Huh, this is unexpected. Was this year's council skipped for pacing or other Doylist reasons, or did we actually get a bad roll on antarctic weather or such?
I thought reconstruction was still not even half-way done, but I see why the council would want to reorganize with some longer-term planning capacity. Other than that, biggest thing is the breakup of the Social-Democrat League. I am surprised that such a large part of them defected to more leftist parties. Did they actually radicalize, or did they just realize the other parties aren't that radical and it's only knee-jerk "communism = bad" brainworms that faded away?
Huh, this is unexpected. Was this year's council skipped for pacing or other Doylist reasons, or did we actually get a bad roll on antarctic weather or such?
I thought reconstruction was still not even half-way done, but I see why the council would want to reorganize with some longer-term planning capacity. Other than that, biggest thing is the breakup of the Social-Democrat League. I am surprised that such a large part of them defected to more leftist parties. Did they actually radicalize, or did they just realize the other parties aren't that radical and it's only knee-jerk "communism = bad" brainworms that faded away?
You returned from Honolulu a bit earlier than usual, and a bit more confused than usual. You hadn't had the foggiest idea that there was about to be a major restructuring of operations within the World Council, otherwise you probably wouldn't have bothered traveling in the first place. It miffed you, a bit - you would have stayed longer if Ruby and the girls had been there. Then, at least, it would have served as a real extension to the vacation you'd left behind in order to attend.
At any rate, there was, if nothing else, plenty to do to get ready for the year ahead. It promised to be a big year indeed - hopefully putting the first human in space was on the cards, and smacking the moon with a probe, too.
As you entered the administration building, you were greeted by Korolev, who held a letter in his hand. "Ah! You have returned early. I assume things went well?" he asked.
"I suppose, for a given definition of 'well'." you replied with a small shrug. "I didn't have to fight and beg for funding this time, on account of Aretas Abdul taking care of that for me. Apparently they're doing a big rework of the planning structure of the World Council, so they froze everyone's budget percentages and issued the new allotments according to the reassessed funding levels."
Korolev blinked. "I… see. Well, I am not certain what to think of that, though that may explain this letter here." he said, lifting it up.
"What's that say?"
"It is a letter from a friend of mine among the Council. They have informed me that given the success of our nuclear energy program, the Council has approved our continued stewardship over research, including into propulsion." he said, stressing the last word.
Now it was your turn to be surprised. "I - well then! I suppose that's good. The propulsion teams will certainly be excited, at any rate."
"Indeed!"
HEADLINES FROM AROUND THE WORLD
HONOLULU - The World Council has concluded, ending with a 'Continuing Resolution' for all current budgets, as they look to revise the planning apparatus of the body, as well as provide for long-term, large-scale projects outside the scope of yearly completion. Sources say this came as a surprise to many of the members of the World Council, to include Departmental directors…
Resources:
650R (+644R/turn + 6R/turn from Connections - 50R/turn from payroll/dice purchases - 40 from active Programs - 5 from AEC Coordination = +555/turn net)
82 Political Support
2 R-4a
1 Curiosity-B
Department of Agriculture (5%)
-Forestry Commission
-Aquaculture and Fishing Commission
Department of Transportation (9.2%)
-Sea Travel Commission
-Road and Rail Commission
-Air Travel Commission
Department of Industrial Coordination (5%)
-Occupational Health and Safety Administration
Department of Energy (8.2%)
Department of Reconstruction and Disaster Relief (26.0%)
Department of Health and Welfare (25.5%)
Department of Education (18.2%)
Discretionary Funding (2.4%)
Council Standards Commission (Negligible)
1 Launch Stand (0-5 tonne) (+1 Operations dice)
1 Heavy Sounding Rocket Launch Pad (5-30 tonne) (+1 Operations dice)
1 Expanded Assembly Complex (+2 Build Capacity, +1 Program Slot)
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])
2 Construction Union Halls (+2 Facilities die)
1 Publications Office (+1 to all science and engineering fields; coinflip each year to get an additional +1; currently +5)
1 Hardened Tracking and Observation (T&O) Complex (+3 to Operations)
1 Engine Test Stand (+2 to PROP projects)
1 Isotope Separation and Nuclear Science Facility (Enables Nuclear Technology tree) (fully unlocks 1954Q1)
1 Computational Research Facility (+3 to all rolls)
1 Model 1952 'Stormchaser' Mobile Rocket Launch System (+1 Operations dice)
Advanced Concepts Office (unlocks experimental new programs from time to time)
1 Wind Tunnel (+3 to AERO)
1 Flight Complex (+2 Operations dice, enables the construction and launch of air- and spaceplanes.)
Dnipro Aerospace Metallurgy Centre (+9 MATSCI, +1 Education in Europe)
Sao Paolo Aerodynamics Centre (+10 AERO, +1 Education in South America)
Long Beach Propulsion Research Complex (+7 PROP, +1 Education in North America)
Mombasa Computer Science Institute (+10 COMP, +1 Education in Sub-Saharan Africa)
Beijing Institute for Chemical Research (+7 CHEM, +1 Education in Eastern Asia)
New Delhi Institute for Physics (+9 PHYS, +1 Education in Western Asia)
Equatorial Tracking System (Provides communications and guidance across the equator)
Sydney Microelectronics Research Centre (+8 AVIONICS, +1 to Education in Australia and New Zealand)
Mid-Latitude Tracking and Transmission (Provides communications and guidance across the majority of the rest of the Earth)
Big Ear Radio Telescope (+2 PHYS)
Cosmonaut Training Facilities (Allows for crew and crew training)
Active Space Assets
5 Curiosity-C Weather Satellites (EOL: 1 1960Q2, 2 1960Q3, 2 1960Q4)
Scientific Advances
Improved Stringer Alloys - New (expensive) alloys improve the performance of structural tanks. (+5 to R cost of Heavy Sounding Rockets and above)
Copper-Chrome combustion chamber alloys - New combustion chamber alloys with higher heat transfer efficiency allow for hotter (and thus more efficient) chamber temperatures, leading to the ability to produce more powerful engines. (Future rocket designs will be higher performing.)
Aluminum-Lithium monolithic tanks - New tank alloys enable lighter, higher performing tankage to be produced for new rocket designs. (Future designs that use Al-Li tankage will be more performant, but more expensive in R terms.)
Inconel turbine parts - Enables higher-performance rocket engines to be constructed.
Hastelloy-N reactor parts - Enables higher-performance nuclear reactors and nuclear engines to be constructed.
Rudimentary Heat Shielding - An ablative heat shield made of a pourable elastomer laid over a resin-impregnated hemp honeycomb, rimmed with a carbon cloth that together made an effective protection against the heat of Low Earth Orbit re-entries. (Enables return of film, sample, and crewed capsules/craft)
High-Carbon Carbon Fiber Composites - Useful both for you and for general civilian industry in applications where high strength and/or high-temperature conditions are found, produced from an initial rayon feedstock. Examples: Rocket fuel tanks, airplane wings, bicycles, light boats, etc.
Turbine enamel formula - A ceramic enamel formula ideal for protecting rocket engine turbines from being attacked by their oxidizers. Enables high-performance Staged Combustion engines. (IRL: This is how the Soviets worked their space magic. It's probably also how Raptor is made.)
Isogrid/Orthogrid manufacturing - A different way of forming tankage, pressing or milling out a grid of equilateral triangles in the tank material chosen, in order to reduce its weight while maintaining compressive and lateral strength. Orthogrid is very similar, except it uses a grid of squares or rectangles. Enables higher-performing tankage, improving rocket payload performance.
Stainless Steel Mass Manufacturing - A collection of techniques and technologies centered around improving the production of stainless steel, including argon-oxygen decarburization processes (to remove sulfur and carbon), hot rolling, continuous casting, and more. Primarily good for civilian applications. Enables stainless steel tankage, stainless steel parts for use in applicable applications such as probes.
Lightweight Foamed Alloys - offers an expensive but potentially worthwhile method for lightening spacecraft or providing shock absorption for landings.
Aramid - an aromatic polyamide fiber that shows great promise for any application where a tear-resistant, fire-resistant, strong and elastic material would be of use. Such as spacesuits, parachutes…
Kapton - a tape-like film with excellent insulation properties for various space and ground-side applications, largely under your level of abstraction but providing a small buff to reliability for spacecraft built after 1955Q3.
Primitive Photovoltaics - Basic, expensive and inefficient solar cells enable you to greatly extend the on-orbit lifetime of your satellites and probes.
Improved Instrumentation - Gain +1d2 bonus to a random field every 2 launches. Gain +1 to AVIONICS immediately.) (Made obsolete by First Satellite)
Regenerative Cooling - Starts down the path to more powerful and advanced rocket engines.
Combustion Instability Research - Turns the initial success roll for a rocket from a >60 to >50.
Engine Cycles - Enables Early Orbital engines.
Vacuum Nozzles - Enables the use of vacuum-optimized engines.
Alternative Launch Systems - A series of high-technology or infrastructure-intensive launch systems projects that may or may not come about in the future.
Van Allen Belts - An area of charged particles from the Sun, trapped by Earth's magnetic field. These belts have caused several minor hiccups with the Curiosity I satellite, and given the transmitted radiation readings, care must be taken if the IEC intends to launch humans through them. Staying for any significant length of time would be... ill advised.
Terrestrial Nuclear Power Plants (Early) - Enables early boiling-water nuclear reactors of standardized design.[
Lifting Body - A method by which the body of a spacecraft could be used to generate lift and thus alter its trajectory in atmosphere, potentially reducing the amount of heat shielding required for it to safely return.
Second Stages - Can now build 2-Stage Rockets.
Mobile Launch Operations - Can launch Sounding Rockets without the need for a launch pad.
Multi-Stage Designs - Enables large rockets to be made with three or more stages.
Closed-Input Life Support Systems - Enables basic non-regenerative life support for early space vehicles.
First Satellite - With the launch of the Curiosity I, the IEC and the world have entered a new era of spaceflight, and the horizons of science and engineering broaden ever further. (+10PS, Improved Instrumentation bonus deactivated. Gain +1d2 bonus to a random non-CREW field per two satellite launches.)
Director of the IEC:
Penelope Carter [The Director] - [+10 to Politics rolls, +2 Politics die, +5R/turn in funding from Connections, reroll 1 failed politics roll per turn]
Assistant Director of the IEC:
Sergei Korolev [The Engineer] - [+5 to Science and Engineering rolls (unless researching [HGOL][FUEL] projects, then it becomes a -15), +1 Science dice, +1 Engineering Dice. Request: Build and launch a 2nd Generation Orbital Rocket within 5 years. Demonstrate crewed orbital spaceflight within 5 years.]
Chief Scientist of the IEC:
Assistant Director of the Cosmonaut Assembly:
Cosmonauts: 7
Passive Effects
Rocket Reels - Adds a coinflip for 2 gained political support per quarter; gain an additional flip for every successful orbital rocket launch. [UPGRADED]
Nuclear Power Authorization - The World Council has been successfully convinced to support the IEC conducting peaceful, power-generating nuclear experiments. (Current WC approval status: Given, Reassured; Current public approval status: Uncertain)
Nuclear Propulsion Authorization - The World Council has decided to allow the IEC to experiment with spaceborne nuclear propulsion.
Demil Locker Access - Access granted to the world's stockpiles of military equipment in the process of being decommed. (Lower progress requirements for spaceplanes, space-gun experiments, etc.)
Research Support - You have a network of scientific institutions to whom you send a variety of data and perform experiments for. By putting a little extra pressure on those institutions, you can get some help for your internal purposes. (+3 to all Science and Engineering dice until 1957Q1)
Promises Made (Expires Q1 1957 unless otherwise stated):
Launch a Venus probe before 1960Q1. (+2 to Dnipro Aerospace Metallurgy Centre's bonus on completion) (Int(M-L)
Launch a probe to Mars by 1960Q1 (+2 to Long Beach Propulsion Research Complex's bonus on completion) (Int(D)))
Build a Launch Facility in Asia by 1957Q1. (Int(C))
Launch a Lunar Impactor before 1957Q3. (+2 to New Delhi Physics Institute bonus)
Conduct Transistor Computing Investigation in Mombasa by 1958Q1. (CPAL)
Operations (6 dice, +3 bonus) (2 types of Rocket may be built at a time)
Rockets
[ ] Construct an R-1 Beden - Standard Sounding rocket launches are now something of an old hat. Still perfectly useful, of course, and they're not actually that old, but the two stage rockets have stolen some of their thunder. (15R per dice, 3/35, 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) RETIRED FROM MANUAL BUILD LIST
[ ] Construct an R-2 Gale - The IEC's engineers and scientists have come up with a moderately reliable stage separation system for multi-stage rockets. The Gale has seen active use for two years, now, and is turning into quite the reliable workhorse. (20R per dice, 19/45, 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) RETIRED FROM MANUAL BUILD LIST
[ ] Construct an R-3 Snow - The Heavy Sounding Rocket, now known as the Snow, is ready for construction. It's a sizeable rocket, but thankfully you have a sizeable pad to launch it from. Unfortunately, it won't ever fit on a Stormchaser. (25R per dice, 7/80, 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)
[] Construct an R-4 Dawn - The first Orbital-class rocket, the Dawn is capable of lifting 200 kilograms to low Earth orbit. It may be able to do more, in time, but for now that would suffice. It can only launch on the Heavy Sounding Pad or heavier, as yet unbuilt ones. (35R per dice, 97/120, costs 1 build capacity til complete) (2 Payload Mass capacity)
-[ ] And launch it (1 Operations dice; specify payload)
–[ ] Sounding payload (inert payload for testing)
[] Construct an R-4a Dawn - A refined version of the R-4, capable of carrying several times the payload to orbit and is even capable of launching small crewed capsules or interplanetary probes. (30R per dice, 98/100, costs 1 build capacity til complete) (12/4/2 Payload Mass capacity) - [ ] Add additional solid boosters (2R per booster, max 6, +2 LEO Payload Mass per booster) [REQUIRES LARGER LAUNCH PAD]
--[ ] And launch it (1 Operations dice; specify payload)
---[ ] Sounding payload (inert payload for testing)
Note here: the 12/4/2 are the Low Earth Orbit (LEO) / Geostationary/synchronous Orbit / Beyond Earth Orbit payload masses. For every 3 LEO payload, gain 1 GEO/GSO payload. For every 6, gain 1 BEO payload.
[ ] Activate Weather Observation Satellites (1 slot required) - Dedicates a portion of the Assembly Complex to the serial production of weather satellites and the rockets required to launch them, leading to savings from the assembly-line nature of the operation. By using specially-built observation satellites, the IEC can provide real- or near-real-time observation of weather phenomena across the globe. This has obvious benefits for forecasting and emergency alerting, and would be a valuable way of cementing the IEC as a permanent fixture of the Council. (40R/turn) (Delivers polar-orbiting satellites every turn starting 1956Q3 until required slots are filled, beginning with a satellite covering the Americas and East Asia, followed by one covering Europe, Africa, Australia) (Deactivates on completion, returning slot until satellites need replenishing) Active
[ ] Activate Sounding Rocket Programs (1 slot required) - Begins a more rigorous, regimented program of sounding rocket launches, opening the doors for more cooperation with universities across the world. (10R/turn) (+5PS/year) (removes Sounding Rockets from build queue)
Facilities (8 dice, +10 bonus)
(A maximum of 3 dice may be used on any project - representing 3 shifts of work.)
[ ] Build a new Space Center (Singapore) - Mogadishu was an excellent site (and it had all your stuff), but a growing space program needed to expand to new sites to service different orbits and different communities. Doing so was a major undertaking, of course, and would necessarily need a great investment. (35R per dice)
(Phase 2 (543/600), begins construction, 1 500T pad available when complete)
(Phase 3 (0/600), continues construction, 3 500T pads available when complete)
(Phase 4 (0/500), local Assembly Complex completed, +2 Program slots)
[ ] Expand the Launch Complex - You have two launch pads (one of which has gone entirely unused, so far) but, soon enough, you expect to need additional pads to account for the maintenance and upgrades the existing ones will certainly need. Getting a head start on that need may be a good idea. (20R per die, 0/350, gain two 500t launch pads)
[ ] Build a Mission Control Center - As the IEC's operations continue to expands, it finds itself in need of additional control space dedicated to both new and ongoing missions. That control space will need significant computing capability, as well as dedicated communications links - both of which are power-hungry. The benefits, however, could be worth it. (25R per die, 133/250) (+3 to Operations) (+1 Program slot (runs repeatables in the background))
[ ] Hypersonic Wind Tunnel Upgrade - Utilizing new jet technology, the IEC can upgrade its Mogadishu wind tunnel to support higher speed wind flows, improving the results from scale model testing. (2 turns, 20R, +1 to Wind Tunnel AERO bonus)
[ ] Arcjet Wind Tunnel - Utilizing what is, in effect, an argon-burning electric rocket nozzle, the high temperatures of re-entry can be simulated on the ground, enabling much more rapid testing of heat shield materials. This addition to the Wind Tunnel complex will be very beneficial to the IEC as a whole. (2 turns, 25R, +1 to Wind Tunnel MATSCI bonus)
[ ] Construction and Reconstruction Support - The IEC has a fairly sizeable and very skilled Facilities department that, if desired, could be of help in rebuilding the world's ruins and advancing the state of humankind besides. This can be done with or without a promise owed to someone, and will always be a good way of improving your relationships with the people you serve. (0/250) (can be done multiple times in parallel)
-[ ] Specify Region
--[ ] Electrification (25R per dice)
--[ ] Industry (30R per dice)
--[ ] Infrastructure (20R per dice)
Engineering (6 dice, +6 Bonus to All, +3 from Research Support (1956Q1)) (1/6 Locked)
[ ] Crewed Orbiting Stations [CREW] (Advanced Concepts) - A popular concept that regularly makes its way through your Advanced Concepts Office, the idea of a permanently crewed scientific outpost in space, along with industrial ones, is an enticing one from the standpoint of those who like the idea of humanity spreading across the solar system. With crewed spaceflight imminent, perhaps now is the time to begin investigating the matter. (0/450, 20R per dice)
[ ] Prototype Spaceplane - Your spaceplane enthusiasts returned to your office with another proposal, building off the back of the design studies they had undertaken through the winter of 1954. Their desire was to create a crewed 'space' plane that would be towed behind or carried underneath a carrier aircraft, be released, and activate a rocket engine that would take it up over the Karman line. It would have a multitude of sensors, of course, and would also need air supplies and likely a heated flight suit to keep the pilot alive and able to work. (0/300, 15R per dice)
[ ] Design/Redesign an Orbital Rocket - Now that our first orbital rocket has flown to space and delivered payloads, we can begin to look at what may be improved about it. We can also, if we wish, begin thinking about other, new designs. (15R) (4 turns to Design) (2 turns to Redesign) (Triggers subvote)
-[ ] Design
-[ ] Redesign (Rocket name here)
[ ] Spacesuit Design Studies - Now that we have a capsule capable of taking someone into space, it might be a good idea to start thinking about the possibility of extravehicular activities involving them leaving the protective confines of the spacecraft. Our current high-altitude flight suits are acceptable for in-vehicle use, but if we want to be able to send our cosmonauts outside, they're going to need better equipment. (15R per dice) (2 turns) (results in specific spacesuit dev projects)
[1 LOCKED] Lander Design Studies - The obvious next step after smacking a probe into the Moon is to land one softly on its face and observe it at ground level, taking measurements and performing experiments for as long as the power lasts. This will require additional study of long-duration fuel handling and in-space relights far from Earth. (2/4 turns, 15R per turn, 1 dice locked)
[ ] Solar Thermal Rocketry [PHYS] - Another theoretical propulsion system, a solar thermal rocket uses large, thin mirrors (or lenses, depending) to concentrate energy on a heating chamber, akin to a normal rocket's combustion chamber, directly heating propellant to useful energies without need for a direct chemical reaction. Highly efficient, though equally low-thrust compared to ion propulsion, and needs progressively larger focusing elements the further one goes from the sun. (300/450, 15R per dice)
[ ] Staged Combustion Engines (PROP) (Fuel/Oxidizer Rich) - Rocketry and the science of making rocket engines was a never-ending race to acquire yet more efficiency, squeezing tiny amounts of extra performance out of any design anywhere you could. Staged combustion engines were an evolution of that idea, trading a more complex (and thus expensive) internal mechanism than gas generators and expanders for more and more efficiency and power. (20R, 1 dice locked, 4 turns)
-[ ] Full-Flow (40R, ??)
[ ] Expandable Nozzles (PROP) - You have vacuum optimized nozzles already, but what if you could increase the length of the nozzle (and thus efficiency) once you were on orbit? The purpose of this project is investigating the possibility of extending the working area of a rocket engine while not also needing an enormous interstage to contain it the 'normal' way. (15R per dice, 36/400)
[ ] Snapper-1 - The Space Nuclear Power Reactor, SNPR, currently better known to your scientists as Snapper, is a small sub-kilowatt output fission plant well-suited for deep-space probes. The basic model of the Snapper has a roughly two year design lifetime, but the deliverable model the teams are looking to provide will be designed for at least five, enabling long duration high-power missions to Jupiter and beyond. (2 turns, 25R per turn) (Enables 1st Generation Space-rated Fission Plants)
[ ] Radioisotope Thermoelectric Generators - The full name of the device was quite a mouthful, but it shortened - helpfully - down to RTG. Differing from a reactor in a number of ways, an RTG was largely a passive, low-power, long-life device, utilizing the thermoelectric effect to convert the decay heat of radioactive material into electrical power and useful heat to keep instruments warm. (2 turns, 25R per turn) (Enables Radioisotope Thermoelectric Generators)
[ ] Nuclear Engine for Rocket Vehicle Applications Studies - A side-effect of the nuclear power studies led to several of your researchers realizing that the heat a reactor produced could be harnessed for things other than turning a turbine. By passing propellant over a reactor's core housing you would cool the core and heat the propellant alike - and the propellant would be very hot indeed, making it an attractive candidate for being flung out the back of the spacecraft at extremely high speeds. (20R per die, 0/500) (Unlocks 1st Generation Nuclear Thermal Propulsion for spacecraft)
(Projects that require locked dice can be unlocked at any time, but progress will not be made without a dice locked in.)
Science (7 dice, +6 Bonus to All) (2/7 Locked)
[ ] Animal Cosmonauts - Now that the R-4a and the Mark 1 are both available, it would be wise to do tests on the complete set of systems our cosmonauts will rely on to live and work in space without risking said cosmonauts in case of failures. Perhaps with a chimpanzee, instead. (75R, will complete, dice roll for success, possible PS loss on failure)
[ ] Exploratory Propellant Research (Phase 4) [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, 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. (20R per dice, 131/300, unlocks fuel mixtures and further fuel development)
[ ] Conduct Supersonic Jet Research (Phase 3) [AERO] - Basic testing has been completed, and interesting phenomena observed when experimenting with the engines that have been built. More can be done, of course. (15R per die, requires a completed Hangar Complex and Runway to finish, can be started without, 147/640)
[ ] Air-Breathing Rocket Theory - With our more advanced knowledge of high-speed, high-altitude jet engines, the possibility of acquiring a rocket's oxidizer from the atmosphere itself during the start of its ascent has a certain appeal from an efficiency and capability standpoint, but will need to be investigated more fully. (20R, 2 turns, 1 dice locked)
[ ] All-Sky Survey (Phase 2) [PHYS] - The Science Committee at the WCC put forward the proposal to perform an All-Sky Survey, mapping the entire night sky with telescopes across the world. The first such survey, the Carte du Ciel, had never actually finished, despite starting nearly three quarters of a century ago. With advancements in photography and optics, the science teams predict that they will be able to perform the task… in roughly a decade. With new observatories under construction and large amounts of funding dispersed to amateur and professional astronomers alike, the Survey can move forward into the actual process of beginning the survey. (10R per die, 53/600) (+5 PS, ???)
[ ] Space Telescope Studies - A natural extension of the desire to do science in space is a realization of the value space can have for astronomy - without the glow of city lights, the distortion of atmosphere, or the need to concern yourself with sunrise and sunset, one can perform astronomical numbers of observations over a given time period, as compared to a ground-bound observatory. Now that you have long-duration satellites and some experience transmitting the data they acquire to the ground, maybe it's time to visit the idea of putting a whole telescope up there and see what there is to be seen. (15R, 1 dice locked, 4 turns)
[ ] Atomic-powered Ground Launch Concept Studies - The idea of in-space nuclear propulsion, brought down to Earth. This program would study the possibilities for using nuclear power to get from the surface to space, both directly and indirectly. (10R per die, 0/300, -5PS on start, and an additional -10 on completion)
[ ] Ionic Propulsion [PROP, PHYS] - A new propulsion system has been proposed by members of your scientific teams, using ionized atoms accelerated with a magnetic field to propel a spacecraft. Such a drive would not be very powerful, and would be quite power hungry, but could be very efficient and generate high ending velocities. (0/450, 20R per dice)
[1 LOCKED] Synthetic Aperture Radar - By taking advantage of the velocity at which IEC satellites cross the Earth, a method of using small RADAR systems to generate very accurate radar imagery of an area has been proposed within the scientific teams, with eyes on producing very accurate maps of the Earth - and, of course, other planets. (1 dice, 20R per turn sum, 2/4 turns)
[1 LOCKED] Transistor Computing Investigations - After some pestering by Dr. Turing, a program to more fully investigate the possibilities related to transistor-based computing has been authorized. One part investigating how to best build one, one part trying to improve on that method, and one part trying to use them for things. He promised that it'd be worth it, and you believed him. (20R per turn, 4/6 turns)
(Projects that require locked dice can be unlocked at any time, but progress will not be made without a dice locked in.)
[ ] Bothering Councilors - The year's budget is set, but next year's is very much not. You can influence investment priorities if you want to apply enough political pressure to the right people to convince them to fund, say, better roads out of Mogadishu… elementary and secondary schools in Africa… that kind of thing. (-10 PS, roll a quality dice to give options for influencing infrastructure funding, triggers subvote)
[ ] Hand off Terrestrial Nuclear Research - As much fun as your physicists have had working to get a usable civil-scale nuclear reactor up and running, it's not really the IEC's responsibility to handle, at least not now that the heavy lifting of getting the plants designed and tested and the initial public backlash has been dealt with. It's time to call the Department of Energy and put that responsibility where it logically belongs. (-1 Science dice) (Removes 'Propagandize for Nuclear Power', further terrestrial reactor research; space reactor research remains; IEC isotope refinement center remains under IEC control) (-25R/turn until WC)
[ ] Coordinate with the AEC - After receiving the letter from the Antarctic cooperative, there was, in hindsight, a blindingly obvious synergy between your respective areas of focus. Both of you were operating in desolate, remote environments far from the rest of civilization in conditions inimical to human life (though Antarctica, at least, had air and water ready to hand). Maybe it was time to forge closer ties. (-5R per turn; gain access to Antarctic research stations on a permanent basis, allowing for cosmonaut training and long duration research)
Outreach
[ ] Propagandize for Nuclear Power - As the IEC has gained more and more knowledge on the subject of nuclear power, it's become apparent that if you want to put this knowledge to good use for humanity, you'll need to start working against the (justified) stigma nuclear as a whole has in order to realize its full potential. (-1PS per die) (895/???)
[ ] Propagandize for Space - Now that you've gotten your first orbital class rocket (and soon your first satellite), now is the best time to start touting the benefits of space exploration and access to space to the public. You'll need to find ways of engaging everyone in the idea, and there was no better time to start than now. (5R per die) (138/???)
Personnel
[ ] Select a Chief Scientist of the IEC (autocomplete, no cost, gain benefits based on selected Chief Scientist) (unlocked by finishing all Science Centres)
[ ] Engineering Job Fair - (33/150, 5R per dice, -5R per turn on completion. Gain +1 Engineering dice)
[ ] Laboratory Talent Scouting - (0/150, 5R per dice, -5R per turn on completion. Gain +1 Science dice)
[ ] There is Power in a Union - The PAO says you should expand your physical footprint so more people can interact with the IEC. Preparations and initial expansions have already been made, but your facilities unions need more able bodies to do more with. (0/150, 5R per dice, -5R per turn and -5 PS on completion. Gain +1 Facilities dice.)
[ ] The Right Stuff - With work underway on several programs that would require the services of skilled and courageous pilots, you would soon need to begin finding them so they could be integrated into the IEC - and someday, they would become your first astronauts. (75/300, 5R per dice, gain astronaut candidates)
uhm do singapore. slow roll our own pads expand control and do both +1 buildings.
other then that not sure what i want beyond more of everything. spaceplanes sounds nice just because we can.
kind of do and don`t want to pets in space thing. also getting more dice to do more things is something i am generally a fan of. not sure its the best idea, but i am a fan of it.
I also want to actually upgrade mogadishu before expanding Singapore even more. We need to be able to launch the rockets we design from our own loaunch center, after all...
Got the Staged Combustion action, cool. What is the difference between the baseline and the "full flow" option? Either way, one of them we should go for since we got those magic soviet ceramics from a critwin.
[ ] Atomic-powered Ground Launch Concept Studies - The idea of in-space nuclear propulsion, brought down to Earth. This program would study the possibilities for using nuclear power to get from the surface to space, both directly and indirectly. (10R per die, 0/300, -5PS on start, and an additional -10 on completion)
Rockets blow up. That's a thing that happens.
Radioactive power sources to run low-powered instruments for long periods is fine, those are tiny amounts of material.
Maybe also ion-engines?
I can't imagine that an amount of radioactive material that would be useful for escaping earth's gravity well wouldn't also be horrifying to consider distributed over a large area via an exploded rocket.
Hard 100% pass.
Except maybe a fusion-torch many decades from now? I think that should be imagined by advanced concepts and then stored in a filing cabinet for the next 100 years
edit: On reread, I am curious about "indirectly". No idea what's in there, but I don't think we should poke now it anyway, since it'd be a whole thing to develop something(???) that uses nuclear power, but somehow isn't attached to/in the blast radius of an exploding rocket.
I can't imagine that an amount of radioactive material that would be useful for escaping earth's gravity well wouldn't also be horrifying to consider distributed over a large area via an exploded rocket.
Nuclear reactors aren't magic dead bombs. A full one nuclear rocket exploding will be dangerous because of the impact of the rocket fuel detonating, not because of the nuclear material.
The greatest danger is public perception. The actual risk of harm is near to zero.
Edit: To explain more. A rocket's ascension does not take very long at all. It's only a few minutes. That means that there's not much time for radioactive waste products to accumulate in the engine's fuel segments. On top of that, rockets just don't use that much energy. All the energy of a Saturn V is equivalent to just a few hours of operation of a nuclear power plant, so again, not too much waste accumulating. Finally, whatever disaster occurs is likely to just destroy the engine, ruining the geometry needed for fission.
That said, ground nuclear is still a bad idea, because nuclear engines are best when they can operate for prolonged amount of time. As a first stage engine, they struggle with TWR, and you're paying an enormous price for an engine which you'll never reuse. The radiation may not be bad enough to pollute entire sections of the landscape, but it will make working on the rocket hell.
Got the Staged Combustion action, cool. What is the difference between the baseline and the "full flow" option? Either way, one of them we should go for since we got those magic soviet ceramics from a critwin.
Standard staged combustion uses 1 pre-burner. Either an oxygen-rich one, or a fuel rich one. This then gets coupled to a regular turbine thingy that also brings in the remainder of the oxygen and fuel.
A full flow staged combustion has both an oxygen rich preburner and a fuel rich preburner, each driving their respective fuel/oxidizer turbines.
This allows each preburner to be smaller and slower, means you need fewer seals, and general reduces the stress on the system, at the cost of needing 2 preburners rather than 1, so you're heavier and need more engineering.
While Full flow staged combustion was succesfully tested on test stands in the sixties, SpaceX's raptor engine is the only one which has ever flown on an actual rocket.
Nuclear reactors aren't magic dead bombs. A full one nuclear rocket exploding will be dangerous because of the impact of the rocket fuel detonating, not because of the nuclear material.
The greatest danger is public perception. The actual risk of harm is near to zero.
Wouldn't an exploding rocket at a given height scatter radioactive material over a large area?
If the amount of material scattered per unit area is small enough to not be a big deal in terms damaging health then that's great - and I would like to make it clear that I have no idea of what the numbers are on this.
I'm a bit concerned about public perception now that you point it out, mind; but my "100% hard no" was based fully on what I imagined might be the actual medical consequences to organisms that would be exposed to scattered radioactive material.
Do you have an idea what the math looks like in terms of expected nuclear material involved in a crash? How much mass, how it compares to RL nuclear accidents? I have no idea personally.
It's probably not going to scatter the material. These fuel elements are pretty hard, and rockets exploding are conflagration, not tearing detonations. For example, when the space shuttle exploded, the shuttle itself was not destroyed by the explosion, but by aerodynamics tearing it apart, and even then the crew capsule remained intact until impact with the surface.
Nuclear fuel rods, which are smaller, denser and harder will likely just fall in one piece.
That said, even if they got torn to tatters, the amount of material is fairly small, and it'll be very fresh nuclear fuel, because your flight can only be a few minutes long at best (also, it'd fall into the ocean). So the amount of radiation is limited, and that it gets spread over a large area drops the doses.
The greatest problem would be someone grabbing hte debris and keeping it as a souvenir. That might get someone hurt.
Do you have an idea what the math looks like in terms of expected nuclear material involved in a crash? How much mass, how it compares to RL nuclear accidents? I have no idea personally.
To find out what would happen if the booster exploded on the launch pad, a mock reactor was slammed into a concrete wall using a rocket sled. The core was compressed by 5%, and calculations showed that the core would indeed go critical and explode, with a force equivalent to about 2 kilograms (4.4 lb) of high explosive, which would likely be negligible compared to the damage caused by an exploding booster. Disturbingly, this was much lower than the 11 kilograms (25 lb) that was predicted theoretically, indicating that the mathematical modeling was deficient.[96]
Normally the control drums rotated at a maximum speed of 45° per second to the fully open position at 180°. This was too slow for the devastating explosion sought, so for Kiwi-TNT they were modified to rotate at 4,000° per second. The test was carried out on 12 January 1965. Kiwi-TNT was mounted on a flatbed railroad car, nicknamed the Toonerville Trolley, and parked 190 meters (630 ft) from Test Cell C. The drums were rotated to the maximum setting at 4,000° per second and the heat vaporized some of the graphite, resulting in a colorful explosion that sent fuel elements flying through the air, followed by a highly radioactive cloud with radioactivity estimated at 1.6 megacuries (59 PBq).[96]
(This overheating isn't really representative an inflight detonation, which would have less activity, but it works as a worst case scenario.)
Anyway, 59 petabecquerel is dangerous, but it's mostly shortlived isotopes,
For comparison , Chernobyl released 5200 PBq of iodine-131 equivalent, which is a more long lived isotope than the ones mentioned here.
The thing with a nuclear rocket engine is that it's a reactor which has ran at really high power for a really short period of time, so you get a large amount of short lived isotopes, and very limited long term impact. By the time a cloud rains down, it'll have seriously reduced.
Most of the radioactivity in the cloud was in the form of caesium-138, strontium-92, iodine-134, zirconium-97 and krypton-88, which have short half-lives measured in minutes or hours. The cloud rose 790 meters (2,600 ft) into the air and drifted southwest, eventually blowing over Los Angeles and out to sea. It was tracked by two Public Health Service (PHS) aircraft which took samples. The PHS had issued film badge dosimeters to people living on the edge of the test area, and took milk samples from dairy farms in the cloud's path. They revealed that exposure to people living outside the Nevada Test Site was negligible. Radioactive fallout on the ground also dissipated rapidly
The explosion was relatively small, estimated as being the equivalent of 90 to 140 kilograms (200 to 300 lb) of black powder. It was far less violent than an explosion of TNT, and hence the large pieces that were found.
Gotta love the 60's, where you can just hand out radiation dosimeter badges to members of the general public to check if the exploding nuclear reactor you detonated near them was dangerous.
I can't imagine that an amount of radioactive material that would be useful for escaping earth's gravity well wouldn't also be horrifying to consider distributed over a large area via an exploded rocket.
So, bear in mind that the longer a radioactive substance's half-life is, the less radioactive it is, and that even highly enriched U-235 like the compact Naval reactors run off of has a half-life of 700 million years. You could scatter it across a large area via exploded rocket and literally no one would ever notice. The public health risk is zero from radioactivity without a criticality event (which is possible, but also possible to rule out via sane engineering), and pretty much negligible from toxicity (particularly compared to a lot of the more Fun™ chemical fuels).
Reactor meltdowns and bomb fallout are dangerous because of the outputs of a nuclear reaction, which have half-lives in the days to millennia range and are thus several-to-many orders of magnitude more aggressively radioactive. The inputs- you know, the things we'd actually want to be launching- are really quite stable in the absence of all the complicated engineering surrounding them.
Also, theoretically, Project Orion could launch several thousand tons surface-to-orbit on a string of several hundred small nuclear explosions with acceptably miniscule environmental impact by launching off the South Magnetic Pole deep in the interior of Antarctica, relying on the Earth's natural magnetic field lines to confine the fallout to somewhere nothing lives and no one cares about. This is admittedly "acceptable" by the standards of late 60s Earth, and will certainly never pass political muster in-quest, but they were genuinely projecting barely-at- if not below-threshold-of-detection impact on worldwide health from routine operations. You could run regular Project Orion service off the magnetic pole for centuries with less worldwide environmental impact than the entire nuclear test history of IRL Planet Earth.
Really, nothing we do in the space program, no matter how badly we screw it up, is going to be half the problem of the tailings from mining all that uranium in the first place. The civilian energy program might, conceivably, if we're stupid enough to build a Chernobyl (or similar positive-void-coefficient design), turn off all its safeties, melt it down, and let it blow its reactor vessel (like the IRL one didn't). But if we're already looking at molten salt reactors on safety grounds, I think we can safely rule out that possibility entirely.
(On a side note, MSRs are also good news for driving the development of a proper fuel reprocessing industry, minimizing both the amount of uranium mining required and the amount of nuclear waste generated for a given amount of power generation. This is a good thing and I am pleased about it.)
(On a side note, MSRs are also good news for driving the development of a proper fuel reprocessing industry, minimizing both the amount of uranium mining required and the amount of nuclear waste generated for a given amount of power generation. This is a good thing and I am pleased about it.)
Though funnily enough, fuel reprocessing is actually one of the places where we're going to see the greatest radiation release. Look at the radiation levels in the Irish and North Sea, and you can see the effect of the French and UK programs.
Though funnily enough, fuel reprocessing is actually one of the places where we're going to see the greatest radiation release. Look at the radiation levels in the Irish and North Sea, and you can see the effect of the French and UK programs.
Oh for sure, but it also means you can control where that release is happening, and it's a lot less likely to be "leaching into the watershed, upstream of significant populations" than mine tailings >.>
[ ] Activate Sounding Rocket Programs (1 slot required) - Begins a more rigorous, regimented program of sounding rocket launches, opening the doors for more cooperation with universities across the world. (10R/turn) (+5PS/year) (removes Sounding Rockets from build queue)
[1 LOCKED] Synthetic Aperture Radar - By taking advantage of the velocity at which IEC satellites cross the Earth, a method of using small RADAR systems to generate very accurate radar imagery of an area has been proposed within the scientific teams, with eyes on producing very accurate maps of the Earth - and, of course, other planets. (1 dice, 20R per turn sum, 2/4 turns)
[ ] Select a Chief Scientist of the IEC (autocomplete, no cost, gain benefits based on selected Chief Scientist) (unlocked by finishing all Science Centres)
I also want to actually upgrade mogadishu before expanding Singapore even more. We need to be able to launch the rockets we design from our own loaunch center, after all...
I think that a plan that goes hard on 'finishing reconstruction' would get us some world-council brownie points. Do one point each of Electrification, Infrastructure and Industry this year.
Well, if the council is going to give us an open year, I see no reason not to exploit it to its fullest. Making the assumption that the first impactor will fail, we'll do it live.
Facilities is surprisingly open, and there is no dire need to burn forward on Singapore past the phase, creating room to modernize the wind tunnels.
In engineering, RTGs are the frontline nuclear project. Fun as speculative systems are, RTGs are actually practical and simplistic in operation. Their definite hardiness will serve the long-range probes well. Squeezing out performance from our fairly inefficent rockets is also a priority that staged combustion will fill.
Science is just a hellish thing. The research priorities speak for themselves, but since we have actual room right now we can finally continue advancing jet research. Sky survey will be important long term and gets the spare die.
Politics gives a chance to finish off nuclear propaganda, after which a significant shift to actual, you know, space propaganda should begin.
Why would the SDL of all people be opposing nuclear power? They've got by far the least hangups about the old governments, and it's not as if the oil barons are still filling their pockets. I would expect them to be the only party in favor.
* 3 points in Singapore this quarter, to make good on our promise. After that, we slow-roll it but keep going.
* Mission control, for the program slots, will be very nice. 2 on that should finish it.
* Doing both the arcjet and hypersonic wind tunnel at the same time will put us in a good position to make a drive on spaceplanes and reentry vehicles. As such, I say we start them now.
* That leaves one die for reconstruction support. I'm intentionally NOT expanding the Mogadishu space centre, because I think we can hold off on that. We don't need a 500-ton pad until our next major rocket family anyways, and that's going to be the culmination of a lot of design work that can be done on sub-scale prototypes.
* 2 points on Solar Thermal, hopefully finishing it up.
* 1 on FFSC, as part of the groundwork for the next major rocket family.
* 1 on Snapper-1; not to fly, but so that we can do rigorous testing and get past the initial failures before we want to send a reactor up.
* 1 on Expandable Nozzles. I think spacesuits can wait a bit, and our objectives at present focus a lot on uncrewed interplanetary stuff where high-performance upper stages matter more.
* 3 on Supersonic Jets
* 1 on Animal Cosmonauts
* 1 on Ions
* 2 on Nuke Propaganda, to finish it off
* 2 on Space Propaganda
* Chief Scientist
