Carson and Bob celebrate the New Year by exploring the stark, hot world of Moho! The durable rover and its life support systems keep them cool and mobile!
“Traction control on the surface looks pretty bad – I’ll see what I can do about adjusting the motors. Wish that Sondo was here – I’ll have to make some guesses on the configuration! “
-Bob
The rover works its way through the somewhat perilous terrain of the small crater, dodging around rocks, or whatever those strange shapes are! The traction adjustments seem to help, allowing the rover to brake without sliding down hills!
“You know, I like the heat, feels like I’m on an adventure! I’m getting a little light headed though….”
-Carson
The lander climbs the side of the crater, navigating around the odd structures dotting the surface…
“Fascinating – previous explorations of Moho hasn’t noted these strange formations! My suspicion is these are basalt columns formed by cooled lava flows under the surface that burst up in these areas and then cooled… We should try to get some samples back to Kerbin! “
-Bob
With the sun still beating down on them, Bob climbs out of the rover and takes a sample near the strange columns!
“I wonder if the world is still volcanically active? Hopefully when we get this back to Kerbin the rest of the science team can make some sense of this! “
-Bob
“Better load those rocks up – we are going to bake if we’re out here too long!”
-Carson
Carson dutifully drives the rover around the formations – aware that hitting just one the wrong way might tip the rover on its side, or worse!
“It’s hard to resist the urge to go full speed – these rovers are fun!”
-Carson
“Well try ! We’re almost a thousand meters from the lander! “
-Bob
After collecting a great deal of science and surface samples, the pair head back to the lander!
Suddenly – Carson has a horrible realization that they forgot something critical!
“I just realized we forgot something! Something critical!”
-Carson
“Oh no! What is it!? “
-Bob
Bob rolls his eyes as he realizes what Carson meant – the Kerbal States flag wasn’t planted when they landed!
“There we go!”
-Carson
Bob configures the camera on the lander and records an image to transmit back to Kerbin – posing with “Old Kerby” for Mission Control!
The brave and somewhat forgetful Kerbals take the next few minutes gathering up all the material and science they need to take back to Kerbin… then climb back into the lander!
“Ok… hold on Bob – this new lander configuration is going to have a bit of a kick!”
-Carson
The 4 small solid rockets fire, and the lander dramatically blasts off the surface!
“Ahhhhhhhhh! “
-Bob
The solid rockets fire with such force, and with the ascent angle being fairly acute, the two Kerbals see quite a bit of Moho’s surface moving quit quickly outside their window!
The small solid rockets use up their fuel and eject, and the lander uses up almost all of its fuel reaching orbit!
“Wow! That was so fun! Although, mission Control needs to think about retiring this lander. We have barely enough fuel to return to Intrepid!
-Carson
“You’re right! You’re going to need to do some careful maneuvering, we have almost no margin for error in our fuel budget!“
-Bob
Carson careful fires the engine in a series of manuevers to rendevouses with the orbiting Deep Space Vehicle Intrepid!
“Look out the window Bob – we made it!”
-Carson
“Yipee! Sondo, this is Bob – do you copy?“
-Bob
“Welcome back guys! Intrepid is ready for docking! I’ve activated RCS and SAS stabilization… you are go for maneuvering!”
-Sondo
The lander moves closer and closer…
Until finally – connection is made! The crew is back together, and prepares for the next stage of their mission: The Voyage Home!
Kerbal States | Kerbin Space Exploration Administration 