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

[Zaddy23]

That was a really nice grav assist. 60%! wow!

[DMSP]

Cool slingshot!

I use stuff like that a lot.

[lajoswinkler]

It was something like 60% for the last burn only. I think there were four burns: first the one with the last stage of the delivery rocket, and then three nuclear thermal engine ones.

Meanwhile, I've looked into the thermal properties of the propulsion unit.

The system could use one more radiator. Overheating can happen during long burns (>15 min or so) and appears in the middle engine.

This is the scheme I've designed for the ship. Sorry for the crude drawing.

[Sampa]

Really interesting stuff!

[GehringGame]

Really digging this thread. I've been lurking and catching up with the progress so far. Your ships are beautiful and unique, great work! Looking forward to what comes next.

[lajoswinkler]

Thanks you all.

Last night I've saved the v1.0.2. folder before updating to v1.0.3.

There are too many mods and waiting for all of them to update would not be a fun thing to do. It would also be risky, as this ship was designed with having 1.0.2. rules and properties in mind.

So we're continuing with the story where we left. Next stop is equalizing the ship's solar orbit inclination with that of Urlum's orbit. Current difference is 0.6°.

[DMSP]

How's it going?

By the way, the title of the thread still says "Kron 4 Construction"

[lajoswinkler]

Corrected, thanks.

The ministry has realized there are no emergency bananas onboard, but it has been decided not to let the crew find out about it. It is entirely possible that a probe with few bananas will be sent to rendezvous with Kron 4 as a surprise.

[lajoswinkler]

Kron 4 pilots report corrected inclination and successful start of trans-Urlum injection burn.

First set of tanks has been jettisoned, and then later a second one.

They were plainly visible on the external camera.

The reactors are now very exposed.

[VASMIR]

1.03 came out.

[lajoswinkler]

Yes, and then 1.0.4., but I will remain in 1.0.2. for now.

The crew has finished a Hohmann trajectory burn. This is the current predicted orbit which will be corrected when the ship enters Urlum's sphere of influence.

The ship is in a standby mode. Radiators and telecommunication dishes have been retracted to lower the chance of micrometeoroid damage and main battery and nuclear reactor are offline to save on fuel. You can see that a good deal of its liquid fuel tanks have been already jettisoned.

Jebediah and Valentina went to the Deep Freeze module for a long sleep. From now on Kerty is managing the ship's systems.

1505 Earth days until Kron 4 enters Urlum SOI. Urlum is almost two times further away from Kerbol than Sarnus is. It's a long way there.

Kron 4 is, as its predecessor was, a sleeping ship whizzing through the silent void of space at more than 12 kilometres per second. It is very much possible this is the last Kron ship that will use a Hohmann transfer. Going to Neidon would last an ungodly amount of time using such approach.

During the next few years, Kerty will occasionally beep telemetry data to KSC.

Edited June 24, 2015 by lajoswinkler

[Jodo42]

That's an incredible shot of the ship against the sun. Gives space the incredibly vast feeling it should have, especially when you think about how fast Kron 4 is moving.

I haven't been keeping super close track of this mission, just stopping in now and then. Is Kerty the ship's computer? Or is there a Kerbal which is staying awake for the entire 15 Kebin year journey?

[Mister Dilsby]

Arrgh, I really wish I could see these pictures right now... the network @work blocks the hosting site you use (but lets in Imgur)

[DMSP]

Good luck out there, crew!

I'm in San Fran and I just watched Kron 4 yesterday.

[lajoswinkler]

That's an incredible shot of the ship against the sun. Gives space the incredibly vast feeling it should have, especially when you think about how fast Kron 4 is moving.

I haven't been keeping super close track of this mission, just stopping in now and then. Is Kerty the ship's computer? Or is there a Kerbal which is staying awake for the entire 15 Kebin year journey?

You can see Kerty in the screenshots. It's a homage to Gerty the computer from the movie Moon. I kind of forked Raster Prop Monitor to finally show him, even though he existed earlier.

Arrgh, I really wish I could see these pictures right now... the network @work blocks the hosting site you use (but lets in Imgur)

Those are just screenshots taken by and directly hosted by Steam.

[Mister Dilsby]

Those are just screenshots taken by and directly hosted by Steam.

No wonder, Steam is just for gaming so no reason work network will allow it through

[GehringGame]

It's a homage to Gerty the computer from the movie Moon

I've been enjoying this great little reference every time it shows up! I love that you got him to show up in IVA.

[lajoswinkler]

[highlight]/start of transmission/

report by Kerty

day: 70

crew condition: hibernation

distance from Kerbol: 21 million km (crossing Duna orbit)

speed relative to Kerbol: 9.95 km/s

charge: nominal

fuels pressure: nominal

current delta v: 8919 m/s

atmosphere: 100%

ionizing radiation: declining

sunlight: sufficient

average ship temperature: -68 °C

snacks: 93%

Kerty: playing chess

end of line

/end of transmission/[/highlight]

Edited June 27, 2015 by lajoswinkler

[ZedNova]

Thank you kerty, who is winning at the chess game?

[GabrielG.A.B.Fonseca]

Hehe. Gotta love Moon. Great movie.

[GehringGame]

snacks: 93%

Most important number to monitor for any kerbal adventure

[lajoswinkler]

Thank you kerty, who is winning at the chess game?

That would be Kerty, because he's the only player.

Most important number to monitor for any kerbal adventure

Over 4 years of flight is a long time in case of a stowaway squirrel, especially if it's a pregnant female. Those things would chew right through the modules until they find food, and four years later you get a ship full of squirrels and lacking with snacks. Then you have to eat squirrels.

[lajoswinkler]

By the way, I got this interesting screenshot in the tracking station.

It shows the orbits of the fuel tanks jettisoned while burning to extend the apoapsis to Urlum's orbit.

[DMSP]

By the way, I got this interesting screenshot in the tracking station.

It shows the orbits of the fuel tanks jettisoned while burning to extend the apoapsis to Urlum's orbit.

http://images.akamai.steamusercontent.com/ugc/450706714327277880/D2D84A84DBD998CA8D571AA9281C96AFCF8D1FBE/

That's actually pretty cool!

[lajoswinkler]

[highlight]/start of transmission/

report by Kerty

day: 101

crew condition: hibernation

distance from Kerbol: 36 million km (crossing Dres orbit)

speed relative to Kerbol: 7.5 km/s

charge: nominal

fuels pressure: nominal

current delta v: 8919 m/s

atmosphere: 100%

ionizing radiation: declining

sunlight: sufficient

average ship temperature: -121 °C

snacks: 93%

Kerty: watching kat videos

end of line

/end of transmission/[/highlight]