Captain Jeb takes the Civvie on a trip 93km inland from KSC in order to drop & deploy a KerBalloon unit mounted on the aircraft belly in a first of its kind collaborative mission between programs, as a team including Bill & Bob recover and return the payload. Jeb also completed a contract returning to KSC
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Bill has been helping to give our UTVs complete maintenance checks. They could be making their longest round-trip journey later this week
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Bill reports all three UTVs are in tip-top shape. Bob has been pouring over topography maps to plan the route out to bit.ly/Kirrims_Dawn
Kerbal Space Agency
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KerBalloon teams have agreed to proceed with the mission to drop a balloon for envelope deployment in conjunction with Genesis Program
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this mission is a big deal both in terms of scope & collaboration so here is a press release with all the details: bit.ly/KB_Gen-PR
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both Bill & Bob say they are rdy for another long overland journey in the UTVs, any trauma from the last journey has faded w/o post effects
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Bob & Bill are out early to help the KerBalloon crews get the UTVs loaded up, fueled up and overall prepped for departure at next sunrise
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launch control is *packed* as crew from Genesis & KerBalloon as well as support staff & astronauts are all assembled for mission briefing
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air route is pretty straight-forward, but the recovery team will have the longer journey to avoid any potentially treacherous terrain
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ground distance to the drop zone, which is 92.7km away from KSC as the plane flies, will take the UTVs around 180-200km, ~4.5-5hrs
Kerbal Space Agency
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UTVs have departed to begin their long trek out to the drop zone. Will travel all day cycle, stop overnight & continue after 3rd sunrise
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airship has arrived on station over the mountains so we can remain in contact with rovers and also with Civvie once it goes over the mtns
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airship can only relay communications, not data like photos or telemetry, but Lanalye demanded it after the last long land journey disaster
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recovery team reports that they are stopping for the night, have covered good ground & estimate they are only 1.5hrs out from drop zone
Kerbal Space Agency
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HAB has the high-altitude KerBalloon from yesterday re-mounted to the Civvie and have rolled it out to the tarmac for its flight later today
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we're getting decent weather reports from airship captains traveling near our contract zone. This balloon could make it all the way up
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Cpt Jeb is out for his walkaround inspection, making sure the mount mechanisms are holding up well since the Civvie was deployed earlier
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taxi & takeoff clearance have been granted, Jeb is on the way out to Rwy27. Skies clear w/cirrus, winds out of the WNW 4-8kts gusts to 10
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Val got a photo of Jeb's departure, which was without issue. He's currently climbing slowly but steadily & trimming out his sideslip
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recovery team is underway again towards the drop zone, they do not have to be in position @ time of drop, will travel w/balloon after deploy
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Jeb is thru 1.6km clawing for altitude, has turned from rwy hdg direct now to waypoint Hdg315, attempting to make it over the mountain pass
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not going to make it! Jeb sent us this photo and informs us he is turning about to continue climb further before passing over the mountains
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at full positive pitch trim, Jeb still needs more climb angle so is pumping fuel back from the forward tank to help raise the nose higher
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after making it through 3km Jeb has come about & is passing over the mountains. We've marked the location of our relay airship on this photo
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trimmed out level @ 3km Jeb has the Civvie traveling ~100m/s, heaters on - it's only 39°F up there! Getting rdy for payload drop in ~5min
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good drop! Jeb followed same procedure as Val and is also pumping fuel forward again to account for the loss of mass under the nose tank
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Jeb has the Civvie re-trimmed & has come about, reports the balloon in sight looking nominal in ascent! Now on to bit.ly/Site_TTNC
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informing flight of course deviation to avoid terrain, Jeb is flying thru Site TTNC for his crew obsv, then heading 'round the mtns for home
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Jeb is back in sight of KSC & greets us with this photo - you can just make out the VAB far off in the distance, a great navigation landmark
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8.5km out Jeb has reached 1km ASL pattern altitude, entering downwind leg Rwy27 & pumping fuel aft to help the nose stay up during landing
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after a 5km final approach Jeb has made a smooth landing, says pumping back the fuel makes the Civvie just float down so easily. Loves it!
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passing through 11km the KerBalloon has finally cleared the mountains and we have telemetry data! All is looking good. Fingers crossed...
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after ascending to 23.8km ASL the balloon burst & we have confirmation of chute deploy. So close to max 24.9km, almost as good as expected
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Bob reports that they have a good ping from the transponder & are continuing to track its descent for them to recover it once it lands
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Bill has radioed in and says they have the KerBalloon unit intact! Wonderful success of this most complex mission to date has everyone very pleased
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recovery teams will start home, a little light left, spend another night out in the wilderness & plan to roll back into KSC early tomorrow
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our day is still far from over but you can catch up on everything else from this past week in our ops summary - click the img below!
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recovery teams wasting no time, eager to get home & report they are already rolling as the sun crests the horizon out west in the highlands
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welcome home! After getting close enough to KSC the recovery team traveled thru part of the nite, are heading straight for their comfy bunks
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Bob says the UTV trip odometers read a total of 434km were traversed yesterday on their journey to collect the KerBalloon and return
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Bill reports all 3 UTVs have been checked over & came through their longest overland journey to date in great shape, are ready for another!
