Year 8

Year 8, Day 273 (Explorer 3 Arrives At Duna!)

sayburstuff Year 8 , , , , , ,

screenshot400.pngExplorer 3 arrives at Duna after a very long voyage!  Edan, Glenica, and Sean are ready to stretch their legs in the Duna Spaceport Habitat!

Ok – let’s rendezvous with the Spaceport!

-Edan

screenshot402.pngExplorer 3 moves in to dock with Duna Spaceport…

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We’ve got a lock!  Docking complete!

-Edan

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I see the Super Duna Lander out there – systems fully powered down… you’ll have to go grab it and dock it with the Spaceport Edan!

-Sean

screenshot406.pngEdan EVA’s over to the lander….

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Almost there…

-Edan

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Edan arrives at the Super Duna Lander and powers up all systems!

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Bringing the lander in to dock….

-Edan

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Success!  The new lander docks with Duna Spaceport!  With the Advanced Atmospheric Lander the crew will be able to send landings down beyond the equatorial band that the previous lander limited them to.

Back on Kerbin, KSEA begins construction of a refuelling craft for the Duna Spaceport.

Year 8, Day 190 (Explorer 2 Returns Home!)

sayburstuff Year 8 , , , , ,

 

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Explorer 2’s command module ejects from the rest of the spacecraft, and follows its trajectory down through Kerbin’s atmosphere!

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The parachute opens, and the spacecraft gently descends to the surface.

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Success!  Mitster, Dunwin, and Kimmy make it home safe – carrying a treasure trove of scientific data from Duna with them! Rescue teams pick them up and the entire KSEA team is ecstatic at the successful end to the mission!

 

Explorer2Patch

Year 8, Day 63 (CryoLab Update!)

sayburstuff Year 8 , , , , , ,

screenshot360.pngIt’s been 100 days since Cryolab was put into orbit, and Mirphe pilots Intrepid launches to check on the crew!  Bill is along for the mission to see how the lab (and crew!) have held up. screenshot362.png

Docking complete!  Go see if our guys are OK Bill!

-Mirphe

Luly, Shepely, and Bob all thaw from their cryogenic sleep!

“Wow – feels like I just fell asleep!”

-Bob

Bill checks the crew and the Cryo equipment out…

Everybody and everything seem to check out!  I think we’re good to head back to the Space Center!

-Bill

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I’m in the pipe – five by five!

-Mirphe

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An (almost) perfect landing!  One of the dorsal airbrakes took some damage, but repairs shouldn’t be a problem.  The Cryo-crew is taken directly to the medlab!

 

 

 

Year 8, Day 62 (Pathfinder 1 Officially Announced!)

sayburstuff Year 8 , , ,

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The Pathfinder Mission is announced!  After a long development period KSEA is confident that Pathfinder is ready to go!

This revolutionary deep space probe is based of the Kerbol 1 and 2 probes, and will be launched to Laythe, the closest moon of Jool.

First, a scanning probe will be launched to survey the moon for appropriate landing sites. Then, two probes will land, the first designed solely for terrestrial landings, the second a multi-purpose probe that has been designed for both aquatic and terrestrial landing.

Year 8, Day 50 (Moho Rocket Launches Pathfinder Test Payload)

sayburstuff Year 8 , ,

screenshot334.pngAfter the unsatisfactory performance of the lander probe designed for Pathfinder, KSEA wanted to test the upgraded lander as soon as possible.  However even with Resolute on stand-by using a Heavy Cargo Shuttle to launch such a small payload seems like a waste.

Engineers have been looking for a payload to test the new aerospike based Moho Rocket however, and this is as good a time as any!

The Aerospike rocket is a revolutionary design in rockets, or so the team that designed it claim!

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The Moho Rocket blasts off!

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So far so good – the aerospike engine is performing extremely well at all altitudes!

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The lander ejects from its fairing and goes soaring away from the Moho Rocket!screenshot351.png

The heat shield holds as the probe flies through the atmosphere!

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The parachute deploys and the lander slowly heads down to the highlands below!

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A picture perfect landing.  Unfortunately, the test-send of the probe’s sensors showed that power was still insufficient!

“I think we should be able to cram a few more batteries on that thing!”

-Chrisnic

 

Year 8, Day 48 (Enterprise Finishes Testing Pathfinder Payloads)

sayburstuff Year 8 , , ,

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Enterprise launches the last Pathfinder payload – the Mk8 Atmospheric Scanner.

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Equipped with a multspectral scanner and enough deltaV to allow a wide range of deployments, the Mk8 will be the first Pathfinder probe launched to survey the surface for the  two remote landers.

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The scanner and probe perform perfectly, and the green light is given to include this design on Pathfinder!

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Alright, time to take Enterprise home!

–Mirphe

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Enterprise streaks through the clouds toward the Space Center!

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Ok – got the Center on visual… Enterprise is handling a little strange today – that or it’s been a while since I’ve landed a Heavy Cargo Shuttle!!

-Mirphe

 

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Thankfully Mirphe and Chrisnic set down safely!  Enterprise is taken to prepare for it’s next launch, but not before Chrisnic and the rest of the engineering team see if there’s any mechanical explanation for the shuttles odd handling!