Molotov

So with version 0.18 out, this is my new thread for messing around.

Modifications/plugins used:

• Protractor Rendezvous Plugin - provides you with information to help time launches to intercept other planets.
• Graphtron 2000 - Sensor parts which provide information are plotted on a graph when this part is added.
• MechJeb - A kind of autopilot, but I primarily use it to ascend nicely and fiddle with orbits, which gets a little tedious sometimes.
• ISA MapSat - Mapping part to chart planetary bodies as you orbit them.

First mission, at the selecting from "famous explorers" suggested by #molotov, the Thorfinn I Satellite, named after Thorfinn Karlsefni, Icelandic explorer who explored and attempted to settle Vinland (probably North America).



Launch with solid rocket boosters firing.



Heading into the sky.



Boosters jettisoned, gravity turn in progress.



A lovely circular orbit at about 100 km, over the equator.



Four aerials deployed, liquid rocket stage decoupled.


In the last image viewing the rear of the satellite, we can see its ion engine. It has, thanks to a small tank of xenon gas and its four solar panels, fuel sufficient to go exploring further, if very slowly. We might send it somewhere further out soon ish.

Next project, the Fiennes I Satellite, named for Ranulph Fiennes, who aside from being British and awesome, was also the first to journey around the world on its polar axis using surface transport only, covering 52,000 miles and visiting both poles by land, as well as the first unsupported crossing of Antarctica.

He also served in the Army in the Royal Scots Greys, was seconded to the SAS where he specialised in demolition, was discharged for blowing up a dam built in Castle Combe (at the time prettiest village in England) for the film Doctor Dolittle using leftover explosives, before being allowed back, fought in the Dhofar Rebellion, explored the White Nile by hovercraft, Norwegian glaciers, attempted to walk unsupported to the North Pole but his skis fell through the ice and he had to fish them out by hand, suffering severe frostbite on his left hand forcing him to abandon the attempt, amputated said dead fingers himself at home instead of waiting for healthy tissue to regrow because it was too painful, had a heart attack and a double bypass four months before running 7 marathons in 7 days on 7 continents, became the oldest Briton to ascend Mount Everest, and made it down to the final 6 to be selected as James Bond, being beaten out by Roger Moore.

So yeah. Badass. And now he gets to be a polar satellite. Though in the course of writing all that, I've decided I'm also going to use the name on other satellites further out.



Burning into orbit. The flat, pale green area below is where the Kerbal Space Centre is located.



The orbits of Thorfinn I and Fiennes I intersecting on their paths, both 100 km from the surface.



Communications dish deployed and MapSat scanning.



MapSat's progress so far. Progress from this point on is set to be much slower, but eventually we'll have a map of Kerbin by altitude.

Last rocket for tonight, the Collins I Satellite, named for Michael Collins, the third man on the Apollo 11 mission, the command module pilot. He also flew on Gemini 10, which performed the first double rendezvous after docking first with their own Agena booster and then meeting the Agena from the aborted Gemini 8. Collins spacewalked over to the second Agena, making him the first person to meet another spacecraft in orbit. He's also, by my count, 1 of 19 living persons to have been to the Moon (meaning at least orbited).



Collins I launches on a slightly larger rocket than Thorfinn I and Fiennes I in order to get it to the Mun.



Target in sight, but we're going around the other way.



Panels deployed, we'll see you on the other side, Mun.



I try a little fiddling with the new manoeuvres (maneuvers for Americans) system to time my burn. I usually do it by eye and it works pretty well, but I figured I'd give it a shot. For reference, the green dot on the large circle is the Mun, travelling anti-clockwise, whilst I'm travelling clockwise to meet it and get pulled towards it.



You can't tell from this one image, but the system couldn't decide whether there was an intercept here or not. Eventually it decided there was, but only when I was about 3000 km away.



Having jettisoned our main liquid fuel engine, we're now running on ion engines. Which is to say xenon gas and electricity. Which is where things get complicated. The manoeuvre system is still a little iffy, so the transfer burn doesn't work quite right and we end up on a collision course with the Mun. On top of that, the solar panels are too small to provide enough electrical power to keep the ion engine going for long periods. You can't tell from this image, but the engine light is blinking on and off, starting and stopping. I closed the satellite dish to save some power, but regrettably it wouldn't open again later.



In a desperate race against time and gravity, we manage to avert a Munar collision. Our liquid fuel stage is less lucky, its projected path still visible.



The orbit is stabilised and after much fiddling during periods of sunlight, we start getting nice imaging of the Munar surface. I'll keep you posted on the progress of the mapping.

Sisyphus I and II are the next two missions, identical manned rockets launched to 150 km above the equator to rendezvous and dock. They're named after King Sisyphus of Ephyra (Corinth), condemned to roll a boulder up a hill in Hades for eternity, as suggested by Gesar.



More launching!



Its final stage burning into orbit.



Panels deployed, waiting for Sisyphus II.



Off in the far distance...



Targeted and closing in.



Docked!



Bill Kerman goes on a little EVA.


I'll deorbit these sooner or later.

Moon mission time! We're heading to Kerbin's first moon, called Mun. The mission is called Endymion I, after the lover of Luna/Selene.



Waiting for launch.



Off we go!



Solid rocket boosters (SRBs) jettisoned.



Secondary rocket engines jettisoned (thanks to fuel lines, the central stack remains full of fuel.



In orbit, heading to the Mun, the long way around. We're travelling east, the Mun is about to set to the west.



Scenic views.



Burn completed at the correct time (as the Mun rises over Kerbin's eastern horizon), our path takes us towards the Mun, travelling in the same direction as it.



Caught in the Mun's sphere of influence.



An orbit around the Mun.



More burns allows us to intersect with the Mun's surface.



Down we go, previous stage jettisoned.



Nuclear engine burning to slow us down.



Final stage jettisoned, lander nearing the surface.



There's a shadow...



Touchdown!



Customary shot of lander in the light of the sun (Kerbol).



Dilger Kerman, first Kerbal on the Mun!



Climbing back aboard, Dilger inspects the monopropellant fuel tanks for the emergency return stage.