RO+RSS - The Grand Tour Space Race

[Comet Tail]

This will be a fictional space race in a fictional world using the Real Solar System mod, Realism Overhaul, and some-odd 45 or so realism mods. It will span quite a few planets...

I will report here on noteworthy missions. A "noteworthy mission" is one where someone lands somewhere, or a probe does something that is significant to the course of events. Otherwise, you can assume unmanned missions, satellites, etc. are being launched in the background.

Bulk of the credit for the "Aevair Cosmos Exploration Bureau" goes to Bobcat for his Russian mods, and Encyclopedia Astronautica for hours and hours of me having to mod his mods to have the real amounts of kerosene, thrust, LOX, etc, so they actually work in the Real Solar System (1,900 m/s just doesn't cut it to make orbit, here...).

1. You will see "Liquid Fuel" and "Oxidizer" come up occasionally on resources... I took those out of the config files for Bobcat's Russian parts when I replaced them with Kerosene and Liquid Oxygen, but for some reason the game still loads them as there but empty.

2. My TAC life support seems to not work how I thought it would... Or should... Or seems like it should. It doesn't seem to consume resources when time warp is on. I still have the resources, though, for the sake of realism. Note, on this first mission to the moon, my Fuel Cells are to use "Liquid Oxygen" and "Liquid H2" to produce electric charge, "Oxygen," and Water. So everything is set up properly.

2b. For some reason the fuel cells didn't burn the Oxygen like they were supposed to... Ohwell. It makes no difference, since the craft never exceeded its endurance, and its only a few tens of kilos which, given the extra delta-vee I finished with, amounts to no consequence.

RULE #1: I will never do something with spaceflight here that cannot be done IRL with current or near-term tech.

My modifications so far have mostly been allowing specialized lander engines to throttle, and have stuck to NASA studies (linked example: I made an RL-10 that can throttle). I'll also incorporate some cool designs that have been seriously studied, with a little flair to them, but nothing that feels like cheating (after all, that thing has a pretty spectacular failure mode if the turbopumps injecting the salt water fail... Yeah, I'll stick with Lox-Augmented LARS).

And now that I've established some credibility and probably have your attention...

Disclaimer: I am a brony, this was done for/about something outside of Kerbal Space Program, but since it was done in Kerbal Space Program and spaceflight is a common interest and my first love, I've decided to post it here, with the space flight/missions as the primary focus.

Setting: The tech level of the world is close to the 1950's, and politically, there is a powerful divide. In the East, there is the Republic of Aevair. Primarily composed of griffons, it is a conglomerate, or "union" of states. Their launch facility is the Baikanour Cosmodome. They are newly formed, and are launching the world into a new industrialized era of technology, and along with it, their ideals of a democratic-republic rule are sweeping Eurasia like a fire.

In the West, is Equestria, composed of ponies who support a diararchy that has allegedly ruled for more than a thousand years. Their launch facility is the Celestia Space Center, named after their senior diararch. And although their science is first-rate, they are only barely modernizing their industry.

The two superpowers are diametrically opposed. Linguistic, ideological, cultural, and even physiological differences fuel their xenophobia; they are both terrified that the other will launch a war. The Aevians view the Equestrians as being fanatic and socially backwards in their support of their diararchy, and are terrified of an ability many of them have to control a force that they call "magic." The Equestrians even claim that their diararchs are the cause of the sunrise and sunset.

The Equestrians believe the Republic of Aevair hold their beloved rulers and system in contempt, that they are militaristic and could launch a "liberation" invasion at any time, as they have done with several nations in Eurasia and the Arabian peninsula. The Aevian development of mechanized warfare has led them to become regarded as the most powerful force on Earth, and they are more than willing to roll over and plant their flag on the soil of a nation ruled by a despot.

Both nations must prove their might. Equestria especially must prove that it is capable of keeping up with the modern era, and that their ancient, benign dictatorship is a good form of government even in the modern era. Aevair must prove that technology can triumph over Equestrian "magic," and that their new ideals of democratic-republican government are capable of producing a competent and mighty nation.

So far, they have been the first to develop intercontinental missiles, and put a satellite in orbit.

With the Mercury program, however, Equestria won to first to orbit an astronaut.

But Aevair is hot on their heels, and will not lose this race. They will be the first to the moon.

Starting technologies:

-Manned spacecraft.

-Kerosene / Oxygen propulsion.

-Earth Orbit Operations (Gemini tech)

-Hypergolic Propulsion / RCS (UDMH/N204, Aerizone/N204, Monopropellants, etc.)

ßрþõúт ßþñõôы!

[Project Victory]

The Republic of Aevair is the first to the Moon

In the original crewed lunar mission plan, the mission would follow this profile:

1. N-1 launches the L3 Complex into orbit.

/ L3 Complex consists of: Block G and D boosters, LK lander, and Soyuz LOK. Two Cosmonauts occupy the Soyuz on launch.

2. L3 Complex performs TLI using Block G booster.

3. L3 Complex performs LOI using Block D booster.

4. A single cosmonaut spacewalks from the Soyuz into the LK lander - it is the only way to get to it.

5. The Block D and LK undock from the Soyuz and de-orbit. The Block D booster takes the lander to a position 4 km above the surface at a speed of 100 m/s, then the LK lands from there.

6. LK launches from surface and performs a rendevouz and docking with the Soyuz LOK.

7. Cosmonaut spacewalks back into Soyuz.

8. Soyuz returns home.

But plans have changed!

Our remote Lunar Orbiting Kraft has found that there is an unidentified craft on the Lunar surface, presumably an Equestrian probe, but we have detected no launches from Equestria that correspond to this craft, nor have they said anything of it...

They performed a space mission we could not detect, and landed a probe on the far side of the moon. We want to know why they did this in secrecy, and how. Our budget has been increased, and we have been asked to land two cosmonauts, not one. We want to investigate this mysterious craft.

Furthermore, we need to investigate both this probe, and our scientists' theories on magic. We have confirmed the existence of a frame-dragging pool around Earth with our orbital crafts; we must account for it or it will de-orbit any long-term space stations we build in the future. We want to investigate the extent of this "frame-dragging" pool; a lot of theorists believe that this "aether" is the medium through which magic travels. A highly loyal Aevian citizen, who is physiologically equipped to use magic, will join the crew and use her ability to investigate the Equestrian probe for any spells or enchantments that they may be using to boost their technological capabilities.

We have selected Ambriana "Brie" Rulian for this assignment. Of our cosmonauts, none know Equestrian society and technology better than Grizelda "Gilda" Abano, so she has been selected for the second seat on the lander. Yugori Govin will remain in orbit as our most brilliant cosmonaut, to investigate what he can from up there and scan the lunar surface. His mind and eyes are sharper than his talons.

The earlier design of the LK was... Less than a champion. Its "successful" Earth-orbit tests didn't perform enough velocity change to make lunar orbit from lunar surface. Although some sources say it could have worked... The numbers I get when I researched it did not add up.

The increased weight of the larger lander due to the complete re-design means we will need to launch two N-1 rockets and perform an Earth Orbit Rendevouz to build our full "L4 Complex," but we do not need to develop hydrogen rocket technology; the smaller payload of 80 tons on the N-1 (Kerolox only version) will suffice. The N-1, and Block G and D boosters will all use existing kerosene rocket engine technology.

First we will launch the "L4 Complex," consisting of the Soyuz LOK, our new two-cosmonaut lander (with a new hard-docking capability to transfer crew without a spacewalk), the Block D booster, and an additional kerosene/oxygen tank that will give the full amount of needed fuel to the Block G booster when it docks (on-orbit refueling; another new technology).

Second, will be the launch of the Block G booster on another N-1 rocket. It will rendevouz with the L4 Complex and assemble to boost it to the moon.

[images and captions pending editing... Will update when done. Recommend full-screen!]

Javascript is disabled. View full album

[Once again, Lion's share of credit goes here for the Russian equipment. PM me if you're interested in Realism Overhaul modded equipment, but heads up; the Soyuz can't survive re-entry yet...]

What did we find there?

We have answered questions about the origin of the moon, completing invaluable science, and returning a staggering treasure trove of scientific samples! Above all, though, there now sits a flag of freedom on the Moon rather than one of dictatorship. We have proven ourselves and our ideologies to the world forever.

The craft that we found bore no indications of belonging to Equestria, yet its design clearly utilized magic. It is unrecognizable as having an origin from any terrestrial sovereignty, and it bears signs of age greater than a thousand years.

Despite scrutinizing the surface, and our teams doing the same with the photographs transmitted, Yugori was unable to find or photograph any other such objects of unknown origin. Equestria has landed probes on the moon, but these have all been public affairs; nothing mysterious about them.

This object of unknown origin, however, was too large to capture. Fortunately, pieces of it appear to have jettisoned. Our cosmonauts gathered what they could, and they are currently being inspected, along with all available information on the object. A second mission is lined up to destroy the object to prevent Equestria from reverse engineering this technology. Our materials scientists have begun to create superior alloys thanks to what little we have learned already from it.

The Equestrians have already conducted successful orbital rendevouz and docking, and have developed hydrogen rocket engine technology. We cannot allow the artifact to fall into their hooves, we have not yet developed the capability to recover it, and cannot in time, so it will be destroyed on our next mission.

Perhaps we will have better luck with Mars. We will ensure our lander there can carry anything our probe detects. The Design Bureau has been instructed to send an orbiter probe there as soon as possible, and unlike all their failed attempts so far, they've been given gratuitous resources to meet the challenge.

We are even considering sending Ambriana on a flyby mission to look for artifacts with her magic, and we are investigating the possibility of this. But from what our science has returned on this mission, it appears that magic will not work beyond Earth's sphere of influence, that it is, indeed, tied to the "pool" around Earth, and cannot be utilized outside of it. It, like an electromagnetic or gravitational field, asymptotically approaches zero with increased distance. So Ambriana was able to use it very weakly to inspect the object, but using magic much further than the moon will prove impossible.

This is sure to blow a crutch out from under the Equestrians.

We are now announcing a full-scale effort to go to Mars, for the glory and advancement of all Terrestrial life!

We will investigate whether we need nuclear engines for this or not. But we will do anything and everything necessary to get there as swiftly as possible. It is possible it may only require hydrogen engine technology. The Design Bureau is currently researching this.

There was outrage in the agency. How could this have happened? We worked so hard to be the first, but they beat us. But we aren't giving up. They think they're going to be the first to Mars, now. They won't.

Some of us have started to question our diararch's decision to make all of our craft usable by non-magic users. We could have beat them easily if we'd crewed ourselves with them alone. We wouldn't need docking technology, and the efficiency of all of our engines could be skyrocketed. But they won't have any of it. Becoming adept at magic is something that takes lots of practice, so its not like racism, its something an individual chooses to develop... granted only about a third are born with the ability to develop those skills. The princesses [the diararchs] wanted us to be fair to all Earth ponies, pegasi, unicorns, and every other sapient species in this agency; and that means our technology has to do its job without any metaphysical assistance...

But just because they got there first, we're not exactly going to scrap all our work on Apollo.

Celestia wants us to land at the same place the Aevians did. It seems a bit like fowl play, to me: what, are we going to inspect and reverse engineer the debris from their lander or something? It's not as though there's a shortage of interesting landing sites. I just find it a little odd is all.

As for Mars... Well, go talk to the head of the uncrewed department. They've got a probe lined up for that, and we've been tasked with designing a crewed mission architecture for there already.

Edited October 3, 2014 by Comet Tail