Progeny Mk5 Block I Flight 3

all day spent working to get science & telemetry data from rocket has been a total success! Now, all the bad news: bit.ly/ProgenitorPR18

USI has locked in their new core design and will begin to manufacture the test booster for us to static fire late next week, currently aiming for Thursday

second stage Progeny Mk5 booster has arrived as work winds down on the third stage. It has thrust reduced further for a planned TWR of 2 at 15km and will still sport fins at the bottom

our new booster has arrived! VAB crews are jumping on the task of getting it unpacked and ready for tomorrow's test - it needs to be hooked up to the VAB test clamps, receive power & send/receive data signals. Test clamps also being installed on the launch pad

crews have the test clamps installed out on the pad, a similar setup is in the VAB for initial readiness checkouts, which Lead Engineer Simon reports are currently underway & proceeding nominally

procession of crew vehicle, carry truck & mounting vehicle are making their way to the launchpad to setup for today's booster test while Duna, Neidon, Sarnus, Urlum and Moho all cluster near the brightening horizon. Crescent Minmus is barely visible towards the top of the image

booster is hooked up to the test clamps, controllers are on console making sure all hookups are good and the control unit integrated with the booster for this test is booted up and operating nominally. Still on schedule for 17:30 UTC firing

20 minutes to ignition, all systems look good from Mission Control so the pad is being evacuated with a quick response team sheltering in the bunker

10 minutes to ignition, Range Safety Officer has ensured pad and surrounding area is clear of unsheltered personnel and closed the test range. Ignition pyros are ARMED

ignition in 5 minutes, final checks of RF comms underway along with backup hardline, monitoring equipment standing by, engine controller is running

we have had successful ignition, good run and burn out just shy of 31 seconds. Bunker crew will go out to inspect the booster shortly to clear the rest of the crew back in to begin dismounting operations

USI has reviewed the data from yesterdays booster test and they agree with Progenitor team that everything is looking good. Thrust falloff is less linear than intended but the important thing is peak thrust will be enough to leave the pad without tipping over

now that we know booster is good for launch, date has been locked in for 12/14 @ 17:30 UTC for our next Progeny Mk5 Block I launch attempt! 🚀 bit.ly/ProgenyMk5B1-3

we apologize again for failing to register our shortlink prior to publishing, causing a web bot to note the dead link & create one to a spam site :/ Horrible scammers out there. Catch up on this week's activities w/additional insight here: kerbalspace.agency/?p=6168

we have power restored to KSA HQ here in Umbarg, but full utilities are still coming back online slowly to ensure repairs are holding. Due to its transmission distance, KSC won't have power sent to it until later today

everyone is familiar with the vehicle doors used to roll rockets out to the pad but the cargo doors to the rear are where all the parts come in, like our new 0.625m booster due to arrive shortly

stacking was begun yesterday with the 2nd & 3rd stages, 1st stage booster work today has made excellent progress, will wrap up on Monday for stacking. Final integration Tue, rollout Wed. Only the lower stage has angled fins now to spin up the rocket over its 31s boost

this week's launch will be the first to be open to the public, but availability will be limited. We look forward to welcoming new spectators to the KSC this Thursday!

L-2 days until bit.ly/ProgenyMk5B1-3 heads back up into space! Today the VAB will get the entire rocket stacked vertically to ensure proper coupling

bit.ly/AFCS_ChangeLog has the details of our modifications to the Automated Flight Control System for this week's Progeny flight. Biggest changes being AoA constraint checking during coast and additional per-launch defined data logging

the Progeny Mk5 Block I has been fully stacked, VAB crews now in meeting to go over the horizontal laydown for integration of fairings & final closeouts. At 1.707t, the rocket will weigh only 6kg more than the previous one w/extra shielding & more powerful stage 1 decoupler

everyone hit the ground running today, the past 2hrs have been spent getting everything in order to begin the full sweep of final readiness checks across campus from the VAB to the Tracking Station to Mission Control and the Administration Building

controllers are on console as Flight Director Lanalye leads them through one final day of launch drills, mostly focused on flight profile assessment in the case of AoA constraint violation during ascent (>0.5° 2nd stage coast, >1° 3rd stage coast)

VAB reports the rocket is ready for rollout, will make its trip to the launch pad shortly. The launch base was placed back out on the pad earlier today

Tracking Station reports all dishes are calibrated and ready to support telemetry gathering during launch and ascent tomorrow. With 4 dishes capable of receiving signals we shouldn't have any redundancy problems!

FD Lanalye has concluded drilling her team of flight controllers and says everyone is ready for the real thing tomorrow and whatever problems the rocket might throw at them. She admits it could still surprise them though. Rockets are sneaky like that

mounted to the launch rail, the Progeny Mk5 Block I stands 12m tall. It currently weighs 1.596t while empty of any fuel in the 3rd stage tanks. Launch Control now proceeding with final readiness checks. Eve, Dres and Moho visible in the clear dusk sky

FD Lanalye reports we have a healthy rocket out on the pad all set for preflight ops to begin tomorrow @ 13:30 UTC. Now just waiting on Drew & Mortimer to sign off on all the paperwork...

tickets for public access to view the launch sold out yesterday. We had quite a few complaints about the short notice for those that need to travel, but don't worry, all launches will be open for viewing going forward!

🌅Sunrise/Sunset🌄
@ KSC (UTC-5)

12/14
#2🌄09:27:32 🌅11:44:37 !!🚀!!
#3🌄15:28:23 🌅17:45:28
#4🌄21:29:14 🌅23:46:19

12/15
#1🌄03:30:05 🌅05:47:10

[L-4h] countdown has begun for today's launch! Here is our timeline of major events, expect updates at these times. Weather reports are coming in from Kravass, Umbarg, Maritime Service ships & airship captains moving through the region

[L-3h40m] while weather team studies data & attempts to make a forecast the launch team is assembling in Launch Control to get their final preflight briefing. Ascent profile will use the usual 1.5° pitch over change to end coast phases

with the new AoA constraint on the AFCS the launch team will need to be ready to manually initiate booster ignition if the rocket wobbles too far off its prograde vector during the coast phases

[L-3h10m] we are GO for preflight operations! Meteorologists see signs for good weather during our first daytime launch window, but things may deteriorate afterwards so might only have one shot today. Launch team waking up the rocket for command software load

[L-2h55m] AFCS is booted up and initialized, rocket has been configured for tanking and Flight Director Lanalye has given the pad crew the GO to begin fueling operations, onloading 109kg of liquid propellants to the third stage

[L-2h40m] moving right along, sticking to schedule tanking is wrapped up and fuel levels will now be monitored to ensure no leaks exist in the tanks or lines. Further rocket system tests will be performed while pad workers clean up and begin to secure the launch site

Bob & Bill lead a team of UTVs out to setup for a high-altitude balloon release so we can get measurements of upper-level wind conditions to check for shear & excessive wind speeds prior to terminal countdown. 2 more balloons can support additional launch attempts if needed

[L-1h55m] all systems nominal onboard the rocket so far - pad crew is now clearing out so Launch Control can begin booster engine/ignition checks. A quick-response team will shelter in the nearby bunker

[L-1h30m] rocket boosters looking healthy so far, checks ongoing. MSV Lymun has reported on station for range monitoring & confirms that her sister ship MSV Tongjess also departed Umbarg earlier today to head for our planned recovery zone

[L-1h20m] we have balloon release for its 1h ascent to the upper atmosphere (>18km). Data gathered for winds aloft will be factored into our Go/No Go decision for final all-station polls prior to terminal countdown

[L-1h] we're standing by for word from MSV Tongjess that they are at the recovery zone 180km downrange, same distance as last launch. Like last time, we probably won't hear them at that distance though. Hopefully they get a rocket to recover this time!

[L-45m] Launch Control has wrapped up preflight operations, pad has been fully secured and evacuated, now moving into the full launch dress rehearsal to ensure all setups are complete & all assets are in place

viewing areas are all packed with the additional members of the public - we will be looking to open up additional viewing areas for the next launch. Please remain within these designated areas for your safety & obey all KSC staff instructions

[L-30m] clear, perfect skies from outside of Launch Control as dawn approaches, surface winds are calm. We're still awaiting word on upper-level wind conditions but the GO has been given to proceed into final countdown operations

[L-20m] still no word from MSV Tongjess so over-horizon comms not bouncing signals well today, but we at least know from Lymun they were headed out there. We can't wait until we can bounce a signal off a satellite instead of the finicky atmosphere

[L-15m] Range Safety Officer has confirmed with MSV Lymun the eastern range is clear of all traffic - boats or aircraft. Pad confirmed clear out to 300m, quick response team sheltered. Rocket boosters are now ARMED, as is the Flight Termination System

the hush of quiet readiness has fallen over Launch Control as all stations focus on one last review of data to make ready for the final general polling ahead of the terminal countdown. Issues board is clear, all systems nominal

[L-5m] Weather: GO, upper-level winds within limits, no shear detected; Range: GO; Flight: GO; Tracking: GO; Ops Director: Launch permission granted! 🚀 GO PROGENY 🚀

[T-2m] the Automated Flight Control System has begun to closely monitor the rocket as it comes off ground power and switches over to RF comms, will ignite the lower booster at precisely 17:30:00.0 UTC. Callouts remain nominal for all systems

[T-1m] here we go!! Tune in to bit.ly/ProgenyMk5B1-3 to get real-time updates of planned events during the ascent via our Flight Tracker. Hopefully next year's first launch will feature streaming telemetry

booster ignition and LIFT OFF of the 3rd Progeny Mk5 Block I for our last trip into space for 2017!! Initial TWR of 4 as planned has pushed the rocket away from the launch base and on course to the east, trajectory nominal

all events have gone according to plan so far. 1st stage booster performed phenomenally, keeping MaxQ below 80kPa as we had hoped and separated cleanly upon burnout. 2nd stage booster is now pushing after igniting at 28.9km ASL w/ TWR of 2.21

anomalous 2nd stage booster decoupling put a bit of wobble on 3rd stage enough to eventually exceed 1° AoA constraint. Quick decision by controllers was to wait until near space to see how the precession develops before final booster ignition, now coming up shortly

LF/O booster pinned at 76% thrust after throttle-up for some reason but otherwise operating nominally. apokee is 220km and rising. The long coast period between stage two & three will keep our final apokee lower than last launch but ballistic flight data will still be useful

final apokee after BECO-3 is 252.14km, which is just above the originally-planned 250km ceiling for Block I operations so everyone still pleased! Time to apokee is just over 3min. No booster cutoff notification has been logged... interesting...

now prepping for balloon recovery, we have booster splashdown confirmations from MSV Lymun, which tracked the 1st stage to 11.4km downrange @ L+3:14 & the 2nd stage to 29.8km downrange @ L+4:38. The rocket is currently 65km downrange, angling south with a 4.8° inclination

apokee reached, now for the fall back to Kerbin. Rocket's precession increased during final boost like last launch but not as extreme, tilting as much as 50° from vertical it will still re-enter in <4min mostly engine-down and will stand back upright as it hits denser air

after initial atmospheric penetration at 1.576km/s the rocket is still gaining speed until it hits thicker air, where it will heat up a plasma blocking radio signals. We don't expect to regain a signal before it falls below the horizon and deploys its parachute

as expected, Tracking Station reports no signal re-acquisition since it was lost several seconds after our last tweet. Rocket should have by now deployed chute to drift gently down into the waters of the Kerblantic but we will have to wait for news from MSV Tongjess

post-launch ops underway - even if we don't have an intact payload everyone still *extremely* satisfied with this flight! Other than the 2nd stage decoupling & LF/O throttle to look into, all went as well as we could have hoped to deal with all the issues identified last launch

at standard speed, it would take MSV Tongjess ~50min to make it from its initial recovery station to around where we lost signal, but it would have seen it coming down short and been in motion beforehand so if seas are calm it could now be reaching where the rocket splashed down

cheers from Launch Control as MSV Tongjess finally managed to get in touch with us to confirm it is cruising back to KSC with a payload aboard!! \[0_o]/ congratulations to the entire Progenitor team for a successful wrap up of their 2017 flight operations!

post-launch operations have closed out, launch base is being moved back into the VAB for storage until next year. We will have an idea when our first 2018 launch will be next week after a full review of data from this launch

payload has been delivered to KSC and is being broken down in the VAB so the science instruments and data can be handed off to the labs for analysis. We will include an initial flight review in tomorrow's weekly ops report

telemetry data has been posted for yesterday's flight - bit.ly/Mk5_Tlm_12-14-… which paints a clear picture for us in regards to the throttle anomaly. More investigation will be needed to determine what went wrong during the 2nd stage separation

fare thee well 2017!! Kerbal Space Agency signing off for the year! If you hear from us before the 1st of next month it's probably going to be nothing good. We still have one last bit.ly/OpsSummary12-1… for you all. Safe holidays everyone!