The launch day approaches. MSI engineers laboured throughout the night to implement a last-minute change in the Moonraper. The probe that Hellraiser carries with him is no longer detached via a seperatron. It turns out we had researched docking ports, which changes the mission profile slightly. Instead of leaving the drilling core behind on the Munar surface, hellraiser will bring it back into orbit with him. We will then be able to dock with it and tow it elsewhere (possibly minmus?) in the future.
Several creature comforts were added to the capsule, following Scrooges complaints.
Hellraiser will be pleased to know his pod comes with an oversized snack compartment. It also has nice panoramic windows to help with the feeling of claustrophobia. The 3 screens and HUD are courtesy of the RasterPropMonitor mod. Another of those really cool mods that should be mandatory.
They come with a buttload of functions you can switch between and provide you with extra information. shown below is an external camera placed during assembly (the MFD can toggle between up to 9 of those), an orbit map and an artificial horizon (aka Navball). If you wanted to do an all-IVA mission, RasterPropMonitor is the way to go.
Launch goes off without a hitch. The notifications tray in the upper right corner flashes, informing Hellraiser that the 3 "Test a doodad at launch" contracts MSI picked up have been completed.
The main stage has just enough fuel to put Hellraiser into a 90km circularized orbit. MSI engineers pat themselves on the back. Odds were 50:50 that the thing would wobble, flip around in the atmosphere and explode.
"Mission Control this is Hellraiser. Orbit achieved. The view is great from up here, but my butt itches."
"Roger that Hellraiser. Toggle off all engines and run the thrusters on your probe payload through the start-up cycle. You are within mission parameters."
Easy money.
While the various instruments are calibrated, Hellraiser takes the chance to stretch his legs (and scratch his butt) during an EVA. The vessel seems to be intact during the visual inspection.
Trans-Munar Injection burn goes off without a hitch. In the upper left is SCANSAT, which is deployed on the probe. More on that in a bit.
Another EVA to gather readings from the instruments in high orbit and bring them into the command pod.
1 day into the mission, Hellraiser reaches the Muns sphere of influence. Since he's interested in mapping the Mun, he trims his trajectory into a polar orbit.
As he approaches the Mun, the instruments on the probe begin mapping the surface for him. The spent TMI stage is discarded as the probe is readied for release.
Determining a height for the probe to orbit in is a tricky proposition. The mapping and kethane scanners are more accurate in a low orbit, but the multi-spectrum scanner for determining biomes can cover more ground in a higher orbit. There's tons of fuel in the probe, so an 80km orbit is settled on for the initial scans.
This is a critical point in the mission. Until now, MSI has only hypothesized about the presence of the all-important Kethane on the Mun. Without Kethane to refine, Hellraiser will not ahve enough fuel to attempt a landing and a return. Tense minutes roll by while the scanner tags the Munar surface with grey hexes denoting abcense of kethane. Finally, a happy bleep and several green hexes indicate the presence of a large kethane pocket on the ground. A viable landing site!
Scanning is temporarily disabled as Kerbin eclipses the sun and renders the solar panels on the probe useless.
So, the SCANsat mod. It's been running in the last couple of screenshots. Time to talk about it. SCANSat adds new science instruments you can put on your ships and probes. They eat a lot of electricity, but allow you to generate maps of planets as you orbit them. The basic package has an altimeter, which can show you the height and slope of the surface below you to find a nice flat space to land. There is also a multi-spectrum analyzer, which will map the biomes as you fly over them. (Big map on the right is set to biomes at the moment, small one on the left is set to altitude. There's also a small notification thingie (above the small map) that tells you the current biome you're flying over if you've scanned it. Anyone who's ever done a dozen EVAs trying to se eif they're finally over "shores" or "badlands" will appreciate that.
One of the really cool things about this mod is that the mapping scanners will run and update your map, even if you're not currently controlling the vessel. The Kethane scanner—unfortunately—is not part of the SCANSat mod, and will only update the big map with kethane deposits while you're controlling the satellite.
Hellraiser twiddles his thumbs as the satellite completes several orbits of the Mun. Once a large pocket is discovered on the dawn side of the mun, he is instructed to attempt a landing.
SCANSat interfaces with the RasterPropMonitor mod, allowing you to view the surface map you've scanned from inside the cockpit. It's a bit hard to see due to the low resolution of the screenshow, but the vessels ballistic path is also drawn on the map so you can see where you're landing.
Touchdown!
The drills on the Moonraper sink into the ground and drink deeply of the Muns sweet, green nectar. It's going to take a while to fill the tanks. Especially because the amount of solar panels broungt along are woefully inadequate for the amount of power required.
But that gives Hellraiser plenty of time to collect SCIENCE!! data and amuse himself.
More contracts tick in as completed as Hellraiser sends some of his data home. Along with the money recieved from testing the probe engines, this mission is now in the black.
Once the kethane storage is filled, the converters are set to produce liquid fuel and oxidizer to top off the external tanks. It turns out the fuel margins weren't quite as tight as we had feared. Some nitwit down in engineering had attached the fuel lines between the internal and external tanks backwards, so half the fuel we brought along needs to be pumped manually befor eit shows up on our instruments.
There's plenty of biomes left though. Since he's already here, there's no reason why Hellraiser shouldn't visit more of them before returning home to Kerbin. There's lots of SCIENCE!! to harvest, and maybe we can pick up a couple more contracts he can fulfill while he is out there anyway.
Back at MSI headquarters, the beancounters tally up the result of the mission so far. We've earned a decent chunk of prestige and about 300 SCIENCE!! from the readings Hellraiser sent home and contracts. The contracts completed so far have earned us a respectable 250k roots. Plans are being drawn to build a truly impressive interplanetary vessel in the near future.
We'll need more science for that though. Hellraisers transmissions have allowed us to unlock 2 crucial nodes.
- Advanced control, which gives MSI access to reaction control systems. Those will be necessary to dock with his vessel for his return trip.
- Advanced power generation. The time it took Hellraiser to drill for kethane makes it evident we need bigger solar panels.
Hellraisers mission is far from over, but things are looking good! Stay tuned for moar updates.
