Civvie Science Flight 40

Jeb has suited up and is heading over to Flight Control for briefing. His mission will take him out over the western grasslands, where he will perform a now standard "petal pass" through the area to collect air samples from various directions & altitudes

winds still strong off the water, Jeb has the Civvie fired up with taxi clearance down to turf Rwy09 for departure. During the taxi he will have to steer completely around the test track that now occupies the full length of the paved runway

cleared for takeoff, Jeb has his signature aviator shades on as he rolls off towards the rising sun, flaps set to 2, trimmed nose down. Throttle wide open, at ~35m/s his tail will come off the ground then he will rotate to lift the main gear off the ground as speed reaches 60m/s

good departure, coming about on course towards his objective after climbing straight out to 800m, now passing through 1.5km. He got a good view of KSC as he banked around. Thankfully the tide was not this high yesterday or the whole Cape would have been underwater

cruising on "the deck" 500m AGL over the Grasslands, the sky has gotten darker due to a kerbolar eclipse currently in progress - you can see the edge of Mun's shadow as it passes to the north on the right side of the image. Not a mission factor, just a nice coincidence

still in contact through the Umbarg aerial, Jeb reports he is over the target area and beginning his sweep. He will pass through 5 times starting at 500m AGL and increasing 1km each pass. Ascending helps ensure speed stays below 100m/s so atmo scoop is not damaged

coming around for his final pass, Jeb has put on his supplemental oxygen as he will be slightly above the breathable atmosphere in excess of 4.5km ASL. He's also got the cabin heat cranked, it's only ~20°F up there! Thank goodness for mittens

collection complete, back down to a more comfortable altitude. Jeb's pattern looks more like wings of a fly rather then petals of a flower but most important is he hit all the altitude levels on each pass +/- 250m while within 10km of the target. Cruising home along the coast now

back within sight of KSC Jeb has opted for the visual approach, will fly a left-pattern entering crosswind and setup for landing back on Rwy09. He'll line up with the paved runway first as it's easier to see, then divert to the turf on short final

a few bumps on the turf and jeb is back down, taxiing around the sled track again and back to the HAB. Researchers will be spending the rest of the year working on all the pollen data that's been collected since 2017 to help improve the health & safety of surface living

another week in the rear-view, catch up on all that went down in our Ops Summary: kerbalspace.agency/?p=9541 We have more details on the new Progeny Mk7-A mission, which will help test new tech for future Mk2 missions. Have a great weekend, everyone!