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

[_Augustus_]

Did Kron 6 disappear or something?

[lajoswinkler]

On 10/30/2016 at 4:06 PM, _Augustus_ said:

Did Kron 6 disappear or something?

No, it's still safe on my disk. I just had too much work IRL and a certain lack of will, plus the whole v1.2 saga annoyed me.

Yesterday, I've returned back to the mission and decided to visit Karen because there isn't much oxidizer left on the ship to make the lander land and return from Plock and still visit other bodies.

From one polar orbit to another - Kron 6 is now going towards Karen.

[lajoswinkler]

As the ship was preparing to accelerate to get away from Plock, this is the sight Kerbals could see through their windows. Karen and Beros in conjunction.

 

Meanwhile, Geiger counter detected radioactive gas in the system's barycenter. As of now, the phenomenon is unexplained.

Orbit coincides with current Karen's terminator and has been adjusted to skid in and out the tenuous magnetosphere surrounding this weird satellite.

 

Orbital insertion went well and was very precise. Plock and Kyx looming over southern regions of Karen.

 

After the procedure, Bob noticed distant Kerbin in the glare of Kerbol.

 

However, nobody was prepared for the next sight. As the ship was passing over the northern polar area, an incredible, massive pole pyramid appeared. It seems to dwarf anything previously seen in the system and will have to be investigated.

Edited November 13, 2016 by lajoswinkler

[lajoswinkler]

Hey, you people who put probes on Kron 6, come in.

[lajoswinkler]

The team picked a spot for landing on Karen and Knugen lander separated from the mothership.

 

Four retro burns were done to position Knugen on a proper trajectory at one of the smaller craters in Karen's highlands.

 

Picked crater turned out to be rich in surface rocks, with diverse terrain.

 

Touchdown occured at 3.5 m/s.

 

Lots of stuff to see here. The crew will be busy.

 

I think I'll be able to squeeze one more landing in, possibly three.

Edited November 19, 2016 by lajoswinkler

[Hast5250]

In all seriousness, what was that thing on Wal? Was it a mod part, also it reminds me of the movie "Sphere" in the film they find a giant gold ball that looks like that, and it gives them superpowers.

[lajoswinkler]

20 hours ago, Hast5250 said:

In all seriousness, what was that thing on Wal? Was it a mod part, also it reminds me of the movie "Sphere" in the film they find a giant gold ball that looks like that, and it gives them superpowers.

It was his egg, presumably.

 

Time for more screenshots.

Jebediah planting the first flag on Karen.

 

Karen is very cold and the crew needed to work fast to get useful science data. Here's Bill, trying to power the grid using a silly solar array. Obviously, whoever packed it was oblivious of the distance between Plockian system and Kerbol. It's perfectly useless, but neat looking, so Bill mounted it anyway. (Also, Bob was too amazed with standing on a piece of apparatus for a comment.)

 

The team discovered a large amount of solid ices on Karen, covered with radioactive particles that got there somehow from the interstellar space. In the image below, you can even see Jool in the distance. That's how distant the mission is.

 

Several pieces of equipment were lost as they mysteriously detonated, so the away team decided to pack what's left and return to Kron 6.

 

In total, they've spent a whole Karen day on the surface and have consumed all of their food supplies, reaching the mothership in a very hungry state.

Edited November 26, 2016 by lajoswinkler

[KAL 9000]

Yay! And RELEASE THE PROBES! You didn't remove their RTGs, right?

[lajoswinkler]

They haven't been touched yet. But I forgot, what were their targets? I've got 4 probes and I forgot who made them and where they need to go, and I'm too lazy to find out.

[OrbitalBuzzsaw]

@lajoswinkler: @KAL 9000's probes are/were bound for Beros and Kyx respectively. @DMSP's probes... well, he's away, so drop 'em in Plockian orbit and wait for the next mission.

[DMSP]

59 minutes ago, OrbitalBuzzsaw said:

@lajoswinkler: @KAL 9000's probes are/were bound for Beros and Kyx respectively. @DMSP's probes... well, he's away, so drop 'em in Plockian orbit and wait for the next mission.

Don't worry, I'm not as away as before. Honestly, @lajoswinkler, just plop 'em wherever you want. Maybe shoot one down an anomaly.

Thanks for continuing on with the mission.

[DMSP]

@lajoswinkler, is everything good? I hope that everything's fine with you and I cannot wait for this to continue on.

[lajoswinkler]

Where were we? Ah, yes. The crew of Kron 6 is still in polar orbit of Karen and there are no more plans for manned landing on it.

But we have probes. Two by DMSP and two by KAL 9000.

It was decided that the first two should work on Karen and last two on Beros and Kyx, respectively.

 

DMSP-01 detaches for Karen's north pole.

 

With a series of thrusts, the probe lander will wander around the anomaly and land next to it.

[DMSP]

Nice! That anomaly is going to make one helluva interesting story...

Although it's been so long since I've seen the probes I'm not actually sure who built which ones! @KAL 9000, do you have any idea!

[KAL 9000]

HEY! THAT'S MY PROBE! Revert to last Quicksave, please!

[lajoswinkler]

Then you're gonna get the other two. They're basically the same.

[Kosmonaut]

I remember following Kron 4 very excitedly, and then completely forgetting about this series. I'm glad to be back.

[lajoswinkler]

The anomaly turned out to be quite spectacular.

 

When the probe landed, the thing looked like an enormous chimney.

 

And indeed it is enormous, quite possibly the tallest polar anomaly KSP has ever seen.

 

The probe has determined the height of this anomaly as 2.2 km which is almost half of Moho's polar hole depth.

During an attempt to touch the top, it lost control and smashed into its side.

 

Next probe will hop around the southern pole.

[lajoswinkler]

Next probe was released to land on the south pole.

 

South pole of Karen has a much more familiar appearance with typical spikes. It's very dark there, so descent was slow, but successful.

 

The probe will remain where it landed, transmitting until its battery is drained.

[Plecy75]

yay! it's back!

quick question: what mod did you use for the centrifuge hab?

[lajoswinkler]

3 hours ago, Plecy75 said:

yay! it's back!

quick question: what mod did you use for the centrifuge hab?

Kerbalism.

[KAL 9000]

I can't remember exactly, but I think I remember putting RTGs on my probes. So if there wasn't a mix-up, then the Beros-Kyx probes won't run out of charge until the Blutonium depletes (I think).

[Plecy75]

On 8/12/2016 at 7:06 PM, lajoswinkler said:

The crew has been delivered, but not using that SSTO because getting up to 170 km isn't easy. Rocket with a pod ship called Rubik was used.

we never did get a good view of the front of Rubik, do u have more images and/or a craft download?

Edited January 24, 2017 by Plecy75

[lajoswinkler]

46 minutes ago, Plecy75 said:

we never did get a good view of the front of Rubik, do u have more images and/or a craft download?

I don't think so, but it was probably just a procedural structural element to adapt 2.5 to 1.25 and then a docking port.

[lajoswinkler]

This was the plan to catch Beros. I've been fiddling with the maneuver node and finally managed to catch this tiny body.

 

For this to succeed, Kron 6 had to thrust almost towards nadir.

 

This was the result.

 

By the time the ship had reached the lowest altitude, minimal terrain distance reported was less than 1100 m.

 

And then Beros started rising above Karen's limb.

 

The crew will reach Beros in 5.5 hours.