2020 Year in Review - Crew Report (12/28/20)
For the first time an entire year was spent by our crew mostly in training, with the fewest amount of actual missions carried out - such is the complex nature of space flight!
2020 Year in Review - Surface Operations (12/29/20)
KerBalloon missions were as numerous as last year and mission time was nearly doubled on average as surface expeditions became more far-flung & long-lasting. The successful use of orbital comms tested this year has everyone excited to really open up surface exploration in 2021
Reused and Retired (12/29/20)
The first engine to be recovered and reused for a second launch, the solid-fuel Boostertron II, now has its own place in our Rocket Garden on the main lawn of KSC
2020 Year in Review - Atmospheric Flight (12/30/20)
we got in a few flights this year before the Genesis program was shuttered. Fixed-wing aircraft development remains alive with C7 Aerospace Division and missions like those previously flown by Commander Valentina & Captain Jebediah are now handled by a growing pool of commercial aviators
WildCat-V Production Article (12/30/20)
The first flight-ready engine to come out of the KW Rocketry factory, it will hopefully power our Ascension Mk3 later in 2021 if all goes well during qualification trials over the next 3 months
2020 Mission Cadence (12/31/20)
although we did have a shutdown of the rocketry programs early this year, there was no shutdown of the entire Agency at any point and we at least got off one mission each month in 2020, continuing the streak that went through 2019 as well. Planning to keep it alive in 2021!
2020 Year in Review - Rocket Flight (12/31/20)
Even though overall launch count was down from last year, the missions were much more complex, including our first ever orbital missions launched from the Ascension Mk2 and getting the rest of our crew up into space via the Mk1. The Mk7-B helped qualify the reusable boosters for the upcoming Ascension Mk3 as well as paving the way for the Progeny Mk8. Ironically, our Progeny Mk6 missions, technically the easiest, did not fare well
2020 Year in Review - Orbital Operations (1/1/21)
For the first time we get to look at some stats from missions that circled the planet multiple times, something we plan to do a lot more often in 2021
Celestial Sandwich (1/3/21)
Mun hangs between Sarnus and Jool. The former's largest moon Slate can be seen while Jool's moons are in better positions to be viewed and we can see Vall, Tylo and Laythe
KSC 2021 (1/4/21)
A look at the Kerbal Space Center at the start of the new year. Not much is planned for expansion this year except for increasing the capacity of the Support Village, possibly adding an air traffic control tower if commercial activity continues to increase and maybe a new launch/mission control center
Asteroids of December 2020 (1/4/21)
13 known asteroids, two of which impacted (one dangerously close to ATN/DSN South) capped off a busier year than expected. 2020 got off to a slow start we had hoped would continue but gradually picked back up near to levels seen in 2019, with an average of 9 encounters per month as opposed to 12 the year before
Eve & Minmus Double Occultation (1/5/21)
This rare event was captured by astrophotographer Thileg Kerman, who traveled out to the west shore desert to be able to see it, positioning himself so that both Minmus and Eve were set to be occulted by Mun. Moving to a higher or lower latitude would have caused one or the other to miss. If it had gotten lighter any sooner he would have had to have charted a maritime vessel to take this photo from the sea. Gilly is also just visible at the rim of Mun
2021 Asteroid Census (1/7/21)
the Main Asteroid Belt becomes the undisputed king of the kerbolar system, knocking NKOs completely off the charts for size and mass. Astronomers suspect however that a lot more lurks in the outer system where scopes cannot yet see objects well enough
Kerbin Surface Impacts 2020 (1/11/21)
Known water impacts now shown as well. Circles depict the relative magnitude detected by seismic sensors. Detection rates improved as expect to 72% over the 56% from last year (for impacts over land only) however that's still not good enough. The largest impact we did not see occurred near the same latitude as KSC, which means had Kerbin's rotation been a little different it could have fallen on top of us instead. Scary! Thankfully we did at least see the one that almost hit ATN/DSN South and were able to evacuate the facility and prepare the delicate instruments for seismic shock. The impact turned out to be non-threatening
Ascension Build Status (1/13/21)
The lifter for the Mk3 has begun to receive its solid rocket motors while the second stage gets ready to be fully assembled while waiting on its engine. The Mk1 lifter in the background is just getting started with a mate to its engine
Five of Seven (1/14/21)
Increasing the count of clustered engines from 3 to 5 has caused no issues during multiple test runs and we will now be installing the final two engines that will lift the first Progeny Mk8 later this year
Kerbin III (1/15/21)
The largest satellite yet to head to space and will be paving the way for several future missions, testing new power and propulsion tech as well as sciencing the inner and outer radiation belts over a period of weeks or hopefully months!
