Category Archive: News

What's going on at the Kerbal Space Agency

Feb 26 2019

C7 Effectively Shut Down by Government Investigation

Earlier today a raid by government authorities at the company headquarters in Kravass rounded up the entire executive division of C7 Aerospace, leaving the company without leadership. The entirety of the company’s financial assets have also been secured and frozen. All employees have been furloughed without pay and told they must remain available for investigators. This was all revealed at a press conference held just recently outside the C7 corporate headquarters. What wasn’t mentioned is why the government is taking such a strong-armed approach against a privately-owned company, which sets a potentially disturbing precedent. We are pleased at least that the top executives weren’t spirited away in the midst of the night or something equally as sinister, but are still left slightly worried given the fact that we are also a privately-owned company and we are close working partners with C7 Aerospace. As of yet, no mention has been made of the KSA and no government agents showed up at KSC today – C7 employees here at the Cape simply received notification of their status shortly after the press conference concluded.

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Feb 22 2019

Operations Summary – Week of 2/18/19

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Feb 08 2019

Operations Summary – Week of 2/4/19

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Feb 01 2019

Operations Summary – Week of 1/28/19

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Jan 25 2019

Operations Summary – Week of 1/21/19

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Jan 03 2019

Progeny Mk1-B Airlaunch Flight Analysis

A little over a year and a half after the idea was first put forward by Captain Jebediah and after months of preparation, at the end of last month we finally were able to launch a rocket off an aircraft while in flight. It was a great accomplishment and the main goal was achieved: to prove that such an operation can be carried out without excessive danger to the crew of the aircraft (in this case Flight Officers Tedman and Aldeny) or the rocket itself in being able to complete its own mission. We’ll review the process leading up to the launch before covering the launch flight itself.

Launch Preparation

Once it was confirmed that the rocket could be properly placed atop the aircraft, the first mission began with the simple goal of making sure the Deuce could takeoff and fly normally with the extra weight on the tail and its aerodynamic effects. Both concerns turned out to be minimal, at best – the piggyback was giving the aircraft no trouble whatsoever and it was able to reach an altitude of 7km ASL before climbing became too difficult to continue. That determined the release altitude, and Flight had no problems with going for a release of the rocket on this first test mission given how well-behaved the aircraft was. The release went exactly as planned – the decoupler placed forward of the rocket’s center of mass kicked it back and upright from a flight level position before it fell behind the aircraft, nowhere near striking the tail, which was another concern.

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Jul 06 2018

Operations Summary – Week of 7/2/18

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Jun 29 2018

Operations Summary – Week of 6/25/18

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Jun 08 2018

Operations Summary – Week of 6/4/18

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Feb 07 2018

Deuce Enters Service and Genesis Begins Work on K-3X Project

The Deuce is set to begin regular service this week after completing a maintenance checkout and fitting of an external camera. Although it performed well throughout its flight trials and recent PR tour last month there are still two small issues that engineers would like to address with a minor design refresh – power and pitch control. The current engines in use for the Deuce are extremely well-used and proven airship engines to give the development team one less issue to worry about when considering the dangers of testing a new aircraft. However it was shown during high-G maneuvers that the fuel can be pulled back from the engines, causing them to stall. They are also powerful enough to fly the Deuce with just one engine active but still give a small margin for performance. A new propeller engine is being specially designed for use in aircraft and will be tested on the Deuce. The second problem, pitch control, will be addressed by trying to add some positive angle of incidence to the entire tail section to have a built-in increase in pitch without having to increase the deflection or sensitivity of the elevator controls. Whether this leads to a more stable craft will depend on simulations and actual testing but that is the plan. Otherwise, a fuel tank in the tail like the Civvie could allow pilots to better control the aircraft’s center of mass at the expense of some cargo capacity. These changes will be made for an entirely new Deuce that has been ordered and will be built over the next two months.

The next project for Genesis has also begun development, focusing on providing fast cargo delivery capabilities. The K-3X will be a universal design that can be built to order at various sizes to suit the needs of the buyer and will be capable of flying in and out of all 4 airports currently on Kerbin. A deal is being worked out between C7 Aerospace and KSC to use this facility as an airport servicing Umbarg. We expect further news on the project towards the end of Q1 2018.

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