Ascension Mk1 Flight 8 (Science Studies)

CFO Mortimer has announced the Kerbin World Firsts organization released the bounty of 57,000 funds to our account in recognition of our accomplishment this past week of putting a kerbal into space. This is enough to get the Ascension Mk2 off the ground later this year!

flight analysis for the kerbed Ascension Mk1 mission last month has been posted: kerbalspace.agency/?p=9491 Ascension team is now working to schedule the next two missions - expect dates to be announced later this week

the unkerbed Mk1 & Mk2 missions will use the newer, lighter fins & ctrl surfaces. Kerbed Mk1 will stick to originals not just because they are well-tested but the same mass makes it easier for flight planners to stick to the same trajectory we wanted for the 1st kerbed mission

the vertical test stand today had a good static fire of the K2-X engine that will power the next unkerbed Mk1 rocket into space. Before the kerbed Mk1 engine gets its turn, we will make sure dampeners functioned properly to keep the fuel tank from damaging the engine again

the K2-X engine for next month's Ascension Mk1 mission has had a successful static fire on the test stand today. Next month will be the first delivery of the engine order we placed back in May, which will be used for the Ascension Mk2 mission in Oct

Ascension Mk1 for next week has passed load checks and is being laid back horizontal for final close outs. Mk1 for Sept has its engine prepared and will be center-stage next week to begin its final integration while the Ascension Mk2 & Progeny Mk7-A prep begins in the wings

the eighth Ascension Mk1 was loaded up onto the carry vehicle earlier today and is now on its way to the launch pad to get raised vertical and hooked up to the service tower. FD Lanalye and her team are preparing for a wet dress rehearsal as part of their launch readiness

Tracking Station reports all dishes are online and calibrated, downrange tracking stations in Sheltered Rock and Ockr both report comm tests have come back nominal. WDR was without issue - final readiness reports are being submitted for admin review

🌅Sunrise/Sunset🌄
@ KSC (UTC-4)

8/27
#2🌄08:37:18 🌅10:47:39 !!🚀!!
#3🌄14:38:09 🌅16:48:30
#4🌄20:39:00 🌅22:49:21

8/28
#1🌄02:39:51 🌅04:50:12

we are delaying today's launch. Our recovery vessel MSV Aldeny sailed out to the splashdown zone late yesterday and reports today that seas are too rough for recovery operations. We will hope for better conditions next day cycle. New L-0 set for 21:30 UTC

launch has been scrubbed for today. MSV Aldeny was forced earlier to move off station as conditions worsened and has not been able to return. We will continue to monitor the situation and do not expect conditions to persist into tomorrow. New L-0 set for 15:35 UTC on 8/28

🌅Sunrise/Sunset🌄
@ KSC (UTC-4)

8/28
#2🌄08:40:42 🌅10:51:03 !!🚀!!
#3🌄14:41:33 🌅16:51:54
#4🌄20:42:24 🌅22:52:45

8/29
#1🌄02:43:15 🌅04:53:36

[L-4h10m] conditions at the recovery site remain good & weather kerbs are gathering local data from stations, airships and maritime vessels in the area to put together an updated launch forecast. Expect updates at these milestones in the pre-launch timeline

RT @DKerman_KSA: there is no launch time constraint for this mission. Making the early attempt just means if anything goes wrong in the lead-up there's a better chance we can make at least another attempt before scrubbing the day.

This logic however does not make getting up before 7am easier -_-

[L-3h40m] Flight Director (FD) Lanalye is gathering her B team in Launch Control for final mission briefing. Here is an overview of the flight, which will be less-aggressive on ascent than previous unkerbed missions due to the sensitive scientific instruments onboard & outboard

we also wanted to try some additional emergency recovery procedures during the return using the LES but it's important we get the onboard instruments back safely, which is also why this mission has a Launch Escape System included to begin with

[L-3h10m] we are GO from the weather desk to continue into pre-flight, although conditions remain iffy. Monolith temple is cleared out for general safety but no longer chilled down for unkerbed missions. Controllers are on console waking up the rocket & onloading flight software

the base Automated Flight Control System has some new default atmospheric logging data while operational code changes have been made to suit the mission profile, all of which can be reviewed here bit.ly/AFCS_Changes

[L-2h55m] rocket is woke, systems initialized and pad crew has the tanker hooked up to the service tower - FD Lanalye says we are GO for fueling operations. Photo taken a few minutes ago as the light from sunset fades behind the mountains

[L-2h40m] tanking has wrapped up on schedule, filling the liquid fuel and oxidizer tanks to the top with a combined 7t of propellant. Pad crew now cleaning up from fueling operations while controllers maintain vigilance on fuel levels to ensure no leaks are present

[L-1h55m] the majority of preflight has concluded and the issues board remains clear. Pad is secure & being evacuated ahead of engine systems/ignition checks while a Quick-Response Team shelters in the nearby bunker

[L-1h30m] FD Lanalye reports the rocket is all checked out & ready to go! External tasks now the focus - getting the range setup with MSV Hoodall on station for monitoring, closing out the launch pad for final evacuation and prepping to release the weather balloon

[L-1h20m] weather balloon has been released from outside the VAB, it will ascend into the upper atmosphere (+18km) by the time we near L-5min general polls to give us an idea of upper-level wind conditions that could potentially pose a threat to the ascent

[L-45m] inside an hour to launch, pad crew is preparing to clear out and FD Lanalye is running her team through a rehearsal to ensure all systems and assets are properly setup for the mission while the weather desk takes another look (literally) at conditions outside

[L-30m] we are GO for final countdown! Weather has been improving all day both here & over recovery zone so now just hoping for a report of calm @upperlevelwinds at L-5min. Range Safety Officer is awaiting confirmation of pad lock-down and clear air/sea range

off to the right in the previous photo are 4 celestial bodies. Who can name them? We'll give you Minmus, up top, since that's tough to determine from a photo. The other three? Maybe checking out the current planetary locations will help bit.ly/Ops_Tracker

[L-15m] range closure is in effect, any incursion will hold the count. Rocket has been ARMED, Flight Termination System/LES is ACTIVE. Reminder to all visitors that hearing protection is REQUIRED outdoors - we've only had to escort offsite 2 kerbs so far since 2018

[L-13m] the lone tanker truck still hooked up to the service towers has been commanded remotely to begin onload of pressurized nitrogen gas that will help ensure rigidity & fuel flow in the rocket tanks. Late onload keeps pad workers safe from any tank ruptures

[L-5m] Final readiness polls complete: Wx: GO; Range: GO; Flight: GO; Tracking Station: GO; Downrange Tracking: GO; Ops Director @DKerman_KSA: Launch permission granted! 🚀GO ASCENSION🚀 FTS power internal, service tower booms unlocked for retraction, AFCS rdy for terminal count

[L-3m] prior to service arm retraction in the next minute, tank pressurization has begun to add rigidity and allow the rocket to stand alone upon the engine clamp. Without it, a strong wind could literally crumple the rocket & collapse it onto the pad. Likely w/ a giant explosion

[T-2m] terminal count has begun with the AFCS taking control of the rocket as the service arm swings away. Rocket is already switched over to battery power and drain rates are being monitored while RF comm check is underway

[T-1m] time to tune in to kerbalspace.agency/Tracker/tracke… if you have not already for live launch telemetry! Final poll at T-30s followed by these events leading up to launch. We added a new check to ensure hydraulics remain nominal

good main engine start, throttle up and

✨50th LIFT OFF✨

The 8th Ascension Mk1 takes to the sky, carrying new scientific instruments up into space! Clearing the tower, the rocket will roll onto launch heading and then begin to pitch downrange as it throttles up to full power

rocket is supersonic and through MaxQ, throttling back to maintain a TWR of 2.5 & ensure science instruments are not damaged by excessive force or vibration. Guidance had the usual early ascent problems for pitch & heading but is back on course, engine parameters remain nominal

ascent continues to look good into the upper atmosphere, as seen visually from the ground tracking cam. Telemetry-wise all remains nominal as well, apokee is out of the atmosphere and guidance remains on course heading 53°, now holding 44° pitch for the remainder of the ascent

MECO @ 104km, a little higher than planned 98km and also now well off course due to an off-center thrust of the rocket that became apparent as it continued to burn out of the atmosphere w/o any ctrl surfaces to fight against it. Controllers are assessing the situation

magnetometer on the fuel tank has been extended and the capsule hatch has been opened to deploy the RPWS antenna. Principle investigators are receiving science instrument data downlink while mission planners continue to evaluate the new trajectory

we're having issues with high-rate data transmission & will have to forsake some of our planned scientific observations on this mission since we cannot store all the data meant to xmit. New trajectory has been confirmed & MSV Aldeny is moving off station to the new recovery area

through 327km apokee now, the RPWS has been stowed and the Gamma-Ray Spectrometer is now rotated to face out the capsule hatch and has been deployed. It will gather readings through the coast down to low-Kerbin space at 250km before we run short of data storage capacity

passing down through 250km controllers are preparing to stow the GRS and then separate the capsule from the lift stage. The rocket is in a slow end-over-end tumble (~0.5RPM), so it's important to wait for the proper moment to ensure good initial separation

<10s to atmosphere, good capsule sep followed by a radial orientation and then guidance was unlocked for a manual forward thrust to put more distance between the capsule & lift stage before re-orienting retrograde to present the heat shield towards the velocity vector

capsule was still orienting retrograde upon atmospheric entry and saw some minor AoA wobble but remained pointed in the right direction. We are through comm blackout & have confirmation terminal velocity slowed the capsule enough to dump the LES for initial chute deployment

unfortunately due to the off-course trajectory we have lost the capsule below the horizon before we could get confirmation of full chute deployment, but all telemetry until LOS looked good and MSV Aldeny is only just over an hour from the splashdown location. Standing by...

MSV Aldeny is still about 40min out but has confirmed they've picked up the locator beacon from the capsule! 🎊 KERZZAH! 🥂 its main batteries will have drained by now so the remainder of the operations log will be included with the flight telemetry tomorrow

post-launch operations have concluded, pad remains in good shape for next month's mission. Technically, this was the 51st launch overall if you count the air launch of the Mk1-B last year (kerbalspace.agency/?p=8264) but we are marking today's launch as the 50th from the ground

while the capsule is still waiting to be shipped back to KSC, the data onboard has already been extracted and transmitted to us. Here is the final operations log from yesterday and the full telemetry data is available here: docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d…

here's a close-up look of the engine ignition from the last Ascension Mk1 flight, with the new control movement sequence. This was added to double-check hydraulic performance in the event that readouts from the rocket to controllers on system pressure were incorrect

ongoing analysis shows what happened at the end of last mission's ascent. The fin angle offset mass to create torque downwards and to the left (right fin is rocket bottom) when near empty tanks . Window on left shows that even had we used RCS thrusters this could not be overcome

all the nitty gritty details on last month's Ascension Mk1 flight are now available along with a full data and performance analysis from the rocket telemetry. Want to know what these plots are all about? Check out the report: kerbalspace.agency/?p=9754

wrap it up folks, weekend is here! Get caught up on all our operations this past week with additional details via our Ops Summary: kerbalspace.agency/?p=9767 it's been mostly crummy weather all week so let's all hope for a turn-around this weekend