European Agency of Space Stuff

Date : 1952-10-30 Funds : ~15k Unspent Science : ~26 Scheduled Science : 14 Routine Mission (1952-10-27): An SR-2a launch was scheduled to perform a routine sounding rocket contract but had to be scrubbed when the rocket engines failed to ignite on the launch pad (!). There was no adverse effect to the rocket. Routine Mission (1952-10-29): The engines were repaired and the launch was completed successfully. Here's our plan for the next couple of years: There's no plan to start any new programmes. For now, I expect to keep adapting and progressively enhancing the Y-1 and SR-2 designs to meet our new short-term objectives. Our next SR-2 flight will complete a requested biological payload mission. We will then perform some further Y-1 rocket-plane experiments (the second of which will require upgrades to achieve), slap a camera on the SR-2 for some cartographic snooping, then attempt to fire the SR-2 rocket significantly downrange . Historical Aside: Downrange rocket flight tests...

Time for our first rocket-plane flight! I will be performing this flight in full virtual reality, using the amazing Kerbal VR mod. I've had to reduce the graphics somewhat (disabling scatterer , specifically) in order to maintain VR compatibility. Unfortunately I haven't yet unlocked one of the plane cockpits which supports all the fancy buttons either, so I'll be controlling it using the Oculus Touch controllers for now. The objective of this mission is to drop launch our Y-1 rocket plane from our mothership , maintain level(-ish) flight at a speed of at least 343m/s for at least 30 seconds, then touchdown on the Saharan desert. In the cockpit is heroic test pilot Matt Clarkson . You'll notice that after I turn off the engines I start performing banking turns. Generally, in flight, you control your speed with your throttle and control altitude with your pitch. However when your engines are off and when you are in a state of gliding, you have to control both by maneu...

Rocket science is fundamentally pretty simple. Big explosion go down, steel cylinder go up. A very simple implementation of Newton's third law : "For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction ". Building aeroplanes is somewhat trickier. In ordinary (stock) Kerbal, building your first aeroplane is generally tougher than building, say, an orbital rocket, but the aerodynamic model is still pretty simple and forgiving. Something that is sort of like a plane will still fly. RP-1, specifically the mod FAR , is not nearly so forgiving. First, let's make it clear that we're not building a traditional plane. While RP-1 does let you build propeller planes of the era, I've decided to head straight to rocket-planes . Rocket planes are what they sound like, planes that are primarily (or solely) powered by rocket engines. Historically, the most famous rocket plane is the Bell X-1 , the spiritual analogue of the Y-1 we're about to build. In our fantasy timel...

Date:  1951-03-10 With new research on the horizon it's time to start training our Kerbonauts as test pilots and scheduling in new programmes. We're going to be working to meet two different mid-term objectives: Get a rocket plane programme up and running to perform crewed test flights. These will involve Kerbals and atmospheric flight, which poses quite different problems from our uncrewed sounding rocket. These will drop (eheheh) soon. Develop more sounding rockets capable of sub-orbital flights to do longer and faster 'downrange' missions on the way to our long-term objective of getting to Earth orbit. Roadmap heading in to 1952 Both of these programmes will provide more Science; especially landing our first crewed flight! Here's a sneak peek of a possible Y-Plane prototype (Y-Plane as in, Y are we wasting time with planes in a space program): Next up though, are our next sounding rocket flight(s)... Next Post: Continuing the SR-1 Project