Phantom/Spectre moonbase construction

[PhantomCruiser]

The third mission to the moon from the business coalition of Phantom Manufacturing and Spectre Mining Corp lifted into the sky this morning from WideAwake International.



The unmanned cargo ship Molly Malone will bring the Copernicus base some much needed "elbow room" in the form of three modules that will effectively quadruple the size of the current base. "We've been waiting for this for a while now" said Gustave Schlouch, the senior member of the 4 party contingient. "These will not only increase our personnal space available here on station, but will bring us added lab space, additional parts and supplies, but also some specialized equipment that will allow us to set up for more proper landing sites."

While there is no heavy equipment on board the Molly Malone, the crew will need to undertake more than one potentially dangerous walks on the surface to prepare the landing site and install lighting and landing beacons. When asked about the danger involved, Schlouch replied "We understand the inherent risks and we take every precaution prior to leaving the habitat. Nobody goofs around when we've got people on the surface, neither here or back Earthside, we are strictly business".

The Molly Malone should arrive in lunar orbit in just over three days. After offloading the new modules, she will directed to rendevous with the cargo ship Sally Oakley already in a lunar orbit from the previous supply mission. Phantom Mfg stated that they intend to have the two ships in a loose formation for eventual missions that will "mate" them to provide the basis of a lunar "space station". No word yet on exactly when these missions would take place, but sources inside the company hint that the project is nearly ready for implementation. The plan is for the "station" to eventually be a fueling platform for inbound/outbound vessels like the DeltaGlider or XR-series spacecraft.

 

[IronRain]

Nice! do you also have screen shots of your base? I really would to see the base

 

[CadetStimpy]

Very nice writing, Good story line.

 

[mc_]

Nice launch vehicle

 

[PhantomCruiser]

Gotta love that Ariane6! She'll nearly lift anything. The Molly isn't due to arrive until Friday, so the base doesn't look any different, new pictures to come soon. Until then this is about all there is to see...



Glad you guys like the story so far.

 

[PhantomCruiser]

The cargo ship Molly Malone arrived in lunar space today. Ground controllers at Phantom Mfg will conduct a few routine test of the vehicle prior to cargo offload, hopefully late Saturday or Sunday evening.

 

[IronRain]

is that moon landscape done with Orulex?

 

[PhantomCruiser]

Yes, it's Oreulex. I've got to turn it off when I'm ready to start the landings though. Between the computer doing the math for Orulex and LOLA doing the math for the landings the frame rate goes to crap.

 

[PhantomCruiser]

Gustave Schlouch the senior member of Phantom Mfg's Copernicus base, reported back today on the current status of the upstart lunar outpost.

"Well, first off we're going to have to move the landing beacons further out. We didn't think the proximity would be a problem, but we want to move the landing site beacons further away from the habitat just to improve our safety margins. It was pretty impressive to watch the modules auto-land from the hab."

While still six days away from sunrise, and after some extensive safety briefings and walkthroughs, the crew chose to proceed with the base expansion, by the light of a nearly full Earth. Mike Tyler, drove the rover for the first phase of construction taking directions from Schlough who provided spotting advice from the ground.



"It was nerve wracking for sure", Tyler commented. "There's millions of ways to screw this up. Driving around on the lunar surface with something the size of a school bus taking up the viewport is tricky". While Tyler's view was obstructed with a "school bus" Schlough's external advice helped the first phase of construction go by without a hitch. Shortly afterward a post-job analysis revealed some lessons learned, and after lunch construction continued.

The mission finished up, slightly behind schedule with no major events to report. "Now that we can spread out, it's kind of lonely up here, we get along great and Doc makes us work out everyday. But I think we are really excited to see some new faces in our future. Copernicus base is open for business!"

That business will progress when the next Ariane6 leaves AIA. Until then a leased XR-5 flight will provide more batteries, some "heavy" equipment and supplies and another member for the team.

 

[CadetStimpy]

Glad to hear that things are doing well at Copernicus!

 

[garyw]

Good use of Camera MFD! What vehicle was that used in?

 

[PhantomCruiser]

That's the rover/vehicle that comes with the HLV package (from momo and jekka). Future mission will augment it with something from UCGO.
All in all I like the "stock" rover pretty well, but the RMS is a little clunky to use after using Kultch's URMS for so long.
The CameraMFD along with SensorMFD made this easier to do in the dark. It was tough enough as it was, but it was either that, or wait until next weekend to attach the base modules.