Progeny Mk6 Block II Flight 4 (Kerbal Sounding Project 7)

rollout & mounting of the Progeny Mk6-II were completed earlier today without issue, we are now tanking up the 3rd stage with liquid fuels to prepare for wet dress rehearsal as launch readiness checks continue. Definitely hoping for better weather tomorrow, but it does look nice

emergency crews have been dispatched & are at the launch pad. There was an issue during tanking resulting in an explosion. Fire is under control, no crew were on the pad at the time as per our safety protocols. We'll update when we know more about the condition of the rocket

good news: GSE was at fault, rocket was not cause of the explosion (RIP tanker truck). Bad news: rocket is still heavily damaged and will not be able to fly this week before yearly operations come to a close. Launch will need to be postponed until early next year

could have been worse, but thanks to another safety protocol of not carrying more fuel than needed in the tanker truck, explosion was not large. Still, full inspection of the pad & towers will be undertaken over the operational break. Progeny Mk6 launch base as well

HAB has the Progeny Mk6-II integrated with its new lower stage boosters, having replaced two of the 0.35m radials, the 0.625m 2nd and 0.35m third stage. It's now stacked vertical to undergo load checks over the weekend. Launch remains on sched for next week!

the Mk6-II is all loaded up & secure, rdy for the trip out to the pad from the HAB. It'll be hooked up to ground power/comms then filled with liquid propellants for a full system check. bit.ly/Ops_Tracker will carry updates on its progress as we work toward launch readiness

🌅Sunrise/Sunset🌄
@ KSC (UTC-5)

1/20
#2🌄07:33:50 🌅09:44:16
#3🌄13:34:41 !!🚀!! 🌅15:45:07
#4🌄19:35:32 🌅21:45:58

1/21
#1🌄01:36:23 🌅03:46:49

we have so many KerBalloon crew reassigned to Progenitor/Ascension duties that Bob & Bill volunteered to help out with today's weather balloon deployments. Both are veterans of the program, as their first assignment when joining the KSA they each participated in over 40 missions

[L-3h55m] our first weather balloon is already well on its way up, resident meteorologist Katgan & her team are compiling today's forecast and teams are assembling across campus to begin getting ready for pre-launch activities. We will update on major events along this timeline:

[L-3h25m] launch team Bravo is assembling in Launch Control for Flight Director Lanalye to conduct the final mission briefing. Slight modification to ascent profile with no coast between stage 1 and 2 to maintain velocity as payload is heaviest yet flown on the Mk6-II

[L-3h] we are GO from the weather desk to begin pre-launch ops. Flight team getting on console to wake the rocket, onload instructions and begin system checks. Pad crew on their way out to remove flight safety hardware & check rocket is how they left it yesterday

we've had an Automated Flight Control System core update to v1.2.1 to fix some issues in the boot program and also have updated code for today's mission. All this can be perused on our public repository: github.com/KSAMissionCtrl…

[L-2h10m] pre-flight going good, no issues being worked. Preparing now to check out the 7 engines that will take the rocket up into space. Quick Response Team sheltering in the nearby bunker as rest of crew clears pad. 7 engines is the most we've had on any rocket - until the Mk8

a common misunderstanding about the QRT: they are not there to prevent the rocket from catching fire or anything like that. If some issue needs physical handling or looking over, they can get to the rocket quickly to address the problem but also back to shelter fast if needed

one of the reasons we haven't had to deal with many technical holds during our launches is in fact the ability to work directly on the rocket throughout the entire preflight checkout sequence and solve problems quickly to not have to extend the countdown

[L-1h30m] we have a healthy rocket ready for flight! Final close out underway at the pad while launch controllers prepare for rehearsal protocols and range officers work to ensure skies and seas remain clear along our planned ascent corridor

[L-1h20m] surface conditions remain within limits but the upper-atmosphere is less well-studied and understood so a second balloon is on its way up to get us more up-to-date information and confirm that conditions remain good for flight

photo from the pad crew a few minutes ago before they all drove off, sun just beginning to set behind the VAB into hazy skies. Weather was actually pretty crummy earlier today and we are glad to see it improving as forecast. Minmus & Mun are also hanging out together up above

[L-45m] launch team has begun rehearsal to ensure all systems and consoles are properly configured and ready for flight. The actual command cabling is taken out of the control loop so no accidental firing can occur and simulated data is fed into the system

[L-30m] updated surface weather forecast shows we remain GO for launch, moving us into the final countdown sequence, the furthest point we would roll back to if a hold is called without scrubbing. Upper-level conditions will be revised for the final general poll @ L-5min

[L-15m] Range Safety Officer has closed off access to the pad and surrounding airspace/waters. Any incursion will produce a countdown hold. Visitors leaving designated areas will not immediately hold the count but will be immediately escorted off the premises

night launches like this used to attract a fair amount of air traffic but with the extended restricted airspace around KSC after the 2019 aircraft attack it's not possible to circle close enough out to the west to really get a good view anymore twitter.com/KSA_MissionCtr…

however we do allow registered & approved private aircraft to fly in and park on the public tarmac, from where they can still get a great view and experience the launch. Some actually just landed in the last hour - Rwy 03/21 is able to stay open during launch operations https://t.co/SxT9HX3UGK

[L-5m] Wx? GO! Range? GO! Tracking? GO! Flight? GO! Ops Director @DKerman_KSA has given permission to launch - 🚀 GO PROGENY! 🚀 Flight Termination System was activated & engines armed back at L-15min (FTS now internal), now preparing for Terminal Count to begin with AFCS startup

[T-2m] AFCS has taken over control of the rocket, ground cables have been pulled to leave the vehicle on internal power and RF comms, both of which will be checked over the next min. Excitement on the faces of the students in LC whose projects are about to be launched a 2nd time

[T-1m] EC draw nominal, RF comms 5x5, final readiness poll coming up at T-30s and if all is well the Ops Tracker will switch over shortly afterwards to begin streaming live telemetry & vehicle status updates so tune in now! kerbalspace.agency/Tracker/tracke…

core booster ignition, radial boosters ignition and we have LIFT OFF! The final Progeny Mk6 screams skywards into the night. The kick of the radials will last only 6s before they are dumped, core booster will burn for an additional 28s before staging occurs

overall, flight nominal with clean staging. Rocket as expected is not moving as fast as previous flights although how much apokee loss this translates to depends on more than just speed given it is unguided and can pitch/roll/yaw to various degrees in addition to winds

rocket is coasting, has begun its hibernation sequence. It will wake up to check its surroundings & report back to us every min. 805km apokee means it will not reach the outer radiation belt but it will get almost fully through the inner belt to satisfy mission objectives

here is the mission timeline with estimates for belt passage based on data from the similar flight in 2019. Could be off by a min or so both ways. Apokee & re-entry however are known times. Apokee might be slightly outside inner belt? Time to wait and see!

radiation levels have elevated slightly beyond normal background ranges, increasing from 1.428mrad/hr to 3.657mrad/hr but this is nowhere near the 10rad/hr levels we should be getting from inside the belt and they do not seem to be increasing any further

rad levels continue to hold steady, rocket continues regular 1min check-ins. Once it detects a large increase it will remain awake for the belt transit. Rocket is >750km tho and no models of the belts predict that the inner one should be this far out or further, even on nite side

we are through apokee and rad levels have not increased. In fact they are very slightly decreasing. 1min hibernation cycle continues, rocket remains ready to stay active & record high rad region but if we didn't hit it on the way up, unlikely it would happen on the way down...

we have confirmation rocket is remaining on for re-entry, which should be occurring as you read this. Unfortunately we were not surprised by a belt transit on the way down, rads dropped back to normal background levels sometime between 219-319km

and that's that. Chute may deploy (it's on there for payload recovery in the event of ascent abort) but no recovery of the rocket is planned. Because we did not encounter at least the inner radiation belt, the mission objectives were not met so this flight was a failure

HOWEVER, to say that we did not succeed in maybe learning something new would be incorrect. The fact that we had <1° inclination and did not hit the belt lends credence to scientist's theory that the belt itself is inclined to match the tilt of Kerbin's magnetic pole!

telemetry data from yesterday's flight has been made available: docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d… the slightly elevated rads experienced were possibly the residual effects of the belt sweeping through that area of space earlier

the bit.ly/Progeny_Mk6 is now officially retired after 3 years of service - our longest-working rocket so far. It has an overall success rate of 71% across 21 missions (avg overall success rate is 62% so not bad). The time has come to move fully away from unguided rockets

analysis of the Progeny Mk6-II mission reveals reason for lack of high apokee: kerbalspace.agency/?p=11571 also interesting 2nd theory for missing the belt proposed: it no longer exists. At least, for now. Could it wax/wane over a period of time? Kerbin III will help get answers soon