Rocket Design Agency - A Playtesting Quest

[4WheelSword]

Another regular sight during the Cathayan conflict of the 1950's, the GUAP Shershen was a late '40s's air superiority fighter armed with two 20mm cannon and two 12.7mm MG's. It fared poorly against the Coalition jets.

 

[4WheelSword]

"We're already recovering every damn capsule you shoot into space. Isn't that enough?" The Captain asks, tapping her foot on the floor, "And as far as I know, we're paying through the damn nose for every launch we schedule with you."

It was true. The Navy was paying an absolute premium for NASA's launch services, and it was a wonderful little buff to the administration's somewhat paltry budget.

"You absolutely are. And it's one hell of a partnership for us here at NASA." Brad said, wordlessly offering a refill on the officers coffee. After a moment's hesitation she nods and he has to fight a grin. He has her. "Look, the Army is already on board with civillian led launch services here at NASA. The Air Force is pursuing its own damned fool crewed flight program with those rocket planes. That leaves the Navy out in the cold without any serious launch capacity or its own crewed options. Do you want to be left out of spaceflight?"

"We've got a man on the Astrocaphe program." She protested.

"You mean we've got a Navy test pilot. Flight Lieutenant Anders is proving to be a wonderful candidate, but the Army has four, and the other five are civilian." He paused, allowing the ratio to sink in, "There's an awful lot we can do for you. That we can do for each other. We just have to find the middle ground."

What do you want?
[ ] Missile tech - Help developing a new rocket, a heavy launcher.
[ ] Submarine tech - Help developing the first base camps for orbit.
[ ] Surface resources - more ships tasked to recover crewed flights.

What will you give them?
[ ] Nothing. You give them enough.
[ ] One of each Astrocaphe phase flight.
[ ] Two of each Astrocaphe phase flight.

 

[4WheelSword]

With a sudden boost in the number of Astrocaphe flights to plan and a new team of Navy boys and girls appearing around the Cape, the months gap in the frenetic flight pace was almost welcomed by the NASA. With the first Hermes tanks appearing around the launch centre and the pad - one of the less damaged ones - undergoing reconstruction work to modify it for the new rocket there was a solid four weeks where not a lot could be done.

So instead, they got to work on designing for the future. Ever since day one, part of NASA's mission had been to work towards the Alleghanian dream of the 'Space Camp', a long term crewed platform in orbit around the earth. Now, finally, with Astrocaphe plans being finalised and functional, the last failure notwithstanding, they could start looking at it properly.

But there was an awful lot of decisions to make between now and the first one being launched. It would be several years at least. But surely that was just enough time to put together a solid plan?

What mass will you design for?
[ ] 5 tons - 20 Mass
[ ] 10 tons - 40 Mass
[ ] 20 tons - 80 Mass

What Endurance will you design for?
[ ] 2 weeks
[ ] 3 weeks
[ ] 4 weeks

This is just phase 1. What is phase 2?
[ ] A long stay camp
[ ] A lunar station
[ ] A refuelling dock

 

[4WheelSword]

The decision making was essentially unanimous and, fortunately, you were essentially able to cut the Navy out of the process. They might be on site to bring their expertise to the actual design process, but it would be a cold day in hell before any of the NASA lot let the Armed Forces finally manage to push their way into the program just by offering a little help. Even if it was the navy who so far had been pretty quiet, all told.

But yeah, there was a plan coming together. A ten ton base camp to be placed in orbit with a scheduled mission time of four weeks, to develop all those little things you'd need for phase two - a long stay camp that would support other missions. Maybe even the sort of base that would last for years, given the right hardware set-up and the ability to resupply it.

Of course, that raised other questions. How many space men would it be set up for, what other systems would it have?

Well. Those would be have to decided upon before you could put together a proper design brief for the Navy team. And then there was the question of what was going to lift it into space.

How many will it be designed for?
[ ] 2 - a single phase 2 Astrocaphe crew at a time.
[ ] 4 - a pair of crews can visit it.

What of the rocket, a 10 ton lifter?
[ ] Design internally, risking another Artemis
[ ] Request Tenders from trusted companies.
[ ] Release an open request for tenders.

Please roll 5 x 1d10 for the war

 

[4WheelSword]

War Progress - Advantage Europan Coalition - Caspian Rumours
Tensions amongst the Coalition partners rise as the war drags on, but Dyskelande diplomacy wins out over Gallian concerns about the future of the Cathayan conflict. While progress stalls along the front, the linking up of several armoured divisions allows for a more aggressive posture to be planned for in the coming weeks, and the Europan forces expect the war to be over by Christmas.
Reports of fighter pilots and tank crews speaking caspian being sighted along the front have grown massively in the past month, and intelligence agencies suspect regular forces are now being deployed alongside Cathayan militias. New Alleghany has requested peace and sent envoys to promote calm choices to Caspian embassies. Caspians have responded by throwing out the New Alleghanian Diplomatic corps.
New Alleghany has a choice to make.

What will New Alleghany do?
[ ] Begin supporting second faction of Cathayan Warlords against Caspians (high chance of failure)
[ ] Commit forces to the coalition (high chance of Europan success)
[ ] Commit independant forces, as Akitsukini has (Medium chance of Europan success).
[ ] Attempt to bring about the end of the war through diplomatic means (high chance of failure).
[ ] Attempt to bring about the end of the war through threat of conventional intervention. (???)
[ ] Attempt to bring about the end of the war through threat of atomic deployment (???)

Please Submit a rocket design with a payload of at least 40 mass.
If you would like to submit a design, but don't know where to start, please feel free to ask for help.

 

[4WheelSword]

Attempt Diplomacy
Threaten Atomics

The New Alleghanians took things a step further in the Summer of 1960, deciding that the colonial war in Cathay had gone on long enough. Diplomatic corps across the world, but especially in Dyskelande and Caspia, were tasked with finding a peaceful solution to the conflict. At the same time, observers and advisors embedded amongst the Cathayan forces began a campaign designed to bring about the end of things.
This, ultimately, was a disastrous failure. Cathayan warlords decided that the Alleghanians were asking for peace because the Europans were on the ropes and the Caspians considered much the same. Meanwhile coalition forces protested what was seen as Alleghanian interference and redoubled commitments to the Cathayan region.
New Alleghanian rocket forces in Curonam, just south of Cathaym were stood too and their atomic-armed missiles were emplaced on their prepared launch sites. Diplomats informed allies and enemies alike that they were prepared to launch against front line targets if the war was not brought to an end through peaceful means.
The Caspian and Dyskelande embassies retreated. Messages were sent that rockets were being fuelled in response. All around the world, missiles were readied, atomic weapons primed, and now it was just a matter of who would blink first.
As a not yet famous NA news reporter put it, "The clock sits at two minutes to midnight. Will we survive to see the dawn."

Roll 3 x 2d10 for Caspia, Dyskelande, New Alleghany (each should be rolled by a different person).

At the Cape, everyone was nervous, but that didn't mean that work could stop. An open request for rockets had gone out, and they'd certainly brought back some interesting first drafts.
O'Connel was threatening another Solid rocket first stage of massive proportions. Mccall had a lifter that could manage ten tons, just, with fuels that would rot a man's flesh off in seconds. One firm was promising fourteen tons, but they were an unknown and essentially new to the world of rocket design. And BRMJ, whoever they were, hadn't even submitted a design, just a recommendation that they should be chosen.

Choose Three options to request designs from:
[ ] O'Connel SRB
[ ] Mccall Corrosive
[ ] Unkown 14 ton
[ ] BRMJ's design
[ ] Write in your own suggestion

 

[4WheelSword]

Caspia was first to blink. She declared that she was standing down her atomic forces in a view to encouraging world peace, and soon embassies reappeared world-wide. These diplomats sent desperate messages to both Dyskelande and New Alleghanian premiers seeking a resolution that didn't mean the fiery end of Europa of Vespasia.
New Alleghany and Dyskelande stared at each other across an Ocean. Advisors disappeared in Cathay as Europan forces retreated into defensive positions. Alleghanian carrier groups were deployed to the Cathayan seas. Everyone waited with bated breath.

Roll 2 x 2d10+1 for Dyskelande and New Alleghany.

Mccall Corrosive
Payload - 40 mass (10 tons)
Stage 2 -
Structural steel (20M) - N2H4/RFNA (400M)
Other systems - (15M estimated)
Total - 435M wet, 35M dry, estimated dV 6000m/s
Stage 1 -
Structural steel (50M) - N2H4/RFNA (1000M)
Other systems - (40M estimated)
Total - 1090M wet, 90M dry, estimated dV 3200m/s
Estimated cost - 400C

Alti-high 14 ton
Payload - 56 mass (14 tons)
Stage 3 -
Balloon tanks (10M) - RP-1/LOX (250M)
Other systems (10M estimated)
Total - 270M wet, 20M dry, estimated dV 4200m/s
Stage 2 -
Balloon tanks (25M) - RP-1/LOX (625M)
Other systems (20M estimated)
Total - 670M wet, 45M dry, estimated dV 3000m/s
Stage 3 -
Structural steel (50M) - RP-1/LOX (1000M)
Other systems - (40M estimated)
Total - 1090M wet, 90M dry, estimated dV 2000m/s
Estimated cost - 600C

At the cape, design reports started arriving. Alti-high, the new company, had the biggest payload wise. Mccall had a cheap one. But BRMJ had done something brand new - they were suggesting a design which could be used and reused and used again.

Choose two designs to take forwards for development
[ ] Alti-high's 14 ton balloon.
[ ] BRMJ's reusable design.
[ ] Mccall's corrosive driven low cost design.

 

[4WheelSword]

Summer 1960. The conflict, the staredown, between New Alleghany and Dysklande came to an end peacefully but tensions had turned their relationship into nothing more than diplomatic nods during important meetings of state. Trade deals were cancelled, flights between the two were delayed and eventually airports just stopped flying to those destinations.
Meanwhile, the Alleghanians at the Cape were looking at a bright moment - the first flight of the BRMJ rocket with a test package of the space camp going up with it. The real design was coming together at the same time. Ten tons, four weeks endurance, with space for four aboard. A grand future which was, nonetheless, just a first step.

Please submit designs for a base camp following the above requirements.

When will the space camp first fly?
[ ] Push hard, 1962.
[ ] Take it slow, 1966.
[ ] A good pace, 1964.