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

[Rath]

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/

Olberth Effect FTW!

[Elowiny]

Nice mission so far, but I'm wondering : how will you get the next Kron ship to Neidon without an Hohmann transfer ?

[lajoswinkler]

Thanks. The next ship will either have to use a highly eccentric elliptical orbit touching Neidon's SOI, or a hyperbolic trajectory. That opens up a problem of slowing down at the destination. Heatshield would not be enough, so I guess a combination of active and aerobraking would be used.

Travelling back is also a huge problem, even larger than getting to Neidon.

I doubt refueling would help a lot unless I grind it, which is not my thing.

[Jodo42]

An Urlum mission is already pretty insane. It'll be over 30 Kerbal years between crew launch and crew return. I can't imagine a Neidon mission without something much faster than a Hohmann transfer.

Are you looking to explore the gas giants only? Or will you eventually do a Plock mission (once it gets made into something other than a clone of Vall, of course)? If so, good luck capturing there. Tiny SOI and no atmopshere.

Oh, and say "hi" to Kerty for me. Hopefully he's more well behaved than HAL.

[lajoswinkler]

It takes a bit more than 4 years to reach Urlum using Hohmann transfer. Total time spent will be less than 10 years which is kind of a top limit for Kerbals spending in space for me.

I've visited Neidon using a probe on a hyperbolic trajectory. It's manageable, but to bring a 3.75 m science ship there... I'm not even sure if nuclear thermal engines will be able to do it. I'd really like to use them again (because that's what Kron ships are), but if it proves to be an insane task, I'll have to go with some kind of magnetoplasmadynamic engine.

This latest mission will give some valuable numbers and experience to compare with Kron 3 mission to Sarnus system.

I'm planning on visiting Plock, too. By the time I finish Kron 5 and Neidon, Outer Planets Mod will update Plock based on New Horizons data. It could happen in autumn.

Kerty is a well behaved computer. You see he's smiling. Can't be paranoid or evil.

[Elowiny]

What will you do when you will have visited every OPM planet ? Will you install Kerbol+ and visit the new planets ?

[lajoswinkler]

I have no bloody idea.

[Elowiny]

Another question : If Kron 1 went to Jool, and Kron 3 went to Sarnus, where did Kron 2 go ? (Sorry, I'm too lazy to read the whole thread )

[lajoswinkler]

It went to Moho's pole, south one, where nothing interesting exists.

It was quite a short mission. Page 3 of the thread, I think.

[lajoswinkler]

[highlight]/start of transmission/

report by Kerty

day: 172

crew condition: hibernation

distance from Kerbol: 66.5 million km (crossing Jool orbit)

speed relative to Kerbol: 5.1 km/s

charge: nominal

fuels pressure: nominal

current delta v: 8919 m/s

atmosphere: 100%

ionizing radiation: declining

sunlight: barely sufficient

average ship temperature: -120.5 °C

snacks: 93%

Kerty: playing with the science equipment

end of line

/end of transmission/[/highlight]

[Yukon0009]

Is Kerty going to break anything?

[lajoswinkler]

Only if he goes nuts. I doubt he will cause he's smiling. That means everything is OK. *scary music*

[Interplanet Janet]

Why not just use a Hohmann to Eve, then Kerbin twice more, and finally Jool and Sarnus?

[lajoswinkler]

Because those bodies aren't in the same plane, therefore it would take an actual computer crunching data to optimize something like that, and the mission would probably last longer.

[Interplanet Janet]

Although really, it would take less Delta-V.

[lajoswinkler]

[highlight]/start of transmission/

report by Kerty

day: 380

crew condition: hibernation

distance from Kerbol: 125 million km (crossing Sarnus orbit)

speed relative to Kerbol: 3.05 km/s

charge: nominal

fuels pressure: nominal

current delta v: 8919 m/s

atmosphere: 100%

ionizing radiation: declining

sunlight: insufficient

average ship temperature: -120.5 °C

snacks: 93%

Kerty: staring at the wall

end of line

/end of transmission/[/highlight]

[Astrofox]

So, why is Kerty Staring at a wall?

[Cydonian Monk]

At least Kerty isn't eating any snacks.....

[lajoswinkler]

So, why is Kerty Staring at a wall?

You would, too, if there was a wall in front of you and you were alone for more than a year.

[SmallFatFetus]

You would, too, if there was a wall in front of you and you were alone for more than a year.

That got real dark, real quick.

[Sampa]

then suddenly, pineapples...

[lajoswinkler]

[highlight]/start of transmission/

report by Kerty

day: 800

crew condition: hibernation

distance from Kerbol: 200 million km (more than half way across Sarnus-Urlum gap)

speed relative to Kerbol: 1.658 km/s

charge: nominal

fuels pressure: nominal

current delta v: 8919 m/s

atmosphere: 100%

ionizing radiation: very low and declining

sunlight: insufficient

average ship temperature: -120.5 °C

snacks: 93%

Kerty: listening to Bach and reading classical philosophy

end of line

/end of transmission/[/highlight]

[Zaddy23]

[highlight]

ionizing radiation: very low and declining

[/highlight]

Surely it would only decline to a certain point, at which there will be enough background/cosmic radiation to register on the sensors?

[lajoswinkler]

It's interplanetary space. It will jump up close to Urlum.

That makes me wonder if I should wake up the crew for the aerobraking procedure or let Kerty deal with it. If the ship breaks apart, at least they will die in sleep.

[Elowiny]

You shouldn't wake them up, so they will die painlessly in their sleep if the ship blows up.