SteamPunKerbal: To Mun in a Barrel

[Geschosskopf]

This highlights Professor Phineas Kerbenstein's Wondrous Vertical Propulsion Emporium mod by Kerb-Fu. This is a steampunk set of parts and is very much a work in progress, but it looks quite promising so far. Check it out.

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You might not believe it but the Kerbal Space Program actually started back in the days of muttonchops and monocles (features soon to be added to this mod, BTW). Here are some pics of ground tests of the original ground tests of the 1st capsule prototype, made from an old whiskey barrel.

To get this off the ground, at first they had only scaled-up versions of the gunpowder-burning fireworks. Several of the original kerbalnauts died trying to fly such rigs but the lessons learned soon led to the development of a liquid fuel system.

This engine burned whaie oil using some organic peroxide for the oxidizer. The components were kept in separate contains. There was also a need for legs to keep the thing upright so they invented some of those, too. With these advances, the KSP soon went on to bigger things.

Combining a lot more whale oil and oxidizer with even larger gunpowder boosters, this contraption was able to hop all over Kerbin and even achieve orbit. This led to many research breakthroughs, ultimately resulting in the pinnacle of rocket design, the STEAMER (Steam To Extra Altitude, Mun, and Even Return)!

This behemoth surrounded the proven whale oil core with large boosters containing high-pressure steam, operating on the same principle as releasing a party balloon. Only hot and wet. And the capsule had been heavily modified to contain its own small engine powered by Professor Kerbenstein's secret "Wow-Wow Juice" monopropellant. Small globes of this festoon the capsule. The green thing underneath was a lead-acid battery to power the control systems. The intricate machinery below it was a gyrostabilizer using heavy brass flywheels an all axes. This required a fair amount of electricity so in the early stages of the flight, it was kept spinning by a portable generator (burning whale oil and oxidizer), which was the brass gizmo mounted below the gyros. But once out of the atmosphere, parabolic mirrors would unfold from the capsule to run the generator on steam, thus saving on whale oil needed by the main engine.

The purpose of all this Wondrous Vertical Propulsion was to put a Kerbal on Mun and, if at all possible, return him alive. The Kween declared a bank holiday so everybody could watch this epic event in person, kable kelevision not yet having been invented. And with a great whhhoooossshhh of escaping steam, which flash-fried many of the spectators, the STEAMER took flight!

Never having tried any of this before, Professor Kerbenstein had timed the launch so that the rocket could climb directly for Mun without having to much about circularizing its orbit. All to save fuel. Soon the steam boosters were exhausted and the whale oil core took over. The generator was shut down and the parabolic mirrors extended, and Mun burned for.

And soon the STEAMER was well on its way and the surviving spectators repaired to their clubs where they huddled with pints around the ticker tape machines that reported on the great mission's progress in almost real time. What they read on the ticker tape was as follows:

When the rocket left Kerbin, it had a very nice, low Munar Pe on the bright side, from which it was intended to go straight in to land. However, upon arrival, the rocket was over twice as high. Still, nothing for it but to press on regardless because there wasn't fuel for anything else.

All too soon, the whale oil ran dry, forcing the lander to do some of the braking and then negotiate the entire 17km descent. Worries about fuel for the return began to form...

The monopropellant engine, however, had adequate thrust and fuel economy to manage the landing. Here it is on final approach, legs and mirrors deployed and the landing site illuminated by a pair of brass coach lamps.

The landing was a bit bumpy on the spindly, unsprung legs, but they proved deceptively strong and no damage was done. The intrepid Jebediah Kerman the First proudly planted the flag to celebrate the occasion and claim Mun for Kween and Kountry. (NOTE: One of the planned additions to this mod is to put the Kerbal in a brass helmet deep-sea diving suit).

The landing had used about 1/3 of the lander's fuel so there was hope Jeb could make it home on the rest. With nothing else to do, Jeb took off and climbed to the lowest safe altitude.

Due to the above-mentioned issues with the landing, Jeb had overshot his intended LZ by a fair amount so had to make nearly a full munar orbit before burning for home.

At the end of this, there was hardly any fuel remaining so instead of being able to land back at KSC as planned, Jeb had to come in for a landing direct from Mun and put down wherever he could. This resulted in some fierce reentry effects.

Soon Jeb realized he wasn't quite going to hit land, so he used the last of his fuel in an attempt to correct that. Plus to lighten the load of the parachutes.

Jeb got pointed in the right direction but then his fuel ran out. He coasted as long as he dared before jettisoning the nosecone and opening the parachutes...

But he landed just short of the beach. The lander splashed down hard, too, destroying most of the parts attached to it.

Jeb climbed out OK, except for some twitches. He had gotten this job because he had previously been the 1st Kerbal to go over Kiagara Falls in a barrel and survive, but he hadn't enjoyed the experience of sitting in a slowly flooding barrel waiting to be rescued afterwards. This is why he had tried so hard to reach land, and this landing gave him unpleasant flashbacks.

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Anyway, it's a pretty cool mod. There are also boilers so you can make steam on your rocket and as mentioned, there are plans for more stuff. Making Kerbals look appropriately steampunk as already mentioned, plus blimps, clockwork probe cores, etc. So keep an eye on this mod.

[Kerb-fu]

I take my hat off to you sir, a fine recounting of a rousing tale

[benzman]

Where did you find those cool antenna that look like single-bar electric radiators? I pulled down version 0.12a of this mod but can't find the antenna. Brilliant mod, by the way, that beautifully fits the whole Kerbal philosophy.

[Boosterspice]

I love it! Great story made with a great mod

[Geschosskopf]

Where did you find those cool antenna that look like single-bar electric radiators? I pulled down version 0.12a of this mod but can't find the antenna. Brilliant mod, by the way, that beautifully fits the whole Kerbal philosophy.

Are you talking about the 4 things sticking out the lower sides of the capsule? Those are the "Steam Solar Panels". They appear to be parabolic mirrors that focus sunlight on a copper tube full of water, which by some witchcraft creates electricity.

[benzman]

Are you talking about the 4 things sticking out the lower sides of the capsule? Those are the "Steam Solar Panels". They appear to be parabolic mirrors that focus sunlight on a copper tube full of water, which by some witchcraft creates electricity.

Hmm. I cannot find them anywhere. They are not with the default solar panels, although I seem to have all the other parts on your ship. Where did you D/L your version of this mod? I got my version here:-

http://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/threads/74625-0-23-Professor-Phineas-Kerbenstein-s-Wonderous-Vertical-Propulsion-Emporium-v0-12a?highlight=steampunk

[Geschosskopf]

Hmm. I cannot find them anywhere. They are not with the default solar panels, although I seem to have all the other parts on your ship. Where did you D/L your version of this mod? I got my version here:-

http://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/threads/74625-0-23-Professor-Phineas-Kerbenstein-s-Wonderous-Vertical-Propulsion-Emporium-v0-12a?highlight=steampunk

They're on the Utilities page with the other solar panels, although shown in the retracted state so they look like brass torpedoes. I flew this mission with v0.11a of the mod but these parts have been in all later versions.

[benzman]

They're on the Utilities page with the other solar panels, although shown in the retracted state so they look like brass torpedoes. I flew this mission with v0.11a of the mod but these parts have been in all later versions.

Just after I posted the above I found them! The fact that they look totally different stowed or deployed foxed me! Thanks anyway.