YAMR Chapter 1 — A Kerbal Space Program Tale

narwhalz0111 (35)in #writing • 6 years ago (edited)

The first return mission to the surface of Eve. You've read it all before… or so you thought.

Yet Another Mission Report is a story based on Kerbal Space Program. It takes place on and about the planet Eve, which is the system's resident purple Venus analogue. High winds and a thick, hot, caustic atmosphere, in addition to a significantly higher gravity of 1.7, define it as the least hospitable terrestrial body in the system.
Which is, of course, why the space program has sent our intrepid crew to its surface for a Sunday picnic.

Yet Another Mission Report

Table of Contents

Chapter 1

SOL -4: ARRIVAL

I figure I should keep a record of the next few months, the mission being so historic and all. Maybe I'll even be inspirational or whatever.
We just finished the aerobrake. The acceleration felt like real gravity for a moment, before it became crushing. I'm glad they installed the new couches. The old ones didn't help much, being hard and uncomfortable under any circumstances, much less four gees. The view of Eve out the window is beautiful, but very, very purple. It makes everything look weird. Luckily, nothing is labeled with purple ink, else we wouldn't be able to read it.
Anyway, enough rambling on. Attached is the ship's log:

SOI CROSS
EXECUTE TIME_CHANGE...DONE
TIME[ET:y0d0h0m0s0]
CALCULATING AEROBRAKE...DONE
VERR[53.3m/s]
CALCULATING BURN...DONE
NODE[s300p3.1n.2r9.1]
EXECUTE ALIGNMENT...DONE

TIME[ET:y0d0h0m4s24]
EXECUTE BURN...DONE
TIME[ET:y0d0h0m5s36]

TIME[ET:y0d1h4m32s23]
RADIATION BELT
ENTER SAFE MODE

TIME[ET:y0d1h8m20s13]
EXIT SAFE MODE

TIME[ET:y0d2h5m19s43]
EXECUTE AEROBRAKE
 RETRACT RADIATOR...DONE
 RETRACT SOLAR_ARRAY...DONE
 DEPLOY HEATSHIELD...DONE
 DONE

TIME[ET:y0d2h5m23s31]
ATMOSPHERE INTERFACE

TIME[ET:y0d2h5m28s21]
ATMOSPHERE INTERFACE
EXECUTE AEROBRAKE_END
 DEPLOY RADIATOR...DONE
 DEPLOY SOLAR_ARRAY...DONE
 DONE
EXECUTE SELF_CHECK
 COMPUTER...ONLINE
 REACTOR...ONLINE
 SOLAR...ONLINE
 RTG...ONLINE
 RADIATOR...ONLINE[93%]
 COOLANT...NOMINAL[89%]
 NTR_01...ONLINE
 NTR_02...ONLINE
 NTR_03...ONLINE
 NTR_04...ONLINE
 CHEM_01...ONLINE
 CHEM_02...ONLINE
 PROP_MN...NOMINAL[94%]
 PROP_DS...NOMINAL[97%]
 PROP_AS...NOMINAL[98%]
 HULL_W1...NOMINAL[83%]
 HULL_W2...NOMINAL[97%]
 HULL_MN...NOMINAL[99%]
 ATMO_CBN...ONLINE
 ATMO_OXY...ONLINE
 ALL SYSTEMS NOMINAL
CALCULATING ORBIT...DONE
VERR[102.7m/s]
CALCULATING BURN...DONE
NODE[s786p102.7n0r0]
ALIGNING...DONE

TIME[ET:y0d2h5m41s27]
EXECUTE BURN...DONE

TIME[ET:y0d2h9m29s42]
LOG REQUESTED

For those of us who don't speak fluent core-dump, here's the kerbal-readable sitrep:
Engineering:

Milo says the computers are nominal, despite the excessive radiation from Eve's belt. We crossed it pretty quickly.
-The reactor looks good. No damage due to the aerobrake. Power output is consistent with the model. Emergency RTGs are looking just fine. The solar arrays deployed without issue after the brake; not a scratch on them.
-Thermal systems are, like everything else, nominal. Radiators are suffering the expected extent of wear, and coolant levels are in top shape. Pumps are running at about half capacity.
Propulsion:
-The nukes report all green. Accordingly, the cirq burn was completed right on time.
-Backup chemical rockets likewise green.
-Propellant is more than sufficient for the return journey. Michael-Aleksander (what a name) assures me that yes, there's plenty for the ED/AV.
Life Support:
-Hull integrity is near-perfect. There are a few scary holes in the first Whipple shields, but nothing got into the real plating.
-Air is nominal. Plenty of scrubbers, plenty in the tanks, et cetera.
-Aeroponics got a bit shaken up--some of the plants have broken stems, and most of their leaves are bruised. They'll live through it, though.
-Medical is just fine. Barely even touched, in fact. Nobody has gotten more than a scratch or bruise this whole trip. None of the splints have sprouted rockets and fled either, so that's good.
Mission Profile:
-All green.

We'll be landing in four Eve days, more or less. The mission has us landing next to one of the big peaks on account of the thick atmosphere. Otherwise we don't have a chance of orbiting. As it is, we don't have the mass to spare for docking RCS, so it's going to be an old-fashioned spacewalk back to the Athena. The ED/AV has wheels, since some loon decided driving a many-ton stack of explosives around on decidedly hostile terrain in high winds was a brilliant idea. They're supposed to make up for my expected terrible landing and take us cross-country to the peak.
The EDV segment has some other goodies too: a proper science rover, a base of sorts, and real showers. That's right. No more sponge-bathing. We've been on the Athena for nearly a year now, and none of us have taken actual showers since launch. The rover has six oversized wheels, seats two, and carries a big crate full of science on the back. We'll be setting up two meteorological stations: one at the landing site, and one near the top of the mountain. As for geology: The delta-vee budget accounts for a couple of pockets full of rocks to bring home as souvenirs or whatever, but we can do a lot of good work with the EDV's lab too.
Oh, and it's landed mostly by parachute. The engines only come on during the final descent, so we don't break a wheel or rupture a fuel tank. That would be bad, considering that the EAV is our only ticket out of there, and it only works from the mountaintop.
We'll be shooting little probes out as we descend, to do science to the different layers of Eve's thick atmosphere. They'll parachute down and provide a little redundant radio network after they land. Each one has equipment powerful enough to talk at the Athena in orbit. They'll be spread across a pretty big cross-section of longitude, so they should keep contact for most of the day. And, with those transmitters, they're easily able to bounce signals around terrain.
And...that looks like everything. Next sol, we'll be doing a manual inspection of the ED/AV, just to be sure.

Table of Contents