Progeny Mk6 Block I Flight 17 (Kerbal Sounding Project 6)

good SRB ignition and LIFT OFF - the 16th Progeny Mk6 Block I heads up towards space & the inner radiation belt carrying two student designed/built experiments to study it further. 1st stage will burn for 34s followed by 2nd stage coast until nose drops 1.5°

well that was an exciting minute! Rocket is still coasting up - flight computer has aborted ascent but controllers can choose to command it resume with ignition of the 3rd stage engine. Every second delayed however means a lower apokee as velocity bleeds off

while the investigation into the failure of the Progeny Mk6 2nd stage booster from last month's mission is still underway, no obvious issue was detected in the one for next week's launch, which remains on schedule for Tues. Rocket is undergoing final checkouts today

MSV Aldeny has departed from port in Umbarg to sail ~291km into the south Kerblantic for recovery operations. Seas down here can be rough more often than not so we're thankful that we can check via Kerbin II prior to launch to have the best chances at recovery

the Progeny Mk6-I is on its way out to the launch pad from the HAB for mounting, followed later today by fueling for wet dress rehearsal protocols in final preparation for launch readiness. Updates on its status will be carried by the Ops Tracker: ops.kerbalspace.agency

launch prep continuing on sched. Original launch time, decided by our 45min past sunrise rule, actually almost nearly perfectly coincides with a Kerbin II comm window. We will move launch up 2min (19:02 UTC) to give the re-entry ~18min into the mission more time inside the window

final reports on launch readiness submitted by Lead Engineer Simon & Flight Director Lanalye have been reviewed & approved by Ops Director @DKerman_KSA - we are GO FOR LAUNCH attempt tomorrow. Wind constraints tightened, forecast 40% favorable but winds tough to predict still

🌅Sunrise/Sunset🌄
@ KSC (UTC-5)

12/8
#2🌅07:17:56 🌄11:08:26
#3🌅13:18:47 !!🚀!! 🌄17:09:17
#4🌅19:19:38 🌄23:10:08

12/9
#1🌅01:20:29 🌄05:10:59

[L-3h40m] launch countdown procedures have officially begun with Katgan's small team of meteorologists working to assemble a new weather report for our 5min launch window later today. Main concern remains winds. Expect updates at these major milestones in the count:

[L-3h10m] FD Lanalye has her launch team assembled for final briefing, rocket is a few kilos heavier than #4 which launched on this trajectory following 150° azimuth back in 2018 but we still expect a similar profile with an apokee of ~470km & total mission time ~20min

rocket could also launch north to avoid inner radiation belt (science payload requirement) but coming down over land is too iffy when dealing with an unguided rocket and we run the risk of chute failure if it needs to deploy higher and sooner due to mountainous terrain

[L-2h45m] we have GO from the weather desk with conditions improving to 60% favorable, with upper-level winds higher than anticipated. Pad crew heading out to the rocket while launch controllers get on console to wake the flight computer. Mission code: github.com/KSAMissionCtrl…

reminder to all visitors coming to see the launch today that extra security measures are in place, we apologize for any inconvenience & make sure you arrive early. This is due to protests over the search for the exiled/lost tribe, apparently we share blame for that somehow

[L-1h55m] pad crew reports rocket is just as they left it yesterday, now pulling back to a safe distance so controllers can run checks on the 3 motors, which includes sending a tiny electrical pulse to confirm all igniter connections, which should not actually ignite anything...

[L-1h30m] no issues on the board, rocket is ready for flight! Controllers now setting up for rehearsal while pad crew moves back in for final checks, removal of safety hardware, etc. Range Safety Officer making contact with all boats & aircraft in vicinity to assure awareness

[L-1h20m] a second high-altitude KerBalloon has begun its ascent to 18km+ to give us an update on local surface and upper-level weather conditions. Surface update will inform L-30min go/no-go & balloon will be high enough by L-5min for final general polling

[L-45m] pad is clear, crews remain ready at safe distance to assist if any problems arise during launch rehearsal. Although disconnected from the rocket, problems can still be encountered during the simulation that could require physical action at the pad

[L-30m] 3rd sunrise approaches. Wx remains green, winds are encroaching on our constraints but not gusting. Final countdown sequence is GO - any hold longer than 5min will delay the launch, rolling back the clock to this point until next Kerbin II comm window after 4th sunrise

[L-15m] we just had a comm pass with MSV Aldeny: captain reports on station, sea conditions are a bit rough but within recovery limits, they are standing by. RSO has confirmed range is clear, rocket is now ARMED, Flight Termination System is ACTIVE. Safety perimeter established

[L-5m] all stations GO in final general polling, @DKerman_KSA has given launch permission and made sure the students/mentors here in launch control are ready to head up onto the launch control roof for the best view as their payloads shoot off into space

[T-2m] we have entered the Terminal Count, when the Automated Flight Control System takes over command of the rocket. Ground cables have been retracted from the launch base, rocket is now on internal power & RF comms, both of which are undergoing final checks

[T-1m] final poll at T-30s to confirm good AFCS startup, rocket power and comms. If all well telemetry will load in Ops Tracker. If ascent good this time we will try again to provide real-time trajectory updates until re-entry. Tune in now! ops.kerbalspace.agency

LIFT OFF! First stage SRB will provide up to 68kN of thrust for initial 5s of ascent before tapering off to reduce load and continue to do so for 30s then detach and 2nd stage will ignite after nose drops 1.5°. Rocket goes from 0-27m/s in just over 1s with a force of 4Gs

sub-optimal 1st stage separation put a bit of wobble into the rocket that had to be checked by controllers to ensure stability before 2nd stage could be fired. This slight delay will impact overall apokee somewhat but bigger worry is rocket's precession causing additional drag

good news is we reached space, better news is that there will be enough time spent in space to satisfy the needs of the payload instruments - barely! You can continue to view the rocket's position update in the Ops Tracker as it coasts through its sub-orbital arc

unfortunately it seems the Ops Tracker is not properly processing telemetry data and showing real-time positioning along the sub-orbital trajectory for the rocket. We did not get the chance to test this on the previous flight. We hope to have it working for the next one

passing through apokee now, rocket will be coming down much earlier than expected and Kerbin II will not be in position to relay re-entry events. MSV Aldeny would have by now plotted its course and begun to move north to get closer to the new area it will be coming down

just over a min to re-entry, telemetry showing rocket's precession has laid it out pretty flat, which is worrisome but has helped more than hurt on some past missions so we just have to wait & see. Kerbin II not yet in position so we won't be able to follow re-entry events live

rocket should now be under chute descending gently towards the water, we still have ~5min before we can make contact with MSV Aldeny and find out what telemetry data they received. Tracking Station confirmed 1st & 2nd stages impacted downrange within ascent corridor as planned

news from MSV Aldeny not great - rocket signal was not picked up again after plasma blackout. Only hope is that rocket would have been *just* above the horizon around time of plasma blackout ending and could have dropped below before signal received by the Aldeny

the Aldeny is ~80km away from the new recovery area and will not be on station to begin search & recovery operations for another ~3-4hrs. In the meantime post-launch operations here at KSC well underway while everyone hopes for the best. Fingers crossed!!

also if Kerbin II had been overhead during this early re-entry it wouldn't have mattered as rocket can't talk directly to it. It's used as a relay between KSC and MSV Aldeny, which has to receive the telemetry direct from the rocket

we just concluded our first comm window with MSV Aldeny since it reached the projected splashdown area about 30mins ago. So far, no beacon detected and seas are much rougher as this area is apparently closer to a storm system. Next comm windows are 2355-0004 UTC & 0039-0049 UTC

no news at previous comm checks, this most recent one also. By now main power would be dead but locator beacon has its own 10hr power source. Winds & currents could have carried payload a good distance in time it took the Aldeny to reach the area. Search continues

we gave it our all, but by now locator beacon battery would have expired. We can't know if rocket survived and is just floating out there somewhere on the vast ocean or broke up and is on the bottom of the sea or got swamped by the storm - such is the way things go sometimes :/

MSV Aldeny was told to suspend search ops & return to port. Altho we had data xmit during spaceflight, majority of science was to be recovered with the rocket so we have to chalk this mission up as a failure. Hopefully final mission next week can close out 2020 with success!

telemetry data from yesterday's flight up to plasma blackout is now available. Once again we apologize to the students/mentors affected by the mission failure, even worse this time as they have no hope of a reflight :/ docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d…

our final Ops Summary for 2020 has been published! What an amazing year it has been, despite our troubles towards the end. Thank you everyone for your support, have a safe holiday season and we hope you too are aiming high for 2021! kerbalspace.agency/?p=11442