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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] A sub-scale re-entry vehicle, using a Prometheus first stage.
    Minimizing risks of failure seems wise right now.

    [X] A sphere
    Not the best, not the most comfortable ride, but the easiest to get right.
     
    [X] A set of variously shaped sub-scale vehicles, using a full Prometheus.

    [X] A sphere
    [X] A broad cone

    Try them both. That's the whole point of using multiple vehicles.
     
    I've added a whole section in the Rules document about missions and how players can move up tiers and onto bigger and better things. It ends with Mars Landers, Venus space stations and Asteroid Redirects.
    Y'all should take a look.

    Also I'll be closing the vote in a couple hours. Now's the time.
     
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    C8P7: What goes up, must come down.
  • Threadmarks
    • It didn't have to go high or far or fast. Well, not relative compared to the full Prometheus NASA had sent up a matter of days ago. It had to go up high enough that when it came down it would experience reentry heating, and it had to go far enough that what it experienced was at least broadly similar to what the capsules would. A sounding rocket wouldn't be enough.

    But a Prometheus would be. A prometheus would be more than enough in fact, and it might even be possible to launch a subscale payload on half of it. What the agency would do with a UA powered upper stage, Brad didn't know, but they'd absolutely find a use.

    And there were rockets already prepared for flight in that case. Two more, in fact, and it would only be a months work or so to prepare the Prometheus first stage and with real production coming online for that booster it wouldn't be like those two would be missed. A few months delay for whatever was coming after this - he checked his notes; another Hope - would be survivable even if it wasn't ideal.

    A small sphere to mount on top, a fairing to cover it on ascent. The payload itself would be simple enough, a battery, a signal repeater and enough of a parachute to bring it down safely.

    Brad gulped. Landing something from space was new, even if the EPL folks had landed a few of their sounding payloads safely enough from the upper reaches of the atmosphere. Half a kilogram coming down at a few kilometres a second? That was another game entirely But those were problems that could be solved. They were just stepping stones towards orbit. And recovering NASA's assets was the first problem.

    Who will you go to for your recovery operations?
    [ ] The NA Navy, for recovery at sea.
    [ ] The NA Air Force, recovery by air.
    [ ] The NA Army, recovery on land.
    [ ] We will not rely on the military for our operations.
     
  • Threadmarks
    • [X] The NA Navy, for recovery at sea.

    Safest option whilst also not costing a lot more. It also doesn't involve the air force...
     
    Pyro Hawk said:
    [X] The NA Navy, for recovery at sea.

    Safest option whilst also not costing a lot more. It also doesn't involve the air force...
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    Is it the safest option, though? It runs the risk of an embarrassing failure after spalshdown. Either sinking, or the radio beacon getting we and it ending up never being heard from until it washes up on a beach somewhere in a year and a half. Besides, sea water related corrosion could make it a bit harder to study the effects of re-entry on the surface.

    [X] The NA Army, recovery on land.
     
    [X] The NA Navy, for recovery at sea.

    Though I must say, I am very curious as to what exactly "recovery by air" would be. Catching the return vehicle with a giant airship? Something else similarly wacky?
     
    Raw90 said:
    [X] The NA Navy, for recovery at sea.

    Though I must say, I am very curious as to what exactly "recovery by air" would be. Catching the return vehicle with a giant airship? Something else similarly wacky?
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    Catching it in mid air with a place, like the film canisters from the early spy satellites.
     
    Raw90 said:
    [X] The NA Navy, for recovery at sea.

    Though I must say, I am very curious as to what exactly "recovery by air" would be. Catching the return vehicle with a giant airship? Something else similarly wacky?
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    Historically, something like this:


    Edit: So, I went and did a quick bit of research just because, and I found something pretty special. Now, I'm not generally impressed with ULA's approach towards innovation, but this time they surprised me. Not impressed, but certainly surprised. Take a look:

    ULA announced in 2015 a feature they could subsequently develop which would make the first stage [of their planned Vulcan rocket] partly reusable: allowing the engines to detach from the vehicle after main engine cutoff, descend through the atmosphere with a heat shield and parachute, being captured by a helicopter in mid-air.[16]​ ULA estimated that reusing the engines in this way would reduce the cost of the first stage propulsion by 90%, where propulsion is 65% of the total first stage cost.[23]​
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    A bold step to better compete with SpaceX, but I wouldn't call it a particularly smart one.
     
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    Recovering it on land is also a lot more likely to wreck the capsule or do damage tonanstructure if the orbital path is a bit wrong...
     
    [x] We will not rely on the military for our operations.

    As always I want nothing to do with the military
     
    [X] The NA Army, recovery on land.
    Pyro Hawk said:
    Recovering it on land is also a lot more likely to wreck the capsule or do damage tonanstructure if the orbital path is a bit wrong...
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    Just different sorts of risks. Land recovery means if the chute fails it's going to hit the ground pretty hard and inflict all kinds of blunt damage. However as its a blunt impact at high velocity, well protected equipment(i.e. iike a plane blackbox) can survive the impact at terminal velocity, so you are more likely to get SOMETHING out of a partial failure.

    Sea recovery means that you have a bit more leeway with the chute and impact velocity...but if it goes wrong you basically lose the whole satellite as it sinks and the sea water does all kinds of no good things to it.
     
    veekie said:
    Just different sorts of risks. Land recovery means if the chute fails it's going to hit the ground pretty hard and inflict all kinds of blunt damage. However as its a blunt impact at high velocity, well protected equipment(i.e. iike a plane blackbox) can survive the impact at terminal velocity, so you are more likely to get SOMETHING out of a partial failure.

    Sea recovery means that you have a bit more leeway with the chute and impact velocity...but if it goes wrong you basically lose the whole satellite as it sinks and the sea water does all kinds of no good things to it.
    Click to expand...
    Click to shrink...

    So basically you are saying unmanned on land right now, but once we start doing manned launches we might want to rethink it to be sea landings? Or at least, something along those lines... I can agree with that, though I won't change my vote.
     
    I mean, how large a difference in impact is there between the sea and the land? AFAIK, at any great speed, water is like concrete when you hit it.
     
    C8P8: The Army's on Patrol
  • Threadmarks
    • Brad approached the army with his cap in his hand, an offer of experimental data and the promise of more in time. In return, he got everything he could have wanted - an operational deployment exercise in a barren patch of North East New Alleghany which will include recovery of a small sphere. A half ton of metal which will be the first thing to ever go that high and come back.

    Well. It will be the first thing to come back down that isn't an atomic weapon prepped for detonation. Army, Air Force, Navy; None of them have any real interest in the science, just so long as their most modern bullet shaped city-killers get down in one piece. This launch though, Brad knows, this one will do so much more for science than for the military.

    In the end, it takes eight weeks instead of six to convert the Prometheus and get a payload ready to fly but as August comes around it sits out on the pad just waiting for the button to be pushed. The second to last of the old construction rockets waiting to fly with only a handful of weeks until the new line runs off it's first vehicle. He wondered whether they would fly as sweetly. So far the Rocket was two for two. He wondered if it would make three in a row.

    The re-entry sphere was due to fly two-thousand kilometres North-North-East, out over the Oriontic Ocean away from the heavily populated east coast to land around abouts where the third mechanised infantry was currently sitting out in a field in the cool coastal sun. Brad wondered what it was like for the men and women in uniform, with their trucks and their tanks and their rifles. He wondered how accurate the landing was going to be. Would they go roaring off across the countryside on tracks and wheels? Or would they simply walk a few hundred metres to tie the heavy probe onto the back of a truck?

    He watched and he waited. The future was coming.

    -First stage
    -- Pre-flight
    -- Ignition
    -- Lift-off

    Please roll:
    - 2d10 + 1 (+ 2 Rocket Design + 1 Mission Planning - 2 Reliability (Corrosive)) - Pre-flight checks
    - 2d10 + 1 (+ 2 Rocket Design + 1 Mission Planning - 2 Reliability (Corrosive)) - Ignition
    - 2d10 + 4 (+ 2 Rocket Design + 1 Mission Planning + 1 Stability) - Lift-Off
     
  • Threadmarks
    • C8P9: Shallow Sailing
  • Threadmarks
    • Pre-flight is a little uncomfortable in the late August morning, sweaty work crews and sweaty control teams. The heat was horrible so close to the southern border, but as Brad looked out through the haze he decided it was worth it. As the timer ticked down, he paced. He smoked. He waited.

    Finally the time came and the rocket flared with the bright light of ignition. The building shook just enough that Brad knew the Prometheus had lit and, if there had been windows, they surely would have rattled. But the camera footage and the vibration was all he had to know what was happening out there. He had no control. This wasn't his flight now, and it wouldn't be his again until the reports landed on his desk. Everyone one was worth watching though. Every time.

    The tower dropped suddenly, without warning. Umbilicals fell away and the gantrys retracted. Then she was off, a smoking cloud of acceleration with engine shaking. She rolled just enough to make him worry, just enough to keep him honest, but it was the roll that would take it on course for its Northern flight. It arced away, a shining spear of light on a haft of exhaust. Prometheus was on its way, again.

    -Second Stage
    -- Max-Q
    -- Staging

    Please roll:
    - 2d10 + 4 (+ 2 Rocket Design + 1 Mission Planning + 2 Control - 1 Partial) - Max-Q
    - 2d10 + 2 (+ 2 Rocket Design + 1 Mission Planning - 1 Partial) - Staging
     
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