Rocket Design Agency - A Playtesting Quest

[4WheelSword]

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

Spoiler: 1958

- 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

Spoiler: 1959

- 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)

Spoiler: EPL

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)

 

[Pyro Hawk]

[X] Delay manned flight by 1 year. Cannot select Science missions at next objective review.

Pyro Hawk threw 2 10-faced dice. Reason: War Total: 10

 

[TortugaGreen]

[X] Delay manned flight by 1 year. Cannot select Science missions at next objective review.

 

[brmj]

[X] Delay manned flight by 1 year. Cannot select Science missions at next objective review.

I hate this so much.

 

[Strypgia]

[X] Delay manned flight by 1 year. Cannot select Science missions at next objective review.

Since this is the only way to avoid military NASA.

Strypgia threw 2 10-faced dice. Reason: War? Total: 16

 

[4WheelSword]

Brad returned to the Cape disheartened. He'd managed to avoid a military takeover of his organisation and a major budget cut, but that came with one hell of a price even so. The crewed mission was being pushed back an entire year to ensure that both the Artemis and the Astroscathe were truly ready to fly. Not just that, but Congressman Conrad had announced with great relish that for the next year, NASA missions would have to 'contribute to the security of the states of New Alleghany' in all of their objectives. That meant no pure science, no curiosity.

No progress.

He'd find other ways though. He was certain of that.

War Progress: Stalemate
As summer came to Cathay, everything changes. Warlords began to appear in the contested areas, armed with Caspian T-40 tanks and GUAP Shershen fighter aircraft. While not modern designs, they were recent enough to be a serious problem for Europan forces, and several port-cities were retaken in sudden, vicious attacks by Cathayan Warlords.
What followed was a severe breakdown in the sophisticated nature of the war thus far. Probing attacks and cautious raids were replaced by severe street-to-street fighting and brutal tank battles along scrubby coastal plains and in the hill-forests. More Europan troops were dispatched, with the July 1959 deployment standing at 250,000 Europan soldiers (190,000 of them Dyskelandish) and another 60,000 local forces.
In a surprise move, Akitsukini declared that it would be deploying forces to the theatre to support the Europan coalition. Four air defence and a single tactical rocket battalion were sent to the shores of Cathay along with a division of infantry for defensive purposes.
International commentators have viewed recent developments in the area with concern, as the entry of additional great powers into the conflict (including the apparent Caspian interest) has caused some concern. Multiple atomic forces are in theatre and that level of escalation is something that has been feared for a decade.

Please set the 1960 mission schedule. Minimum 2. Approval voting allowed. Majority required for success.
[ ] Continue the Hope Program and orbital science (Science)
[ ] Continue to launch payloads for the Army (Military)
[ ] Begin research into deep space probes (Science)
[ ] Approach corporations about communication payloads (Commercial)
[ ] Launch a series of Astroscathe missions to test hardware and ensure the safety of human participants.
[ ] Approach the Navy regarding their SpaceTrak program (Military)
[ ] Begin developing the plans for future Space Camp flights (Internal)
[ ] Write in - but remember, pure research is banned and you have to find a majority.

Please roll 1d10

 

[tryrar]

rolling

tryrar threw 1 10-faced dice. Total: 9

 

[brmj]

[X] Continue to launch payloads for the Army (Military)
[X] Approach corporations about communication payloads (Commercial)
[X] Launch a series of Astroscathe missions to test hardware and ensure the safety of human participants.
[X] Begin developing the plans for future Space Camp flights (Internal)
[X] Write in: approach the New Alleghany Weather Bureau, as well as other interested parties like the military, about satellites for weather monitoring and prediction.
[X] Write in: Begin investigating the long-term feasibility of partially reusable launch vehicles as a way to reduce launch costs.

What was the SpaceTrak program?

 

[tryrar]

What was the SpaceTrak program?

Click to shrink...

From the sound of it, I think they're trying to do spy sats, which I wouldn't be opposed to.

 

[brmj]

From the sound of it, I think they're trying to do spy sats, which I wouldn't be opposed to.

Click to shrink...

Yeah, I'd vote for that.

 

[Jeboboid]

[X] Approach corporations about communication payloads (Commercial)
[X] Launch a series of Astroscathe missions to test hardware and ensure the safety of human participants.
[X] Begin developing the plans for future Space Camp flights (Internal)

The Miliary can fuck off.

 

[brmj]

[X] Approach corporations about communication payloads (Commercial)
[X] Launch a series of Astroscathe missions to test hardware and ensure the safety of human participants.
[X] Begin developing the plans for future Space Camp flights (Internal)

The Miliary can fuck off.

Click to shrink...

I wish I felt like I could vote that way, but I don't. We are on damn thin ice right now and only held onto civilian control at all with a promise that we'd be launching "defense" related payloads and such.

 

[tryrar]

[X] Continue to launch payloads for the Army (Military)
[X] Approach the Navy regarding their SpaceTrak program (Military)
[X] Launch a series of Astroscathe missions to test hardware and ensure the safety of human participants.
[X] Approach corporations about communication payloads (Commercial)

I feel these four mix the right balance of being forced to suck up to the military as well as advancing spaceflight in general, without trying to do too much.

 

[Jeboboid]

I wish I felt like I could vote that way, but I don't. We are on damn thin ice right now and only held onto civilian control at all with a promise that we'd be launching "defense" related payloads and such.

Click to shrink...

I honestly see it as a choice of morality, and I refuse to sell my soul to murderers.

 

[NemoMarx]

[X] Approach corporations about communication payloads (Commercial)
[X] Launch a series of Astroscathe missions to test hardware and ensure the safety of human participants.
[X] Approach the Navy regarding their SpaceTrak program (Military)
[X] Begin developing the plans for future Space Camp flights (Internal)

If we have to do military, I'd prefer the Navy? seems like that might lead to GPS or something that's only somewhat military.

 

[brmj]

Does anyone have any ideas about other objectives or payloads? We should try and get write-ins out now before there are many votes.

My thoughts behind the weather satellite is that it is indisputably useful to many different parties, but also very scientifically interesting and close to the kind of satellite we would want to build anyway.

Other ideas that have occurred to me:

Satellite navigation. Probably a good one, since the US navy actually launched a rudimentary system in 1960, and it has significant other eventual payoff.

Satellites to look for nuclear detonations. Another one that started pretty early, which involves putting x-ray, gamma-ray and neutron sensors in space. Ought to give us some really interesting scientific data, and a satellite of this type discovered gamma ray bursts in real life. Unlike satellites for detecting ICBM launches, this is unlikely to lead to the end of the world if it messes up.

Something to look at solar weather and the magnetosphere with the intent of helping to predict HF radio propagation. A bit of a stretch, since we don't really know enough to be able to instantly directly apply the results, but this is enormously useful to the military and to long-range shipping and aviation. It is also (incidentally) very scientifically interesting and the exact sort of thing we would want to be launching anyway.

Updated list, to get these options out there:

[X] Continue to launch payloads for the Army (Military)
[ ] Approach the Navy regarding their SpaceTrak program (Military)
[X] Approach corporations about communication payloads (Commercial)
[X] Launch a series of Astroscathe missions to test hardware and ensure the safety of human participants.
[X] Begin developing the plans for future Space Camp flights (Internal)
[X] Write in: approach the New Alleghany Weather Bureau, as well as other interested parties like the military, about satellites for weather monitoring and prediction.
[X] Write in: Begin investigating the long-term feasibility of partially reusable launch vehicles as a way to reduce launch costs.
[X] Write in: Approach the navy about satellite navigation, if that isn't what SpaceTrak is.
[X] Write in: Approach the Department of Defense about satellites to attempt to monitor nuclear detonations.
[X] Write in: Approach the military and other concerned parties about satellites to study factors linked to HF radio propagation, with the aim of improving prediction.

 

[tryrar]

Does anyone have any ideas about other objectives or payloads? We should try and get write-ins out now before there are many votes.

My thoughts behind the weather satellite is that it is indisputably useful to many different parties, but also very scientifically interesting and close to the kind of satellite we would want to build anyway.

Other ideas that have occurred to me:

Satellite navigation. Probably a good one, since the US navy actually launched a rudimentary system in 1960, and it has significant other eventual payoff.

Satellites to look for nuclear detonations. Another one that started pretty early, which involves putting x-ray, gamma-ray and neutron sensors in space. Ought to give us some really interesting scientific data, and a satellite of this type discovered gamma ray bursts in real life. Unlike satellites for detecting ICBM launches, this is unlikely to lead to the end of the world if it messes up.

Something to look at solar weather and the magnetosphere with the intent of helping to predict HF radio propagation. A bit of a stretch, since we don't really know enough to be able to instantly directly apply the results, but this is enormously useful to the military and to long-range shipping and aviation. It is also (incidentally) very scientifically interesting and the exact sort of thing we would want to be launching anyway.

Updated list, to get these options out there:

[X] Continue to launch payloads for the Army (Military)
[X] Approach the Navy regarding their SpaceTrak program (Military)
[X] Approach corporations about communication payloads (Commercial)
[X] Launch a series of Astroscathe missions to test hardware and ensure the safety of human participants.
[X] Begin developing the plans for future Space Camp flights (Internal)
[X] Write in: approach the New Alleghany Weather Bureau, as well as other interested parties like the military, about satellites for weather monitoring and prediction.
[X] Write in: Begin investigating the long-term feasibility of partially reusable launch vehicles as a way to reduce launch costs.
[X] Write in: Approach the navy about satellite navigation, if that isn't what SpaceTrak is.
[X] Write in: Approach the Department of Defense about satellites to attempt to monitor nuclear detonations.
[X] Write in: Approach the military and other concerned parties about satellites to study factors linked to HF radio propagation, with the aim of improving prediction.

Click to shrink...

.....dude that is waaaaaaaay too many options.

 

[4WheelSword]

You know, I didn't think I'd have to put a maximum on it, but yeah. You've got one year and that's really, really not enough for 10 different launch options, even if you split them between Prometheus and Artemis.
Lets go with a maximum of... 6.

 

[brmj]

You know, I didn't think I'd have to put a maximum on it, but yeah. You've got one year and that's really, really not enough for 10 different launch options, even if you split them between Prometheus and Artemis.
Lets go with a maximum of... 6.

Click to shrink...

For reference, there were 29 US orbital launches in 1960. In any case, this isn't so much a "let's do all of them" list as it is a "let's get the options out there and see what picks up a majority" list. Approval voting and all that.

If you'd still like me to cut it down to 6 even so, I can do that. Also, could you please confirm what exactly SpaceTrak is?

 

[4WheelSword]

No, by that argument you can have them all.
SpaceTrak is... tracking space objects. It's a ground based radar system currently used to track other peoples space hardware.
The suggestion right now would be to see if it's possible to take radar into space and really make that system accurate.
For completely peaceful purposes.
Obviously.

 

[Punchweasel]

[X] Continue to launch payloads for the Army (Military)
[X] Approach corporations about communication payloads (Commercial)
[X] Launch a series of Astroscathe missions to test hardware and ensure the safety of human participants.
[X] Begin developing the plans for future Space Camp flights (Internal)
[X] Write in: approach the New Alleghany Weather Bureau, as well as other interested parties like the military, about satellites for weather monitoring and prediction.
[X] Write in: Begin investigating the long-term feasibility of partially reusable launch vehicles as a way to reduce launch costs.

 

[notgreat]

[X] Continue to launch payloads for the Army (Military)
[X] Approach corporations about communication payloads (Commercial)
[X] Launch a series of Astroscathe missions to test hardware and ensure the safety of human participants.
[X] Approach the Navy regarding their SpaceTrak program (Military)

Not a fan of reusable launch vehicles quite yet. We just don't have the knowledge to know what could be feasible, and that's how you get something like the Space Shuttle (reusable, but costs more to launch than building a new one would be)

 

[brmj]

Not a fan of reusable launch vehicles quite yet. We just don't have the knowledge to know what could be feasible, and that's how you get something like the Space Shuttle (reusable, but costs more to launch than building a new one would be)

Click to shrink...

Point, though to be fair the way the space shuttle ended up was more down to conflicting or unreasonable demands and budget limitations than anything really fundamental. What I'm envisioning is much more modest, with a payload to orbit between 4 and 10 tons, no attempt to combine manned and unmanned launches, and possibly just the engines and avionics reused, or just the first stage, or both. Either uncontrolled re-entry and landing or a scheme that involves steering it to a runway or designated patch of sea or whatever using ground-based radar, a chase plane and remote control equipment. Lifting body, a rogallo wing or parachutes rather than winged. The tech should be relatively feasible and still deliver real savings. But yes, this is probably too ambitious to be thinking about now when we are on our second orbital launch vehicle and have hardly begun to establish a use case that demands frequent launches.

 

[Pyro Hawk]

[X] Continue to launch payloads for the Army (Military)
[X] Approach corporations about communication payloads (Commercial)
[X] Launch a series of Astroscathe missions to test hardware and ensure the safety of human participants.
[X] Begin developing the plans for future Space Camp flights (Internal)
[X] Write in: approach the New Alleghany Weather Bureau, as well as other interested parties like the military, about satellites for weather monitoring and prediction.
[X] Write in: Begin investigating the long-term feasibility of partially reusable launch vehicles as a way to reduce launch costs.

 

[4WheelSword]

Added the first 'reusability' rules to the design package. It's under SRB's.

 

[brmj]

Added the first 'reusability' rules to the design package. It's under SRB's.

Click to shrink...

I haven't had a chance to fully explore this yet, but after a bit of analysis:

Second stage reuse or refurbishment isn't a great plan because of what it does to mass and because of how little a second stage can cost. In an example I've been working with, first stage full refurbishment pays for itself in around 5 launches, re-use in 6, and refurbishing or reusing just the engines and avionics and such pays for itself in 4 either way. This presumably gets worse if launch costs other than just building the rocket in the first place start being tracked. Since these rules do not model the impact of different recovery strategies on the costs of recovery and refurbishment, I can probably cut back these costs a bit by going for the strategy with the absolute lowest initial cost, even if in the real world that might not be wisest. For now, though, this is assuming a controlled recovery, probably on a runway, rather than parachuting into the ocean.

Edit: caught a couple errors and tightened things up a little. Turns out that not only can I do a semi-refurbishable upper stage, but it can reduce the time for a semi-refurbishable lower to pay for itself to 3 launches. After that, the new hardware needed to launch 4 tons to orbit is just over 9 cost, vs 20.1 without it and 110.1 fully disposable.