Per Aspera (Space Agency Plan Quest)
- Thread starter Shadows
- Start date
- Original
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Shadows
Sacred Priestess of the Benevolent Dice Gods
- Location
- USS Civilian, DDG-214
- Pronouns
- She/Her
You're going to get a bonus to launch reliability on the R-4. It's now sitting at 'beat 40' as opposed to 'beat 50'. Which means that in another few launches you'll be going down to 'beat 35' as opposed to 'beat 40', so you got to skip a reliability increment.
PonKatt
She Who Runs Into Walls
- Location
- US
This was our thought for when we saw the 100 so that's excellent to hear. The fluff we had in mind (putting this here because we just want to talk about it) is that we basically got the good timeline for a nat 1. The design had a critical flaw that would have killed people either this launch or another, but it got caught and fixed.
Please don't take this as "you should write this" idk we just liked the thought and wanted to mention it.
-[X] Construct an R-4 Dawn - (262/120+25=117/120+25) (could also be 25/25 to build Curiosity 3 and 92/120 for an R-4 Dawn)
-[X] Expand the Assembly Complex 182/350
-[X] Tracking Station Construction (Phase 1) - (288+146=434/350)
-[X] Spacefarer Training Facilities 97/300
-[X] Balloon Tanks [MATSCI] - (100+42=142/200)
-[X] Lifting Body 24+6=30/150
-[X] Exploratory Propellant Research (Phase 1) [CHEM] 148/150+Omake(5 points)
-[X] Weather Studies (Phase 4) [PHYS] 260/240
-[X] Propagandize for Space - (0+138/???)
-[X] The Right Stuff 91/300
ETA: Corrected Spacefarer Training Facilites,
-[X] Expand the Assembly Complex 182/350
-[X] Tracking Station Construction (Phase 1) - (288+146=434/350)
-[X] Spacefarer Training Facilities 97/300
-[X] Balloon Tanks [MATSCI] - (100+42=142/200)
-[X] Lifting Body 24+6=30/150
-[X] Exploratory Propellant Research (Phase 1) [CHEM] 148/150+Omake(5 points)
-[X] Weather Studies (Phase 4) [PHYS] 260/240
-[X] Propagandize for Space - (0+138/???)
-[X] The Right Stuff 91/300
ETA: Corrected Spacefarer Training Facilites,
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Construct an R-4 (100/120+25) - (100+153+9)= 145/145+117/145
Launch - Critical Success
Launch
Satellite failure
Expand the Assembly Complex (0/350) - (0+152+30)= 182/350
Tracking Station Construction 1 (288/350) - (288+136+20)= 350/350 + 94/???
Spacefarer Training Facilities (0/300) - (0+93+20)= 113/300
Rudimentary Heat Shielding ☑◻
Observation Satellites ☑◻◻◻◻◻
Human-Rated Rocketry ☑◻◻◻◻◻◻◻
Balloon Tanks (100/200) - (100+19+23)= 142/200
Lifting Body (0/150) - (0+24+6)= 30/150
Exploratory Propellant Research 1 (0/150) - (0+114+34)= 148/150
Weather Studies 4 (146/240) - (146+99+15)= 260/240
Photovoltaic Investigations ☑◻◻◻
Propagandize for Space (0/???) = 138/???
The Right Stuff (0/300) - (0+81+10)= 91/300
This turn didn't really go well, but we'll live with it I guess. I'd take all the terrible failures in exchange for the reliability boost; I'd like to begin building a network of weather satellites ASAP because those are some of the earliest useful satellites we can make and having a reliable launcher is going to be important for that.
Launch - Critical Success
Launch
Satellite failure
Expand the Assembly Complex (0/350) - (0+152+30)= 182/350
Tracking Station Construction 1 (288/350) - (288+136+20)= 350/350 + 94/???
Spacefarer Training Facilities (0/300) - (0+93+20)= 113/300
Rudimentary Heat Shielding ☑◻
Observation Satellites ☑◻◻◻◻◻
Human-Rated Rocketry ☑◻◻◻◻◻◻◻
Balloon Tanks (100/200) - (100+19+23)= 142/200
Lifting Body (0/150) - (0+24+6)= 30/150
Exploratory Propellant Research 1 (0/150) - (0+114+34)= 148/150
Weather Studies 4 (146/240) - (146+99+15)= 260/240
Photovoltaic Investigations ☑◻◻◻
Propagandize for Space (0/???) = 138/???
The Right Stuff (0/300) - (0+81+10)= 91/300
This turn didn't really go well, but we'll live with it I guess. I'd take all the terrible failures in exchange for the reliability boost; I'd like to begin building a network of weather satellites ASAP because those are some of the earliest useful satellites we can make and having a reliable launcher is going to be important for that.
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I mean, it was never intended to finish a lot of projects. The lifting body and Balloon tank rolls weren't great, but propellant finishes, weather studies finishes, Tracking Stations Finished, Spacefarer training is on-track, assembly complex expansion's on track, Right Stuff is well ahead of schedule.
December 31st, 1954//Q4 1954 Results
Shadows
Sacred Priestess of the Benevolent Dice Gods
- Location
- USS Civilian, DDG-214
- Pronouns
- She/Her
[X] Plan Magic Carpet Riders
-[X] Construct an R-4 Dawn - (69/120+25) 3 dice, 105R
--[X] And launch it - 2 die
---[X] Curiosity-class Satellite (+25 progress requirement)
-[X] Expand the Assembly Complex 3 dice 60R
-[X] Tracking Station Construction (Phase 1) - (288/350) 2 dice 60R
-[X] Spacefarer Training Facilities 2 die 30R
-[X] Rudimentary Heat Shielding [MATSCI] - 1 die 15R [LOCKED
-[X] Observation Satellites - 1 die 15R [LOCKED]
-[X] Human-rated Rocketry - 1 die 20R [LOCKED]
-[X] Balloon Tanks [MATSCI] - (100/200) 1 die 15R
-[X] Lifting Body 1 die 10R
-[X] Exploratory Propellant Research (Phase 1) [CHEM] 2 dice 30R
-[X] Weather Studies (Phase 4) [PHYS] 1 die 10R
-[X] Photovoltaic Investigations -1 die 20R [LOCKED]
-[X] Propagandize for Space - (0/???) 2 dice 10R
-[X] The Right Stuff -1 die 5R
-[X] Construct an R-4 Dawn - (69/120+25) 3 dice, 105R
--[X] And launch it - 2 die
---[X] Curiosity-class Satellite (+25 progress requirement)
-[X] Expand the Assembly Complex 3 dice 60R
-[X] Tracking Station Construction (Phase 1) - (288/350) 2 dice 60R
-[X] Spacefarer Training Facilities 2 die 30R
-[X] Rudimentary Heat Shielding [MATSCI] - 1 die 15R [LOCKED
-[X] Observation Satellites - 1 die 15R [LOCKED]
-[X] Human-rated Rocketry - 1 die 20R [LOCKED]
-[X] Balloon Tanks [MATSCI] - (100/200) 1 die 15R
-[X] Lifting Body 1 die 10R
-[X] Exploratory Propellant Research (Phase 1) [CHEM] 2 dice 30R
-[X] Weather Studies (Phase 4) [PHYS] 1 die 10R
-[X] Photovoltaic Investigations -1 die 20R [LOCKED]
-[X] Propagandize for Space - (0/???) 2 dice 10R
-[X] The Right Stuff -1 die 5R
The last quarter of 1954 was one of alternating rest and frantic work, as everyone was given a solid month off, to be used in rotating shifts, where they were free to do whatever they pleased, wherever they pleased to. One of the perks of having a flight complex now was that the IEC had acquired a trio of airliners that could be flown aboard by any IEC personnel to wherever they were headed, with a set schedule of flights posted in the cafeteria at the beginning of each quarter. This enabled those whose homelands were far away from Mogadishu to travel there in comfort and at speed - which, in December, included you, your partner, and your children, bound for New England and an introduction to your parents. Which was not, in any way, terrifying.
(It was.)
When you returned to Mogadishu at the end of December, happy to escape the worst of that northern winter, you had the unenviable task of transitioning straight from vacation mode to World Council prep for January. You didn't regret a thing… though the travel lag was atrocious.
HEADLINES FROM AROUND THE WORLD
MOGADISHU - IEC aces second satellite launch, has issues on-orbit - The recent launch of a second Curiosity satellite into orbit went smoothly, lifting off on November 1st and cleanly lifting itself into space. The satellite, however, ran into some variety of issue, and has ceased operation since…
NORTH AMERICA - FAS forces accept the given terms of surrender after crushing defeat - After a crushing defeat in the Battle of San Antonio, the Free American States have officially dissolved and disbanded their army, upon receiving a surrender demand from the combined forces of the free world encircling them. This marks an end to the North American conflict nearly two years after its beginning, and many hope reconstruction can be swiftly restarted…
PARIS - New television show sponsored by IEC - The Interplanetary Exploration Cooperative has begun production of a new television show to be aired on all interested networks, following the adventures of a spacefaring explorer, riding an advanced rocketship to visit strange new worlds…
Resources:
45R (+480R/turn - 35R/turn from payroll/dice purchases = +445/turn net)
70 Political Support
1 R-2 Gale
1 R-4 Dawn
Objectives of the World Communal Council
Complete Post-War Reconstruction (36000/200000)
Defeat Partisan Forces
State of the World
(Updated at the end of every Quarter)
Mediterranean/Saharan Africa
Education: 7 (+) (Rural school improvements)
Electrification: 7 (+) (Electrical grid expansion)
Industry: 7
Infrastructure: 7
Security: 2
Partisan Activity: 3
Sub-Saharan Africa
Education: 7
Electrification: 6 (+) (Electrical grid expansion)
Industry: 5 (+) (Factory construction, agricultural modernization)
Infrastructure: 6 (+) (Road and rail spur expansions)
Security: 4
Partisan Activity: 5
Eastern Asia
Education: 10
Electrification: 8
Industry: 10
Infrastructure: 10
Security: 6
Partisan Activity: 6
Western Asia
Education: 9
Electrification: 11
Industry: 11
Infrastructure: 11
Security: 7
Partisan Activity: 6
Australia and New Zealand
Education: 6
Electrification: 7
Industry: 7 (+)
Infrastructure: 7
Security: 4
Partisan Activity: 3
Europe
Education: 10
Electrification: 10
Industry: 9
Infrastructure: 11
Security: 6
Partisan Activity: 5
North America
Education: 8
Electrification: 9
Industry: 8
Infrastructure: 8
Security: 9 (-----) (Drawdown)
Partisan Activity: 3 (----) (Battle of San Antonio) (FAS Surrender)
South America
Education: 7 (+) (Teachers' training programs bear fruit; rural and urban school improvements)
Electrification: 8 (+) (Electrical grid expansion)
Industry: 8 (+) (Aircraft manufacturing plant comes online)
Infrastructure: 8
Security: 4
Partisan Activity: 3
Pacific Islands
Education: 6 (+) (School improvements)
Electrification: 6 (+) (Gas plants come online)
Industry: 4
Infrastructure: 6
Security: 1
Partisan Activity: 0
Complete Post-War Reconstruction (36000/200000)
Defeat Partisan Forces
Department of Agriculture (5%)
-Forestry Commission
-Aquaculture and Fishing Commission
Department of Transportation (10%)
-Sea Travel Commission
-Road and Rail Commission
-Air Travel Commission
Department of Industrial Coordination (5%)
-Occupational Health and Safety Administration
Department of Energy (8%)
Department of Reconstruction and Disaster Relief (27.4%)
Department of Health and Welfare (24%)
Department of Education (17%)
Discretionary Funding (3.6%)
Council Standards Commission (Negligible)
Interplanetary Exploration Cooperative (1.5%)
Antarctic Exploration Cooperative (0.1%)
(Others)
-Forestry Commission
-Aquaculture and Fishing Commission
Department of Transportation (10%)
-Sea Travel Commission
-Road and Rail Commission
-Air Travel Commission
Department of Industrial Coordination (5%)
-Occupational Health and Safety Administration
Department of Energy (8%)
Department of Reconstruction and Disaster Relief (27.4%)
Department of Health and Welfare (24%)
Department of Education (17%)
Discretionary Funding (3.6%)
Council Standards Commission (Negligible)
Interplanetary Exploration Cooperative (1.5%)
Antarctic Exploration Cooperative (0.1%)
(Others)
State of the World
(Updated at the end of every Quarter)
Mediterranean/Saharan Africa
Education: 7 (+) (Rural school improvements)
Electrification: 7 (+) (Electrical grid expansion)
Industry: 7
Infrastructure: 7
Security: 2
Partisan Activity: 3
Sub-Saharan Africa
Education: 7
Electrification: 6 (+) (Electrical grid expansion)
Industry: 5 (+) (Factory construction, agricultural modernization)
Infrastructure: 6 (+) (Road and rail spur expansions)
Security: 4
Partisan Activity: 5
Eastern Asia
Education: 10
Electrification: 8
Industry: 10
Infrastructure: 10
Security: 6
Partisan Activity: 6
Western Asia
Education: 9
Electrification: 11
Industry: 11
Infrastructure: 11
Security: 7
Partisan Activity: 6
Australia and New Zealand
Education: 6
Electrification: 7
Industry: 7 (+)
Infrastructure: 7
Security: 4
Partisan Activity: 3
Europe
Education: 10
Electrification: 10
Industry: 9
Infrastructure: 11
Security: 6
Partisan Activity: 5
North America
Education: 8
Electrification: 9
Industry: 8
Infrastructure: 8
Security: 9 (-----) (Drawdown)
Partisan Activity: 3 (----) (Battle of San Antonio) (FAS Surrender)
South America
Education: 7 (+) (Teachers' training programs bear fruit; rural and urban school improvements)
Electrification: 8 (+) (Electrical grid expansion)
Industry: 8 (+) (Aircraft manufacturing plant comes online)
Infrastructure: 8
Security: 4
Partisan Activity: 3
Pacific Islands
Education: 6 (+) (School improvements)
Electrification: 6 (+) (Gas plants come online)
Industry: 4
Infrastructure: 6
Security: 1
Partisan Activity: 0
1 Launch Stand (0-5 tonne) (+1 Operations dice)
1 Heavy Sounding Rocket Launch Pad (5-30 tonne) (+1 Operations dice)
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])
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)
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)
Equatorial Tracking System (Provides communications and guidance across the equator)
1 Heavy Sounding Rocket Launch Pad (5-30 tonne) (+1 Operations dice)
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])
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)
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)
Equatorial Tracking System (Provides communications and guidance across the equator)
Scientific Advances
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.
Second Stages - Can now build 2-Stage Sounding Rockets.
Combustion Instability Research - Turns the initial success roll for a rocket from a >60 to >50.
Engine Cycles - Enables Early Orbital engines.
Mobile Launch Operations - Can launch Sounding Rockets without the need for a launch pad.
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.)
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.)
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.
Scientific/Engineering Specific Field Bonuses
AERO - +19
AVIONICS - +9
CHEM - +11
CREW - +3
COMP - +13
MATSCI - +17
PHYS - +9
PROP - +14
Penelope Carter [The Director] - [+10 to Politics rolls, +2 Politics die, +5R/turn in funding from Connections, reroll 1 failed politics roll per turn]
Sergei Korolev - [+5 to Science and Engineering rolls (unless researching [HGOL][FUEL] projects, then it becomes a -15), +1 Science dice, +1 Engineering Dice. Request:
Rocket Reels - Adds a coinflip for 2 gained political support per quarter; gain an additional flip for every successful orbital rocket launch. [UPGRADED]
Promises Made (Expires Q1 1955):
Do not conduct military rocket launches or research
Construct an R-4 Dawn + Satellite - (117/120+25) (1 Satellites + 1 Rocket Built)
The Assembly team kept up a steady, competent pace even as each shift rotated through their vacation periods, successfully completing one Dawn and Curiosity II, and nearly finishing both Curiosity III and its carrier rocket. A certain number of them were tapped to advise Facilities on the Assembly Complex expansion, which may explain why they did not quite manage to finish that pair of craft.
Rocket Launches (2 successful launches) (Launch crit success) (Curiosity II (Failure), sounding payload)
In November, Curiosity II was launched aboard its Dawn carrier rocket on a perfectly clear, cool morning, shooting into the sky on a nominal trajectory. It was the second flight since Curiosity I had flown, and using knowledge from the sounding flight and that first orbital flight, the launch procedures for the Dawn had been revised with new information gleaned from studying the launch footage and the data collected during and after. The new procedures paid off; not even the minor issues the first flight had dealt with reared their heads, and the Curiosity II was promptly inserted into its equatorial orbit, now fully covered by tracking stations and vessels.
The satellite itself, unfortunately, had issues, and within a day of launch was no longer communicating with the ground. It was suspected that there had been a fault in the electrical system that had caused the batteries aboard to discharge into the shell and fry the avionics. It wasn't the best outcome, but it also wasn't the worst; there was data to review and knowledge to be gained, after all.
The second launch of the quarter was another Dawn, this time carrying a payload from the team researching heat shielding. It carried a variety of materials arranged singly or in patterns atop several inert re-entry vehicles. These, in turn, were released at the top of the Dawn's very unusual (for its class) flight path - straight up.
They re-entered the atmosphere at orbital return velocities, targeted in such a way as to land in Arabia to the north, in an unpopulated stretch of desert the IEC had negotiated to use as a landing area for this launch. The data they provided the heat shielding research teams was quite valuable in showing just what the ideal properties of such a thing would be.
Expand the Assembly Complex (182/350)
The Facilities crews, working in tandem with the Assembly teams, began building out a series of additional production halls connected to the original building that every rocket that the IEC had launched so far had been manufactured in. Their work was swift; these plans had been drawn up for several months at this point, and once the resources were allocated calls went out across the world, looking for the machine tools the Assembly teams had requested. There were needs for lathes, bench presses, new welding machines, bespoke machines that could hold and rotate sections of rockets of varying diameters and lengths while they were being welded to their fellows… the list went on.
By the time the quarter ended and you were traveling from your hometown in New England to Christchurch for the next World Council, they were roughly halfway done with the expansion, with manufacturing buildings' shells finished and the new storage hangar under construction.
Tracking Station Construction (Phase 1) - (350/350); (Phase 2) (94/250)
The tracking station construction project kept up a solid pace this quarter, finishing the last of the tracking ships needed for continuous observation of the rockets and satellites as they went to and entered orbit, along with completing the chain of stations that stretched through the middle of Africa and to the east coast of South America, and all the power lines they'd need to operate.
With that complete, work began on a series of stations around the northern latitudes, proofing against a future where the IEC would be operating weather observation satellites and needing to relay the information gleaned from them to local authorities and weather forecasters for use. By the end of the quarter, tracking stations were dotted from Scotland and Nova Scotia to the farthest-north cities of Russia and Anchorage in North America.
Spacefarer Training Facilities (113/300)
Work on something somewhat more exciting than usual began in October - the start of a series of facilities that, when finished, would allow the IEC's spacefarers to be trained for missions to space… when it had any spacefarers, that was. There were various simulator buildings, intended to eventually hold mockups of the control areas for whatever craft the IEC would be operating; there were test facilities, such as an arm-mounted centrifuge with a seat mounted to the swinging end that would allow the high g-force loading of liftoff to be simulated in order to train spacefarers in resisting it; and, of course, plenty of spare space for other facilities besides. One of the last ideas submitted was a residential complex, though that was put on hold until there were actually spacefarers to house. For the time being, it would be good enough to let them live out in Mogadishu with the rest of the IEC's personnel, but in the future it might be wise for them to have a place to be quartered at the space center if some event might require their rapid presence for one reason or other.
Rudimentary Heat Shielding - (Turn 1/2)
The heat shielding investigations started with a variety of compounds and solid materials, proposed for their high heat tolerances, being subjected to a series of tests at Dnipro using a curious setup that looked like nothing so much as a rocket engine strapped in front of a target area that contained what looked like a pitchfork, to which samples could be welded, strapped or otherwise secured to. The materials were then subjected to the nearest approximation to the estimated two-thousand plus degree (Celsius, obviously) calculated to be present during re-entry from Low Earth Orbit.
Some of these materials were composites, meant to ablate; others were solids, meant to soak the heat; and others still were passively cooled, allowing them to function in a variety of circumstances at the cost of being heavy. In the end, virtually all of them would be tested to some extent by the Dawn rocket launched near the end of the quarter, and upon recovery several promising candidates were selected from the best-performing samples recovered from the re-entry payload.
Observation Satellites (Turn 1/4) (Modified duration)
The first problem that faced the team selected to investigate purpose-built observation satellites for weather and mapping was that of lifespan. Any satellite built would need power in order to broadcast the television signals they were recording; as such, they would be relying entirely on the batteries they carried, at this point in time. The second problem was one of guidance and pointing: if you wanted to be able to steer a non-spinning satellite's view, you needed either a camera with a suitable mount (which was weight intensive), a higher orbit to allow greater field of view (which needed a powerful rocket), or reaction control thrusters of some description (again, weight intensive). If a satellite was spinning, you had to make sure it was fast enough to be stable but slow enough to be able to get useful data back down. It was something of a tough nut to crack, but the team was hopeful.
Human-rated Rocketry (Turn 1/8)
You had authorized Korolev to assemble a team of engineers to begin looking at a variety of ways in which the IEC could get a spacefarer to orbit and then keep them alive there, and return them safely to the Earth. The what would then determine the how - would it be some variety of spaceplane? A capsule? If it was a capsule, what was its shape? What orbit accesses were desired? All of these questions and more would drive the creation of the actual spacecraft that would carry your spacefarers, and determine its ending mass and characteristics. That, in turn, would let you define your requirements for a rocket to carry them into orbit - though you already knew that 'larger and more powerful than the R-4' was almost certain to be the case.
As a result, they spent virtually all of the first quarter discussing amongst themselves the pros and cons of each approach, occasionally rising to the level of heated debate in the cafeteria with a slew of Russian, English, French, German, Chinese and Arabic invectives (amongst others) thrown about, but Korolev seemed largely happy with the progress they had made in his end-of-quarter report to you. You almost cannot have good engineering without argument, he had said after the last cafeteria incident. They are passionate about their preferred answers to this question, but requirements will win out in the end, when we decide what is to be done.
Balloon Tanks - (142/200)
The balloon tank investigations had another frustrating quarter, as technical problems relating to pressurization and rusting were worked through. Given the steel construction of the tanks, something would be needed to protect them from being oxidized by the atmosphere before they were filled and launched into space; thus, the problem was deferred to your chemists, who set about identifying compounds to protect the tanks from rusting. By the end of the quarter, they had tentatively identified a candidate substance, and the pressurization problems had been largely worked through on the test article. It was hoped that the project would soon be done, with satisfactory test data available to the IEC in order to make use of these tanks in future spacecraft designs.
Lifting Body (30/150)
The lifting body investigation started somewhat poorly, with the vacation schedule partly to blame - the lead engineers and scientists were all on different schedules, so progress was slower than might have been liked. It was, thankfully, a non-emergency task, so taking longer wasn't a big issue.
The basics of the lifting body were that it was, by contrast with a standard plane, mostly fuselage with very little wing. It did, in fact, produce lift, given its shape - it would never be able to take off from a runway, but while in the air it would, in theory, be able to be controlled with relatively standard aircraft control surfaces. This was highly beneficial if you wanted to design a spaceplane or spaceplane-like capsule for gentler re-entry, as the aerodynamics of the craft would allow you to re-enter at a shallower angle, minimizing g-force load at the expense of needing a longer re-entry path.
There were prototypes on the drawing board and pieces of wood in the lathes by the time you got back from your vacation. It wasn't much progress - but it was progress.
Exploratory Propellant Research (Phase 1) [CHEM] (148/150+5 Omake Bonus=153/150)
Jack Parsons was a very happy man this quarter.
You'd authorized he and Glushko to begin looking into propellants - both of them had built engines in their time, and while Glushko was indisputably the better of the two for liquid rocketry, Parsons was the better chemist, and the better man for solids. So Glushko set off for Long Beach with his team in tow, while Parsons stayed at the Mogadishu Space Centre and used the chemistry labs and testing areas there to begin probing the mysteries of propellant combinations.
The results of his investigations were…
Let's go with terrifying.
There was a distinct, sharp uptick in the number of explosions at the testing facility - granted, it had been built with those events in mind and no one was hurt - and there were a number of calls from Mogadishu complaining about the noise because of them, even though the city was several kilometers away from the centre. What he discovered, however, was something he termed 'useful, excellent information' and everyone else termed 'absolutely insane'.
[Solid rocket propellant unlocked: Ammonium Perchlorate Composite Propellant - Relatively safe and reliable, not much to be complained about.]
[Liquid propellant combination unlocked: Liquid fluorine/liquid oxygen - Your chemists and engineers have fled the premises, screaming, into the hills.]
Weather Studies (Phase 4) [PHYS] (260/240)
The weather sciences division were able to conduct quite a bit of work even without the launch of additional rockets thanks to the incredible computing power on hand at Mombasa. There, they were able to model storm formation to a reasonable degree based on data gathered over the course of various launches, and in turn apply that knowledge to attempting to give better predicting capability to local meteorologists across the world through informing them about newly-understood intricacies of the relationship the weather had to things like temperature, pressure, humidity, time of day - the list went on. It wasn't perfect, by any means, but it was better.
Here, though, they hit a hard roadblock.
If they wanted to learn more, they'd need to be able to follow a storm from formation to dissolution and watch every minute of it, measuring it with whatever instruments were available. And that meant satellites.
[Unlocks Weather Satellites after Observation Satellites completes]
Photovoltaic Investigations (Turn 1/4)
While the observation satellite teams were fretting about how to power their spacecraft, another team you had ordered set up to investigate photovoltaics were hard at work trying to identify an answer to their problem. Through a handy property of certain materials, it was possible to generate electricity from mere sunlight - and, in addition, it was surprising to you to learn that this effect had been known for more than a hundred years at this point. What your teams were doing, therefore, was finding ways to harness that effect with a sturdy, long-lasting material that would also deliver a decent amount of power for its weight. The manufacturing of these cells would need a semiconductor base and a variety of materials - some of which were highly toxic on their own - applied to it in order to allow for a current to be generated across what was being referred to as a 'cell' and then captured by electrical wiring for use. Needless to say, these would be an entirely in-house build, likely for quite some time.
By the end of the quarter, they were beginning to put together prototype 'cells' to be tested in the African sun the following quarter, with eyes towards setting up a sun simulator in one of the empty buildings available in order to do accelerated investigations of wear-over-time.
Propagandize for Space - (138/???) 2 dice 10R
Your Outreach department took up the reins in the political realm this quarter, beginning to put together materials extolling the eventual values and virtues of spaceflight and space travel. Amongst these were several books, a small television show, and a number of musicians contacted to make songs about being a spacefarer (even though exactly what one of those would be and look like was only just being defined, the musicians were encouraged to use their creativity). In addition, your Council liaisons started talking to the Councillors who would be attending the next World Council - some of the last ones you had worked with were, for varying reasons, no longer Councillors - and talking them up more directly. It was very much a case of hitting the problem from the bottom and the top simultaneously, and you could only hope it would be helpful as time went on.
The Right Stuff (91/300)
The Personnel department, at your direction and on Korolev's advice, began putting out calls for applicants across the globe, seeking 'strong-willed, physically fit, mentally-capable and intelligent persons interested in performing spaceflight activities'.
That call and that wording, of course, generated a tsunami of applications they then had to wade through. There were, by your estimate, roughly three hundred thousand applications by the end of the quarter, and there was absolutely no way whatsoever you could afford to hire even a fraction of them, even if they were all geniuses with flight experience and doctorates besides.
But.
There were, in fact, geniuses with flight experience and doctorates besides who had applied, and Personnel slowly began assembling a list of candidates from the sea of applicants.
DracoDracul
Transbian Communist
- Location
- Austin
- Pronouns
- She/They
The chemical that doesn't want to exist
- Pronouns
- She/Her
FOOF FOOF FOOF FOOF!
always_confused
Perpetually unwanted
- Location
- SEA
So why is Liquid Fluoride Fluorine/Liquid Oxygen such a *scream* moment, for lay people?
I think we might be dealing instead with a straight mixture of about 70% Flourine 30% Oxygen, which gets you about 40 more seconds of ISP than straight oxygen or flourine does when burned in a motor. You just have to deal with all the problems of burning fluorine, and it's not good for rocket pads.
To quote from the peerless text on Rocket Fuels, Ignition...
Chemically speaking, Flourine is an oxidizer-the strongest oxidizer possible. This means that it can 'burn' things that don't get burned by mere 100% pure oxygen. And it's hellishly toxic to humans for the same reason, it goes after our delicate enzymes and muscles in to steal electrons.
- Location
- The great frozen north
Given how nasty gaseous fluorine is, somehow I doubt that FOOF forming in our reaction chamber will make things any worse for the safety of our Liquid fluorine rocket. ...Are there any vids on youtube of a fluorine-metal fire? Sounds cool.
Anyways, how good is Glushko's Ammonium Perchlorate? Is it as boring and mid as it sounds?
EDIT: There's hardly any hills near Mogadishu. Our engineers ran for a LONG time to get away from that.
Anyways, how good is Glushko's Ammonium Perchlorate? Is it as boring and mid as it sounds?
EDIT: There's hardly any hills near Mogadishu. Our engineers ran for a LONG time to get away from that.
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Shadows
Sacred Priestess of the Benevolent Dice Gods
- Location
- USS Civilian, DDG-214
- Pronouns
- She/Her
Because it's FLOX, not FOOF. That is actually a different mixture. Same chemicals, different ratio.
Also, Jack Parsons is your PROP guy and has been all quest.
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