Progeny Mk6 Block II Flight 3 (Radiation Field Study 10)

the next Progeny Mk6 Block II scheduled to launch on 6/25 is now vertical in the VAB after a routine assembly process. Although an old photo, we do actually have a new Ascension tank and engine in the VAB now as well undergoing inspections

Progeny MK7-A launch has been delayed until next week, but not by FD Lanalye - Ockr relay antenna is not testing well & it will take at least 3 days to work out the issue due to its high and remote location. New L-0 set for 6/24 @ 18:30 UTC

integration is complete for bit.ly/ProgenyMk6-II_3, now loaded up on the carry vehicle for rollout Monday ahead of readiness prep at KSC for launch attempt on Tuesday. Viewing tickets are on sale - don't forget it's going to be the first Mk6-II night launch!

bit.ly/ProgenyMk6-II_3 was rolled out earlier today after 1st sunrise and successfully hooked up to the launch base for launch controllers to run preliminary checks. Launch readiness operations across KSC campus are continuing throughout the day

downrange tracking to the west at Arekibo reports they are ready to support tomorrow's mission. We won't be launching west, but the rocket will go so high the rotational speed of Kerbin will exceed its velocity long enough that it will drift several hundred kilometers westward

🌅Sunrise/Sunset🌄
@ KSC (UTC-4)

7/9
#2🌅08:04:23 🌄11:51:30 !!🚀!!
#3🌅14:05:14 🌄17:52:21
#4🌅20:06:05 🌄23:53:12

7/10
#1🌅02:06:56 🌄05:54:03

[L-4h27m] pre-launch operations have begun here at KSC as all teams assemble. Timeline of events shows when to expect updates from us in the hours leading up to launch. Forecast remains highly favorable and a more accurate one will be assembled over the next hour

[L-3h57m] dredging up an old mission profile infographic as Flight Director Lanalye gathers her launch team B controllers for their final briefing (they are using updated materials!). Rocket will likely end up over land again though like the last one (kerbalspace.agency/?p=8464)

despite the temptation to put on some of the newer parts, we did not want to make this into another test flight and instead stuck to tried and true methods to help ensure a successful mission. We don't have the funds to waste!

[L-3h27m] weather desk has come back with a forecast update of 95% favorable - as usual we can't predict upper-level atmospheric conditions but surface conditions should be perfect. Monolith temple is chilled and the rocket is being powered up to receive flight instructions

new AFCS update is posted and you can review the changes here: bit.ly/AFCS_ChangeLog - similar to flight #2 operations code however since we now know we'll have more than enough power, the rocket will stay awake through both radiation belts

[L-3h12m] rocket is initialized and pad crew has been given the GO to begin tanking, onloading 220kg of liquid propellants to the third stage. Although the single fuel truck is now used like for the Mk7, it still has to hook directly to the launch base & vehicle for the Mk6

[L-3h] using the single fuel truck instead of the separate liquid fuel and oxidizer trucks allowed us to shave 13min off our countdown sequence. Rocket is topped off, tank levels will be monitored while pad crew cleans up and launch team continues with preflight

[L-2h10m] rocket remains healthy, no issues being worked as preliminary preflight operations are completed. Pad is cleared, Quick Response Team sheltered and controllers will now begin to check over the 7 rocket motors that will drive the payload up into space

[L-1h30m] FD Lanalye reports we have a good rocket, all system checks nominal. Pad crew has returned for final closeouts while the Range Safety Officer begins to setup monitoring with MSV Lymun. We have no recovery ship stationed, even if the rocket was coming down over water

[L-1h20m] down by the water the high-altitude KerBalloon has been released to head for the 18km+ upper atmospheric region to let us determine if dangerous upper-level shear or turbulence is present. We will know shortly before final general polls at L-5min

[L-45] all systems and assets are set to undergo launch rehearsal to ensure everything is properly configured and all controllers know their roles and responsibilities. Flight operations code undergoes a final runtime check, Lymun simulates radar returns

[L-30m] everything remains a GO and teams are progressing into final countdown procedures. Pad crew is completely clearing out, RSO is running final checks of the range and rocket prior to firing system arming. Photo from earlier at sunset

[L-15m] rocket is ARMED, Flight Termination System is ACTIVE - range and pad are closed to any incursions. Anything within the red zone will halt the countdown and invalidate the current L-0 time. All visitors please stay within designated viewing areas

Lymun reports 2 Civvies & a Deuce are circling 5km to the west. All pilots are following established air protocol. We don't usually get air traffic to view a launch since our rockets are still small & the aircraft are held far out but it's night, they should see the rocket plumes

we just realized there may be some confusion about the presence of aircraft if anyone remembers this tweet from a previous launch. The 25/50km exclusion refers to a downrange cone, not a circular zone around the entire launch pad twitter.com/KSA_MissionCtr…

[L-5m] Final readiness polls complete: Wx: GO; Range: GO; Flight: GO; Tracking: GO; Ops Director: Launch permission granted! 🚀 GO PROGENY 🚀 FTS has switched to internal power, AFCS will go into active mode & begin terminal count in 3min

[T-2m] rocket is now running under command of the Automated Flight Control System, ground connections have been pulled leaving the entire rocket on internal power with tracking station connection via RF comms. Battery drain and comm data rates being checked

[T-1m] batteries & comms nominal, one final Go/NO GO check remains at T-30s. Be sure to load up the Ops Tracker for real-time ascent telemetry: ops.kerbalspace.agency

Wait for it...

Waaaaiiitt for it......

BLAST OFF!! Really the best term to describe the 5 engines igniting to push the rocket off the pad with a combined force of 135kN for just over 7Gs of acceleration. Radial boosters will detach within just 6 seconds while the core booster burns for 34s

nominal ascent so far, now entering the final third stage burn. Rocket remains stable and both lower stages had clean separations. Fairings will be detached once the rocket reaches space - engine burn will still be ongoing, lasting 61 seconds

BECO-3 has left the rocket coasting to an apokee of 4,351km - everyone is shocked given the last flight carrying a similar load only made it up to just over 3Mm. It will take about 1h45m to reach apokee & unplanned extra height has controllers a bit concerned about battery power

the first telemetry ping from coming out of hibernation was a minute late but since then every 30s we have been getting a data packet as expected. Due to the higher than planned apokee, the decision to change from 60s last mission may turn out to have been a poor one

rocket is still zipping along at over 2km/s & entered the inner radiation belt. While in the belt we are again receiving regular 1s updates until the rocket exits. Once it exits it will return to hibernation and we'll get updates every 30s until it flies out of 1Mm comm range

we have just lost contact with the rocket as it was exiting the inner belt. It is now on its own, continuing the journey towards the outer belt and definitely beyond - into unknown space! Highly unlikely that it will exit the magnetotail but we don't know for sure

post-launch cleanup proceeding well. Launch base will be removed back to storage in the Support Village and thankfully none of the Mk1-B boosters got tossed back into the service structures this time and all four landed several hundred meters downrange

still 1 hour until the rocket reaches apokee, and around 3 hours left still in the mission. If you'd like to check in to see where the rocket is at any given time you can interact with this plot on our Ops Tracker. We have major events marked kerbalspace.agency/Tracker/tracke…

Lead Scientist Cheranne has started up a betting pool. Some of her team have been using the last data sent before losing contact in conjunction with earlier data from the dayside to estimate where the outer belt starts/ends on the night side. Closest guess wins the pot!

rocket has by now passed through apokee and begun the nearly 2hr fall back towards Kerbin. Although it's only halfway through its journey we calculate it's likely already more than halfway through its battery reserves

whether or not we will have enough battery to last the entire flight, or at least back down through both radiation belts, is impossible to determine. The computer will stay on and collect data through the entire outer belt up & down - we have no idea how big it is on night side

majority of estimates agree that by now or at least shortly the rocket should again be passing through the outer belt, lower than on its way up since it is unlikely we managed to bisect it perfectly. Past data shows its radiation to be ~75% weaker than the inner belt

control room filling back up as everyone anticipates AOS in ~15 minutes - maybe sooner, maybe later. Even if power nearly drained, fail-safes would keep enough left to attempt a final dump once back in range, so question is how much data it managed to collect if that happened

KERZZAH!! Fist pumps and whoops filled mission control as a 27m dish at Arekibo locked onto the signal just over the horizon & *current* telemetry came streaming down w/data dump. Rocket is passing through the inner belt with just ~4% battery power - only a few mins worth!

\[0o]/ \[0o]/ \[0o]/ More celebration as with just 0.85% power remaining the rocket left the inner belt, giving us a full reading on its size! It went back into hibernation & pinged us 3 more times before it fell below the horizon prior to re-entry. And that's the end of that

actually the last thing it would have done before completely losing power given its situation is arm chutes, which will deploy based on pressure regardless of power. Still, if it survives we have no plans to recover it. Fare thee well brave space traveler! You did a mighty job 🥂

Possibly! Far and removed from any areas of current surface exploration still tho

Progenitor engineers are busy analyzing the telemetry data from yesterday to determine how we squeezed out over 1Mm of extra altitude on this flight while the scientists are geeking out as well with all the new radiation & ion trap instrument data docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d…

as usual the MAT file for the flight is linked in the telemetry sheet and this time we've used the data to plot where the rocket entered and exited the belts. Can anyone guess how we can use this in conjunction with similar data from the previous Mk6-II flight on the dayside?

check our Ops Summary for more details on what went down this week, including final mission preparations by Bob and his backup, Bill. Who is ready to witness history next week?? kerbalspace.agency/?p=9332

so what was up with the Mk6-II AoA telemetry? Well, the rocket was indeed oscillating between positive and negative AoA as it wobbled a bit on its way up to space. It just so happened several times to wobble back neg/pos every second the Ops Tracker updated

flight analysis is published for last week's Progeny Mk6-II mission and coupled with data from the dayside launch we have our first rough approximation of the true shape of the belts! Full details: kerbalspace.agency/?p=9336

TL;DR - "approximation" as dayside data is much rougher since logging was done 1min intervals the whole flight instead of every second while in belts. Belts are toroid-shaped/curved & trajectories not flown at 0° inclination. Still, can make out stretching of belts as predicted!