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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)
     
    Last edited:
  • Informational
    • [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.
     
    [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.

    If this is too much, I'll cut to the first 6.
     
    [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: approach the New Alleghany Weather Bureau, as well as other interested parties like the military, about satellites for weather monitoring and prediction.

    The two staples of space industry are: weather and telecommunications (especially early space industry)

    It was a great idea of @brmj to think of this write-in.

    I would encourage people to rethink their votes and put this option higher.

    It is directly useful to the military, as well as pure science.

    It also helps developing technological applications for other fields, for instance optics for spy satellites.

    It is also of commercial interest, and public interest.

    [X] Launch a series of Astroscathe missions to test hardware and ensure the safety of human participants.

    [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.

    [X] Write in: Approach the navy about satellite navigation, if that isn't what SpaceTrak is.

    [X] Approach corporations about communication payloads (Commercial)
     
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    C10P8: 1960 approacheth
  • Threadmarks
    • Corporate Commercial Payloads

    - Orbital Image Transmission
    - Record and relay of data
    Astrocathe Missions
    Army Payloads

    - Crown program
    - Communications Program
    Space Camps
    Weather Monitoring

    - Infra-Red VideO Satellite (IRVOS) 1, 2 and 3
    SpaceTrak

    - Navigational satellite
    - Radar receiving payload
    - Radar targeting payload


    "Ladies and Gentlemen of the press, please allow me to introduce the nine men and women who will be New Alleghany's first astronauts!"

    Brad watched the press conference from a distance. Doctor Martins was leading the day, the woman who was instrumental in developing the selection and training program for the first 'astronauts' as she had styled them. Nine men and women, experts in engineering, flight operations and all the other things that would be necessary to fly the Astrocathe in space.

    Not that they would get a chance for a while. Congress had pushed back the first flight to 1961 at the very earliest, and while that meant more time for testing and training, it also meant the chance someone else would reach space first. Not that it was a race. Congress certainly didn't think so.
    And then there was a war as well. It was distracting their competitors, certainly. But Those competitors were surely only distracted enough that their pure science missions would suffer. And NASA couldn't fly any of those either.

    Looking ahead to 1960 was going to lead to some interesting choices. But for now, there were another six months of '59 left to deal with. And there was plenty of room for failure.

    Your have 9 astronauts. How will you sort them?
    [ ] All in Group 1 - Nine flights of the Artemis-Astrocathe.
    [ ] Split evenly between 1 & 2 - 5 flights of Artemis-Astrocathe, 2 of its successor.
    [ ] Slim Group 1 - 3 flights of Artemis-Astrocathe, 3 of its successor.
    [ ] Slim Group 2 - 7 flights of Artemis-Astrocathe, 1 of its successor.

    How are Crown flights to be managed?
    [ ] NASA launch, NA Army orbital operations
    [ ] Full NASA Management
    [ ] Full Army Management
     
  • Threadmarks
    • [X] Slim Group 1 - 3 flights of Artemis-Astrocathe, 3 of its successor.
    [X] Full NASA Management

    Once again, military can fuck off for all I care.
     
    Jeboboid said:
    Once again, military can fuck off for all I care.
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    Honestly, I'd actually say NASA management until it is ready to begin orbital operations, thus, if it doesn't do anything useful, we can just say "This is why the military shouldn't be commanding space flight missions, because if they can't use a satellite they built and planned themselves correctly, why should the nation trust them with the advancement of science and technology in spaceflight applications?"

    [X] Split evenly between 1 & 2 - 5 flights of Artemis-Astrocathe, 2 of its successor.
    [X] NASA launch, NA Army orbital operations
     
    [X] Split evenly between 1 & 2 - 5 flights of Artemis-Astrocathe, 2 of its successor.
    [X] NASA launch, NA Army orbital operations
     
    Yeah, for the military satellites it makes sense to let the military control them.

    [X] Split evenly between 1 & 2 - 5 flights of Artemis-Astrocathe, 2 of its successor.
    [X] NASA launch, NA Army orbital operations
     
    [X] Split evenly between 1 & 2 - 5 flights of Artemis-Astrocathe, 2 of its successor.
    [X] NASA launch, NA Army orbital operations
     
    [X] Slim Group 1 - 3 flights of Artemis-Astrocathe, 3 of its successor.
    [X] NASA launch, NA Army orbital operations
     
    There were no new year celebrations - in July they would have felt entirely out of place - but it certainly felt like one as the second Artemis to fly from the Cape was rolled slowly out to the pad by the ground crews.

    The public knew about the launch. There were were few ways to hide the deployment of something as large as an Artemis after all. But they didn't know about it's payload. Under the codename Discoverer, the launch was reported to be carrying a scientific satellite. In reality it was was carrying the first ever Crown satellite, a photographic reconnaissance orbiter which would be flying into space to photograph everything it could - but especially the war in Cathay. A tiny 50 kilo capsule would be dropped back to earth before it's seven day mission was over and recovered at sea by the NA Navy.

    It was an exciting mission. And it would be the first flight of a mission that would end without NASA's control. As soon as the payload made orbit and detached from the Artemis booster, flight control would transfer to Army Station Florence on the West Coast. That made NASA's life a whole lot easier. As long as the Artemis flew as intended, everything would be just fine.

    They just had to hope.

    There were more decisions to make though. Always more decisions to make. There were three missions left in the year, three missions left before the congressional ban on pure research, and the team had to make sure they were put to good use. One was tagged as 'high orbit', another as 'Deep Space' and the third as 'Biosciences'. They still had to get a monkey into orbit - hell, they were already training Charles' replacement, Chuck (and Spanky was being kept on hand in case of illness) - which meant the bioscience mission was decided. And the first was a Prometheus mission, so that was limited too.

    But that left them a whole raft of options for what to do with the last one.

    Artemis-Discovery Phase 1

    Pre-flight - 2d10+1
    Ignition - 2d10+1
    Lift-off - 2d10+4

    What will be the purpose of the Deep Space mission?
    [ ] To upper orbit! Learn to place things in Geostationary orbit.
    [ ] To the Moon! A flyby of the moon to equal the Caspians.
    [ ] We look beyond! A deep space solar orbiter will teach many lessons.
     
    Two things:
    1. If you can't tell, the update schedule to this quest is 'when I get bored' whereas for my other quests it's 'when I find the energy'.
    2. Look! A transfer orbit calculator! Planetary Transfer Calculator (Blame it for you not getting a Mars flyby option. No transfer window).
     
    4WheelSword said:
    Two things:
    1. If you can't tell, the update schedule to this quest is 'when I get bored' whereas for my other quests it's 'when I find the energy'.
    2. Look! A transfer orbit calculator! Planetary Transfer Calculator (Blame it for you not getting a Mars flyby option. No transfer window).
    Click to expand...
    Click to shrink...
    So, that's confirmation that we are dealing with the real solar system with the serial numbers filed off?

    For tbe last mission: Do we have access to a very small, off the shelf hypergolic engine? Do we have access to solar panels? I might see if I can plot out something more ambitious, like a lunar orbiter.
    brmj threw 2 10-faced dice. Reason: Preflight 2D10+1 Total: 7
    1 1 6 6
     
    brmj said:
    So, that's confirmation that we are dealing with the real solar system with the serial numbers filed off?
    Click to expand...
    Click to shrink...
    Basically yes because for one I can't be bothered working out an entirely new set of orbits and functions and all of that nightmare.
    But you can fully expect the planets to be /very different/. Hey, maybe some might even be, y'know... useful.

    brmj said:
    For tbe last mission: Do we have access to a very small, off the shelf hypergolic engine? Do we have access to solar panels? I might see if I can plot out something more ambitious, like a lunar orbiter.
    Click to expand...
    Click to shrink...
    Potentially! Certainly you can have basic solar cells, and I see no good reason to keep a small (very small) motor from you.
    And yes, with an artemis you can /absolutely/ make a lunar orbiter.
     
    [X] To the Moon! A flyby of the moon to equal the Caspians.


    ....well then! :D
    tryrar threw 2 10-faced dice. Reason: Ignition Total: 20
    10 10 10 10
     
    So do we need to vote for something different to put up a lunar orbiter, or is the default moon vote just determining where the mission goes, not what it does?

    Edit: Well. That was morbidly amusing. Fortunately nothing a catastrophe. We might need to have a better look at the Artemis though...
    Pyro Hawk threw 2 10-faced dice. Reason: Lift Off! Total: 7
    6 6 1 1
     
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    4WheelSword said:
    Basically yes because for one I can't be bothered working out an entirely new set of orbits and functions and all of that nightmare.
    But you can fully expect the planets to be /very different/. Hey, maybe some might even be, y'know... useful.


    Potentially! Certainly you can have basic solar cells, and I see no good reason to keep a small (very small) motor from you.
    And yes, with an artemis you can /absolutely/ make a lunar orbiter.
    Click to expand...
    Click to shrink...
    Good stuff. Does the mass of solar panels include the batteries needed for an orbiter that will be in shadow part of each orbit?
     
    Welp, here's hoping this launch goes better than our last. So far so good...

    [X] To the Moon! A flyby of the moon to equal the Caspians.
     
    [X] To the Moon! A flyby of the moon to equal the Caspians.

    The rocket building rules says 12,600m/s is all that is needed for lunar orbit. That seems low to me, but if that is really all, then I can fit 5 basic and one complex experiment on a solar powered, controllable, and generally pretty capable probe that can launch on an Artemis-L. If the higher end numbers I've seen elsewhere are more accurate, drop tank shenanigans look very appealing and a number of compromises will have to be made, even if we assume an Artemis-B.

    The rocket I'm assuming is a 0.05 cycle mass aerozine/N204 pressure fed engine with a vacuum nozzle. Injector doesn't really matter because twr doesn't matter much for what it is doing. One might imagine that this engine was developed from a sustainer engine for a surface to air missile, for example, with the addition of a vacuum nozzle and perhaps a switch to more modern, higher ISP storable hypergolic fuels.
     
    12,600 is the 'perfect' capture value with no circularisation, high orbit and ideal burns.
    In reality you're gonna want closer to 13000 but hey, sometimes you gotta simplify.
    (If you want a low orbit it's even more)
     
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