Feb 05 2015

Mun III Mission Preview

Commander Bob and Captain Desson will be flying aboard Mun III, which is a re-attempt of the Mun I mission that ended in a failed ascent back in December of 2014. Their mission will be the first kerbals to orbit Mun and return, while doing so they will service 4 satellites currently in orbit around Mun. See how it will be done during this 3-day mission that will be the longest and furthest ever flown by the kerbals in space.

Music by Kevin MacLeod

Jan 30 2015

Asteroid Tracking Network – Initial Report (1/30/15)

This first video from the ATN shows the location of all 488 currently tracked asteroids and explains the categorization system in use. Each month the ATN will release a new video not only showing the asteroids in motion but new asteroids as they are discovered throughout the month.

The Asteroid Tracking Network is a group of observatories around Kerbin who are partially/fully dedicated to finding and tracking asteroids in the Kerbol system, with the ultimate goal of spotting dangerous asteroids that could pose a threat to Kerbin. It is organized and managed by astronomer Edlu Kerman.

Music by Kevin MacLeod

Jan 27 2015

#053: Kethane Refinement

For months now the R&D branch of the KSA has been working tirelessly to turn kethane, an abundant mineral found both here on Kerbin and in spectra on other bodies in the solar system, into rocket fuel. Not only would this greatly reduce our dependency on other sources of propellant, it would allow us to refuel in-situ, saving costs and weight on future missions to the surface of other planets and moons. The road was long but eventually scientists were able to deploy and test a drill and converter unit here on Kerbin.

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Jan 21 2015

Orbital Sunrise

Travel along with one of our satellites as its onboard camera captures the sun rising over Kerbin from 350km. The video has been sped up to 2x normal speed for a better sense of motion, despite the fact that the craft is traveling at 1.9km/s!

Music by Kevin Macleod

Jan 15 2015

Eleven Month Update

0.90 A Go

I had to take over 2 weeks off from the game after Xmas due to work out of the country, and I just got back this past weekend during the @KSA_MissionCtrl “upgrades”. There was nothing special about that event on twitter, I scheduled it back at the beginning of Dec just as a means to easily jump ahead a few days to help push out my lead time. But it actually happened to coincide with me getting 0.90 up and running from Sunday to Tuesday. For the most part it was a painless transition from 0.25. It took me almost three days because I had to catch up on all the forum threads for the mods I was updating, some of which had several pages worth of posts to go through. This is just so I’m aware of any known issues going in. I only installed the mods needed to run my current save, there are several more (mostly part packs) I have yet to get caught up on and install if I want to build a new ship.

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Jan 05 2015

#052: Can You Hear Me Now?

Despite some recent launch failures the KSA was looking forward to taking their next big step in space exploration – landing a probe on Mun. This mission, dubbed Mun II, was also paving the way for an eventual rover landing as well – the lander for this mission is carrying a science bay but is weighted and designed similar to the lander that will be delivering a rover onto the surface. This rocket is also the first 2.5/1.25m hybrid, launching on the larger diameter and traveling to Mun on the smaller. Unfortunately, the mission was plagued with communications issues and an investigation of the launch pad turned up an even more serious problem for the Agency.

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Dec 21 2014

Mun II Launch

Watch Mun II lift off from the video camera atop the water tower next to the launchpad

Dec 19 2014

#051: Decimal Point Destruction

One of the longer-running R&D programs has been work on docking ports for spacecraft to join up in orbit and transfer crew and materiel. The program was begun after orbital rendezvous of spacecraft was proven to be not only possible but capable by astronauts fresh out of the Academy. The ability to join craft via fuel lines is extremely limited for long-term space operations and the eventual construction of a space station. For the first docking, a kerbed craft will rendezvous and couple with an un-kerbed craft launched into orbit ahead of time. This is mainly due to our current small astronaut corps and the unwillingness, at this stage in our program, to have two kerbed flights in orbit at the same time.

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Dec 17 2014

#050: Mun I – Mun or… bust?

Ever since the historic first orbit of Kerbin by Cmdr Jebediah Kerman, kerbals have only ever repeatedly visited Low-Kerbin Orbit (LKO), with some forays out to Mid-Kerbin Orbit (MKO). The KSA has been planning for months to send a kerbal into orbit around Mun, but only now has the chance come to do so after many tests of new technologies, including a whole new 2.5m rocket system. The mission is planned to also service the various satellites that are in orbit around Mun to further expand the Agency’s scientific knowledge and long-range communication capabilities. On the cusp of yet another historic moment, the KSA aims to meet and surmount the inevitable challenges ahead.

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Dec 16 2014

#049: Automated RCS Maneuver Testing

The KSA has been aware for some time of a limitation with their remote operation system, which is capable of pointing the rocket and performing burns with an engine when not in contact with mission control (assuming these commands were programmed while contact was established). What it is *not* capable of is controlling the RCS system. Since most of our small probes rely solely on RCS to perform maneuvers, this has been a small problem for operations around Kerbin, and only becomes a larger one when conducting maneuvers on probes outside the system. The solution is finally at hand with some new software, but to test it the Agency needs to loft a probe up into LKO, after which it was planned to be de-orbited once the software is confirmed operational.

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