Aeroz reporting for duty

[aeroz]

I heard about this game a few years ago and, being an aerospace nerd, immediately checked it out. It wasn't until recently, however, that I learned about the other aspects to the game, like mods and this forum.

So here I am writing this post; Aeroz reporting for duty from KSC, ready to explore the world and stars.

Here's to many more hours of KSP fun.

[Capt'n Skunky]

Happy Launching!

Arrr!

Capt'n Skunky

KSP Community Manager

[aeroz]

Having just discovered that they too can fly, Jebediah and Bill make an effort to conquer the skies as well. After several near deaths in their attempts at landing, a successful biplane design was created. Reaching a top speed of about 80 m/s and a service altitude of 4500 meters, the Steerman II was born.

I love having FAR. It makes the entire flight system more realistic by far. The controls behave as they should, don't apply lift exclusively, and make it so you take off at a more reasonable speed (without, this same design was taking off 14 m/s - not realistic at all).

I did notice that it was doing something screwy with when it was conducting analysis though. Propellers don't apply lift up, they apply it forward. For whatever reason, it was creating a moment counter to that provided by my elevators making the aircraft appear unstable (i.e. applying the lift up). At worst, it should be providing a side force counter to the direction of rotation. Also the drag was through the roof at low angles of attack, probably also due to something with the prop. However, it appears that this problem is more aesthetic than truly present because the plane flies just fine, being (according to FAR) just barely stable [Cm-alpha negative]. It would be interesting to see if anyone else experiences this with the parts from the Firespitter mod and FAR.

Firespitter: http://kerbalspaceprogram.com/firespitter-propeller-plane-parts/

FAR: http://kerbalspaceprogram.com/ferram-aerospace-research/

[aeroz]

Under cover of darkness, the Kerbins have decided to launch their first attempt of a liquid fueled rocket. "We mastered solid rockets days ago," Jeb said in a press release. "We feel confident that we'll experience this same success with our latest rocket design." He also added, " Plus, this one will be controlled. What could possibly go wrong?"

Jeb and his crew set up position for the launch about 170 meters from the pad, having no concept for the phrase 'safe distance'. Overall the launch was successful, impacting over water near the desired point.

[aeroz]

With the discovery of the jet engine, or "Fire-shooter-thingy" as Bill calls it, the boys designed a long-range cargo plane.

"This thing handles like a dream," Bob Kerman was heard saying. They were even able to land it successfully on the first try. Other feats included accurately dropping their cargo and not losing any parts. All-in-all the program for Aeronautics is proceeding nicely. Better than expected in most cases.

[aeroz]

After completing multiple terrestrial flights, delivering a payload, making safe landings, and even performing some aerobatics safely, the KSC crew took a serious look at how to put something into an orbit. They'd been able to successfully launch rockets before, and make them reenter to impact their correct target areas. But actually achieving orbit? The didn't know how to. So they took their previously designed Status I rocket and put some boosters on it. Thus the Olympus II was born.

Bill, the main designer on this project asks, "How could this not work?"

They shoot for an early morning launch of their Stayputnik system, a metal-coated ball that they found in a dumpster with attached antennae. Though it's held together with tape, Samski - the lead spacecraft developer - thinks it should hold up just fine. The goal is a low-altitude, low-inclination, nearly circular orbit.

It appears that their programming paid off, and the spacecraft even functions.

[Vanamonde]

You've been busy.

[aeroz]

Realizing that they needed to be able to communicate with one another if they ever took a long-range trip beyond the horizon, the KSC team decided they should develop some method for communications. Seeing the success of their recent Stayputnik system, the decided to modify its launch vehicle to lift more and fly further. The newly designed COMSTAR satellite features an internal stability and control system, communication relay parabolic antenna, and several communication feed antennae.

The COMSTAR lead, Anmy, has indicated that the architecture should enable 65 to 85 percent coverage of Kerbin for communication coverage at any given time. When questioned about the discrepancy he declined to comment.

COMSTAR I achieving on-orbit stability

The constellation will consist of 5 planes inclined at 65 degrees and a polar plane for high latitude coverage.

The launch team has projected that their next mission should be to map their planet. While it would be possible to do with ships and aircraft, this will likely involve another multi-satellite effort possibly named TopoSat,a name recently dropped by Hancas, the self-proclaimed Mission Director of Kerbin Studies.

[aeroz]

As Andun and Macke took to the skies for a nice exploration trip out to the islands off the coast, they were discussing if attempts had been made to leave their little planet before. What technologies had existed? Was it possible for Kerbalkind to fly among the stars? What about to those far off bodies in the heavens, ever revolving about their local star? They'd noticed before departing that there appeared to be some kind of structure on the horizon, jutting upward like a tower, and thought perhaps that it was an old ruin of a time long past.

When they got closer, however, they found that it was a forgotten airstrip whose buildings hadn't been used for quite some time. Andun decided to be the adventurous one and explore, while Macke stayed in touch with him via radio and to their own tower, just in case anything went wrong. It turns out, that there had been previous attempts at exploration! Andun had discovered old parts tucked away in a corner of a hangar.

As the night began to fall, they realized that their home may have more secrets waiting for them than they realized. All the more reason for them to hurry their communications relay and mapping systems along.

[aeroz]

"Stayputnik has completed its assignment." Jebediah said as the satellite's destruct command was sent, "We know now that it is possible to safely orbit this world, and from Andun and Macke's discovery that it has been done before. It is now our goal to put a Kerbal in space and then beyond."

With their COMSTAR constellation completed and stable communications in place, the KSC team can begin their push for a mapping constellation. Despite setbacks due to the necessary addition of one low inclination COMSTAR satellite enabling complete coverage of Kerbin, the project was completed on time.

Hancas has declared that this new group of 4 satellites will share a similar bus design to COMSTAR, with some small modifications. "Ideally," he stated this morning, "the satellite's payload will be the only real change we will have to make since the development cost for this payload were quite... *ahem* ... extensive," looking over at Bill who was originally assigned to the development team, but later dismissed for "design specification reasons."

The satellites will be evenly spaced around the equatorial plane having slightly retrograde motion, ensuring the complete mapping of this little blue planet. They will also be placed at a higher altitude than any previously injected satellite. Each will carry a high-power radar mapping dish, sufficient internal power, and several solar arrays. The launch vehicle was also slightly modified to provide enough fuel to get to their designed 350km orbit altitude and de-orbit into a remote area of presumably water, though nothing further was said in the KSC release.

ISA MapSat 4 (Dev build): http://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/entry.php/414-0-20-Dev-build-of-Mapsat-4-available-and-blog-update

[aeroz]

Never having been a position to feel weightlessness, the KSC Engineers devised a way to allow the Kerbinauts to get some minimal training in a zero-G environment. It involved unscrewing the main cargo-bay of their Skyway-I cargo plane and taping it back together - upside down. While the idea worked in theory, in practice, things tended not to end well.

Eventually it was suggested that they simply design an aircraft with a vertically facing cargo bay, enabling Kerbals to safely enter from above using a ladder. This was generally decided to be a good idea. The thought was to take the plane up high then dive toward the ground matching gravity's acceleration. Chairs were installed for ease of use during the "pull-up" phases of flight.

It took some getting used to, but the Kerbinauts were well on their way to zero-g acclimation, though their ship required routine cleaning. It was affectionately given the name "Ker-mess Comet" for obvious reasons.

[aeroz]

"After hours and hours of flight training it's come to this: we are finally ready to send a Kerbinaut into space," Jeb told the press yesterday, "Tomrie will be our first attempt at spaceflight." Tomrie was absentmindedly staring off into the sunlight with his mouth gaping open, a blank expression on his face. "While he's never been the bravest of us, we all know if he can do it, well so can that rock over there."

They'd designed the rocket, the Kaspero I, to support a single Kerbal going into orbit. The craft features 3 smaller main engines, a second stage to finish the boost to orbit, followed by a crew module. Each stage was to be jettisoned and de-orbited as it went using 3 'Sepratron' rockets. These rockets would also be used to slow the crew module to de-orbit.

"Our first mission," Bob declared, "is to determine if we can even survive. So we're going to send Tomrie up for a bit, then reenter him. Hopefully, everything will work out fine. We've never reentered like this before, so here's hoping for a successful mission. Tomrie, you're going to need to keep the Kaspero around *cough* degrees during reentry... we think. Good luck to you." Tomrie kept trying to eat the grass.

With Tormie safely back home, the true flight testing could commence. There would be several key checkpoints for the program:

1. Achieve a stable orbit and reenter

2. Make several orbits and reenter

3. Conduct minor orbital attitude changes to determine stable and non-stable configurations.

For these missions, the KSC engineers determined they would need more courageous and comprehensible pilots. Each of these missions would be flown by hand and might require quick thinking to get out of a bind.

[aeroz]

Despite their willingness to press on and go for a full orbit, the KSC health team decided that it would be better to test another Kerbinaut along a suborbital flight. Jening Kerman willingly stepped up for the job. "This is why I joined this team," he said, "to help make history for all Kerbals."

His flight would go higher than originally planned for the orbits, giving him nearly the same time in space as going to a full orbit would. The doctors were most pleased to hear this, since they really would like to continue testing of the Kerbinauts. "Those kermology nuts," Hancas complained, "always want the all the time in the world to discover every little thing. We need to be out there! That's where the excitement is."

The launch went off without even the tiniest of snags. All stages separated as planned; the craft handled just as it should. Though reentry wasn't spot on, "it's nice to know we can crash land if we need to. That's probably my greatest discovery on this voyage," Jenning supplied with a laugh, "though I image water is much nicer."

Jenning is scheduled for another flight, next time for a full orbit. He is also the first of his kind to see the night sky from space, without any atmosphere in the way. "It was incredible," he said, awestruck, "I can't wait to gaze out there again."

[Warriorbulb99]

Very nice! I'm also a noob (but not as good as you). Currently I'm trying to land a tiny kethane miner on the Mün.

[cantorobriar]

Welcome to the forums! I like your "expeditions" you've posted here. I recommend that you post them in the KSP FanWorks, because they belong there. Otherwise, nice job. You'll be on your way to *cough* crashing into *cough* Jool * cough*, err, I said, landing on Eeloo!

[aeroz]

@ cantorobriar: you're right, i probably should have put it there. I was trying to get a solid start on it before i put it someplace else. The goal was to get my first Kerbal into orbit then figure out where to move it.

@ Wariorbulb99: i've been playing this game for years, just now getting into the forums and mods. i also have a lot of experience with in-air and spaceflight. so to say that i'm better than you is most decidedly untrue. honestly, i just wanted to develop a story. for me its just as much the creative process as it is a game. this game is a good way for me to get my younger cousins interested in space and science; writing something cartoon-ish but "scientifically" valid, was the easiest way to do that.

I suppose I'll end with this, probably my favorite quote from portal 2: "Science isn't about 'why?' it's about 'why not?'" well that's the first part anyway. I've moved this storyboard to a new thread if anyone's interested in watching their missions and program progress.

http://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/showthread.php/48841-The-progression-of-the-Zeta-Aerospace-Initiative