Kerbal Space Program First Contract 16

Channel:

TroZ

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909

Published on September 12, 2014 4:15:16 AM ● Video Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JpsHe5nMIlE

Game:

Kerbal Space Program (2015)

Duration: 1:01:09

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We are back exploring the Mun in this Kerbal Space Program First Contract episode.

We've finished processing and transmitting all the the science collected so far except for the soil samples, as those are much more valuable if we return them to Kerbin. We've also refueled and refilled the RCS tanks, and we are ready for another landing.

Do to our orbit and the position of the Sun, we decide to head for the East Crater. The crater itself is a biome that we haven't bee to, and it also has some highlands biome around it and it isn't too far from some Midlands Craters that we missed on your first landing trip. Additionally the sun is just rising on this part of the Mun, whereas our other goo targets are where the sun is setting, so we could get caught low on power if the sun happens to set while we were there.

So we set a course and burn for the East Crater. We target the western edge of the crater, and we land without too much trouble. We collect all the science that we can on EVA and with our sensors.

We then plan a short hop to the edge of the crater to the north west, as this should be in the highlands biome. We lift off in that direction and prepare to land, but we make a correction while descending to land on ground that is at a bit higher altitude, although it is a narrow strip of land between two craters. Landing goes well, even though the ground is slightly sloped. Once landed, we once again gather all the science that we can and plant a flag.

It is determined we have enough fuel to land at a third site. A crater that appears to be a Midlands Crater is chosen. We list off and head towards it. We slow down over the crater, and find that it contains a few craters within itself, and that we will be coming down inside one of the smaller craters. It appears that we would be a decent distance from the crater rim, but as we get closer to the surface, we see that it sloped by at least 30 degrees.

A landing is though to be possible, especially as it seem that we are quite far from where the crater flattens out (and we are starting to run low on fuel). We come down slowly and as the legs on the higher side touch down, the ship begins to rotate toward the center of the crater, and the SAS and RCS attempt to stop the rotation. The legs on the other side of the ship begin the touch, but because the ship has be tilted to the side for a few seconds, we have picked up horizontal velocity toward the center of the crater, and we begin to pivot on the legs toward the center of the crater. I attempt to throttle up to get away from the surface, but this turns out to be the exact wrong thing to do. If I had cut the engines, RCS may have been strong enough to tilt us back for a hard but safe landing. Instead, because throttling up to full takes a few seconds for the engines to respond, the initial low thrust doesn't lift us off, instead it only accelerates the rotation of the craft and we hit the crater surface with the side of out ship.

A materials bay and parachute take the initial impact and explode, with the drogue chute on top of the capsule hitting second. the ship then begins to roll, knocking off solar panels, and a second materials bay and parachute hit the ground. This knocks the capsule off the rest of the ship, but probably saves the crew, as it is also slowed significantly. The rest of the ship tumbles several times knocking off all the solar panels and several lights before coming to a rest about 250 meters away.

The crew shaken, but unharmed, send bob out to assess the situation. He takes a soil sample and finds that we are in the Midlands Craters, as we had hoped, and he is even able to recover most of the science from the remaining instruments on the ship, although the readings from the highlands have been lost. He gets back to the capsule, and using what power remains, and an antenna still attacked to the capsule, the call for a rescue.

Back at KSC, we quickly modify the ship that launched Bob, Nelrie and Seefrey to the Mun for a rescue mission. That includes adding a hitchhiker canister to the lander, and removing the Lab from the orbiter and replacing it with additional fuel. It's decided that there is only one Kerbin for the job of piloting the rescue mission: Jeb. But that will be in the next episode.

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