Year 12

Year 12, Day 285 (Explorer 5 Returns from Duna, Orbits Kerbin, and Docks with Kerbin Spaceport!

sayburstuff Year 12 , , , , , , ,

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Explorer 5 enters Kerbin’s sphere of gravitational influence, and automatic systems revive the crew!

“Mission Control, this is Val – Bob and Bill are in good shape, and so am I!  Explorer 5 is approaching Kerbin, and looking at our sensors I think we’re good for entering orbit!”

-Val

“Explorer 5 – this is Gene – that’s great!  Are you sure about skipping the splashdown/flyby procedure?”

-Gene

“Roger that! Explorer 5 has enough fuel to enter orbit and even dock with Kerbin Spaceport!”

-Val

“Permission granted Explorer 5 – good luck!”

-Gene

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Explorer 5 fires it’s engine and enters Kerbin’s orbit!

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Mission Control, Explorer 5 has achieved Kerbin Orbit! Proceeding to Kerbin Spaceport!

-Val

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Cheers fill Mission Control over Val’s broadcast!  This is a big day for KSEA – NO interplanetary spacecraft has ever returned to Kerbin orbit before!

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“Explorer 5, this is Edan on Kerbin Spaceport.  You are tracking good and cleared for approach!”

-Edan

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Val manuevers Explorer 5 closer and closer to the Spaceport…

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“Almost there….”

-Val

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Ka-Chunk! Whirrrrrrrr….Explorer 5 connects with Kerbin Spaceport!

“Welcome home!  Sorry about the mess, we weren’t expecting guests!”

-Edan

Explorer 5’s crew will rest for a day, then return to Kerbin onboard the Crew Shuttle Adventure!

 

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Year 12, Day 103 (Pathfinder 1 Lands Last Probe on Laythe at De Grasse Sea!)

sayburstuff Year 12 , , ,

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Pathfinder 1 launches it’s last probe!

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The probe fires it’s retro rockets and starts to decend!

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Hopefully the heat shield is sufficient to protect the fragile electronics and other components!

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The probe survives the atmospheric heating and deploys it’s parachutes!

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The solar panels deploy, and the probe transmits as much data as it can before the power runs out!  Sadly, the probe is only able to partially transmit it’s gravity data!

“Some data is better than none!  We’ll equip the next probe with more robust power systems! ”

-Robart, at Mission Control, Kerbin

Several important facts have been learned, such as power demands on Outer Planet missions and the importance of integrating the planetary scan with the mothership!

There were some concerns after the failure of Pathfinder 4 and Pathfinder 5 that the entire Pathfinder program might need to be scrapped, however this success guarantees a bright future for the Pathfinder Program!

As the probe transmits it’s last bit of data, it’s systems power down and the connection is lost.  This concludes the Pathfinder 1 mission, which despite a few bumps is considered a success by KSEA!

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Year 12, Day 92 (Pathfinder 1 Orbits Laythe!)

sayburstuff Year 12 , , ,

screenshot545.pngPathfinder 1 manuevers to enter a polar orbit of Laythe at an altitude of 242k.  This will be an ideal orbit to release the orbital scanner probe!

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The orbital scanner ejects from the Tri-Probe mount…

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… extends it’s solar array and begins mapping the surface!

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Once a sufficient scan is complete, KSEA will determine the ideal landing coordinates for the two probes onboard Pathfinder 1!

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In the meantime, Pathfinder 1 is instructed to reduce its orbit to 60k… an orbit KSEA engineers and scientists predict will be the best to deploy the surface probes from!