Kerbal Space Program Mission #3, part 2

Experimental Test Launch 3: What is Moon? Where is Moon?

Day 6

Active project: Experimental Rocket Project

Active mission: Experimental Test Launch #3

Next mission: Experimental Test Launch #4

Selected vehicle: ?
Assigned crew: ?

Our current mission remains in progress from yesterday, waiting for astronaut David Kerman to reach the highest point in this elliptical orbit.

Pilot's log, hour 6: tired of playing only album on loop, resorted to singing advertising jingles.

The planet Kerbin is just a moon-sized orb at this altitude. As wit hthe previous mission, a short retro-burn slows the rocket enough to fall directly back to the surface.

This still leaves David Kerman another whole day before his rocket returns to the boundary of Kerbin's atmosphere.

Then again, Kerbin's local day is just 6 hours long so it's not exactly that long of a round trip. It does at least provide a good interlude to plan our next mission: flyby of Kerbin's primary moon.

So, what do we currently know about Kerbin's moon?

Get used to this blog including odd demonyms like 'Munar'. Also, odd words like 'demonym'.

Given the simple name of Mun (or Mün according to some people) which is pronounced like it's simply called 'moon', this prominent natural satellite is a close analogue to Earth's own moon (named 'Luna' according to nerd people). It appears to be a grey rock with no air and a gravity of 1/6th that of Kerbin's.

Its orbit is roughly eleven-thousand kilometers, as the flight of Experimental Test Launch 4 has demonstrated. I believe it takes about 36 hours for the Mun to orbit Kerbin, thus intercepting it on a 6-hour flight will mean flying ahead of its orbital path by 1/6th of the total circumference.

Because science. Or maybe math, but there's definitely some science mixed in.

Anyway, once in close range of the Mun it will become a question of whether the Mun's sphere of gravitational influence will pull the rocket around in a figure-8 orbit and back towards Kerbin safely or merely slingshot it into deep space on an unrecoverable escape trajectory.

Since the Thunder Road 3 already has proven itself capable of reaching this distance, I will be using that design again. It will unfortunately mean having a mission number that does not match the rocket model number, but that's a sacrifice I'm willing to make.

Please ignore the Lightning prototype entry; it's missing crucial new technology.

Speaking of willing sacrifices, do we have a volunteer for this next mission?