The crew head out overland to the desert west of KSC for a release on behalf of Rokea over Site 32-K6E and to conduct additional fieldwork, the closest mission to home in quite some time
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Kerbal Space Agency
@KSA_MissionCtrl
new contract for bit.ly/KerBalloonProg… will have them ready a balloon tomorrow & Mon to deploy on Tues for Rokea out in the desert west of KSC. it's been a while since they've had a "local" mission and are also getting the UTVs ready for the overland traverse
Kerbal Space Agency
@KSA_MissionCtrl
KerBalloon crew is gearing up with 3 Utility Task Vehicles to head out for bit.ly/Site_32-K6E. The ~145km traverse will take them around 3-3.5 hours and they should arrive before or during sunset. They will launch their balloon during the night
Kerbal Space Agency
@KSA_MissionCtrl
been a while since they've had a contract close enough for a UTV traversal. The column heads out like this, with the lead pathfinder vehicle several dozen meters ahead once they are off the road to find a safe route for the remaining two carrying balloon equipment
Kerbal Space Agency
@KSA_MissionCtrl
KB team should have reached their destination over an hour ago but we have no way to contact them. Controllers are on standby here in Mission Control however because we should be able to pickup the balloon signal after it is launched sometime within the next hour
Kerbal Space Agency
@KSA_MissionCtrl
acquisition of signal! Balloon telemetry showing it nearing 4km on its way to 16km as it pops over the horizon and links with us through the Umbarg aerial, which has a 500km range. Good to know all is well out there. They will return tomorrow after conducting some add'l fieldwork
Kerbal Space Agency
@KSA_MissionCtrl
KerBalloon crew has made it back to KSC after a successful mission. Low-altitude balloons can be released in all kinds of bad weather but they had great conditions out there - you can just make out the rising balloon towards the upper right in the light of a waning gibbous Mun
Kerbal Space Agency
@KSA_MissionCtrl
so ends this week of operations. Catch up on anything you may have missed via our Ops Summary and have a great weekend! kerbalspace.agency/?p=8523
