Slate

Year 22, Day 145 (DSV-3 Horizon Crew Lands on Eeloo!

sayburstuff Year 22 , , , , , ,

After weeks in orbit calibrating equipment and scouting out a new landing site, Mission Control gives the OK to land on Eeloo! Mitster and Kimmy board the lander and undock from Horizon’s payload bay!

“Decoupling lander… RCS only. Clearing payload bay…”
-Mitster

The lander drifts clear from Horizon!

“Scientific equipment is fully operational… recording data! The view is amazing!”
-Kimmy

Once the craft is clear of Horizon, the lander fires it’s main engine to de-orbit and land!

“All systems nominal – landing sequence started.”
-Mitster

Back at mission Control, the time delayed transmission has everyone on the edge of their seat! This is the most distant landing ever attempted!

Mitster and Kimmy continue their descent, as the pearly surface of Eeloo gets closer and closer!

Mitster focuses on the landing as the craft gets closer and closer to the surface!

“Almost there! Landing gear is fully deployed and shows ready!”
-Mitster

The lander is mere seconds from touching down…

The lander touches down and makes contact with the Sarnusian moon of Eeloo! Kimmy looks out the window of the lander and is awestruck!

“It’s… beautiful!”
-Kimmy

“Mission Control – this is Horizon lander. We have landed on Eeloo!”
-Mitster

Back on Kerbin, everyone in mission control cheers!

“Good work team! Let’s get that ladder down and see what we can find on Eeloo!”
-Gene, at Mission Control on Kerbin

Year 22, Day 84 (DSV-3 Horizon Arrives at Sarnus!)

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On board Horizon, Kimmy and the rest of the crew start waking up from their Cryo-sleep!

“Good morning everyone!”
-Kimmy, Mission Science Specialist

“Good morning! Let’s get the systems ready for the approach to Slate!”

-Chrisnic, Mission Engineer

The crew rushes to the bridge – when Mitster spots Sarnus!

“Get a picture Kimmy!”
-Mitster

“Wow! That’s the first picture Kerbals have ever taken of Sarnus!”
-Kimmy

“…and look how small the sun looks from out here – wow!”
-Kimmy

The crew starts powering up systems and verifies full communication with the Kerbin Deep Space Relay Network! After a time delay, a message comes back from Kerbin!

“Horizon – this is Gene at Mission Control, back on Kerbin! We’re reading your transmissions loud and clear – good luck!”
-Gene, at Mission Control

The Horizon speeds toward Sarnus…

…and arrives at it’s close approach to Slate, the large moon of Sarnus!

“Main engine … firing! Reactor is showing full power!”
-Chrisnic

The capture burn into orbit lasts nearly 2 minutes!

Finally, the ship is captured into orbit of Slate!

“Looks like we’ve got orbit! Good work everyone! Time to disconnect the communications probe!”
-Mitster

“Comm dishes are… deployed – undocking probe!”
-Chrisnic

The probe drifts away from DSV-3 Horizon! The satellite arrays should provide full communication with Kerbin for missions!

As horizon orbits around Slate, the crew starts reviewing data from the orbital insertion, as well as collecting tons of new data from the Sarnusian moon!

Horizon’s cargo bay opens, and the science equipment on the lander starts collecting data! However, Kimmy is the first to crunch the numbers and has some bad news!

“Uh oh! It looks like Slate is much more massive than we thought… this data says that we’re dealing with a lot more gravity than the lander was designed for!”
-Kimmy

The crew discusses the situation with Mission Control, and a novel solution is found – change the mission parameters to land on the smaller Sarnusian moon of Eeloo!

“No problem – we can transit to Eeloo in 5 days! Plugging in the maneuver!”
-Mitster

Before departing, Horizon collects information over many biomes as it circles the moon – Kimmy even climbs out and conducts visual surveys for several full orbits!

5 days later, on Day 89, Horizon begins it’s maneuver to Eeloo!

The nuclear engine fires…

… and the Horizon is propelled away from Slate, toward Eeloo!

Another 5 days later on Day 94, Horizon circularizes it’s orbit around Eeloo!

“Looks like orbit has been achieved! Eeloo is pretty similar to Mun – just a bit bigger – our lander shouldn’t have an problems!”

-Chrisnic

“We just need to find a good landing site. Maybe we can repurpose one of the survey sattelites in orbit of Slate? They should have enough deltaV to make it here!”
-Kimmy

Mission Control agrees, and scientists begin working on maneuvers to bring the Slate Surveyor to Eeloo!

Year 21, Day 327 (Sarnus/Slate Relay-Scanner Enters Slate Orbit!)

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The new Sarnus/Slate Relay-Scanner probe arrives at the Sarnus system!

“We still have communication! All those communications dishes really do add up to create a better connection with Kerbin!”
-Gene, at Mission Control

The Slate Probe performs an orbital capture maneuver…

… then captures into a 65 degree inclination Slate Orbit!

“We have enough deltaV to maneuver the probe again if need be – but good work everybody! This is our first probe around Slate!

Indeed, previous probes to the Sarnus system have all failed – either not enough power, or not enough communications capacity. This time – it looks like a proper scan of Slate can be completed!

The lens protector on the surface telescope opens!

“We’re recieving signal! We should have a complete scan of the surface just in time for the Horizon to arrive!”
-Gene

The Relay-Scan probe continues it’s orbit around Slate! In 106 days it will be joined in the Sarnus system by DSV-3 Horizon!

Year 18, Day 381 (Aurora 23 Launches, Carrying DSV-3 Horizon Crew to Orbit – then Horizon Leaves for Sarnus!)

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Aurora 23 launches from Cape Kerman, carrying Mitster, Chrisnic, and Kimmy!

Once in out of the atmosphere, the protective fairing deploys, and the spacecraft starts burning to rendezvous with DSV-3 Horizon!

“There it is! Slowing us down to stationkeeping….”
-Mitster

Once Aurora 23 has matched speeds exactly with Horizon, Mitster heads over to the Slate Lander!

“I’m outside the lander… it looks in good shape! So does the relay satellite we’ll be leaving in a wide orbit of Slate!”
-Mitster

As the sun sets, Mitster climbs into the lander, detaches from Aurora 23, and moves closer to Horizon’s docking bay!

“This is going to be almost entirely by instruments… it’s dark in space!”
-Mitster

Thankfully, Mitster is able to dock with Horizon… just as the sun comes up!

Shortly after that, Mission Control remotely pilots the Relay Satellite over to the nose of Horizon!

“OK —- powering up the basic systems… things seem good over here! I think you guys can come over to Horizon now!”
-Mitster

First, Mitster EVA’s over…

…then Kimmy!

“Oh wow! Horizon is looking good! I can’t wait to wake up and be in orbit of Sarnus!”
-Kimmy

Chrisnic does a full survey of Horizon to make sure every single component of the mission is ship-shape!

“OK – Horizon is OK to go! Powering up reactor…. Radiator systems are functioning… Main Engine is showing full power available! We’re good Mitster…. light that candle!”
-Chrisnic

With that, Horizon’s massive engine fires, in a burn that lasts for several minutes, propelling the crew to Sarnus in just three years!

“Hold on tight everyone… once the burn is done, we’ll head to the cryo-section for a little space nap… and before you know it, we’ll be at Sarnus!”
-Kimmy

Year 18, Day 371 (DSV-3 Crew, Mission Patch Announced!)

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The mission patch for Horizon Crew Mission 1 is announced, and it looks like Mitster, Chrisnic, and Kimmy will be the lucky FIRST Kerbals to visit the Sarnus system!

Because of Horizon’s launch to high orbit (800k) – the next Aurora Rocket, Aurora 23) originally destined for Mun, will be used to launch the crew! This will also allow the delivery of a modified Mun Lander, with increased fuel and power systems, to land on Slate! The stack will also include a relay satellite that will be left in a high equatorial orbit of Slate, to assist the polar-orbit survey/relay satellite that is already at the moon.

The crew will be launching tomorrow!

Year 18, Day 370 (DSV-3 Horizon Launches!)

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The massive Nova-1 Rocket is rolled out to the launchpad, carrying the most expensive, and most capable spacecraft KSEA has ever built – DSV-3 Horizon!

Horizon has been under construction for much longer than anticipated, as engineers and scientists kept adding new technologies and features to the spacecraft, slowing down it’s completion!

“Well – it’s finally done! Let’s see how it flies!”
-Gene

The plume from the rockets almost reach the space center!

Slowly, the Nova-1 carries Horizon higher and higher…

Eventually escaping Kerbin’s atmosphere!

Next, the 6 solid rockets eject!

“Solid rocket ejection is complete – rockets are clear of the spacecraft!”
-Sean, at Mission Control

The core of the Nova-1 carries Horizon to it’s 800k orbit, running out of fuel in the orbital stage just in time!

Finally, the fairing deploys, and Horizon is free!

“All instruments show Horizon is intact… systems slowly coming online… main antenna dish has deployed successfully!”
-Kimmy, at Mission Control

Horizon sits in orbit, waiting for it’s crew!

“Good job everyone! Let’s get our crew together!”
-Gene

Year 18, Day 366 (KSEA Releases Blueprints for Deep Space Vehicle ‘Horizon’!)

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KSEA is excited to announce the final design for Horizon! Building upon the successes of DSV-2 Discovery, the Horizon is the largest, most advanced spacecraft ever – and will be launched on a new rocket designed just for it, the Nova Rocket… The largest rocket ever launched!

The most striking new feature of Horizon is the massive cargo bay allowing a variety of payloads to travel with the spacecraft!

Construction will be completed soon, and even more exciting, should be done in time for the launch window to Sarnus!

The crew will be announced soon, as will the mission specifics!

Year 5, Day 285 (Frontier 2 Orbits Sarnus!)

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Frontier 2 approaches Sarnus…

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Closer…

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and closer!

screenshot1657.pngFinally, the craft fires its engines to circularize its orbit – extremely close to the rings of the distant, mysterious world!

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Onboard systems relay amazing new findings about Sarnus that scientists on Kerbin will be pouring over for years!

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Slowly, the probe’s long and eliptical orbit takes it away from Sarnus!

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but the adventure isn’t over quite yet, the craft’s trajectory will take it into the gravitational sphere of Eeloo, one of Sarnus’s (many)moons!screenshot1682.png

Sarnus’s magnificent vista doesn’t fail to impress!

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Frontier 2 silently passed by Eeloo – while the probe is not equipped with the modern scanning hardware of the Surveyor probes, Frontier 2 dutifully scans what it can. screenshot1692.png

The moon Slate can be seen in the distance. screenshot1693.png

What an incredible day for science!  The most recent accomplishments of the space program have inspired all of Kerbin!