Kerbal Space Program: Vall Landing

Mission: Land a Kerbal on Vall and return to Kerbin.


Jool: Jupiter
Vall: Europa
Tylo: Ganymede
Duna: Mars
Kerbin: Earth

The next great achievement for Kerbalkind would be a manned expedition to the Jool system. The Kerbals in engineering informed us we could build a smaller rocket by utilizing Jool's atmosphere to slow down during an encounter. Something about not needing brakes; which is usually an afterthought anyways! Vall, Jool's moon, was chosen as a target because there was reason to believe there might be life buried underneath the surface of the icy moon.

The Pancake 2 on the launchpad.

The Pancake 1 was redesigned to create a much more symmetric design. It was also now possible to remove engines in pairs during the last two stages. This approach allowed for a greater fuel efficiency during interplanetary travel as engines could be immediately removed when finished. The Pancake 2 utilized the new, massive engines and fuel tanks from R&D, which greatly simplified rocket design. The Kerbals no longer needed to strap dozens of orange fuel tanks to the bottom rockets with Kerbal equivalent of duct tape. Hooray for Kerbal ingenuity!

Various stages of the Pancake 2 while escaping from Kerbin.

Lemfry Kerman was chosen to be the pilot and sole crew member of the Pancake 2. Lemfry had just returned from traveling to Dres and was immediately hurried into the spacecraft before he had the opportunity to wash the dust from his face. We launched the Pancake 2 into Kerbin orbit and waited for a reasonable Jool transfer window. The nuclear engines were fired and Lemfry made his way towards Jool at a few kilometers per second.

Pancake 2 encounter with Jool.

Lemfry arrived at Jool and performed an aerobrake maneuver to remain within the Jool system. The maneuver was simulated a number of times to find the precise atmospheric height that slowed the Pancake 2 sufficiently without causing it become forever trapped by its overwhelming gravity. Lemfry adjusted his orbital plane and executed a transfer maneuver that would result in a Vall approach.

Top: Approaching Vall. Bottom: Vall descent.

Similar to our Dres landing, Lemfry used the last remaining interplanetary fuel during the first part of the Vall landing to capitalize on it's high fuel efficiency in a vacuum. The Pancake 2 approached the surface of Vall gradually and according to plan. Lemfry separated the spacecraft from the nuclear engines and rotated the lander into the upright position. The Pancake 2 landed on tidally-locked Vall while Laythe, another of Jool's moons, was passing in front of Jool over the horizon.

Softly touching down on Vall. Laythe can be seen passing in front of Jool.

The spacecraft touched down gently and Lemfry began working right away. Surface samples, temperature, and seismic information were collected. The laboratories on Kerbin would look to see if there were any signs of life in the icy surface upon Lemfry's return. A flag was planted and Lemfry took a photo of the Vall landing site before Laythe disappeared behind Jool.

At home in space!

Lemfry eventually returned to the Pancake 2 and launched spacecraft into low Vall orbit. Mission control planned a gravity assist maneuver with Tylo. Tylo is another of Jool's moons with a enough mass required to perform a gravity assist maneuver that would result in a Jool escape. While passing by Tylo, Lemfry decided to perform an unscheduled spacewalk and goof around while feeling weightless above the massive moon.

Hi Mom!

The Pancake 2 arrive back at Kerbin with little difficulty. Mission control was delightfully surprised to discover that engineering was indeed capable of designing a spacecraft with enough fuel to accomplish something of merit. The spacecraft approached Kerbin with a relative velocity of a few kilometers per second. The velocity was reduced by perform a hard aerocapture maneuver that resulted in a crash course with one of Kerbin's oceans. The parachutes were activated and Lemfry landed gently in the water. Unfortunately, the craft was rotated such that the escape hatch was facing downwards and Lemfry had to wait until being rescued before he could once again breath a sigh of relief on Kerbin. Nonetheless, Lemfry had made it back safe and sound!

Arriving safely back at Kerbin.

Kerbal Space Program: Dres Landing and Return

Mission: Land a Kerbal on Dres and return to Kerbin.

Dres: Ceres Analog
Moho: Mercury Analog
Duna: Mars Analog
Kerbin: Earth Analog

With the failures of Moho behind us, the Kerbals decided to once again execute a return mission to Dres without any sudden change of plans during operation. The Kerbals down at mission control didn't want to bother with the three Kerbalnauts stranded on Moho. The Mohollo 1 lander was quite large and required an excessive amount of fuel for interplanetary travel. A new interplanetary craft was designed and called the Waffle 1. The Waffle 1 had a crew capacity of one and would rely on its small size to escape Dres. Lemfry Kerman, who was mistaken for Loddo Kerman, was chosen to be the first Kerbalnaut to land on Dres and ejected into space.

Landing on Dres.

The mission plan was to have the interplanetary rocket component achieve a low Dres orbit. The Waffle 1 lander would undock and descend to the surface of Dres. The return trip would involve the lander re-docking with the interplanetary component and returning to Kerbin. However, as seems to be quite common with our space adventures, we forgot to bring enough fuel. The mission otherwise executed accordingly and the Waffle 1 arrived at Dres without any problems.

What a wonderful day for Canada. And therefore, of course, the world.

The Waffle 1 landing craft was cumbersome to land with because there was a small mono-propellent fuel tank sticking off the back (not pictured) that kept pulling the lander in its direction. Nonetheless, the craft landed without any serious problems and extremely little fuel. Lemfry planted a flag and was instructed to name the location Loddo's Landing after himself. Lemfry did so begrudgingly and after a short picnic prepared to return to Kerbin.

A number of simulations were performed and it was determined that after landing the Waffle 1 had insufficient fuel to achieve an orbit around Dres. Lemfry was terrified. The poor Kerbal had heard horror stories of Gerlo Kerman losing his mind after spending nearly a decade alone on desolate Ike. Lemfry quickly scribbled out plans for a larger craft which would be capable of lifting him from the surface of Dres and place him into orbit for future rescue. Mission control agreed to Lemfry's proposal, constructed a slightly larger lander, and directed the new unmanned Pancake 1 towards the planet Dres. Lemfry's rescue craft would arrive in a handful of years.

The Pancake 1 rescue craft.

The Pancake 1 also consumed far more fuel than expected on its journey to Dres. In order to capitalize on their extremely high fuel efficiency, the interplanetary nuclear engines were used during landing. At 3000 meters above the surface of Dres the nuclear engines were dropped onto the planet below resulting in a magnificent explosion. The Pancake 1 lander quickly rotated into the upright position and continued it's descent using liquid fuel engines. The four radial lander engines, which were expected to be discarded after landing, were kept attached and contained a reasonable amount of fuel.

The Pancake 1 had landed approximately 50 kilometers away from the Waffle 1. Lemfry Kerman was instructed to perform a suborbital trajectory burn that would move him closer to the return craft. While there was enough fuel to bring the Waffle 1 near the Pancake 1, there was not enough fuel to slow down and land safely. At approximately three kilometers away from the Pacake 1, Lemfry ejected from the Waffle 1 and activated his jetpack. He performed the final leg of the landing without any spacecraft. Lemfry boarded the Pancake 1 and blasted off from the surface of Dres.

Welcome home!

Mission control suggested to Lemfry that the extra fuel in the Pancake 1 lander might be sufficient to perform a transfer to Duna where he could refuel at the Duna Space Station. Lemfry achieved ejection velocity and began to correct for the difference in orbital inclination. However, the years stranded on Dres appeared to have affected Lemfry and he refused to transfer to Duna. Instead, Lemfry squeezed another few hundred delta velocity out of the Pancake and achieved a highly eliptical orbit with Kerbin at the periapsis.

The velocity of the Pancake 1 relative to Kerbin at the periapsis would have made it impossible to stay within Kerbin's gravitational influence. Lemfry would pass by Kerbin with nearly twice the escape velocity of the planet and have no fuel to slow himself. However, a reasonable approach towards Kerbin that spent as much time in the atmosphere of Kerbin as possible would slow down the spacecraft significantly. This aerocapture maneuver allowed Lemfry to stay with Kerbin's atmosphere and land in the ocean using parachutes.

The Kerbals involved in the rescue were surprised to discover that it was Lemfry, and not Loddo, who was piloting the craft. Regardless, we had landed a Kerbal on Dres and probably returned the same one back to Kerbin. Hooray!

Landing over the ocean. Mun can be seen on the right side and Minmus can be faintly seen to the left of the parachutes.

Dwarf Fortress: Flying Elephant

The dwarves were busy at work with many projects nearing completion. The barracks of the Order-Trumpets and Oiled-Lamps were mostly furnished and up and in operation. The floor located just outside the Order-Trumpet's barracks was still in need of construction and was an embarrassment to the fortress. However, in the meantime the exposed dirt doubled as an indoor garden within which trees that have never seen the light of day have managed to grow.

LEFT: The barracks of the Order-Trumpets. RIGHT: The archery range and barracks of the Oiled-Lamps.

A small jail was constructed and a handful of dwarves were immediately imprisoned to justify the expensive project. The seven jail cells each consist of an iron restraint, bed, table, and chair. A committee will meet this week to determine if a small collection of terrifying statues should be constructed and placed in the cells to demotivate prisoners. Additionally, a small guard consisting of four dwarves was created to serve as the thought-police and bouncers of the fortress.

Meanwhile, work continues on mining out the gold buried deep underground. The flooded caverns the gold lies within are difficult to navigate and require the dwarves to build walkways between sections of rock. The gold is the fortress' sole source of income and provides the materials required for our nobles statues, tables, and the like. The dwarves plan to smelt Tomeglow golden coins in the coming months.

There was a report of a terrifying forgotten beast spotted in the caverns a few weeks ago. The creature was described as a large, elephant-like menace with wings and full of necrosis. The dwarf responsible for tracking the creature became quickly became distracted and forgot about the dangerous creature. We're currently uncertain about the beast's whereabouts and pray that it won't slip into the fortress and murder everyone inside violently. We're trying to stay optimistic about things!

Ending Year: 260