The Voyages of the Intrepid- Part 5: Landing on Bop and [Classified]

[jfull]

These are the voyages of the KTS Intrepid...

This is a multi-part mission report/story centered around The Intrepid, an interplanetary science vessel I built in late career mode. Basically, it'll be an account of my actual missions, embellished with some extra story.

Mods you'll see: Near Future Propulsion Pack, B9 Aerospace*, KAS, Procedural Fairings, KSPX, Sum Dum Service Module, Realchute, Porkjet's Habs, Porkjet's propulsion*, Docking Port Alignment Indicator, PreciseNode, and maybe a few surprises.

*many parts removed for performance or anti-clutter reasons

Crew Profiles:

Jebediah Kerman-Mission Commander

Badass, experienced, you all know him

Bob Kerman- Chief scientist, second in command

Nervous, but with genuine curiosity about the final frontier

Lofal Kerman- Pilot

Badass, somewhat of a risk-taker

Hans Kerman- Technician, Plasma propulsion expert

Helped design the engines, talks a little funny

Billy-Bobbin "BB" Kerman- Technician, Chef, Morale Officer

Funny guy, gets along well with others

Wilwise Kerman- Dr. Doctor Md. Phd.

Oldest of the crew, but little experience in space

Jonnie Kerman- Lab assistant, Mystery Goo Wrangler

Fresh out of Kerbal-University, had an internship on Minmus

Intrepid Details and Layout

Part 1: Arrival

---

We open with the Atlas crew shuttle ready for launch, with all 7 crew plus Bill, who'll be piloting the shuttle back to Kerbin

Mission Control: "All Systems go. Launch in 5... 4... 3... 2... 1... ignition!"

After circularizing, Jeb and Bill set up the shuttle's intercept to the Intrepid, the newly constructed ship that will carry Kerbals beyond the inner planets of their system for the first time.

Bill: "You know Jeb, after all the launches I've been on, I think I've finally gotten used to it"

Jeb: "Gotten used to what?"

Bill: "You know... I think I've got a handle on the freaking out thing"

Jeb: "...I have no idea what you're talking about"

Bill: (laughing) "nevermind then."

"Hey... I just want to say-"

He gets cut off by a tone from the proximity detector

Jeb: "Sounds like we're here. Burning to match orbit with the Intrepid..."

The crew feels a brief rush of acceleration as the the shuttle's engines fire.

Jeb: "Oh wow, I can see it!"

Jeb and Bill deftly maneuver the shuttle into position for docking.

The docking clamps lock with a firm "Ka-Chunk"

Jeb: "I've got a green light on the seal, we're go for boarding"

Behind them, the crew start to leave their seats and head for the airlock

Bill: "It really is a beautiful ship... you're probably the luckiest Kerbal alive, you know that?

Jeb: "Yeah, but you could have gotten on the crew too if you had applied"

Bill: "Ike and back was enough of an adventure for me, besides, the KSC needs someone with seniority here on Kerbin. There's a lot of big things happening lately, big innovations, I heard they're going to build a new space station soon.

Jofal (over the com): "Hey Jeb, I'm in the cupola now, you've gotta get up here, the view is awesome!"

Jeb: "Copy that, on my way over now"

He unbuckles himself, floating out of his seat.

"So long Bill, see you in a few months"

Bill: "Jeb, wait!"

Jeb stops and turns back, and Bill goes quiet for a bit.

Bill: "I just want to say.. good luck... and be careful... and also that I'll miss you"

Jeb: "Bill, we won't be gone long, this is just the shakedown mission to Gilly and back, nothings going to go wrong either"

Bill: "I know that... but still"

Jeb just smiles

Jeb: "g'bye Bill"

Bill: "bye Jeb"

Jeb floats to the back of the shuttle and into the airlock.

Jeb: "alright, we're all aboard, you're clear to disengage"

Bill: "Copy that"

Bill (to himself): "Bye Jeb..."

---

Next update: The Intrepid and its crew depart to Gilly for the ship's trial run

Please give feedback on anything you think I ought to be doing differently!

Edited March 7, 2014 by jfull
Part 5 posted

[jfull]

Just a note, this introduction has more going on story-wise than later parts might. I'm still trying to figure out a good balance between telling stories about the crew and just showing off the missions.

[jfull]

I've decided to change my style from now on. The way I wrote the first part just kinda tells a story, rather than actually talking about how I'm flying the mission. Admittedly, that's probably at least as interesting (if not more) as the story I'm coming up with along the way. Also, I'll try to tell story in a less clunky way.

I appologize in advance if I switch between the Kerbal's point of view and my own without warning.

Part 2: First Flight

---

After departing from the Intrepid, Bill flew the Atlas Shuttle back down to KSC without incident.

I only recently mastered landing on the runway like this and I'm still pretty darn proud of myself every time I touch down. I might not use aircraft all that often, but I enjoy these unpowered glides down to KSC enough that lately I've been using shuttles for every crew transfer I make.

Meanwhile in orbit, the crew has been prepping the Intrepid for departure, unpacking their supplies and equipment, and assembling the furniture in the inflatable rings. Billy-Bobbin and Hans go on EVA to install struts between the forward and aft sections of the ship.

There we are! Nice and sturdy.

Once they were safely inside, Jeb gave Lofal the go-ahead to begin the first stages of bringing the reactors online, starting with extending the radiators.

Lofal: "Locking S-foils in attack position"

Jeb: "Huh?"

Lofal: "It’s from that one movie... nevermind"

The next order of business was to bring the VASIMRs online and raise the Intrepid's orbit to 500km. It occurred to me that I hadn't seen the new engine effects that Nertea had added in a recent update to Near Future, so I was curious to see- OH... OH WOW!

Now thats impressive

With the habitat centrifuges now spinning, Jeb decided to break out the coffee and Snacks™ (it’s what the astronauts eat!) while they wait a few more days for the optimum transfer to Eve.

When the window finally did arrive, the ejection burn had to be split up into 2 parts. That is to say, they made one burn to raise the apoapsis significantly, then had to wait until their next pass around Kerbin to make he rest of he ejection burn.

It took a bit of fiddling to figure out how get the proper trajectory to eve this way. Its certainly not ideal, but its necessary when working with these low-thust, high efficiency engines.

The crew wave goodbye as they speed away from Kerbin. The transfer to eve will only take them about 40 days, much much shorter than their eventual trip to Jool will.

After about a week, they make their plane-change burn, putting them on the proper trajectory to intercept Eve.

Looking good, just a few more weeks to go.

[Theory Time]

For any interplanetary transfer, Kerbals tap into a unique adaptation left over from their small, ground dwelling ancestors. They have a limited ability to hibernate, allowing them to sleep for days at a time (sometimes confused with laziness), reducing their life support and living space requirements. Normally this would only be possible under specific circumstances and carries some risks, but Kerbal science has identified the chemical triggers for inducing and ending the hibernation state. Now, the crew take shifts sleeping away their voyage, with at least 3 Kerbals awake at any time.

This hibernation ability, combined with the short limbs of Kerbals, has lead some fringe scientists to speculate that Kerbalkind evolved for space travel, and traveled to Kerbin from somewhere else. The mainstream scientists disagree, stating that the fossil record makes it quite clear that Kerbals evolved on Kerbin. These adaptations were evolved for other, terrestrial reasons, and it is only a happy coincidence that they also lend themselves to space travel.

[This is, of course, just my own theory and ramblings]

Shortly before arriving at Eve, Bob goes on EVA to check the instruments on the "Scientific Mast" section of the ship.

Bob: "As always, the radiation has caused some fascinating reactions to the materials samples, and the goo is behaving as predicted. Jonnie, I have the results, is the equipment ready to reset the experiments?"

Jonnie: "Its ready, but the Goo doesn't seem to like it..."

Bob: "What are you talking about? its just Goo"

Jonnie: "I know, I know, it just seems to quiver and jiggle in a weird way right before i send it through the re-processor"

Bob: "Goo always jiggles, thats just what it does. Be ready to meet me at the airlock, okay?"

Jonnie: "Sorry, I guess I'm just letting my imagination get away from me"

It wasn't long after that they neared Eve. Everyone tried to cram in behind Lofal in the cupola so they could get a look at the majestic yet eerie purple planet.

As the neared periapsis, the reactors were brought up to full power for the breaking burn, setting them into a high orbit around Eve.

Intercepting Gilly would be tricky, I had no clear idea where I should try to intercept it, or whether I should wait a few orbits for an obvious opportunity to open up. In the end, I chose a trajectory that probably didn't make much sense, nor was very efficient, but certainly worked.

The crew took a moment to marvel at Gilly's lumpiness.

After performing the braking burn and putting the Intrepid into a equatorial orbit, they were ready to begin the exploration of Gilly!

---

Part 3 will be coming soon

Edited March 7, 2014 by jfull

[jfull]

I took a bit of a break from the Intrepid's voyage, as I have been playing other games and tinkering with other things in KSP lately, but now I'm back at it. I'll try to keep updating at least once a week.

Also, resizing the images has been getting tedious, so I'm going to stop doing that.

Part 3: Exploring Gilly

---

In orbit of Gilly, the crew open up the payload bay to deploy the landers.

First to the surface of Gilly will be technician Billy-Bobbin, who has the most experience with these lander systems

At this point you're probably wondering why I'm using landers that are completely overpowered for Gilly. Thats because they were designed for use on Bop and Pol when the Intrepid heads to Jool, but I'm using them now on the shakedown mission.

Billy-Bobbin slowly makes his descent onto the tiny asteroid, too slowly in fact, so he actually has to burn straight down to get there sooner.

Eventually he found a flat spot on Gilly's lumpy terrain, and set down.

BB: "Wow guys... this is incredible... I'm stepping out now... well, floating really... Weeee!"

He also has the honor of planting the flag

Meanwhile, back in orbit, Bob boards the other lander and heads down as well.

In short order, he's down on the surface as well, ready to start doing some Science.

After collecting readings and surface samples at the initial landing site, BB and Bob split up to survey more of the surface. BB heads west toward what might be an some sort of fault-line, while Bob flies his lander toward Gilly's north pole.

Investigating Gilly's Pole:

Bob set down near the pole, which appeared to be almost pyramid-shaped, and flew toward it with his thruster pack.

Everything seemed fine until he got close to the peak, at which point he started to experience a strange rotation he couldn't account for. It was as if some kind of phantom force was spinning him.

Bob: "What's happening... I feel kinda dizzy... I'm losing control!"

The strange phenomenon caused him to graze Gilly's surface and start to drift away!

Jeb: "Bob, Bob come in... are you alright?"

The com is silent for an uncomfortable few seconds

Bob: "I'm fine, I'm not sure what just happened but I'm alright... standby"

"Hold on, I think I know what happened... Being this close to Gilly's pole must have confused my suit's orientation gyros. I think I can compensate now."

After that, he had no problems reaching the pole.

BB didn't find anything unusual at his second landing site, so after a few hours on the surface, Jeb gave them both the go-ahead to return to the Intrepid.

The crew stored the experiment results from Gilly's surface, and got everything prepped for departure from Gilly.

Hans: "Vell Bob, how vas it down zere on Gilly?"

Bob: "Just about how you'd expect a tiny dry rock to be, who knows though, maybe analysis of the samples will reveal something unexpected"

Before they left for home, they had one more mission objective to complete: a low swing-by of Eve to collect data from orbit.

Wilwise: "I wonder if Kerbalkind will ever set foot down there..."

BB: "Maybe, but only if they don't mind a one way trip"

Wilwise: "Maybe, though you never know what kind of innovation might be around the corner. I remember when they used to say that Kerbals wouldn't even be able to survive space travel, and just look at us now!"

After the swing-by, they circularized the Intrepid's orbit and waited for the transfer window to head back home.

Then they powered up the drives again and set their course for Kerbin

As they sleep away their long return flight, the crew dreams of home.

---

Next time: The crew returns to Kerbin for some much-needed time off, and preparations are made for the Intrepid's flight to Bop and Pol.

Edited February 14, 2014 by jfull

[jfull]

I have to wonder if I'm making this too long and boring, or maybe the mission just isn't interesting...

Of course... its entirely possible that people like this series but just don't have anything to say, but I have no way of knowing.

Anyone have any feedback on what I could do differently?

Edited February 15, 2014 by jfull

[Geschosskopf]

Looks quite good to me. Love the VASIMR engines, too . It's jus that nobody much reads this part of the forum.

[technion]

Looks quite good to me. Love the VASIMR engines, too . It's jus that nobody much reads this part of the forum.

I think it's more that plenty of people read but don't want to be the one to write a reply just to say "good mission".

[jfull]

Looks quite good to me. Love the VASIMR engines, too . It's jus that nobody much reads this part of the forum.

I had considered posting this in the fan-works section as writing, but a moderator recommended I post it here.

I think it's more that plenty of people read but don't want to be the one to write a reply just to say "good mission".

I figured as much.

Anyway, part 4 shouldn't take very long now, as I have just finished testing a new... uhm, well, I won't spoil it.

Lets just say Bill will be flying something shiny and new when he comes to pick up the crew.

[jfull]

Well, I've hit a bit of a snag with Part 4

I've spent a lot of time developing the Falcon SSTO that Bill would be piloting to bring the crew home, and its been working rather well.

However, when the Intrepid returned to Kerbin orbit, I failed to realize that I had placed it into a retrograde orbit, and now its too late to fix that.

The Falcon simply cannot reach orbit if it tries to launch retrograde to rendezvous with the Intrepid.

The old Atlas Shuttle, however, will be able to reach them.

I suppose its not a major setback, but it certainly ruins my chance to show off a craft design I'm proud of.

[sevlarievlis]

Hey, it's not boring! It's not boring at all!!! I really like the storytelling look you put on this mission!

[jfull]

Part 4: Homecoming

---

The Complication:

Aboard the Intrepid, the crew were both excited and restless. After over 330 days in space, they were nearly home, with Kerbin, the Mun, and Minmus all visible from the cupola.

As they swung close to Kerbin, they fired up the thrusters to brake into orbit.

It wasn't until after the braking and circularization was complete that I realized that I'd made a pretty big mistake. I'd put the Intrepid into a retrograde orbit. This of course meant that it was orbiting around in the opposite direction that Kerbin was rotating. The Intrepid was in a pretty low orbit now, and it simply would not be possible to reverse its orbital dirrection. Originally, my plan was for the crew to return in a state-of-the-art passenger SSTO that Bill had been testing. However, it cannot reach orbit if I try to launch it retrograde.

Admittedly, this wasn't a major setback. The old Atlas shuttle was more than capable of rendezvousing with the Intrepid, so it was prepped for launch.

As Bill climbs into space, he experiences the odd sensation of starting a gravity turn toward the west, rather than the east.

Not long after that, he's docked the shuttle to the Intrepid, and everyone climbs aboard. Bill exchanges a round of warm "welcome back"s with the crew.

All the experiment results were unloaded into the Atlas's bay.

The next part would be tricky: trying to land at KSC from the retrograde orbit. Deleration on re-entry would be much more extreme, and I'd have to compensate for Kerbin's rotation when estimating the landing. After a few tries, the crew made a (mostly) safe landing.

The tail grazed the ground and the engines broke off, but the crew was safe (as well as their experiments). Now safely back on Kerbin, everyone looked forward to the next 2 months of time-off.

Recovery of the experiments yielded quite a bit of science, which ended up being enough to complete the tech tree.

Preparing for Jool:

The Intrepid preformed quite well on its shake-down mission, and even with some less-than-optimal maneuvers on my part it returned from Gilly with about a 3rd of its argon left. However, I was unsure about whether it would have enough propellant to reach Jool, perform maneuvers between its moons, and return to Kerbin. If I ran the engines at their lowest setting it almost certainly would be fuel efficient enough, but long burns are awful, so I came up with a plan to ensure that propellant wouldn't be a limiting factor in the mission.

The first step would be to refuel the Intrepid up to full capacity with a tanker.

The lifter was, admittedly, a bit overkill.

The tanker also carried enough fuel and monopropellant to refuel the landers.

Now that the Intrepid was at 100%, I launched another craft which would provide additional propellant capacity for the mission. A tanker, a bit smaller than the one I had just used and fitted with a single PIT thruster.

It would be pushed to Jool by a nuclear tug I had left in Kerbin orbit a long time ago after the mission it was supposed to carry was aborted.

It will be launched just before the Intrepid departs, and will be placed in high orbit of Jool to serve as a mobile argon gas depot. Even if this mission doesn't need it, it will be a useful contingency for the future.

A Kerbal Vacation:

With the launch for Jool still 2 months away, the crew (plus Bill) get together for some fun in the sun. (I had some fun with designing the cars and boats for this.)

They climb aboard Jeb's pontoon boat and speed off to the islands near KSC.

Pulling up to the far side of one of the islands, Bill points out a small beach that's perfect for swimming and relaxation. Jonnie and BB swim to shore, while Bob grabs some drinks from the cooler.

Just because they're KSC's finest, doesn't mean they can't take some time to goof around!

---

Not featured in this update:

The Falcon SSTO was a craft I worked on for quite a while but, of course, was unable to use due to the Intrepid ending up in a retrograde orbit.

So here's some pretty pics of it:

It'll be making an official appearance eventually, after the Intrepid makes it back from Jool.

[jfull]

Hey, it's not boring! It's not boring at all!!! I really like the storytelling look you put on this mission!

Thanks

And I've realized that it isn't really boring, but thanks for saying so.

[jfull]

Part 5: Onward to Bop

---

After 2 months of leave on Kerbin, the crew takes yet another shuttle ride up to the Intrepid.

This would be the flight the ship was always intended for, to reach Jool and survey its outer moons. It would take them further than Kerbalkind had ever been.

After Bill safely landed the shuttle back on Kerbin (I really hope I don't ever have to do any more landings from a retrograde orbit any time soon) the crew got to work restarting all the systems that had been left in sleep-mode while they were away.

Lofal: "Hey, where's where's the icecream sandwich I didn't finish? I left it right here between the life-support coolant tanks so it would stay frozen 'till I got back!"

Bob: "I saw you leave it there and I threw it away, we both know you shouldn't leave anything in there"

Lofal: *grumbling* "Whatever... but you owe me a dessert."

Just before the transfer window to Jool reached its most optimal point, I sent the Argon tanker on its way to Jool.

And now for the Intrepid itself. The engines are set to a higher thrust, lower efficiency setting than usual, but the ejection burn still needs to be split up between two orbits around Kerbin.

You have to wonder, would the sight of your home world shrinking in in the window become routine after a while? Or would continue to have emotional impact every time?

While the crew could simply go into hibernation for the long transfer to Jool, many Kerbal scientists have raised concerns that hibernating for extended periods could have adverse effects on the physical and mental capacity of Kerbalnauts. So, in between their hibernation shifts, the crew keep themselves busy with boardgames, watching and re-watching their movie library, and exercising in the centrifuges.

Finally, after months staving off boredom, the Intrepid draws close to the majesty of Jool and its moons

Lofal: "Hey, everybody get up to the cupola, Jool's moons decided to but on a little show for us"

After a minute everyone crams in behind Lofal's seat in the cupola.

Jonnie: "What are you talking abou- oh wow, they're all lined up!"

BB: "Wait a second, whats that little speck by Laythe?"

Hans: "It must be Bop!"

Sure enough it was Bop, just barely close enough to be seen.

Oddly enough, despite the Intrepid launching toward Jool a few days after the tanker, it arrived a few days before it.

As the ship drew close to periapsis, the reactors were brought up to full power for the breaking burn.

This brought the Intrepid into an orbit that was just inside Bop's.

about a day or so later, the argon tanker reached periapsis, and performed its breaking burn.

Rendezvousing the Intrepid with Bop would be tricky, just like with Gilly, and I didn't want to waste Argon. I an easy method would be to just match Bop's inclination, but I had another idea. If I treated Bop like a ship I was trying to rendezvous with, and payed close attention to the closest approach indicator, I could adjust the Intrepid's orbit to meet Bop at the ascending or descending nodes.

I worked out fairly well, but it meant that I'd be coming at Bop from an odd angle.

And by "odd angle" I mean completely vertically.

The crew remark that, aside from the huge impact markings, Bop just looks like a much larger Gilly.

Surprisingly, it doesn't take too much to turn this polar orbit into an equatorial one.

From here at Bop, we can see all of the inner solar system, with the markers of every mission undertaken by Kerbal-kind. I kinda had a slightly emotional moment when I saw this, it reminded me of how far this space program had come.

Just like on Gilly, the 2 landers would be used to investigate different sites on the surface of Bop. First to the surface would be Hans, who was feeling a bit nervous, apparently something about Bop was making him uneasy.

BB gave him a pep-talk though and soon he was on his way down to Bop, bound for the center of the large impact site.

Hans begins taking samples on the surface and reports nothing out of the ordinary.

Jebediah himself will make the next landing. Originally he was supposed to visit a site of suspected tectonic stress to the west of Hans' landing, but yesterday KSC sent a message containing a revised landing site, far to the north. Ever since that message came through, Jeb hasn't been as talkative with the other crew...

Suddenly, as he descends to the surface, something happens.

Jeb: "What the heck!?"

Bob: "What is it Jeb? whats wrong?

Jeb: "Nothing, nothing's wrong I just thought I saw something is all, my mistake."

Jeb makes a gentle landing between some hills

Bob: "okay Jeb, everything looks good, you are go for EVA"

Jeb: "Roger that... wait... I think I'm getting........ losing... ower..."

Bob: "Jeb, are you there? Please respond!"

*silence*

--[THE FOLLOWING IS CLASSIFIED]--

Jeb shut down his radio, and deactivated the lander's homing beacon to make it look like he'd lost power. The rest of the crew weren't supposed to know about this.

He exited his lander through the airlock, and lifted off with his EVA pack. Slowly, he flew over Bop's lumpy brown surface. And then, as he crested the next hill, he saw what he had been sent to find.

He set down a few dozen meters from the object, and approached it on foot.

There was no denying it, it was an alien life form. Or at least, it had been. It seemed very lifeless now... it must have crashed into the surface with enough force to kill it. Or maybe it had simply come here to die. Jebediah didn't feel like speculating. He had a job to do and he wanted to get it done as fast as he could.

He jetpacked up onto the massive creature, took some samples, and placed a flag to mark the location.

As Jeb jetpacked back to his lander, he wondered if his crew deserved to know about this find. But the orders were to keep it secret unless absolutely necessary, and he was going to follow those orders.

Unknown to him, something small and curious had been following him since he had arrived...

--[Classified Report Ends]--

Suddenly, after 20 minutes of silence, Jeb's radio was back online.

Jeb: "This is Jebediah calling the Intrepid, can you hear me?"

Bob: "Yes, yes! we read you loud and clear Jeb!"

Lofal "What the heck was that about Jeb?! You had us all worried sick!"

Bob: "Please disregard Lofal's comment Jeb, we're all very relieved to know you're okay. But what happened?"

Jeb: "Looks like an electrical surge shorted out main power, I just spent the last 20 minutes replacing all the fuses."

Bob: "Well thats no good, Hans is all done surveying his landing site, I recommend we get both of you back up to the Intrepid asap."

Jeb: "Uhm, sure, yes. I'm taking off now, tell Hans to do the same."

In short order, Hans and Jeb were back in space and docked with the Intrepid. (I've become somewhat of a pro at rendezvous and docking by now)

After storing all the experiments and samples from the surface (including some strange ones in sealed black bags), the engines were brought up to full and the Intrepid departed Bop for its next destination, Pol!

---

This update took a little while, probably because I've been playing other games and dealing with real-life things lately.

As you can see, this one has a bit more going on story-wise than some of the other updates.

Thanks for reading!

[jfull]

I actually have concluded the Intrepid mission, in preparation for a new career save with different mods.

I could write up the final chapter if anyone still wants to read it. Its got some shenanigans on Pol, as well as the Intrepid's return to Kerbin, concluding with a nice group photo of the crew.

If nobody's interested, I'll just proceed with mission reports for my new career save.