Iron Hill Project Thread

[indy91]

The Iron Hill plugin works great for me. The countdown for Chronus 8 is at T-20min.

 

[TMac3000]

I can't use Quakenet at work, but I'll be monitoring things from here
The B-Crew is only weeks from Mercury. You guys need to be having your own meetings, to discuss what's going to happen when you land

 

[SolarLiner]

You'll need to do it manually then. Just make sure you stop a few minutes before the "real" system time, so that RTU doesn't try to send us back in time:lol: That would cause a CTD

This gave me an idea.
As RTU always worked for me (maybe because I have a more or less constant 800 fps on D3D9 ^^) I can open the state, close it immediatly (RTU will make his job of saving SysMJD) then edit Current State to copy the sim MJD.

I try on the lastest state.

 

[indy91]

Insertion of Chronus 8 successful! This is the post, where I will be doing status updates for the mission.

Insertion: RInc: 0.00°, Orbit: -14 x 222km, OMS1 will be at 18:40:00 UTC.

The OMS1 burn occured at 18:39:32 UTC. The new orbit is 200x218km. The crew deployed the radiator and opened the docking port shortly after. They went to sleep at 2000 and will begin their second day in orbit at 0400. During the night Chronus will slowly approach Odyssey. The next scheduled burn (NH-1, height adjustment burn) will occur at 05:16:00 UTC tomorrow.

The crew of Chronus woke up at 4 am UTC. They successfully conducted the NH-1 burn at 5:17. The new orbit is 205x342km and the distance to Odyssey is still over 2000km.

Two further good burns: NC-1 at 06:00:09 UTC and NH-2 at 06:46:15 UTC. Chronus is now in an 240x603km orbit and 700km from Odyssey.

A plane change maneuver (NPC-1) was conducted at 07:00:44 UTC. Odyssey is now only 200km away and can be seen as a blinking dot.

At 07:36:24 UTC the TI maneuver was performed by the crew over Australia. Chronus is only one orbit away from Odyssey!

After three successful Mid-Course Corrections, a thruster malfunction occured during MC4. But after some considerations the approach was resumed and an additional correction burn was conducted. At 09:12:00 UTC Chronus arrived at the 600 feet R-Bar station-keeping position.

Chronus has received the GO for moving up to the 300 feet position. Because there is no SAS module attached to Odyssey, the crew will have to do a spacewalk to Chronus.

RickD was the first to reach Chronus. He was greeted enthusiasticly by the crew, when he left the airlock. The other four crewmembers of Odyssey will have to wait until the next day, because the sun is already setting.

At 11:50:00 UTC the crew of Odyssey has moved to Chronus. The crew will maneuver Chronus in front of Odyssey to a station-keeping position. In a few hours Chronus will fly around Odyssey and leave for a landing at Wideawake International.

Album with pictures of the mission: http://orbiter-forum.com/album.php?albumid=883

 

[TMac3000]

After two weeks of delays related to computer malfunctions, WAMC (Wideawake Mission Control, pronounced WHAM-ick) has confirmed the successful launch of Chronus!:woohoo:

 

[sorindafabico]

Well done, indy! Good luck on reentry.

About Odyssey: will we transform it into a MkII Arrow?

 

[TMac3000]

Me knocking on the window

Awww, we've been stuck up in LEO for two weeks:lol: I had to give you guys a little grief

About Odyssey: will we transform it into a MkII Arrow?

That's the plan. But she's got to go to Brighton for that, and it'll be a separate mission...I haven't even decided how to go about it yet. I know you didn't want to use an Arrow for the Collins Project, but that would be great way to get her back into prograde orbit

 

[indy91]

Status update: Chronus left the vicinity of Odyssee by doing a series of seperation burns. SEP-1 took place at 13:56:40 UTC after a flyaround of Odyssee. SEP-2 was at 14:17:05 at a distance of 6000 feet.
The first landing opportunity will be at approx. 19:00 UTC.

First landing opportunity at Wideawake International: Deorbit burn at 17:36, touchdown at 18:36. Still waiting for weather update and GO from Mission Control.

17:10:00 UTC: Fuel transfer complete, the RCS tanks are full again. Chronus is now in a retrograde attitude and awaiting go for the deorbit burn.
17:31:00 UTC: GO for deorbit burn received! Crew is preparing for a short main engine burn.
17:36:02 UTC: Deorbit burn successful! Chronus fired its main engines over the Pacific Ocean for a DV of 168 m/s. The crew is now preparing radiator stowing. Due to the high orbit of Odyssey the radiator has to be stowed only shortly before reentry.
17:57:00 UTC: Radiator and docking port stowed, reentry check complete, all systems green.
18:05:57 UTC: Entry Interface begins, altitude 100km.
18:21:20 UTC: Maximal temperature during reentry, 1565K.
18:31:40 UTC: The commander takes over manual control.
18:35:40 UTC: Touchdown! Chronus 8 is home!
18:38:00 UTC: Wheelstop in the hangar, the mission is over.

Picture gallery of the flight: http://orbiter-forum.com/album.php?albumid=883

 

[sorindafabico]

Awww, we've been stuck up in LEO for two weeks:lol: I had to give you guys a little grief

That's the plan. But she's got to go to Brighton for that, and it'll be a separate mission...I haven't even decided how to go about it yet. I know you didn't want to use an Arrow for the Collins Project, but that would be great way to get her back into prograde orbit

We can simply go to the moon to refit her. After that the next launch from the moon would put her in prograde orbit.

 

[TMac3000]

Yep:yes: That's the idea
And while we're at it, another idea: we could set up a big landing area for Arrow freighers, using a bunch of UCGO lights, like we did on Mercury. Give it radio freqs and everything

 

[indy91]

Chronus 8 has successfully finished its mission!

Launch: 19 March 2013 18:05:16 UTC
Landing: 21 March 2013 18:35:40 UTC
Mission duration: 2 days, 30 minutes, 24 seconds

The astronauts are standing in front of Chronus. Do you want me to drive them to the crew building?

Current state:

 

[TMac3000]

Yes, please:yes: And also, park Chronus in her hangar, and defuel her

---------- Post added at 04:41 PM ---------- Previous post was at 04:36 PM ----------

For nearly a year, the first crew of the base at Iron Hill, Chao Meng Fu Crater, Mercury, has been breathing recycled air, drinking recycled water, and looking at a sky of either painted metal or blazing stars.

Now we are breathing the clean nitrogen of Earth, and looking forward to eating off of plates and sleeping in real beds. And I can't say it any better than Dorothy: there is no place like home


Anybody else want to say something?

 

[BruceJohnJennerLawso]

Yes, please:yes: And also, park Chronus in her hangar, and defuel her

---------- Post added at 04:41 PM ---------- Previous post was at 04:36 PM ----------

For nearly a year, the first crew of the base at Iron Hill, Chao Meng Fu Crater, Mercury, has been breathing recycled air, drinking recycled water, and looking at a sky of either painted metal or blazing stars.

Now we are breathing the clean nitrogen of Earth, and looking forward to eating off of plates and sleeping in real beds. And I can't say it any better than Dorothy: there is no place like home


Anybody else want to say something?

Breathing the Oxygen of Earth :lol:

Congratulations my friend :thumbup:

So how was the landing?

 

[indy91]

The landing was very smooth, I hope you don't have any complaints about my landing skills :lol:

Chronus is back in her hangar and the crew is in the crew building.

 

[TMac3000]

The landing was very smooth, I hope you don't have any complaints about my landing skills :lol:.

If you didn't break the gear on landing, then I have no complaints Hell, Sorindafabico did break the gear returning from Chronus 4, and I still had no complaints:lol: It happened to real astronaut Brian Binny at the controls of SpaceShip One--how much more the danger for armchair astronauts like us, with much bigger (virtual) toys?

You did a fabulous job, Indy:thumbup:

---------- Post added at 07:15 PM ---------- Previous post was at 06:59 PM ----------

Next on the agenda: Discovery HOI. Bruce, I need you guys to have your own chat meeting (without me) and discuss what's going to happen when you land. I know you thought the trip to Bach Crater was too ambitious. That's up to you, but I thought it was a great idea I'd also like you guys to schedule trips to Scopas Crater and Grunwald Pass, to see how the equipment at those locations is doing, and what, if any, servicing it needs.

SolarLiner, don't forget to start regularly deleting AFCMODE from the unpacked modules starting a few days before you land, or you'll be greeted by a bunch of boxes instead of a base:lol:

I'm going to try putting those modules into a config file, and turn Iron Hill into an actual addon. The question is: who's account to post it on? We all worked hellaciously hard on this thing, and I'd hate to see any one person get credit for it--certainly not myself:shifty: Mods: could we create a single account called "The Iron Hill Team" and post the base addon as a team?

 

[BruceJohnJennerLawso]

If you didn't break the gear on landing, then I have no complaints Hell, Sorindafabico did break the gear returning from Chronus 4, and I still had no complaints:lol: It happened to real astronaut Brian Binny at the controls of SpaceShip One--how much more the danger for armchair astronauts like us, with much bigger (virtual) toys?

You did a fabulous job, Indy:thumbup:

---------- Post added at 07:15 PM ---------- Previous post was at 06:59 PM ----------

Next on the agenda: Discovery HOI. Bruce, I need you guys to have your own chat meeting (without me) and discuss what's going to happen when you land. I know you thought the trip to Bach Crater was too ambitious. That's up to you, but I thought it was a great idea I'd also like you guys to schedule trips to Scopas Crater and Grunwald Pass, to see how the equipment at those locations is doing, and what, if any, servicing it needs.

SolarLiner, don't forget to start regularly deleting AFCMODE from the unpacked modules starting a few days before you land, or you'll be greeted by a bunch of boxes instead of a base:lol:

I'm going to try putting those modules into a config file, and turn Iron Hill into an actual addon. The question is: who's account to post it on? We all worked hellaciously hard on this thing, and I'd hate to see any one person get credit for it--certainly not myself:shifty: Mods: could we create a single account called "The Iron Hill Team" and post the base addon as a team?

When can we schedule it? Im available in the morning tomorrow, but anything past 11:00 is iffy.

 

[TMac3000]

Breathing the Oxygen of Earth :lol:

70/30 if I'm not mistaken, so we're both right

When to schedule the meeting is up to you and the team. Doubtful that all five of you will be there (haven't heard from Tacolev in quite some time), but as long as you have a quorum...

 

[sorindafabico]

I'm going to try putting those modules into a config file, and turn Iron Hill into an actual addon.

I like the idea. How do you plan to do it?

---------- Post added at 11:25 PM ---------- Previous post was at 11:24 PM ----------

Indy: congratulations for the well done mission!

 

[TMac3000]

I like the idea. How do you plan to do it?

I'll just drop the module coding into the Iron Hill config file under /Mercury/Base. Not sure if it'll work...

 

[BruceJohnJennerLawso]

I like the idea. How do you plan to do it?

---------- Post added at 11:25 PM ---------- Previous post was at 11:24 PM ----------

Indy: congratulations for the well done mission!

He just needs to add the base module meshes to a config file & add some UMMU breathable areas to do it. If it can be done before discovery arrives that would probably be better actually.

Good work Indy! :thumbup:

Im going to tentatively schedule the meeting for 9 am tommorow, how does that work for everyone? (Not sure which time zone Im in, gotta go check)