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Progeny Mk7-A Flight Analysis & Mk6-II Launch Readiness
The investigation into the breakup of the Mk7-A last week was concluded in this report and surprised no one that we pushed the rocket too hard. Like we’ve said before, you need to exceed the limits to find them. Eventually we should be able to do this in a computer simulation but for now we have to launch and observe. While we will not be iterating on the design yet and plan to launch another Mk7-A, when we can do that remains to be seen thanks to our current level of funds.
After detecting a failing decoupler during the initial assembly of the Progeny Mk6 Block II originally set for launch late last month, a new part was ordered and the rocket was re-stacked after the decoupler was replaced. Load checks came out good and the rest of assembly went on without any further issues. The rocket has been loaded onto the carry vehicle for rollout on Monday and remains on schedule for launch Tuesday @ 16:30 UTC.
June Financial Report
Our income and expenses for June have been published here by Head of Finances Mortimer. The lack of income from KerBalloon contracts later in the month ultimately caused us to slip back into the red and although we didn’t lose any potential contract payout when the Mk7-A failed we did lose several reusable parts that will need to be replaced at some point. The total amount of funds we currently have remaining is enough to get our kerbed Ascension Mk1 flight off the ground but after that it depends on whether or not we are successful in reaching space as a large purse is in escrow from several agencies that have been waiting for this milestone to be achieved.
We can also get help from anyone willing to become a Patreon, as your contributions directly fund operations here at the KSA!
ATN Database
The latest update for the Asteroid Tracking Network database is available here, containing 3,793 asteroids and 5 updated with new observation data. Here are the 31 asteroids that were discovered this past week:
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From the Desk of Drew Kerman
Out of Character Behind the Scenes stuffWritten on 6/1/19
Took a bit of time off over Memorial Day weekend that dragged on through the next week. Hung out with friends, played Mark of the Ninja Remastered – I played the original back when it came out and got to meet and talk game design with the lead designer at a game conference in Montreal. Was fun reading through all the commentary in the Remastered version, reminded me of what I do here in the Desk Notes.
Good news is that I’ve now extended my lead time beyond my 4 upcoming nearly back-to-back fireworks displays with a good week and a half remaining before the first one, which means I can move ahead a bit more even. It’s going to really suck to lose so much lead time when I’m done with shows in early July but I gotta pay the bills somehow right? Cause this ain’t doing it and if it ever happens to I don’t plan for that to be until later this year or next year at the earliest. Whether or not it needs to will depend on what happens over the next few months with IRL work.
So yea, keeping operations slow for a while longer so I am able to build up my lead again through July into August. Then we’ll see about a new job that I may be starting which could impact the amount of time I have to spend on this…
