Kron series (Kron 6 end of mission) - temporary halt of program

[lajoswinkler]

Let's go to Hale now.

Below 8 km you can not use normal time warp, so the descent is tedious unless you point towards the ground and fire engines. A lander is not needed; Kerbals can use their jetpacks to land and return to orbit, but this way you get to transfer three of them at the same time.

Landing was very precise. In fact, it was similar to docking with the ground. Bob went to EVA first.

A Kerbal can jump 92.8 m above ground.

Great thing about Hale is that if you flip the camera into orbital mode, you can easily float "next" to it instead "above", while watching the stuff stucked on the ground.

Although there was nothing on the Kron 3A probe to pick up, seeing it after few years was interesting.

While playing the the ground anchor, Bob accidentally launched the probe. It landed 2 km away after rolling for quite some time.

What is up, where is down? Who cares?

Next stop were both poles. Southern, first. It was closer.

Here is Jebediah, being one with the universe.

Southern pole is surrounded by tall mountains. Sarnus' rings make it look like Hale has an atmosphere, through which the gas giant is poorly visible.

Floating boulder of Hale was there, too.

The pole itself was hidden under a lot larger boulder.

Coasting to north pole.

North pole is also dark, but features a pyramid. Bob never stepped on it.

Rendezvous with Kron 3 was very easy. Straight launch, approach and some 20 m/s braking.

The question remains - to go or not to go to Eeloo? There is one probe on its surface.

[Rolanvorxariat]

What is the dV?

[xXIndestructibleEVAXx]

WOW! you are on a roll with these! I think that you should go to Eeloo, but with less crew, to decrease the chance of contamination.

[lajoswinkler]

What is the dV?

That's a good question. The ship has few detachable parts. It basically carries a space station and a lander. And an enormous shield. So every time I dumped those, I'd get lots of extra dv.

But just to be sure, I've launched a small resupply probe. I didn't want any nasty surprises being all blind about the reach of this vessel.

WOW! you are on a roll with these! I think that you should go to Eeloo, but with less crew, to decrease the chance of contamination.

Indeed, but it's getting tiresome. I'd like to wrap it up, but if the fuel allows it, I'll go to Eeloo, too.

[lajoswinkler]

This ship was designed so good (fuel-wise) that it might actually be capable of visiting Urlum's system, and I mean immediately and starting from Kerbin. With all that load removed, the delta-v jumps to huge numbers.

The plan for Eeloo was kind of like this.

Braking was a piece of cake.

And so was the landing near the probe.

Bob was sporting one of Kerbal new EVA suits for a while.

The probe had its RTG completely depleted, but still lots of charge and xenon gas.

The press loves photos like this.

Contemplating about the end of a long mission.

There was really nothing else to do on Eeloo's surface so it was time to go home.

[lajoswinkler]

Time to pack stuff and go home.

All fuel, food, oxygen and water were transferred to the ship, and all waste products in the lander. It was strapped of instruments and RTG units and pushed away from the ship.

More than 6500 m/s are now in Kron 3, but KER doesn't show it properly because the tanks are not properly fitted with fuel lines.

Escaping the SOI of Eeloo.

Finally, the last of the lateral tanks were jettisoned.

Slate was used as a slingshot.

During the coasting period, an interesting stellar event was visible - partial eclipse of Slate by Eeloo.

Slingshotting was a brush with death, but Jebediah is an experienced pilot. Less than 2.5 km above Slate, Kron 3 zipped at more than 3 kilometres per second.

Jeb was the last to freeze himself. Screenshot taken at the edge of Sarnus' SOI shows the planet in the distance.

Ship's Kerty computer made one last final burn before going into hibernation.

Reentry will occur somewhere in the northern hemisphere. Future course correction will be needed to avoid burning up.

Kron 3 is now in dormant mode. Main radiators and antenna dish are closed, as well as scientific instruments. You gotta be careful about them meteoroids.

2852 m/s remain, which is not enough to slow down enough to enter circular orbit around Kerbin, but might turn useful because DRE is on hard mode.

Almost 2 Earth years until a wake up call from Kerty. Mass of the ship is 42.43 t.

---

At this point I'm opening a betting pool. Predict the reentry speed. (maximum achieved during reentry; enter exact values; closest one wins)

All participants get tasty rep. The winner's prize is an opportunity to suggest name for the Kron 4 lander (future mission to Urlum, might start after KSP gets into v1.0.). Yeah, I know it's not much, but the Kerbal government doesn't have much money to spend on trivialities.

Edited March 29, 2015 by lajoswinkler

[Snarfster]

From that distance... 8000 m/s

[xXIndestructibleEVAXx]

I'll say somewhere around 6500 m/s.

[JAD_Interplanetary]

I'd say ~7600 m/s

[GreenWolf]

I'm gonna say that it'll be around 7000 m/s.

[lajoswinkler]

It would be better if you said the exact speed, because "around" can be +/- 10 or 50 or 100 m/s, and therefore votes could overlap.

Those of you who gave approximations are still in, but I'll use your values as exact.

Reenty speed will not be the speed at the moment of impact into atmosphere, but the maximum speed achieved during reentry. I presumed you already knew this, but there's no harm in mentioning it.

[Kieve]

I'll shoot low and say 5100m/s

[JAD_Interplanetary]

Is this "Prices Right" rules (closest without going over), absolute closest (over or under), or exact velocity (within some +/- margin) ? Either way, my original estimate doesn't change, I'm just curious how you're judging.

[lajoswinkler]

Absolute closest value will be the winning one.

[DMSP]

4037.

I know the lander name! Well, If I win...

Edited March 29, 2015 by DMSP

[Rolanvorxariat]

8000 m/s, i hope i hope i hope

[lajoswinkler]

Pepe Kerman has received minimal funds to launch the first Kerbal nuclear fission reactor in orbit, as a test of possible future source of electricity for manned missions to Urlum system and beyond because RTG units have t_1/2 of a little over 8 years, meaning there would have to be too much of them on a ship to guarantee fast enough power generation upon returning home.

There are no signs of unrequested fission surplus, so the Ministry has approved additional funds for more research.

[Randazzo]

Hmmm.

I don't see a heat shield anymore. Hopefully it'll be low enough you don't incinerate yourself.

I'll shoot for 6000.

If I win, you're landing on Urlum's moons in "Koko's Kitten".

[TheSuperintendnt]

Lets see, 5107m/s yeah...that

[Bev7787]

8000m/s

[lajoswinkler]

Bev7787, I'll give you rep tomorrow; it says I can't now because I've been giving it out too much recently.

For any of you who are concerned about the heatshield - yes, Kron 3 does have a secondary shield. It is attached to the 3.75 m main capsule. It would be absolutely impossible to survive without it.

You can't see it because it's hidden between the capsule and the decoupler.

[Bev7787]

Did I get that correct?!!

[lajoswinkler]

The ship falling towards the center of the system has experienced probably my speed record (Kraken glitches not included).

Luckily, the reentry speed doesn't have much to do with this and depends on the relative speed between Kerbin and the vessel.

The ship has deployed its solar panels and radiators and the crew has been thawed.

Few hours until reentry. Periapsis has been set to little over 25 km.

Betting pool is closed.

Current bets:

Snarfster - 8000 m/s

Chiken1880 - 8000 m/s

Bev7787 - 8000 m/s

JAD_Interplanetary - 7600 m/s

GreenWolf - 7000 m/s

xXIndestructibleEVAXx - 6500 m/s

Randazzo - 6000 m/s

TheSuperintendnt - 5107 m/s

Kieve - 5100 m/s

DMSP - 4037 m/s

Edited March 31, 2015 by lajoswinkler

[Zaddy23]

Nice, glad you had the fuel to do it.

[lajoswinkler]

note: I had to temporarily remove FAR because it kept flipping the capsule from retrograde to prograde orientation, leading to overheating and destruction. Reaction wheels were totally useless.

The plan totally ignored Mun because at this speeds its light gravity can't do much.

Heavily irradiated and full of waste products, propulsion unit carrying the cryonic module separates from the capsule and heads towards atmospheric dispersal.

Speed of reentry at its beginning was 4954.5 m/s.

Kron 3 was accelerating until it crossed 48 km height, with maximum speed of 4982.9 m/s. Kieve wins the bet.

It took quite a while until the whole propulsion unit got disintegrated and it was spectacular.

Maximum shield temperature was almost 1100 °C and G-load around 7.

Second half of decceleration happened in lower atmosphere.

With barely any oxygen left, the final slowing down using parachutes started a bit more than 1 km above the sea level.

The crew, breathing fresh air after a long time.

Pepe Kerman (far left) posing with the crew in front of the Kron 3 capsule.

lessons learned:

a) everything needs a probe core

don't bother with waste containers

c) pack lots of food, oxygen and water

d) relying on decaying RTG units is not a good idea

e) FAR can't handle some mod capsules at high speed reentry

f) DIY centrifuges are overrated

g) no amount of struts can save a long ship from bending

Kieve, now you may suggest the name for the future Kron 4 lander.

Edited April 1, 2015 by lajoswinkler