It is decided that we will commence sciencing the everything. With new science toys.
Diagrams are boring.
Pamphlets are fun, though.
P.S. The graphic design department apologizes for the misprints of the Space Exploration pamphlet which stated that we would badly go where no little green man has gone before.Now for unsolicited opinions. Jeb suggests Electrics so we can extend our range, Bill requests Landing so we don't need to crash, and Bob points out that Space Exploration would improve our science. Director GreatWyrmGold agrees with this last.
Firstly, we need to update our science rockets. Secondly, we need to use those rockets on everything nearby.
The first SciMax Mark Three* produced. After several hours of argument, the engineering team admits they had been reading the blueprints upside-down.
Eventually, we WILL reach the mountains!
But perhaps...perhaps not today.*Yeah, the last one was Mk3 too. I named the ship before I realized my mistake...
In a move that makes Bill faint, Jebediah waits until he is barely more than a kilometer above Kerbin's surface to deploy his parachute, hoping to get more distance. Sadly, he fails. Even more sadly, some of the science equipment explodes.
Just once, I'd like to get through a launch with no explosions of vital mission stuff.
What just exploded, and why did it wait to explode until Jeb got up?We attempt to science. This works...subparly. Also, Jeb can't get back into the pod because he didn't raise the landing legs.
Argh! Who built this thing so high?!?
Um, what's that coming ut the back of your helmet? ...Jeb, maybe you should stop trying to knock it over with your head.We retrieve the big worthless piece of metal as well as the Kerbonaut (you thought we were going to insult Jeb, didn't you? Shame on you!) and begin designing a SSTO craft.
Psyche!For this very important mission, we hire a new Kerbonaut, because our current ones were too
valuable inexperienced with this kind of craft to fly it. And what a unique craft it is!
Note: "Unique" is not always a nice way of saying "Stupid".The launch commences!
Um.
The ocean's the other way, you...wait, you're alive?
"Yes, mission control. Astute observation."
We...we spoke too soon.Well, we did achieve airborneness slightly before the fatal explosion, so yay?
Expert engineers determine that the point things went wrong was when the craft flipped over. Slight redisigns are done, to move the center of thrust forward and the center of mass backward. We hire a new crew member.
Our ship, ready for...
...launch?
"Hadson, we need to recover your ship and try again. Please tey to look less smug."
"Alright, we're launched. Not so smug now, are ya?"
"Did he...turn off the thrust? And is he turning it back on?"
"Clever, he waited until he turned the right dir--"
"--ection. Um."We redesign the craft, adding more weight to the back. We launch a third time!
Our management denies all charges of sociopathy, citing lack of prioritizing skill.
A kerbonaut after Bill's own heart.
We may be in for an early explosion.Remarkably, while the entire craft exploded on the runway, the command pod rolled off the end unharmed. Archibald was inducted into the K
SSP and the SSTO project discontinued.
We launch Jebediah in an attempt to reach a new biome. We fail, landing in the grasslands. We also remember that we really need to do something about those landing legs if we want the Science Junior to survive the landing.
We "launch" the SciMax several meters from the launchpad and collect a little more data.
Whoo. A little more science.Jebediah gets bored and hijjacks a space Mk3 to take to orbit.
He failed. Try more fuel.Still, his attempt convinced the science team that orbit might be important, if only to get Jeb out of their hair.
Yet another page in the debate about pretty pictures and space.
Sadly, we had some parts break off the bottom of the spaceship.
Oh, Jeb.
Whoo! More science!We make a new model of rocket:
Marking problems have been solved!
The Mark Five, set up incorrectly.
More like it.
The initial burn done, Jeb waits impatiently for apoapsis so he can begin getting into orbit. To him, "apoapsis" is just a word Ground Control says to him that means "Time to turn on the engines!", but Ground Control knows it means "The highest part of the orbit" and is the optimal time to burn to raise your periapsis, the lowest point, out of the ground so you don't crash.
A pretty picture of Jeb's not-yet-orbit.
A better-aimed picture of Jeb's almost-orbit.
And we have a periapsis!
And a circular orbit! And enough fuel to--
Oops.Jebediah's craft is now stranded in orbit! What can we do?!?
As a reminder:
Oh yeah, we can science.At the moment, we could research Advanced Rocketry (which gives a small radial engine and a large fuel tank), General Construction (which gives struts, launch clamps, a new radial decoupler, and a stack tri-coupler), or Flight Control (a moveable winglet, the Mk1 spaceplane cockpit, a remote-probe-body, and a reaction wheel). If our space settler brings back at least 28 Science of data, that would let us research the technologies above. Out of what we have, Bill recommends flight control due to safety, Bob recommends saving up for Landing or Space Exploration, Archibald thinks we should save up for Flight Control so we don't have to go to space, and Jebediah recommends that space is awesome but he wants to come down now.
Note: We can't just fly another Mark 5 up there and rescue Jeb. First off, it only has room for one Kerbalnaut. Second off, it barely has enough fuel to get into orbit and have a little left over (I overshot and ran out of fuel in large part from trying to screenshot, but it didn't take long to go from "orbit" to "out of fuel"), and that little bit isn't enough to maneuver to Jeb and then get home. Finally, rendezvous isn't all that easy...
We need a plan of action guys! Jeb has enough rations and sunlight to last up there a while, so we don't need to worry about doing stuff fast, but stuff we must do! Eventually, at least.
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Topic: (KSP LP) Bay12 Space Program: Conical Difficulties (Read 71228 times)