with how it drove on Mun. We had some issues on Minmus, and went back, made corrections, and now it works fine there too. The highlight was seeing one go to Duna where the kerbonauts drove very long distances with it."

"Anyway, today we're going to look at three new things we have on the drawing board. As you know, MASEC staff are divided up into distinct "Projects", depending on what we're doing. Isis is the longest running one, in charge of all our unmanned probes and such. That team's been together since the very beginning. Of course, the different project teams all talk to each other and ideas get shared across them. Isis was behind a lot of booster development, they were the first to use 2.5m boosters and engines, and then later, they started using the Lupus series rockets that were developed by Project Aten. Anyway, where I'm going with this is the first piece of hardware we're going to look at is something that's come out of the Project Anubis team. They're working on the next steps at Duna. That group is pretty small since most of the staff is working on Project Osiris right now. But they're working on a mobile surface base, and the Osiris people are watching it with close interest because they think it might be useful to them down the road, if they want surface bases on Vall and/or Tylo."

"Hey look! An eclipse! Just kidding, those happen every month. Anyway, this is what the mobile base looks like right now. It's big. It's meant to hold the standard six kerbonauts. It has a wide footprint, and a high cabin with a great view. Everything's solar powered. We recently came up with the idea of having it be able to carry a Fennec with it. The base itself probably can't go over crazy terrain, so the rover would be great for excursions away from the base."

"Here Bill and Jeb are driving the thing around KSC. The whole idea of a mobile base was not to be tied to a specific area on the surface. A planet like Duna, or moons like Mun, Vall or Tylo, have a lot of surface area to explore. This is why, so far, we've gone with NAMLARV and Fennec at the moons, because we can land whereever and explore whatever. But that's expensive in terms of energy and fuel. So this is a kind of compromise. It's a permanent base on the surface, large enough for kerbals to live in and do experiments and all of that great science stuff, but when the area they're in is no longer interesting, they can just drive somewhere else. This is what Project Anubis has in mind for Duna, so they could, for example, drive all the way up and visit the polar ice caps. The smaller Fennec just increases that flexibility further."

"We try to be really exhaustive in our testing. Every little thing that might not work properly. Even simple things. So here, Jeb is testing if he can get down to the ground from the base. Then he lowers Fennec and practises detaching, re-attaching, and winching it back up, before finally making sure he can get back inside."

"This cockpit was designed by B9 Aerospace for spacecraft, but we were so impressed with the layout and forward visibility that we've started experimenting with it in other applications, like here, and the next vehicle we'll have a look at."

"They drive away from KSC a ways to see how it handles slopes. Not nearly as well as Fennec, but it can do up to 15 degrees or so at a slow pace. In reality, it doesn't need to go everywhere, just somewhere in general. Then it can park, and the small rover can do the rest."

"The next vehicle is a prototype that's come out of Project Osiris. Most of Laythe is covered in water and we've been thinking of ways to explore that, and this is what we came up with. If this actually goes to Laythe or is just a starting point for something better, we don't know yet."

"Right now we call it the WaterStrider, because it kind of looks like one, and because, like its namesake, it rides on top of the water. It looks vaguely airplane-like, but it can't fly. It's a boat, essentially. Most of it is built by B9 Aerospace, but we brought in another company, Firespitter, who provided the big pontoons, powered wheels, and the two large turboprop engines. The wheels are powered and able to steer, so it can drive around pretty well on land."

"Of course, its designed to be on the water. Mac and Bob are taking it out for a spin here. The test showed the Strider can do 100 meters per second on water even with a full load of fuel. We also tested how it handled the engines turning off at full speed, since drag in the water is pretty high. It's so bouyant that it just glides easily. So then we tested throwing the engines into full reverse thrust at top speed, and it handled that just fine too. The pontoons are quite bouyant. The same B9 cabin is used here as well, for the great forward visibility. It has a pretty large fuel capacity too, 1840 liters. We wanted to give it enough fuel to have a decent range, since, as I said, the ocean on Laythe is huge. We haven't decided if we'll actually use this, or build on this to make an actual sea-plane, something that can land and move around on water, but also fly."

"Again, we test everything. Here Mac is seeing if he can get out and into the water, and safely back inside. The suits they wear are very buoyant as well, and will be needed since Laythe's oceans are very caustic and corrosive, so we don't want the guys getting wet."

"This is what Laythe Base will look like. It's gone through a lot of iterations but I think we've settled on a final design with this one. Easily houses six kerbals. The parts are very much the same we use on space stations. It has two independent air-locks for EVA, since Laythe's atmosphere isn't breathable. The three cupola modules provide great windows, the top one intended for atmospheric and astronomical observations. We want to be able to see Jool from wherever we set up the base, so that means only one half of Laythe is being looked at for a base location. Since Laythe is covered with small islands, exploring with the mobile base we saw earlier wouldn't work - it would be confined to whatever island it landed on. So we're going with a fixed base, and aircraft-based exploration instead."

"This is what we call the 'Parachute Drop Test'. Anything we plan to deliver by parachute without any kind of propulsion, we do this test, where we raise it up on clamps high enough for the chutes to fully open, and then drop it, and see what its terminal velocity is. In the case of the base, it was about 5.6 meters per second, which we think is acceptable."

"We did the same test on the Strider, without any fuel on board, and it managed just 4 meters per second, which is even better. Anyway, I hope you enjoyed the tour!"

Edited July 13, 2014 by Cashen

[Scotius]

Impressive You really put a lot of thoughts into your stuff. Personally, i liked WaterStrider the most - perfect for Laythe.

[Cashen]

MASEC Hires Four New Kerbals

The United Kerbin States' Ministry of Aviation, Space Exploration & Colonization is proud to announce four new Kerbals that have been added to the roster of active Kerbonauts. The list includes two new engineers, Matgard Kerman and Wilski Kerman, plus two new scientists: Chemist, Matt Kerman, and Oceanograper, Sigbrett Kerman. We wish them well on whatever endeavors they become assigned.

Osiris Phase 2 Team Announced

The Osiris Phase 2 team has been announced! Like Phase 1, it's a mixture of experienced guys and rookies. While Phase 1 is primarily going to be scouting and testing things, which is why half of the team are engineers, Phase 2 is the real science personnel, with just 1 engineer. Once Phase 2 arrives, the teams will be reorganized to balance their composition, with one team on the surface, responsible for Laythe exploration, and the other team in orbit at Laythe Station, supporting them and exploring the other moons.

Phase 2 Commander: Dunlie Kerman. This isn't much of a surprise. One of the original three engineers, along with Milke and Mac, Dunlie has been in command of Mun Station until now. With Mac having visited Duna and Milke already on his way to Laythe, it makes sense that Dunlie would be chosen for this role. Dunlie is best remembered as having performed the very first EVA in history on Geb IV, and was then the first Kerbal to set foot on Minmus during Aten VI.

Phase 2 Science Leader: Kennie Kerman. Kennie Kerman is one of the original three scientist kerbonauts and flew with Dunlie to Minmus during Aten VI. He is currently the Chief Scientist at Mun Station, working with Dunlie, and the two are being kept together for Phase 2 of the operations at Laythe.

Scientist: Luski Kerman. Luski is currently based at Minmus Station, part of its original commissioned crew. He's being chosen for his experience operating kethane recovery equipment and the Fennec rover.

The remaining three slots are filled with rookie kerbonauts.

Biologist: Dilden Kerman. Dilden was one of the four scientists hired before Project Anubis, but did not fly to Duna. Along with Thompler, the climatologist currently on his way to Laythe with Phase 1, Dilden is being selected to go to Laythe. We feel there is a strong possability of life existing on Laythe and feel having a biologist as part of the team would be an asset. Dilden is currently stationed on UKS Kerbin Station.

Chemist: Matt Kerman. The first chemist hired by MASEC. Laythe's atmosphere and oceans have a puzzling composition, and we feel like there is some unknown and complex chemistry which allows it to be stable. While it may be biologically driven, we want a dedicated chemist as part of the team to assist in explaining the processes that make Laythe the way it is.

Oceanographer: Sigbrett Kerman. This is a no-brainer. Laythe's oceans are fascinating, and while they surely share things in common with Kerbin's, they are also likely to be very different, owing to their different composition. Sigbrett will specialize in studying the oceans of Laythe.

Once Phase 2 arrives, the teams will be re-balanced, with 2 engineers and 4 scientists each, as follows:

[table=width: 50%, align: center]

[tr]

[td]Position[/td]

[td]Osiris Team "A"[/td]

[td]Osiris Team "B"[/td]

[/tr]

[tr]

[td]Team Commander[/td]

[td]Milke Kerman[/td]

[td]Dunlie Kerman[/td]

[/tr]

[tr]

[td]Chief Scientist[/td]

[td]Milgas Kerman[/td]

[td]Kennie Kerman[/td]

[/tr]

[tr]

[td]Chief Engineer[/td]

[td]Elmon Kerman[/td]

[td]Ellorf Kerman[/td]

[/tr]

[tr]

[td]Scientist 1[/td]

[td]Carson Kerman (Geology)[/td]

[td]Luski Kerman (General Science)[/td]

[/tr]

[tr]

[td]Scientist 2[/td]

[td]Dilden Kerman (Biology)[/td]

[td]Thompler Kerman (Climatology)[/td]

[/tr]

[tr]

[td]Scientist 3[/td]

[td]Matt Kerman (Chemistry)[/td]

[td]Sigbrett Kerman (Oceanography)[/td]

[/tr]

[/table]

Osiris Development Mission 7: UKS South Polar Base

Part 1: Hardware Placement

In preparation for placing a surface base on Laythe, it's been decided that MASEC will place a surface base, as a training facility, on Kerbin's south polar ice cap: UKS South Polar Base. The site isn't actually at the south pole, but on a peninsula in the polar ice cap where there is kethane available underneath it. This is the location we're looking at here:

A Kethane Production and Conversion module will also be placed nearby to support operations. This mission will be practice for placing the permanent base at a specific point on the surface, followed by landing the KPCM as close as possible. This will be the first time a precision landing has been attempted with a very specific target in mind. Once the hardware is set up, the base will be staffed by the Osiris Phase 2 kerbals, to prepare them for extended surface stays on Laythe. South Polar Base will become a permanent training facility on Kerbin, much like Kerbin Station is in orbit, and so its usefulness will extend beyond just project Osiris.

Mission Outline & Objectives

• Launch the Osiris Surface Base and land it safely at the desired South Polar Base location.
  
• Launch a KPCM module and land it as close to the base site as possible.
  

The base location is on the opposite side of the south polar ice cap from KSC. Since MASEC wants the landing to occur during the day, this means launch happens at night. This will be an entirely new kind of landing attempt, as well. Rather than achieving orbit, the base launch will be a suborbital flight that directly targets the landing location on a ballistic arc passing over the south pole. The base launcher for this mission is three stages: An L-IC, an L-IVB, and a tiny descent stage that will fine tune the landing location. The base is launched as one monolithic piece, with a large heat shield attached.

The L-IVB stage throws the base into a high arc with an apoapsis around 95 km, before jettison.

The blue marker shows the current estimated landing location. The red marker shows the landing target. The tiny descent stage will perform fine tuning to get the two markers lined up.

I'm using MechJeb for this, byt a) I don't trust MechJeb's landing autopilot, and I don't use any of MechJeb's autopilot functions on principle anyway. So, this landing used the Landing Guidance for showing the projected landing site and the estimated distance away from target, and I used Smart A.S.S. for the orbital forward/backward/left/right attitude control, but throttled the engine myself while in map view, to get the target lined up basically by hand.

THe L-IVB is jettisoned, and the KW Rocketry SPS engine fires to begin fine tuning the landing location.

Fine tuning is complete. It's not quite on the target marker, but it's on the target peninsula, which is good enough. The trajectory of the L-IVB stage is also visible, and it will crash into the ocean.

The base orients itself heat-shield first and begins re-entry over the south pole.

Once low enough, the descent stage and heat shield are jettisoned. The massive heat shield acts like a sail, and has significant drag, so it sails off behind the base. This behavior was not expected, and while it didn't damage the base as it flew past, it's something to keep in mind.

The chutes deploy and we're looking to be right on target on the desired peninsula. This location was chosen since MASEC wanted to be on a kethane reservoir, and this is about as south as you can get while still being on one. It is also far enough away from the south pole to still experience a somewhat normal day and night cycle. It's at approximately 79 degrees south.

Successful touchdown on the ice cap. UKS South Polar Base is ready for action.

Not long after, MASEC launches another KPCM. This one lacks any RCS or the upper docking port, since, unlike the ones that will go to Laythe, it won't have to dock to anything - the Laythe-bound modules will hitch a ride on one of the remaining nuclear tugs.

A similar ballistic flight is used here, and this time we're being very careful about the landing location. We're targeting the existing base, and want to be as close as physically possible. The estimated distance from target at this point is just 20 meters.

Coming in hot, but looking to be on target!

Chutes are out, and it's about as close to the base as one could reasonably ask for.

The KPCM lands about 25 meters from the base. An incredibly good precision landing. Once down, the solar panels deploy and the drills and converters come online, filling up the small fuel tank, and then the buffer kethane tank. Everything's operational and ready for a crew!

Edited July 13, 2014 by Cashen

[Cashen]

Osiris Development Mission 7: UKS South Polar Base

Part 2: Crew Arrival

In the last installment, we learned who will be sent to Laythe with Phase 2, and by the same token, who's headed to the newly installed South Polar Base. So now we have another round of crew shuffling to do. Replacing Dunlie and Kennie at Mun Station will be Mac Kerman and Wehrrigh Kerman, two Project Anubis veterans. Like Richbur at Minmus Station, this will be a temporary assignment, and Mac becomes the first Kerbal to command more than one station. It was originally thought to have Wildon be assigned as the Chief Scientist, but he deferred to Wehrrigh, since Wildon's already served a tour at Mun Station. Replacing Luski and Minmus Station will be geologist Losy Kerman, currently at Kerbin Station.

Mac and Wehrrigh will also get some SSTO experience as they fly the Shuttle up to Kerbin Station. Dunlie, Kennie, Luski and Dilden will then fly the Shuttle directly from there to the South Polar Base. Matt and Sigbrett, two scientists who have underdone extensive pilot training, will fly a Flying Fox to the base to join them, and give the team something to explore with.

The recent flurry of test missions prior to and during Phase 1's departure has depleted Kerbin Station of fuel, even with the 120,000 liters that one of the test flights brought, so Richbur and Jonbart will do a kethane run down to Minmus. This means Luski can assist transporting the kethane to Kerbin, in addition to his flight there.

Mission Outline & Objectives

• Richbur and Jonbart will perform a kethane production mission on Minmus.
  
• Bartvin and Luski will transport the kethane to Kerbin Station.
  
• Luski will be dropped off and Losy picked up for the return to Minmus Station.
  
• Dunlie and Kennie Kerman will depart Mun Station.
  
• Mac and Wehrrigh Kerman will take off in a Horus Shuttle bound for Kerbin Station.
  
• Mac and Wehrrigh will then head to Mun Station.
  
• Dunlie, Kennie, Luski and Dilden Kerman will board the Shuttle and depart for UKS South Polar Base.
  
• Matt and Sigbret Kerman will take off in a Flying Fox from KSC and join the others at South Polar Base.
  

MASEC's staff of kerbonauts is quite large, so it can be difficult to really get to know some of them. But there are certain guys that are experienced and well known, and Richbur and Jonbart are two of those. They are quickly becoming the most experience kerbals in the entire roster, and soon they'll be able to add kethane extraction equipment to their list of experience.

This is the first landing on Minmus for both of them. This will be Richbur's fourth celestial body landed on, after Mun, Duna and Ike, which ties him with Wildon Kerman for the most celestial bodies walked on. Jonbart didn't walk on Duna, so this is his third. There are no longer any equatorial kethane reservoirs large enough to fill Amphion: One 90,000 liter one, and one 50,000 liter one. The original Amphion holds 96,000 liters, so they're targeting a very large reservoir just south of the equator.

Richbur: Nice and perfectly flat. I hear these salt lakes are really smooth.

Jonbart: I've always wanted to visit Minmus. The color and the topography always seem so... strange.

Richbur: Well, we'll get out and walk around a little, though eventually we'll have to actually drive around some, too.

Richbur: Looks like a big green skating rink out there.

Jonbart: Okay, drills have reached the reservoir and we're pumping. Tanks are filling slowly.

It takes several hours to fill the tanks, and the pair pass the time with idle chatter as they watch the instruments.

Once the work is done, they get out and walk around a little. Since they're on one of the great flats, there's not much to see. But, in the sky they have a spectacular view of Kerbin and Mun near the horizon.

Richbur: Damn, we're a lot heavier now, for sure!

Their mission successful, they re-dock and pump the kethane across to the Zethus vehicle, ready for transport to Kerbin. Bartvin will fly with Luski riding along as a passenger, since he also needs to be delivered to Kerbin Station for his new assignment.

While that's going on, Dunlie and Kennie Kerman board Mun Station's Crew Operations Vehicle and depart for Kerbin Station as well.

Wehrrigh: Excited?

Mac: Yeah I guess. I was impressed when I heard about this thing, and then got to ride it, so, it'll be fun to get a chance to fly it myself.

Wehrrigh: Oh, I meant about going to Mun.

Mac: Oh! Well, I'm sure I'll make the most of it. It's a temporary thing. I was kind of hoping to get posted to Minmus for a short while since I've never been there before.

Wehrrigh: You want to go to Jool eventually?

Mac: Haven't decided yet. It sounds really interesting, but I'm not totally sure about exploration missions with not set return date, you know?

Dunlie and Kennie arrive from Mun around the time Mac and Wehrrigh arrive, and after a quick meeting, the two crews swap places.

Mac and Wehrrigh arrive at Mun Station to take on their new roles.

A couple of days later, Luski and Bartvin arrive. Luski gets out and EVAs into Kerbin Station, ready for his assignment near the south pole. Losy Kerman, who had been based on the station, joins Bartvin as Luski's replacement.

The kethane is delivered and most of it processed into fuel. It's enough to fill the big spherical fuel tank with about 30,000 liters left over in the big kethane storage tank. Bartin and Losy depart to return to Minmus.

If you remember, when testing the kethane recovery equipment designed for Project Osiris, we achieved about 77% efficency in terms of fuel consumed versus kethane returned to Kerbin. A similar analysis was done with this run to produce similar numbers. In total, Amphion and Zethus consumed 2,563 liters of fuel (and the appropriate amount of oxidizer to go with it), plus 116 liters of monopropellant. This is equivelent to 14,404 liters of kethane. This gives an impressive efficiency of 85%, indicating that the two vehicle approach with an intermediate station is significantly better than the one vehicle approach.

Finally, with four of the six Phase 2 kerbals together, they undock from Kerbin Station. Dunlie is flying with Kennie as co-pilot, and the other two are back in the passenger cabin. They've taken on fuel at the station and will fly directly to the South Polar Base.

They de-orbit and burn off any remaining oxidizer to bend their inclination southwards, and arrive at about 10 degrees south latitude, targeting the same longitude as the base (100 degrees east). They re-enter and dip down into the lower atmosphere so Dunlie can turn 90 degrees to the right to head due south, before climbing back up into the high atmosphere agian to continue the cruise.

They approach the base directly from the north on the opposite side of Kerbin from KSC. This will also be the first non-runway landing for the Shuttle.

Dunlie: Okay everyone, we're down through the clouds and I can see the base from here. We'll be down on the surface very shortly.

This Shuttle will remain parked here as long as the crew is here, as a means of evacuating the base should that become necessary.

Meanwhile, it's the middle of the night at KSC, but Matt and Sigbrett are awake, and taking off in a Flying Fox. Liquid fuel only, no oxidizer or monopropellant, they're going to fly more than a quarter of the way around Kerbin to each the South Polar Base and be introduced to their new co-workers.

Since they're coming from KSC, they have to fly right over the south pole and most of the ice cap to reach the base.

Once parked, they get out and enter the base. UKS South Polar Base is up and running! Now these guys will get some experience living in a base in the middle of a hostile environment, as a traning excercise for Laythe.

Richbur Kerman:

Jonbart Kerman:

Bartvin Kerman:

Losy Kerman:

Mac Kerman:

Wehrrigh Kerman:

Dunlie Kerman:

Kennie Kerman:

Matt Kerman:

Sigbrett Kerman:

Luski Kerman:

Dilden Kerman:

Edited July 13, 2014 by Cashen

[Cashen]

Isis 22 & 23: RAMSES Eve & Gilly

Things have been quiet at MASEC ever since Phase 1 departed and the South Polar Base got set up. The recent flurry of activity has been expensive, and so things have slowed down a little to recouperate funds. However, there is one mission taking place while we wait for Phase 1 to get to Laythe. MASEC is going to send RAMSES probes to map Eve, as well as map and do a kethane survey of Gilly. Recall the last orbital probe sent to Gilly failed to reach it.

Isis 22, RAMSES Eve, launches atop a Lupis IB launch vehicle. Eve is a fairly easy target and requires a smaller launch vehicle.

This time we're using the regular 3.75m fairings instead of the expanded ones. RAMSES fits inside it just fine. Here the L-IB stage burns out and the L-IVB continues up to orbit.

The L-IVB completes the orbit insertion, and RAMSES internal propulsion will eject it to Eve.

Not long after, the ejection to Eve takes place.

MASEC learned its lesson from the failure at Gilly before, and a larger Lupus V is used to launch RAMSES Gilly.

The L-IC burns out and the L-II will complete the orbit from here. In this case, the L-IVB will perform the ejection to give RAMSES Gilly more delta-V for arrival at Eve.

Second staging, with a fully fueled L-IVB ready to go.

And finally, RAMSES Gilly makes it escape burn as well.

As previously mentioned, things are a little slow at MASEC at the moment, and nothing much of note happens while the probes coast to Eve. So, we'll skip ahead to their arrival.

RAMSES Eve arrives first and aerobrakes to bring its apoapsis down to 490 km, before it circularizes and begins mapping the purple planet though its dense cover of clouds.

The radar mapping isn't bothered by clouds, and we get a good look at the entire surface of Eve for the first time. Eve is mostly flat, with gently rolling, eroded plains, but there are several areas of dramatic highlands and at least one large impact crater. The liquid on the surface appears to be spread out in several large, isolated bodies.

RAMSES Gilly aerobrakes quite high, at 76km, and makes two passes through the atmosphere with a plane change between them to match Gilly's orbit.

The L-IVB burns to get a good Gilly intercept, with plenty of fuel to spare.

The stage is ejected while on an impact course with Gilly to ensure destruction. The probe will circularize at 40km and begin scanning.

Gilly's rotation combined with the extremely slow orbital velocities produces this strange pattern in the kethane scan. Regardless, even a tiny body like Gilly has kethane.

We also get a complete map of Gilly's irregular surface, though it is remarkably smooth for the most part.

[Cashen]

As the thread passes 50,000 views, I just want to say thanks for the support and I look forward to more exciting adventures for my brave band of Kerbals.

I'm on a short break for my graduation ceremony. We'll be back in business in a couple of days, and hopefully at Laythe fairly soon!