Author: sayburstuff

Year 13, Day 128 (X-10 Laythe Spaceplane Launcher Construction)

sayburstuff Year 13 , ,

The X-10 Laythe Spaceplane is ready for testing on Kerbin (which will start soon.) Meanwhile construction begins on the Jool Rocket that will carry the X-10 into orbit, then to Laythe.

The only missing piece of the Laythe Landing project is the orbiting science station / refuelling depot for the crew once they arrive on Discovery. The Laythe Spaceport’s basic design will be heavily influenced by Duna Spaceport, with the main difference being the fuel type – the Duna Landers all use a standard LFO mix, while the X-10 uses a majority of liquid fuel, with LFO for orbital manuevering only.

There is also an ongoing debate on what to name the X-10 that will be sent to Laythe!

Year 13, Day 127 (Explorer 6 Enters Laythe Orbit!)

sayburstuff Year 6 , , , , , ,

After a journey lasting longer than 2 years, Explorer 6 finally arrives at Laythe! Automated systems thaw the crew – who slowly wake up!

“Wow, it’s been years? It barely felt like much of a nap!”
-Glenica

Explorer 6’s engines fire, and eventually circularize the orbit around Laythe!

“Mitster to Ground Control – I’m stepping through the hatch… “
-Mitster

“Oh wow! It’s beautiful!”
-Mitster

“Ground Control to Mitster – you’ve really made the grade!”
-Gene, Mission Control

Year 13, Day 110 (X-10 Laythe Spaceplane Announced!)

sayburstuff Year 13 , , , , , , ,

KSEA announces the final draft of the X-10 Laythe Spaceplane! In development for longer than the engineers would like to admit, the X-10 is the most sophisticated (and complicated) spaceplane the space program has designed.

The mission that the spaceplane has been designed for is so unique that the KSEA Blueprint Division spent an inordinate amount of time detailing it so that everyone would remember what to do once the spacecraft finally arrived!

“Dibs! I can’t wait to land a spaceplane on a moon!”
-Jeb

The pilot program has seen an increase in applicants since the plans were released!

“We finally have a design for a spacecraft that can land on Laythe – we have a way to get crew to Jool and back… now we just need to design a spaceport for the crew to rest and refuel!”
-Bill

Year 13, Day 95 (Laythe Mission Planning)

sayburstuff Year 13 , , , ,

With the successful test of Discovery KSEA now has a way to deliver Kerbals to Jool and return them (with their scientific findings!) to Kerbin. The last several weeks have been spent working out the rest of the landing plan. The landing target was an easy choice though….

Laythe! All of Kerbin was fascinated by the amazing photos sent back from Pathfinder 6, so that’s an easy choice! The next important decision is HOW to land.

The Super Duna Lander was the obvious first choice – this lander has been used over and over again by Explorer missions on Duna. Unfortunately the math just doens’t work out. Laythe is just too similair to Kerbin: high gravity, thick atmosphere. The more engineers looked at the problem the more thought a spaceplane might be the right answer. But which?

Despite KSEA’s large selection of spaceplanes, only one is truly a “SSTO” or “single stage to orbit” – the X-9! This plane will be the basis for the X-10 – a spacecraft designed specifically for landing and launching from Laythe! KSEA engineers have already started!

The Laythe Spaceport (also under design) will serve as a fuel and crew hub, with Discovery taking crew back and forth to Jool, and the X-10 operating as the primary lander. The chance to fly a plane on another world has sent applications to KSEA soaring!

“heh – soaring!”
-Gene

Year 13, Day 75 (Pathfinder 9 Announced)

sayburstuff Year 13 , , ,

KSEA announces a mission to the most distant world known: Plock! Pathfinder will be a slightly modified version of previous Pathfinder probes, instead of the 3-core probe design, one large lander will be used since Plock requires such a great amount of d/v.

Pathfinder 9 will be the second probe to Plock, Pathfinder 6 is already enroute… however there are concerns that Pathfinder 6 won’t have enough d/v to orbit.

Year 13, Day 10 (Explorer 6 Update!)

sayburstuff Uncategorized , , , , , , , ,

In just 60 days, Explorer 6 will enter the Joolian system! Computers on the spacecraft start waking up – transmitting data on the crew: healthy, lifesigns extremely faint from cryostasis but at expected levels. Radiation levels from Jool are high, as expected. Communication systems appear sufficient, barely, for communicating with Kerbin.

Explorer 6 was launched before Discovery had even been built, to test KSEA’s deep space capabilities. Ultimately, Explorer 6 will orbit Laythe, a world that on the surface looks very much like Kerbin! Eventually KSEA wants to land Kerbals on the planet – and to do that a permanent deep space station, like Duna Spaceport, will be required! Laythe Spaceport will hopefully be a destination for Discovery, and other Deep Space Vessels!

When the mission is complete KSEA will have learned a lot about deep space exploration – vital information for the space program to continue going further and further!

Year 13, Day 8 (DSV Refuelling Vehicle Launches and docks with Kerbin Spaceport!)

sayburstuff Year 6 , ,

The DSV refuelling vehicle launches from KSC! Until the logistics hubs on the Spaceport can be retrofitted to allow for the delivery of Lithium and other fuels, these launches are the only way to refuel the Deep Space Vehicles.

The orbital stage finishes firing, then seperates…

… and rendezvouses with the Spaceport!

Jeb, piloting remotely from the Spaceport for the docking manuever, reports some difficulties…

“This thing handles like a pig – a space pig!”
-Jeb

The connection is (finally) made! The Spaceport registers a solid connection to the fuel pipe system, and lithium and monopropellant are pumped from the refuelling vehicle to Discovery.