The Sunrise Manifest - Sandbox Mission Logs - Chapter 10

Speeding Mullet · May 17, 2014

THE SUNRISE MANIFEST

The Sunrise Manifest was a secret document buried so deep and containing an idea so audacious that everyone knew exactly what it was, and had been bugging the agency to get on with it and stop wasting money on manifests for years.

The idea that wasn't an idea, had never been done before, and would hopefully not bore everyone to tears was to colonise Duna and do the other things....Not because they are hard though, The little Kerbals had been messing around with rockets for quite some time but only in the spirit of fun. That was 20 years ago, nothing has happened until now really.

A couple of promising new players to the space industry, among them B9 Aerospace and Lack Luster Labs, got together with the hope of lobbying the agency into action especially with the newly discovered asteroids flying about all of a sudden, and finally the idea was reborn.

These are the mission logs of The Sunrise Manifest. There is no such thing as F9 or hyperedit, but mechjeb has been invented. The only specific goal is to colonise Duna and build capability throughout the system, but what happens between now and then is anyone's guess. Explosions, gut wrenching accidents, and rescue missions are the only certainty.....

CONTENTS

Chapter 1: Development of the Sunrise SSTO and first flight

Chapter 2: DSR-1 development and Sunrise Station module 1 launch

Chapter 3: DSR-1 VB lifting Station module 2, SSTO flights 2 and 3 to crew station and deliver tug

Chapter 4: DSR-1 VB lifting Station module 3, SSTO flight 4 to deliver docking adaptor

Chapter 5: Duna flyby vehicle ribbon cutting event, Launch 4: DSR-1 VB launches the Duna flyby vehicle. Emergency!! asteroid detected!

Chapter 6: DSR-1 VB on asteroid redirect mission

Chapter 7: Asteroid base construction, escape pod testing, and launch of the escape pod module to the Kerbin Sunrise Station

Chapter 8: First Duna base dispatched, Jeb lands on Duna, Bobney Kerman dies, and a series of testing disasters. Satellite launched in honor of Bobney.

Chapter 9: First Duna ground operations. A launch failure. Sunrise Corvette launched and prepped, then fired off in the general direction of Duna with 6 ships in tow.

Chapter 10: The long drive to base site alpha. Modules rain from the sky and the big (interim) reveal of the Duna Sunrise Base.

IN MEMORY

Bobney Kerman - Died testing the "Water Bobney" following a narrow escape the day before. Kethane Satellite launched in honour

Please feel free to comment, ask questions, and donate rep if you like this thread.

Edited August 23, 2014 by Speeding Mullet

Speeding Mullet · May 17, 2014

Sunrise SSTO

"If we are going to do this, I insist on an SSTO. We need rapid turnaround and cost effective access to LKO if the plan is going to succeed."

Jeb looks up from his sandwich wearing a pained expression. "Bill, no ones ever managed to get one of those things to work properly and you know it."

"Yeah yeah yeah. But seriously Jeb follow me, I have a plan...."

Both Bill and Jeb survive. Luckily the passenger cabin was empty at the time but that was definitely gut wrenching accident number one. The fault was obvious to Bill, and he marched into the engineers office demanding that they at least consider attaching wings.

Wings duly attached the dynamic duo set off on their first orbital test.

Bill storms straight back into engineering to rant about what's just become gut wrenching accident number two, but is greeted by video analysis of his landing. Turns out he clipped one of the lights at the front of the runway and the plane just sort of disappeared. Bill and the team could argue all day about where the fault lies but in the end the true spirit of the project wins out and both sides agree changes need to be made. Bill should leave the flying to others, and the engineers should use a few struts, install engine shields and a taller undercarriage to prevent ground strikes...

Finally, and with Kerbals on the ground running for their lives, Jeb takes the reins and show's Bill around the final iteration of the Sunrise SSTO.

"Alright Bill, let's take these recruits to space, woooohhaaaaaaaa!"

Safely back on the ground the turnaround crew get busy cleaning the pizza off the walls of the cabins. The first rocket launch of the program is scheduled shortly to boost module one of the space station into orbit. The module forms the backbone of the space station to be built in LKO, and will provide a key orbital facility to receive inbound and outbound crew, service and refuel the interplanetary tugs, and generally look very awesome.

Edited May 18, 2014 by Speeding Mullet

Speeding Mullet · May 18, 2014

DSR-1 Common Launch Vehicle

The Duna Sunrise 1 (DSR-1) will be the backbone of the early stages of the mission. Despite angry calls for moar boosters from all sides the launch vehicle is promisingly powerful in it's initial configuration, as well as very simple. As the weight of the payloads increases the S1 SRB-KD25k's can just go from 2 to 4 to 6 etc in order to support the heavier payloads. Due to it's comparative low cost the DSR-1 will almost certainly become the workhorse of the smaller payloads as the mission progresses: "If it ain't broke don't fix it!" as Philberry says. Well we haven't had a chance to break it yet, but Dooddos is quietly confident.

Bill and Jeb are patiently waiting by the Sunrise SSTO, so let's light the firework and see how it goes!

Launch 1: DSR-1 and Sunrise Station module 1

Back at KSC the second much larger module is being prepped, along with the improved DSR-1 common launch vehicle, which will feature sepatrons, and less explosions on the upper stage. The Sunrise SSTO is also having some of it's heat tiles repaired or replaced, and is being retrofitted in order to accommodate small payloads up to a couple of tonnes in weight.

Edited May 18, 2014 by Speeding Mullet

Speeding Mullet · May 20, 2014

Bill strolls into the hangar bay to check on progress. "So Dinklestein, how's the prep going for the next SSTO mission? Have you completed the cargo retrofit?"

"err, completed? Ah Bob no, I haven't started, but I have been working on an interesting little thinger for the first Ma, I mean Duna mission. If you follow me I will talk you thr..."

"Whaaat the kuf? I told you we need that cargo capacity. Give me back my plane if your not going to focus on the job at hand, I've got Kerbals to scare. The next module of the space station is due to be lofted tomorrow and Dooddos' crew need time to prep the module."

Sunrise SSTO mission 2 to occupy Sunrise Station

Passenger manifest: Dooddos, Bob, Gregton, Seanzer, Milbur, Philberry

Crew manifest: Bill and Jeb

With Bill and Jeb landed they tune in to the comms band on the station and wait for the orbiting crew to get hungry. "Ah Jeb, do you think snakes in a can is past it as a joke?"

"I don't know Bill, but your not exactly flavor of the month with the agency, I'd go carefully around here right now"

"Speak for yourself Jeb, you destroyed two spaceplanes in two tests, one more mistake and they will send you on the first "test" mission to Duna, or is that what you want? It is isn't it! Honestly Jeb, so crafty they could put a tail on you and call you a fox! Let's go watch the rocket launch, I've got 10 on that thing wobbling itself to bits before 20km!"

Launch 2 - DSR-1 B variant lofts second module of station

The DSR-1 B Variant is identical to the standard DSR-1 but with double the amount of solid fuel boosters, and an extra long fairing to accommodate the much larger payload. There's talk of it being a little wobbly, but engineering is confident it's within limits.

Bill and Jeb walk back over to the hangar. Dinklestein runs over with an excited look on his face. "Jeb, Bill, great news, come over to the VBH and check out the next module of the space station, it's looking pretty epic, have you ever seen starw.."

"Dinklestein, please not now, is the SSTO ready or not? Between you and me Bill is going to play a few tricks on the crew up there."

"yes, yes snakes in a can, but the VBH...module....spacey things, er...cool stuff!"

"next time Dinks, I promise"

Sunrise SSTO mission 3 to loft Sunrise station Tug

Next time out: Launch 3 of the DSR-1B, Mission 4 of the Sunrise SSTO. What's Bill up to? Will anyone recognise Jeb for Jeb?

Speeding Mullet · May 21, 2014

Launch 3 - The DSR-1 B lofts third module of station

This is the hub that Dinkelstein has been working on, the third and final module for now. Everyone realises suddenly that they've spent loads of time and money messing around in LKO when they should be going to Duna so the engineers are cobbling together a scouting mission to launch by the next window.

Unfortunately the computer had another massive burp and most of the pictures went walkies, but we've seen the DSR rocket is seriously reliable having worked twice already:

Sunrise SSTO mission 4 to launch docking adaptor

Chad and Bobney get their first flight in the SSTO, delivering an adapter part to the station.

"Chad, i'm pretty excited about this, we should get an incredible view of the eclipse, we are taking off right into the sun"

"front row seats Bobney, front row seats..Hey, did they install TV in the space station do you know? It's going to be a boring month in orbit otherwise"

"As long as Bill isn't there Chad, I can't stand his cheap jokes. I'm going to spend as much time as possible in the cupolas"

OK, so we are none the wiser on what Bill is up to, for that we wait. Jeb is lying low, but he can't do that for ever, he's due at the ribbon cutting event when the new Duna vehicle is delivered!

Speeding Mullet · May 25, 2014

Duna vehicle ribbon cutting event

The hastily and very probably poorly designed Duna module is delivered to KSC. The module is designed to fit atop a standard DSR-1 rocket with 4 solid fuel boosters. Once the fairings drop away the push stage ignites to burn to Duna.

The vehicle is designed to house 3, with a small living space behind the main pod. On return to Kerbin the habitation section is jettisoned to burn up in the atmosphere, leaving the pod to reenter and parachute (softly) to the ground.

Jeb is in attendance masquerading as Bill:

Launch 4 of the DSR-1 VB with Jeb firmly strapped to the top in an untested Duna module

"Guys? Guys! No seriously, you didn't need to trick me, this is great I cannot wait to be the first Kerbal to see Duna up close."

"Gaaaaad Jeb your so irritating, see you in a few years...3...2..."

"I thought countdowns started fr"

"LIGHT IT!"

Now the cat is out of the bag the agency is forced to stop turning a blind eye and actually look into seriously tracking a few of these asteroids. At least with Jeb on the way to Duna the rest of the team can work on some serious analysis of the potential problem.

"Ring the Kresident"

"Albus, it's the middle of the night"

"I don't give a Jeb what time it is, there's a small space rock coming our way and I want to capture it"

"So it's not going to hit us then?"

"Oh yeah it's totally going to mess us up if we don't do something"

Is this the end of KSC? Will Bill ever pull his next stunt? Has the agency got any idea how to rendezvous with an asteroid?

The last question at least can be answered: No one has any clue! Dinklestein better get his thinking kap on!

Speeding Mullet · June 2, 2014

The kresident storms down to KSC to take stock of the situation, have a look through the telescope, and generally to make it look like he is doing something important to save the day. On looking through the telescope he does spot (and the observant among you may have noticed) a small asteroid. Thinking it's super huge and millions of miles away he asks Albus to take a look who is aghast at the view.

"Woah, either that thing just got much bigger, or it's really close"

"Well which is it man?!"

"Errr, it's terribly close, in fact it appears to be orbiting us Sir"

"Well the death dealing space rock is 86 days away by your latest calculations, so this should provide you with some target practice. Point something at it and pull the trigger and let me know what happens, but for god sake not in the middle of the night like this time"

"It's a little more scientific than th....."

"JUST DO IT!!!!"

Bills stunt is further delayed. To be honest with all the latest news on the asteroids he is more focused on his work recently and has decided that pranking everyone at the agency is not probably going to go down well at this time. "hmmm, maybe I'll just save it up and pull one almighty prank at some point in the future!"

Speeding Mullet · August 7, 2014

OP Commentary: I haven't updated this thread in well over a month due to RL commitments, but the tales of our little vegetable friends have not been forgotten. Dinkelstein has been slavishly working behind the scenes in the skunkworks and has cooked up a frenzy of excitement which pushed the overall goal of the mission forward substantially. Unfortunately time for press releases has been minimal but we can now (thanks to the benefit of motivation) delve into some of the progress with gusto. A lot more to follow as I find half an hour here and there to update the thread:

The pet rock episode left the Sunrise Manifest team with the distinct feeling that something could have gone badly wrong, and apart from being hauled over the coals for leaving a rock that could destroy a city in a degrading orbit, the team's budget was increased year on year. They were doing good work, and someone was pulling some levers behind the scene to keep the cash flowing. With the extra funds it's decided that a base attached to the pet rock in a polar orbit would be a good idea:

Safety now a major concern for the politikos on the hill, an emergency deorbit capability is required for the main sunrise station orbiting Kerbin. The SSTO is the perfect vehicle to loft the tiny escape pods for their early stage testing, Sonely and Jack the perfect guinea pigs:

Now the system is perfected one of the standard DSR rockets can loft the module, designed to give 12 souls the chance to escape a hideous end. It's widely seen as totally destroying the aesthetic of the space station, and is admittedly totally out of proportion, but what are you going to do when you have to get the safety guys off your back?!

Next time we will be able to pick up the story proper, and see Jeb land on Duna. Progression really picks up from this point and there's some major developments I'm really looking forward to showing everyone. Some stuff I'm particularly proud of.

SM

Speeding Mullet · August 12, 2014

So Let's check in with Jeb's progress. After Jeb reported the nasty asteroid to the ground crew, they got a little sorry for him and actually decided to move forward the launch of the first base module with some extra DV padding so they could send it on a highly aggressive trajectory in order to arrive at Duna before Jeb. Jeb greeted this news with glee as he would now have an opportunity to hand pick the location for the first base, and also would enjoy substantial luxury in his place of solitude. Crewed missions wouldn't follow for months at this point, so it would be a good couple of years before Jeb saw another person. He'd have to ask mission control about an internet connection or something.

First Duna Sunrise Base Module Mission:

Jeb's arrival at Duna:

"Sceeeeeeerrrrruunnnnccccchhhhhhhhchchchchchherrrr Jeb, this is mission control: confirm separation of interplanetary transfer stage and burn to 12km periapsis"

The reply won't reach mission control until shortly after Jeb has performed his aerobrake into a stable orbit, but it's an important confirmation to back up the data. The interplanetary stage will crash into the surface of Duna at some pace, and it's better if Jeb isn't still attached to it.

"Schnnchnhcnhcnhhcnmmmission control this is Jeb, confirming landing at alpha zone. 2.7 km distance within limits for EVA. Wow the view guys, you should really get your butts signed up to the next crewed mission, it's breathtaking. Proceeding to EVA checklist and on to Sunrise Base module one. Next contact will be from the comfort of the luxury module you guys sent ahead. Say does it have internet?"

While all this has been going on there has been some development and also a disaster at KSP so we need to check in and find out for ourselves what's going on:

In honor of Bobney Kerman, the Water Bobney was named after him, and a specially commissioned satellite is lofted containing a small amount of his roast vegetable ashes. The satellite will map the Kethane deposits around a wide swathe of Kerbin:

Next time we will see the first mission from the surface of Duna, and a bunch of launches of various modules and highly sophisticated doo-whackys. I'm still way ahead of myself in actual mission flying, so I've got a lot to catch up on. For now though I have to say I'm pretty pleased with the first base module landing on Duna. It will have to go through it's trials obviously, but it looks at this point to be good to go.

Until next time.

SM

Speeding Mullet · August 16, 2014

OP Commentary: I'm going to adjust my reporting style and play around with a few different methods over the next few posts. I'm getting a lot of views so far, but no comments. The content hasn't been anything special up to now but the mission only gets more complex from here in terms of design and flying/driving so I'm hoping that may change. Don't get me wrong lurking and looking is great and I'm happy just putting this all down for people (and myself) to see and get ideas from. It will kill the continuity of the report in terms of sticking to one style, but but I'm possibly getting the balance wrong of pictures to story, or the layout or something like that. Anyway, the report goes on and I've still got a lot of catching up to do with the team, so let's dive and and see where the progress is at today:

"Kerbin this is Jeb reporting arrival at the base module. The landing looks like it worked, there's no visible signs of damage and the tractor has pulled the base clear of the skyframe as designed.....Damn this thing looks sleek. I can't wait for the other modules to arrive, come to think of it some people to talk to without a huge delay would be nice too, when are they going to announce the crew? I won't get a response for some time so I'm going to put this thing through it's sea trials, there's a level bit of ground up at around 2800m elevation that looks perfect to check out the leveling system and internals.

"Thanks for checking in Jeb, We will get back to you on the crew manifest, the guys are just down the bar having an arm wrestling tournament to see who gets to join you over there. We want you to check out the rest of the systems on the base and hold up for the night - The route looks good but we don't want your batteries to get too low and there's a couple of steep hills you certainly don't want to run out of power on!"

"Rock on Kerbin, let me say once more that this is a mighty fine base module, if the other modules are anything like the artwork supplied we should be in for a real treat down here. Say I've got a few ideas I want to run past you guys while I'm on the road tomorrow, it could help us turn this whole venture into a kredit generating machine if we get it right."

"Sounds good, let's com again at sunrise. Please confirm that all systems are go before checking out, and have a look at the route we have planned for Bobney's sake, we don't want any unplanned disasters or commemorative satellites."

"Errr guys noone told me about Bobney, what happened?"

"You know that stupid hydroplane you sketched before you left?"

"Oh.........."

The Cold Duna night passes and gives way to the Duna Sunrise. Jeb's had time to reflect, and decided his ship designing days are over. Leave it to the specialists he thinks as he locks down the snack cupboard and preps for the days drive.

Back on Kerbin a flurry of launches has seen the DSR1-VB used multiple times in the span of a couple of weeks. Interestingly the team had a launch failure due to a bizarre and temporary doubling of the speed that the universe operated at. It was a set back, but an uncrewed mission so not the end of the world.

It's decided that as the launches are so same same but different with the common launch vehicle being used in 99% of launches, that only the really special cargo's, or "designated epic" rockets will be shown from now on (partly in my drive to cut down on images a little) and so here's one of the really special cargo's being launched atop a thoroughly mundane DSR1-VB. I give you the Sunrise Corvette:

The sunrise corvette will be fitted with a large payload to take to Duna on it's first run, and will also be crewed. It will be chasing a few modules destined for the surface out of Kerbins SOI so there is a juggling act and some deorbit ballet to come soon!

Here's the corvette being fitted with it's payload and crewed up by the SSTO:

So now we have 6 individual ships all heading out to Duna. 1 is the Sunrise Corvette and the rest are all base modules for the surface:

"Jeb this is Kerbin control, we have fired off a volley of 6 ships in your general direction. There's going to be a whole lot to keep you busy over the next few months so you need to crack on and find a location for the base soon. The Kethane Scanners have picked up a huge indication of a resource a few hundred clicks away from where you are and all indications are that this would be the best place to set up shop. What we need you to do is scout the location out and find a decent amount of flat land. Once the ships enter Duna SOI they will all automatically deorbit right on top of wherever you are, don't worry it's perfectly safe I assure you but the point is if you are in a craggy valley then the payloads are not going to arriving at the surface in one piece. Chop Chop laddy!"

In the next episode Jeb drives a huge distance round the planet in a really safe manner, and the infrastructure on and around Duna starts to grow.

Speeding Mullet · August 23, 2014

Jeb has to race ahead as the flotilla of automated ships is fast approaching Duna and will soon begin automatic EDL patterns, raining like huge out of control shells through the atmosphere. Let's hope it all goes well for our brave veggie. Luckily the tractor module has been designed with a super wide wheel base, 6 wheel drive and steering. The centre of gravity is very low, and torgue wheels provide a little more stability than would otherwise be available. Connecting the base module and the tractor is done with a single docking port on flexible and shock absorbent mount, and you will notice the lack of struts. While this may appear to work against Jeb in his drive across Duna, in actual fact the flexibility of the chassis, and the link between the base and tractor will allow the whole thing to wobble and bounce through the bumps like a pro, cancelling out some of the judder and instability that you get from super rigid vehicles. Let's see how the drive went:

"Jeb, this is Kerbin - you better be ready our screens are showing the first of the automated modules arriving at Duna. Woah it's the big one! One double greenhouse module and a whole lotta extra space coming your way!"

"Say Dinklestein you do know that this thing will have either landed or made a big crater where Jeb was by the time he get's this message don't you?"

With the landing complete, and the accuracy of the EDL so impressive, Jeb gets straight to work on building his larger home in the wilderness of Duna. More packages are expected over the next few hours so it's all 2 hands on deck to get the modules clear of the landing and debris field.

Next up for Jeb to tackle is another huge drop, the double hab module. The audacity of the plan and the money being spent on this program is evident, and Jeb cannot believe what a huge amount of space he is going to be rattling around in until the new crew arrives.

No breaks for Jeb as the next module rips through the atmosphere. This is an exciting one for Jeb as it's his transport. Finally not only has he got a luxury base to lay up in, he's also got his very own rover - A shirt sleeve environment to explore the planet in. Jeb knows Dinklestein has big plans for the next flotilla to be sent the way of the red planet, but this will do nicely until then!

So this is sort of the big halfway there reveal. All the design work and all the engineering work has led up to this point. As a side not I'd like to officially thank Temstar for his "The art of modular base building" tutorial which was instrumental in firing up my imagination for this mission report, and for the design of the Duna Sunrise Base. The base is by no means complete, but let's take a look at how it stands as of this point in the story:

The base is only going to get added to as the mission report progresses, and inspiration will continue to be drawn as the idea's progress through coverage of the Duna section of this mission, and the now planned Joolian bases. The missions are so costly that the only way to get return on investment is to start a space tourism industry. As previously mentioned there are more modules on the way, possibly doubling the size of the base, but that's for another day. More launches are planned and some really silly designs will see the light of day.

paladin061 · December 17, 2014

What mod is used for the base?

The Sunrise Manifest - Sandbox Mission Logs - Chapter 10

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