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Rocket Design Agency - A Playtesting Quest

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Cast and Characters
  • Informational
    • NASA
    Brad L. Whipple - Director, New Alleghany Space Administration

    Payload Design - +1
    Rocket Design - +2
    Engine Design - +3
    Mission Planning - +1
    Flight Control - +2
    Damage Control - +0
    Spacecraft Activity - +0
    Extravehicular Activity - +0
    Experimental Activity - +2

    Flight Objectives
    - Continue scientific launches, progressing to probes into the space beyond orbit by year end 1959.
    - Begin experiments which will allow a progression to human spaceflight before year end 1960.
    - Cooperate with the Armed Forces in developing their abilities through the application of spaceflight.

    Mission Schedule - Current Date: January 1960
    - Low Orbit 1 (Summer 1958) - Hope-2 (Partial failure)
    - Re-entry test 1 - Sub-orbital - Full Success, August 1958
    - Low Orbit 2 - Partial Failure, Hope-3 , October 1958
    - Re-entry test 2 - Failure, November 1958
    - Military Communications - Success, ARTS, December 1958
    - High Orbit 1 - Success, Hope-4, January 1959
    - Re-entry test 3 - Success, March 1959
    - Bio-sciences - Launch Failure, July 1959
    - Discovery 1, Success, September 1959
    - High Orbit 2 - Success, Hope-5, October 1959
    - Lunar Probe - Launch Failure, Artemis-Lunar, November 1959
    - Bio-sciences - Success, Astrocaphe-Chuck, December 1959
    - Discovery 2 - Failure, January 1960
    - Astrocathe test - Success, animal in space, February 1960
    - March lost due to Artemis redesign
    - NAN payload - April 1960 - First Hermes Flight
    - Crown 3 - Spring/Summer 1960
    - Commercial payload - Summer 1960
    - IRVOS 1 - Summer 1960
    - NAA Communications - Summer/Fall 1960
    - Space Camp test - Summer/Fall 1960
    - NAN payload - Fall/Winter 1960
    - Commercial payload -Winter 1960
    - Astrocathe test - Winter 1960
    - NAA Communications - Spring 1961

    - Astrocaphe phase 1 (3 crewed flights)
    - Astrocaphe phase 2 (3 crewed flights)

    Hardware
    - Prometheus (1M to LEO)
    - Hermes-L (6M to LEO)
    - Hermes-B (8M to LEO)

    Andre Larkin - Team Lead at EPL
    Rocket Design 0
    Engine Design +2


    EPL Design Team
    Antony Miratha, Aerodynamics
    Susan Stone, Astrophysics
    Michael Cole, Rocket Engineering
    Amy Mathews, Trajectory Planning
    Simon T. Harrison, Chemical Engineering

    +2 Rocket Design, +2 Payload Design +1 Engine Design, +1 Fuel Selection, +1 Flight Planning

    Side Characters
    Dr. Evan Hart - Research Director at EPL
    Arthur Ley, proponent of Lunar flight.
    Franz Haber, Doctor and researcher.
    Dieter von Markand, Pacifist and astrophysicist.

    EPL Facilities
    Design workshop
    Chemical research laboratory
    Launch analysis equipment
    (Please note that EPL has neither rocket nor engine manufacturing facilities)
     
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  • Informational
    • [X] Commercial enterprises. What is exploration without exploitation.


    Long terms, you need economic impetus because the political impetus for the space race will fizzle out. To have a permanent extraterrestrial presence we need it to pay for itself.
     
    Can we do a write in?

    Because I'm thinking something along the lines of initially the scientific community, but that we're sure once the technologies needed to operate in space have been proven the commercial and military sectors will rapidly follow.

    Basically, something to state that whilst the scientific community might be the only ones seriously Pershing actual spaceflight initially, that doesn't mean once effective spaceflight is a thing, it will remain mostly scientific. So pushing the thought that whilst spaceflight might be expensive for seemingly minimal gain now, that's only because we don't know what's needed to take advantage of all the opportunities space and orbit provides yet.
     
    Pyro Hawk said:
    Can we do a write in?
    Click to expand...
    Click to shrink...
    While you certainly can do, this vote is essentially "what is the not!NASA going to be based around."
    There will definitely be options later to bring in the commercial or military work if you choose science. The votes do this:
    Science - The agency is a civillian government organisation intended to explore.
    Military - The agency is a military goverment organisation intended to lead.
    Corp - The agency is a multi-party organisation intended to push business into space.
     
    [X] Commercial enterprises. What is exploration without exploitation.

    moneymoneymoneymoneymoney
     
    [X] The science community, because that is the future.
     
    [X] The military, for strength and confidence.

    Because the military is the only major customer at this point, we're better off to have a direct relationship with the customer. Let's avoid the horrible mess that the US space program got itself into.

    Going commercial like ESA's focus isn't the worst option, but also, where our technology is now, we are decades from the commercial market existing, let alone being worth money.

    fasquardon
     
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    C7P1: Time rolls on
  • Threadmarks
    • Europan Launcher
    In January of 1958, on a cold winter day near the tropic of capricorn, the Europan Space Alliance launched their first satellite into orbit. Weltraumsonde-1 was lofted aboard a rocket mostly manufactured in Albia and Gallia, though the payload was of Dyskelandish design. Two liquid fuelled stages were topped with a spin stabilised solid motor which completed the orbital burn. Analysis suggests the vast majority of the flight to orbit is performed by the upper stages - the lowermost is simply a minute and a half of slow ascent to optimise the latter stages of the flight.
    Payload-
    0.1M 'beeper' satellite

    3rd stage-
    SRB - 2M Early (.05M) C-slot (1.95M) (5.4kN thrust, Delta V: 3412)

    2nd stage-
    Engine - N2H4/RFNA, Gas-Generator (0.2M) shower w/ Vacuum bell (0.24M)
    ISP: 350, Thrust: 56kN
    Stage - 0.5M structural steel, 10M fuel
    Delta V: 5005

    1st stage-
    Engine - N2H4/LOX, Multi-feed (.8M) Dual Impingement w/ atmospheric bell (0.896M)
    ISP: 235, Thrust: 103kN
    Stage - 1M structural steel, 20M fuel
    Delta V: 1889

    Total Mass: 35.74
    Total dV: ~10,300

    Caspian Launcher
    The caspian design is strange - a converted long range ballistic missile, it cannot fly into orbit without the addition of two slim solid rocket boosters attached parallel to each other. A weapon that threatens the world, in the secondary format it was used in March of 1958 to place a quarter ton science satellite into space - the Orbita Zond.
    Payload-
    4M Nuclear warhead/2M satellite

    2nd stage -
    Engine - Aniline/RFNA,Gas-Generator (.4M) Shower w/ vacuum bell (.48M)
    ISP: 269, Thrust: 94kN, 35.5
    Stage - .75M structural steel, 15M fuel (155s burn)
    Delta V: ~3400/~4350

    1st stage -
    Engine - RP-1/LOX,Gas-Generator (3M) Shower w/ atmospheric bell (3.6M)
    ISP: 270, Thrust: 506kN
    Stage - 7M structural steel, 140M fuel (155s burn)
    Delta V: ~4500/~3700

    Space boosters - (2 boosters) 242 (54s burn)
    SRB - 40M Early (2M) Moon-burn (38M/32.3M/5.7M) (204kN thrust, Delta V: ~1360)

    Total Mass: 174.23/252.23
    Total dV: ~7900/~9410

    And so the main contenders in what would become a race into space laid the groundwork of their futures. In New Alleghany though, a contentious new proposal was brought forward. Instead of disparate companies and organisations working to their own ideas, a governmental agency would bring everything together in a centralised administrative group. Only in that did the federalists see a future where the Alleghanians stayed in the lead of things.

    The New Alleghanian Space Administration (NASA) was intended to further scientific endeavor and chart a future beyond the atmosphere. But only so much could be done without first deciding who would lead it.

    Who will lead NASA in 1958?
    [ ] Bradley L. Whipple, Pioneer and free thinker (Desire for orbital base camps)
    [ ] Artie Ley, Spaceflight advocate (Desire for Lunar exploration)
    [ ] Marcus Saluton, Corporate entrepreneur (Desire for profit)
    [ ] Sylvia Arachand, Ex-military executive (Desire for military missions)
     
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  • Threadmarks
    • [X] Bradley L. Whipple, Pioneer and free thinker (Desire for orbital base camps)

    Hey, the base camps idea is pretty cool, AND permenant orbital habs are a good reason to keep going to space. It's either that or the Lunar guy.
     
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    Rocketbucket: ESA and Caspian First Launches
  • Media

    • The Nike and the Orel followed the Prometheus in becoming the first rockets to fly something not just out of the atmosphere, but into orbit. Nike is remarkable in being under ten tons, while Caspia converted an ICBM which served with their rocket forces. Both would go on to fly more than once, though the Nike would fall out of service as payloads grew beyond fifty kilos or so.
     
  • Media
    • [X] Bradley L. Whipple, Pioneer and free thinker (Desire for orbital base camps)

    Let's not go the moon, tis a silly place.
     
    [X] Bradley L. Whipple, Pioneer and free thinker (Desire for orbital base camps)

    I want to see us go to the moon, but once we go, I want us to stay rather than planting a flag. This seems like the best way to get there.
     
    [X] Bradley L. Whipple, Pioneer and free thinker (Desire for orbital base camps)

    This guy or Marcus Saluton I think.
     
    [X] Bradley L. Whipple, Pioneer and free thinker (Desire for orbital base camps)
    Station time. Also, ESA really went minimalist, didn't they. Caspia was by far the most ambitious though, with that massive half ton of satellite.
    Incidentally, what's Caspian politics like? Are they still going full Tsarist autocracy or have they reformed since Aircraft Design Quest's 1911 I think.
     
    [X] Bradley L. Whipple, Pioneer and free thinker (Desire for orbital base camps)
     
    [X] Bradley L. Whipple, Pioneer and free thinker (Desire for orbital base camps)

    I want a permanent space station so big you can see it from the ground with the naked eye.
     
    I do not mean an "Oh, I can see a bright spark in the sky" kind of thing, I mean an "Oh, I can see the second dry dock is nearly complete and the third solar array's coming along nicely" sized station. :)
     
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