You are Penelope Carter, the First Director of the Interplanetary Exploration Cooperative. You have been selected by the representatives of the Workers and Peoples of the World to carry the hopes and dreams of an entire planet into the stars. Their goals for you are simple: to reach the heavens and use the knowledge you gain to better benefit the people of the world.
With any luck, you'll steer the IEC wisely. Good luck, Director.
The small gaggle of observers joined you at the window as the controllers made their callouts, audible over the PA system in the observation area. You watched as a small rocket - no more than twice as tall as you were - leapt into the heavens, powered by an engine incomprehensibly powerful for its small size, burning through dozens of liters of fuel in the space of no more than a minute. It was already small at the distance between the launch stand and the observation area, and it shrank and shrank and shrank until the only way you knew where it was was by watching the tracking antenna smoothly lean back, following the invisible signal of the radio transmitter carried by that steel dart.
You held your breath - would you make it this time?
"Control, we've got pressure and altitude readings consistent with having exited the atmosphere!" a breathless controller blurted into their microphone.
You relaxed and let the breath out explosively.
You'd done it. You'd reached space.
And you were just getting started. You had dreams.
--
Welcome to Per Aspera! This will be a plan-quest where we guide a space agency the players select through the equivalent of the 1950s and the early Space Age (and beyond, if you manage it!)
The only problem is, thanks to some help from others, I've got a few ideas as to what we could do here, and I like them all equally, so here are the available settings (these may or may not be AUs)!
[] Bipolar World - You take control of one of two agencies, beholden to a pair of opposing superpowers, in a race to demonstrate your nation's technological dominance in the field of spaceflight. You will have great resources at your disposal, and relatively few demands on how you complete the objectives given to you by your nation's political establishment - only that you do complete them and one-up The Enemy. There are limited opportunities for cooperation and a political cost to attempting to do so, though it may be possible if you're willing to make that sacrifice.
[] Multipolar World - You take control of one of four agencies in a world where multiple competing nations or national groupings have emerged (like the EU, or a very-early African Union). There are more political interests at play here, but there are also more opportunities for cooperation and international initiatives - provided one bloc or another doesn't, say, declare war on someone. Then things might get messier.
[] Global Cooperative - You take control of the Global Space Agency. Thanks to an unprecedented bit of cooperation, the Internationale/UN/etc. have decided to pursue a global space program and the countries of the world have agreed to provide you funding. Here you will deal less with outside actors (because everyone agreed to fund you) and more with juggling the political support to keep their support.
Once we pick a Setting, our next vote will be to pick an Agency - and then, everyone, we get started!
[] Interplanetary Exploration Cooperative - The workers of the world have decided to invest some small amount of resources into pursuing space technology in search of benefits for those on the ground.
After the Third Great War, there was a period of massive unrest as the world's exhausted powers crumbled from within, using ever greater violence to control their restive populaces who were no longer content to fight and die for the petty wants of those who had stolen the fruits of their labor and crushed them for so long. They rose up and overthrew their leaders; as the revolutions swept the world, they grew in power and in number until there were none of the Old Nations left standing. Now the world is divided into Regions, not nations, which elect their leaders democratically and can, at will, recall those leaders, to prevent the hoarding of power and wealth. For all the newfound hope of the working class, however, much destruction was wrought, and rebuilding will need to be done, taking away from the resources available to the Cooperative. (Starting resources: 100R + 50R/turn, tattered industrial base (will repair over time), 5 dice [1 Metallurgy, 1 Fuels, 1 Avionics, 1 Facilities, 1 Politics])
[] Intercosmos - The Peoples' Representatives have elected to invest in a truly international program of space exploration, seeking to bring the light of reason and cooperation to the darkness of space.
After the Third Great War, the old powers lay in ruins and the Internationale reigned supreme, bloodied but victorious, having crushed aside its great enemies one after another under an unending tide of metal and patriotic fervor. It funded sympathetic revolutions in every country it couldn't project its powerful army to, inciting the peoples of the world to throw off their chains and rejoice in the company of their brothers and sisters the world over. Now they have remade the world into Nations of their own design, and under the leadership of the People, not Profit. Though the destruction was great during the War, the Revolutionary Era was (relatively) less so, thanks to the support the Internationale was willing to throw behind revolutionaries. (Starting resources: 50R + 75R/turn, intact industrial base (will slowly improve), 4 dice [1 Facilities, 1 Metallurgy, 1 Fuels, 1 Politics]
[] United Space Exploration Bureau - The powers of the world have elected to avoid the horrors of the recent Great War by attempting to foster stronger international ties and cooperation.
After the Third Great War, the Imperial League lay shattered by the firepower and numbers of the worlds' democracies. The Communalist nations of the world, along with their Internationale, have joined - cautiously - with the capitalist nations in the desire to avoid further horror, and from that desire sprung the United Nations. Which, itself, has birthed the United Space Exploration Bureau, which has been charged with exploring the near surrounds of the world you inhabit. (Starting resources: 75R + 50R/turn, booming industrial base (+5R/turn per turn for 16 turns, 4 dice [1 Fuels, 1 Metallurgy, 1 Politics, 1 Facilities])
[] Imperial Ministry for Space - The old powers of the world lay crushed under the heel of the Empress, and she has directed you to expand her grasp into the stars.
After the Third Great War, the Imperial League reigns triumphant, the Empress' legions marching through the ruins of the cities of her enemies. Rebellion is at a low simmer, but the Imperial Court expects that Her Majesty's Intelligence Ministries will root out these subversives and destroy them in time. Your mission, as charged by Her Highness herself, is to put an emissary of the Empire on the Moon within twenty years, to plant a claim on its gray soil and mark it as the property of humanity for all the eons to come. (Starting resources: 100R + 100R/turn, intact industrial base, subversive activities have a chance of causing damage to projects, 5 dice [2 Fuels, 1 Metallurgy, 1 Avionics, 1 Facilities])
[] Space Exploration Technologies, Inc. - The old powers of the world have crumbled in the aftermath of war, and the Corporation reigns supreme.
After the Third Great War, the devastated nations of the world crumbled into chaos and anarchy, but the Corporation was there. The Chief Executive brought order and prosperity to the ruins of the old world (by force, if necessary) and united the world under his auspices. With the old 'protections' of law that got in the way of productivity and profit out of the way, the world's workers have been united in a shell of corporations that all answer to the Chief Executive, directing their lives and labor towards greater profit. You have been tasked with exploring the profitability of space, after the Chief Executive's son took a liking to the stories of one of Imagination Inc.'s authors. (Starting resources: 150R+50R/turn, booming industrial base (+5R/turn per turn for 16 turns, 5 dice [2 Facilities, 1 Fuels, 1 Metallurgy, 1 Politics])
And you are:
[] Penelope Carter [The Director] - Your skills lie in managing people. You have... a gift, really, for making sure people go where they'll be happiest and most productive, and enough social graces to make sure that if you've got to ruffle feathers, they remain as un-ruffled as possible. You also have a fair few friends in the groups that decide where money goes. [+10 to Politics rolls, +2 Politics die, +5R/turn in funding from Connections, reroll 1 failed politics roll per turn]
[] Miguel Reynaldo de Alegria [The Scientist] - Your skills lie in performing science. Ever since you were a boy, you've been curious, and long years of hard work and dedication (along with a sidestep into doing some light chemical synthesis for the Army during the Third Great War) have given you the greatest opportunity of your life: managinc a space program. [+5 to Fuels rolls, +5 to Metallurgy rolls, +1 Fuels dice, +1 Metallurgy, reroll 1 failed Fuels roll per turn]
[] Yao Xia [The Engineer] - Since you were young you've been obsessed with rocketry and space travel, and your infectious enthusiasm has seen you selected as the head of the global space program. Your skills lie in making systems that work together. Whether it's a factory or a control circuit, you've just got a knack for it. [+5 to Facilities and Avionics rolls, +1 Facilities dice, +1 Avionics dice, reroll 1 failed Facilities roll per turn]
[] Aretas Abdul [The Hero] - You were the greatest (living) hero of the Third Great War, and your interest in science fiction and your connections have managed to net you a spot at the top of the short list for Director. You may not know quite what you're doing, but your friends believe in you. [+5 Politics rolls, +1 Free dice from Connections, +15R/turn in funding from Connections, reroll 1 failed politics roll per turn]
Scheduled vote count started by Shadows on Sep 10, 2022 at 6:17 PM, finished with 91 posts and 65 votes.
[X] Penelope Carter [The Director] - Your skills lie in managing people. You have... a gift, really, for making sure people go where they'll be happiest and most productive, and enough social graces to make sure that if you've got to ruffle feathers, they remain as un-ruffled as possible. You also have a fair few friends in the groups that decide where money goes. [+10 to Politics rolls, +2 Politics die, +5R/turn in funding from Connections, reroll 1 failed politics roll per turn]
[X] Interplanetary Exploration Cooperative - The workers of the world have decided to invest some small amount of resources into pursuing space technology in search of benefits for those on the ground.
[X] United Space Exploration Bureau - The powers of the world have elected to avoid the horrors of the recent Great War by attempting to foster stronger international ties and cooperation.
[X] Intercosmos - The Peoples' Representatives have elected to invest in a truly international program of space exploration, seeking to bring the light of reason and cooperation to the darkness of space.
[X] Imperial Ministry for Space - The old powers of the world lay crushed under the heel of the Empress, and she has directed you to expand her grasp into the stars.
[X] Yao Xia [The Engineer] - Your skills lie in making systems that work together. Whether it's a factory or a control circuit, you've just got a knack for it. [+5 to Facilities and Avionics rolls, +1 Facilities dice, +1 Avionics dice, reroll 1 failed Facilities roll per turn]
[X] Yao Xia [The Engineer] - Since you were young you've been obsessed with rocketry and space travel, and your infectious enthusiasm has seen you selected as the head of the global space program. Your skills lie in making systems that work together. Whether it's a factory or a control circuit, you've just got a knack for it. [+5 to Facilities and Avionics rolls, +1 Facilities dice, +1 Avionics dice, reroll 1 failed Facilities roll per turn]
[X] Aretas Abdul [The Hero] - You were the greatest (living) hero of the Third Great War, and your interest in science fiction and your connections have managed to net you a spot at the top of the short list for Director. You may not know quite what you're doing, but your friends believe in you. [+5 Politics rolls, +1 Free dice from Connections, +15R/turn in funding from Connections, reroll 1 failed politics roll per turn]
[X] Miguel Reynaldo de Alegria [The Scientist] - Your skills lie in performing science. Ever since you were a boy, you've been curious, and long years of hard work and dedication (along with a sidestep into doing some light chemical synthesis for the Army during the Third Great War) have given you the greatest opportunity of your life: managinc a space program. [+5 to Fuels rolls, +5 to Metallurgy rolls, +1 Fuels dice, +1 Metallurgy, reroll 1 failed Fuels roll per turn]
This world has a variety of differences from our own.
The first point of deviation is the Franco-Prussian War. Where it was an impactful affair for France and Germany in our timeline, here it spun out of control and sucked the Old World into a pan-European general melee known as the First Great War. Being that the war preceded the Maxim Gun, the results of the war served to enhance the thinking of the national leadership that would fight the Second Great War starting in 1914.
The second point of deviation here is that instead of a Prussian influence, Germany came under the Austrians' thanks to winning the conflict with Prussia in 1866, and eventually the two powers merged to reform the Holy Roman Empire, consisting of Germany, Austria-Hungary, and much of what we know as Poland and the Baltics.
The third point of deviation is that due to its increased size and cohesion, the HRE was able to stalemate the Entente in the West, long enough for Russia to collapse into revolution. This allowed them to get a favorable peace deal that prevented a general collapse and the rise of Nazism. Adolf Hitler died of a drug overdose in 1930.
The Third Great War was fought between 1941 and 1946 by the HRE-aligned Imperial League and the Alliance of Free Nations, chaired by America, following the invasion of France in 1941. The war eventually culminated in nuclear weapons being deployed in a limited general exchange by both sides, with only the United States escaping mostly unscathed due to sheer distance. Berlin, Frankfurt, London, Paris, Nagasaki and Moscow all received nuclear bombardment.
The tipping point for the Revolution may well have been the American invasion of Japan, coincident with the bombing of Nagasaki; the invasion was a brutal, bloody mess that resulted in most of the US Marine Corps dying in the first few days. The incredible casualties of the atomic exchange and the general industrialized conflict set the seeds for the Revolution, which occurred between 1946 and 1949, and still sees a general, low-level insurgency across the globe as people loyal to (and benefited by) the old ways cling on.
These days, however, the hatred of nation-states sending the young and the poor off to kill and die for the glorification of the old and the wealthy has caused the very idea of the nation-state to die. Borders have been erased in everything except for logistics planning, where they are used to group geographically-and-culturally close areas into units for the distribution of goods and materials.
The United States, for instance, is now split into the New England Autonomous Region, the Appalachian Free Association, the Southeastern Distributive Republic, a variety of Indigenous nations whose land has been returned to them (such as the Cherokee Nation and other First Nations cultures), and so forth, all the way to the West Coast which is split into the Southwestern Federated Republics and the Pacific Northwestern Republic.
The absence of borders does not mean, unfortunately, that inter-ethnic conflict is over, and reached a high point during the Revolution itself as many groups exploited the opportunity to attempt to purge old enemies. This has caused tensions that have since crystallized into new cultural (and occasionally physical) battle lines that are likely to become the primary fault lines of the new global order and the defining issue of the post-capitalist world. As a way to help ease these tensions and try to find some way to work past them and come together as one world, the new Interplanetary Exploration Cooperative was set up in an attempt to spread peace, goodwill, investment, and scientific advances without discrimination or regard to old lines in the sand.
[Flag courtesy of CyberEnby and r/COMPLETEANARCHY]
You are Penelope Carter, the First Director of the Interplanetary Exploration Cooperative. You have been selected by the representatives of the Workers and Peoples of the World to carry the hopes and dreams of an entire planet into the stars. Their goals for you are simple: to reach the heavens and use the knowledge you gain to better benefit the people of the world. Your goals are your own - and your skills lie in managing people. You have... a gift, really, for making sure people go where they'll be happiest and most productive, and enough social graces to make sure that if you've got to ruffle feathers, they remain as un-ruffled as possible. You also have a fair few friends in the groups that decide where money goes. With any luck, you'll steer the IEC wisely. Good luck, Director.
---
The paperwork was signed and it was, as anything was these days, official. You settled into the chair behind the desk that was now yours - and had been some bougie functionary's a few years ago, before the Revolution. But now, it was your job to give the people of the world some more of that hope they'd finally gotten when the Old World got cast aside. Give them a reason to look up and dream of not just one better world but many.
Not that anyone had told you that in so many words, but when you had been informed that the number of science fiction enthusiasts who were willing to lend their garage to your program was a distinctly non-zero number, you had chosen to interpret the outpouring of support as a mandate to boldly go where none had gone before.
Your program, however, was little more than a launch stand, a couple of offices, some machine shops, and, yes, a few garages and a smattering of enthusiastic personnel willing to lend a hand. You needed to fix all of that if you wanted to get anywhere with this whole thing. With that in mind, you dropped your hands to the keys of the typewriter on your desk, then, after taking a moment to set it properly (you were always forgetting to set the sheet) you began writing memos and letters of instruction.
The following locations held a vote and volunteered to be your first launch location; which did the IEC pick? (you can build more in the future)
[ ] [SITE] Near Mogadishu, Somalia (equatorial)
[ ] [SITE] Near Mombasa, Kenya (equatorial)
[ ] [SITE] Alcantara, Brazil (equatorial)
[ ] [SITE] Near Teba, Indonesia (equatorial)
[ ] [SITE] Mahia, New Zealand (polar)
[ ] [SITE] Kodiak Island, Alaska (polar)
By the way, who do you work for? (Name the world government!)
[ ] [GOVT] World Congress of Autonomous Republics
[ ] [GOVT] World Congress of Communal Councils
[ ] [GOVT] World Congress of Autonomous Councils
[ ] [GOVT] World Congress of Communities
[ ] [GOVT] World Congress of Anarchic Networks
[ ] [GOVT] The Platform
[ ] [GOVT] Write-in
Resources:
100 (+55R/turn)
60 Political Support
Facilities:
1 Launch Stand (0-5 tonne) (+1 Operations die)
1 Assembly Complex (+1 Build Capacity)
1 Engineer's Hall (+2 Engineering Dice)
1 University Affiliate (+2 Science Dice)
1 Materials Lab (+5 bonus to projects tagged [MATSCI])
1 Chemical Plant (+5 bonus to projects tagged [CHEM])
1 Electronics Cooperative (+5 bonus to projects tagged [AVIONICS])
1 Construction Union Hall (+1 Facilities die)
Penelope Carter [The Director] - [+10 to Politics rolls, +2 Politics die, +5R/turn in funding from Connections, reroll 1 failed politics roll per turn]
Operations (1 dice, +0 bonus)
[] Construct a Sounding Rocket - Having just launched its first sounding rocket, the IEC is very well advised to repeat the feat, this time with a heavier sensor payload to gain more information about the region beyond the edge of the Earth's atmosphere. (10R, 0/40, costs 1 Build Capacity until complete)
-[] And launch it(free action for Sounding Rockets) (gains Scientific Data, launch experience, results to show the people funding you)
Facilities (1 dice, +0 bonus)
[ ] Construct an Engine Test Stand - Your engineers tell you it's a good idea to have some place specifically built to test engines at, and specifically built to absorb the occasionally energetic failures such testing causes. (10R per die, 0/50, +2 to propulsion projects)
[ ] Construct a Hangar - A group of pilots and engineers approached you with the idea of constructing a spaceplane. Such an endeavour would surely benefit the construction of normal aircraft as well, making it a potentially easy sell to the People's Forum. First, though, the IEC would need a place to actually, well, build it. (10R per die, 0/100, allows constructing spaceplane prototypes)
[ ] Construct a Hardened Tracking and Observation (T&O) Complex - Your current T&O complex is adequate for the small rockets you're currently launching, but as the IEC's capabilities increase and improve, they will rapidly not be adequate as the energies involved skyrocket. Thankfully, your structural engineers have a great deal of experience designing bunkers and hardened instrumentation packages. (15R per die, 0/60, +3 to Operations, negates personnel consequences for failures of rockets up to Early Orbital Class)
[ ] Construct a Heavy Sounding Rocket launch site - Your current launch stand isn't up to the task of launching a much bigger rocket than it currently does, being little more than a repurposed parking lot. The launch area could use reinforcement, thicker concrete and rebar and the like, maybe a flame trench to divert the rocket's exhaust away from it. Your engineers have enough guesstimates from the ones who want to make the Heavy Sounding Rocket that they feel confident enough to tell you they can make a pad that can handle it. (15R per die, 0/60, allows launch of the Heavy Sounding Rocket and theoretical derivatives up to 30 tons)
Engineering (2 dice)
[ ] Regenerative Combustion Chamber Development (Tech) [MATSCI] - Your engineers think they can make what's called a regenerative combustion chamber, where fuel is pumped through channels in the chamber walls to absorb the heat produced by the combustion before being pumped into the chamber to be combusted. It sounds a bit strange, but they say it's been done before by the Soviets, though those research notes were lost in the fighting. (10R per die, 0/100, unlocks further engine development)
[ ] Conduct Design Studies (Platform) (Heavy Sounding Rocket) [AERO] - Your small sounding rockets are, well, they work, but they're not as high-performing as you'd like. During the Third Great War, the Empire used a thirteen-tonne rocket as a terror weapon against civilians; that rocket is, approximately, thirteen times as large as the ones you are using, and able to fly at least three times as high, based on your people's calculations. They think they can recreate the design using notes seized from the ruins of the Empire's rocket complex. (5R per die, 0/80, unlocks Heavy Sounding Rocket (and a naming vote because that's unwieldy))
[ ] Conduct Design Studies (Platform) (Spaceplane Development) [AERO] - If you're going to be building spaceplanes, it would be a good idea to develop a working design to build in that hangar the spaceplane gang had wanted. Your engineers were talking about things like payload fraction and use cases and aerodynamic loading - all of which went more or less over your head but it certainly seemed they knew what they were about. (5R per die, 0/100, unlocks Prototype Spaceplane)
[ ] Conduct Design Studies (Alternative Launch Systems) [AERO, PHYS] - Still more of your engineers were talking about investigating different ways of potentially getting to space. Jules Verne stuff. Big guns and space towers and the like. You didn't think them likely to work, but having the knowledge wouldn't hurt. (5R per die, 0/300, ???)
[ ] Second Stages (Tech) [AERO, PHYS] - Some of your engineers have proposed putting a second rocket on top of your first rocket to gain greater range and altitude. You, personally, thought that was a wild idea, but they seemed to think it would work, and you had to admit their reasoning and solutions for the problems they had been able to come up with seemed sound. (10R per die, 0/200, gain the ability to make 2-stage rockets)
[ ] Advanced Concepts Office - A group of scientists and engineers have come to you asking to staff an Advanced Concepts Office, whose entire function seems to be dreaming up things you could do in space. Space stations, giant spacecraft, the works. (5R per die, 0/150, will occasionally provide a new Program to pursue based on brainstorming and priorities)
Science (2 dice)
[ ] Improved Instrumentation Development (Tech) [AVIONICS] - The scientific instrumentation aboard the IEC's sounding rockets is, to put it frankly, very basic. The rockets aren't that powerful in the grand scheme of things, and while your scientists have already figured out how to put approximately two more instruments (a geiger counter and a magnetic field measurement device) on your next launches, they would like time to develop a more comprehensive suite that could be used on a larger rocket. (5R per dice, 0/100, improves scientific outcomes from Sounding Rockets)
[ ] Exploratory Propellant Research (Phase 1) [CHEM] - A group of chemists attached to the IEC came to you with a proposal to conduct an exhaustive campaign characterizing just about as many propellants as they could come up with. While expensive, and dangerous, and potentially deadly, the knowledge gained could also be invaluable for nailing down mixtures and ratios of fuels that could help the IEC achieve its objectives. (15R per dice, 0/150, unlocks fuel mixtures and further fuel development)
[ ] Tracking Station Surveys - In order to support tracking and communication with long-range and orbital rocketry and experiments, you would need a network of tracking stations placed basically across the world. A survey would be conducted to find the most opportune locations for tracking station placement, prior to construction. (5R per dice, 0/150, unlocks Tracking Station Construction project for Facilities)
[ ] Research Program Outreach - Some of your scientists have brought up the idea of reaching out to their peers in other fields to canvas them for interest in conducting experiments in space. You will, of course, need better rockets for many of the experiments they'd want, but maybe that outreach, if properly funded, could net you some more helping hands. (10R per dice, 0/120, gives +2 bonus to 1d4 research areas (including engineering))
[ ] Publications Office - Your scientists really, really want an official (and convenient) way to, in effect, brag to all their colleagues about what they've discovered. The Publications Office will manage the publication of articles to the various scholarly journals attached to the fields the scientists are a part of, so that the scientists themselves don't have to worry about it as much. (Gain Publications Office, providing +1 bonus to all research fields, with a 1d2 roll yearly to increase the bonus)
Politics (3 dice, +10 bonus, reroll 1 failure per turn)
[ ] Outcome Surveys - In order to get a better handle on exactly what the various councils, committees, and the general public wanted out of the IEC, your staff thinks a survey should be conducted. They'll go out to the various bodies that voted for your creation - and even those who voted against - and see what they'd like to see investigated. (5R per dice, 0/120, get concrete goals to work towards)
[ ] Shaking Trees - Your current budget is set for the next year, and there's not much you can do about it. However, you can attempt to go around to the various demilitarization projects and see if they've got any more tools and parts (and spare booster rockets) lying around before they get turned into scrap. (5R per dice, 0/100, variable reward)
[ ] Outreach Program - One of the groups of people who'd attached themselves to your office were former PR spokesmen for one of the old corporations. They proposed building up a PR office and outreach program to help educate and excite the public about space - which would directly affect your funding and political support. (10R per dice, open Public Affairs Office, gain Outreach actions)
[ ] A Helping Hand - You will need someone to help you manage all the paperwork and personnel assignments pertinent to running the IEC. The People's Forum hadn't assigned you an Assistant Director - so you'd need to find one yourself. (Free, autosuccess, roll for quality. Triggers Assistant Director subvote. Unlocks Focuses when AD is chosen.)
[ ] The People's Program - You would have to be stupid, unobservant or actively unaware to not know how much of a problem ethnic tensions were becoming. You had the unique capacity, as a flagship global program, to help bridge gaps and douse the flames. Instruct your people to hire for both talent and diversity. Let the people of the world know that their space program represented all of them. (Autosucceeds, rolls for quality/effort outcome)
Because I'm a dummy and forgot to put it in the turn update:
I decided to move away from dice for specific research areas (Metallurgy, Fuels,etc.) and instead give you dice in the broad categories of Science and Engineering, then give you bonuses in those research areas. Sometimes there just won't be projects for a given area and I don't want you to have nothing for your dice to do. Some of you may have noticed that difference between the agency vote and the update, some of you may not have, but now you all know
Please forgive formatting or immersion break, this is my first Omake ever and I'm still learning how to forum. If you find any grammatical errors it's because I'm neglecting a grammar and editing assignment to chase the unicorn that is motivation mixed with inspiration. Please enjoy! Director Carter,
I do hope you will forgive a direct letter such as this as opposed to a legitimate proposal. There was hardly time to dedicate to the composure of this letter let alone a properly formatted and structured proposal. With formalities out of the way, I would like to cut directly to the chase as to save your time as well. I wish to pursue the research and usage of dioxygen difluoride as a potential propellant for our sounding rockets.
I am distinctly aware of the reputation that O2F2 and most of fluoride chemistry has, and I am doubly aware of the amount of safety precautions that would have to be put in place in order to properly conduct such research and utilization but I believe that the benefits such research would yield far outweigh the initial effort that would need to be put into such a project.
The reasoning behind such a proposal is as follows: if a rocket is propelled by a controlled explosion, then a substance that produces explosions on the scale the O2F2 does should be perfect for reaching the cosmos. Should we be successful in an endeavor to harness the immense power of the compound we will surely find our venture into the stars unhindered by the matter of fuel. Production of the compound is relatively simple, all things considered, and ignition would require nothing more than allowing it to reach any temperature above -160C. I strongly believe this has the ability to work, if given the chance.
I eagerly await a response on this matter. Even if it is one of hesitation or uncertainty, I strongly believe in my ability to dispel any fears you may end up having on the matter. While I am not a material scientist, I feel that the power of O2F2 can be contained. We have the finest minds in the world here. Surely something could be developed!
[X] Sun, Surf, & Space -[X] Construct a Sounding Rocket (10R, 0/40, costs 1 Build Capacity until complete) --[X] And launch it(free action for Sounding Rockets) (gains Scientific Data, launch experience, results to show the people funding you) -[X] Construct a Hardened Tracking and Observation (T&O) Complex (15R per die, 0/60, +3 to Operations, negates personnel consequences for failures of rockets up to Early Orbital Class) -[X][X] Regenerative Combustion Chamber Development (Tech) [MATSCI] (10R per die, 0/100, unlocks further engine development) -[X] Research Program Outreach (10R per dice, 0/120, gives +2 bonus to 1d4 research areas (including engineering)) -[X] Publications Office (Gain Publications Office, providing +1 bonus to all research fields, with a 1d2 roll yearly to increase the bonus) -[X] Outreach Program (10R per dice, open Public Affairs Office, gain Outreach actions) -[X] A Helping Hand (Free, autosuccess, roll for quality. Triggers Assistant Director subvote. Unlocks Focuses when AD is chosen.) -[X] The People's Program (Autosucceeds, rolls for quality/effort outcome)
[X]Plan: Planes Planes Planes -[X] Construct a Sounding Rocket --[X] And launch it(free action for Sounding Rockets) (gains Scientific Data, launch experience, results to show the people funding you) -[X] Construct an Engine Test Stand -[X] Conduct Design Studies (Platform) (Spaceplane Development) [AERO] -[X] Advanced Concepts Office -[X] Research Program Outreach -[X] Exploratory Propellant Research (Phase 1) [CHEM] -[X] Outcome Surveys -[X] Shaking Trees -[X] The People's Program
[X] [PLAN] froggo's Plan -[X] Construct a Sounding Rocket --[X] And launch it(free action for Sounding Rockets) (gains Scientific Data, launch experience, results to show the people funding you) -[X] Construct a Hardened Tracking and Observation (T&O) Complex -[X] Regenerative Combustion Chamber Development (Tech) [MATSCI] -[X] Advanced Concepts Office -[X] Research Program Outreach -[X] Publications Office -[X] Outcome Surveys -[X] Outreach Program -[X] The People's Program
Excerpt from pages 9, 10, and 23 of "The Cosmos in 25 Years", a (un-asked-for) program circulated by a clique of IEC engineers:
PHASE
THEME I: Ballistic Rockets for Access to Space
THEME II: Airplanes for Access to Space
THEME III: Earth Science using Instruments in Space
THEME IV: Exploration of Space
1
Advancement of rocket engine technology
Continuing launch of small measurement stations to measure basic parameters
2
Development of M-10: engine of 20-30 tons thrust for large space rocket
Ground tests of animals and people under conditions of acceleration, vibration, etc...
3
Development of R-10: rocket of 10-20 tons capable of launching significant scientific stations into space
Launch of current sounding rockets from more locations, to gain global knowledge on upper atmosphere
4
Continuing improvement and expansion of M-10 series. Consider updating it to use superior fuels.
Update R-10 as needed
Development of P-10: rocket-plane capable of reaching supersonic speeds and high altitudes
Use of R-10 series to launch imaging, magnetic and other large measurement stations into space
Use of R-10 series to launch primitive life-forms such as plants and insects into space and return them
5
Establish capability to reach super-long ranges and altitudes using experimental multi-stage rockets
Use of R-10 series to launch large animals into space and return them, if primitive ones can be done safely.
Use of P-10 series to push the limits of aviation and aviation medicine.
6
Development of N-10: Upper stage engine mature enough to be relied upon
Development of P-20: advanced rocket-place capable of reaching super-high speeds and the edge of space
Use of multi-stage R-10 rockets to launch measurement stations deeper into space than before
Use of multi-stage R-10 rockets to experiment with super-high-speed atmospheric entry; development of systems for survival of pilots in low-pressure environments.
7
Development of R-20: rocket of 40-70 tons capable of placing small stations in orbit
Continuing development of super-high-speed aerodynamics and materials
Use of P-20 series to test pilots' ability to perform at high altitudes and in freefall
8
Continued development of R-20 series to raise their lifting power.
Use of R-20 series to place measurement stations in orbit for prolonged readings
Tests of tracking and communicating with artificial satellites
described are, again, associated with deadlines only in relation to each other. They are broad orders of operation, to be prioritized based on the judgement of the various teams as to the difficulty of their tasks. But the pace of advancement of the railroad, the car, and the airplane show us that their completion within the decade is the possible and necessary advance of the new way of transport.
SECTION IV. BEYOND THE HORIZON
The remaining two phases are more speculative: while the tasks no less are necessary, the details are not easy to pin down. Technical possibilities enter the picture which we have not even begun to explore, and it may well be that medical difficulties slow the entire program for a time. Thus, dates and technical solutions are even more fluid. This section, like the last, will first lay out the basic structure of the phases and then the needs demanding these programs.
Phase 9: Five years
- Development of R-30: Rocket of 150-250 tons clustering highly refined M-10 series engines to put multiple tons into a long-termorbit.
- Development of P-30: A space-ship capable of reaching orbit with the aid of the R-30 and gliding home safely.
- Mastery of the control, orientation and recovery of artificial satellites using existing boosters
- Launch to and recovery from orbit of test pilots, using the P-30 aircraft.
- Experimentation with highly efficient rockets using high-energy chemicals or turbine-electric propulsion.
Phase 10: Ten years or more
- Practical implementation of booster engines using new fuels to reach hundreds of tons of thrust, and electric upper stages for optimal efficiency.
- Mass deployment of new, large rockets using these technologies
- Extensive use of measurement stations to fully understand the atmosphere and the near-Earth environment
- Development of large space-ships capable of carrying both pilots and technicians, for scientific and construction work in space, for sustained periods
- The construction of a space-harbour, a permanent working base in orbit
- Its use in constructing superorbitals: space-ships not designed to launch from earth but adapted to the space environment, able to carry the first explorers to other worlds.
