The Kerbin Times

From Kerbin For Kerbalkind - All the News That’s Fit to Print!

Issue #4, KST Y1

年

D 6

号

ScanSat-One, Do Y ou Read Me?

Space Tourism Kicks Off

KSC

- Co mm erciali satio n of space travel is rapidly approaching. M ed ia re p o rt th at o n ly re ce n tl y millionaire Tito Kerman approached the space agency, offering to pay a tidy sum of kredits to experience space himself. Th ou gh th is is no t on ly fo r fu n fo r hi ms elf - hi s fl ig ht wil l actu all y be mar ket ed by hi s newl y inco rp or ated company “Kerbal Space Tourism”. As KSA ha s alr ead y sig nal led thei r interest, a successful fligh t might very soon bring in a steady influx of “space to ur ist s” ma ki ng bo ok in gs at th is co m p an y . Wh et h er t h e p r im e

KSA confirms contact lost with probe

KSC

- The space agency today confirmed a setback for its geo-mapping initiative. The unmann ed probe

ScanSat-One

was launched yesterday from the space center. It carri ed a new RADAR altim eter scann er, which was in tend ed to map Kerb in’ s geographical features - admittedly in a fairly low resolution, but unprecedented nevertheless. Mi ssi on con tr ol co nf ir me d th e pr ob e had reac hed it s intended parking orbit of 90km, however, after coming back up over KSC and out of th e nig ht sid e of the plan et, the probe failed to register with KSC commun ication and control. Visual inspec tions from the grou nd confirm ed that antenna and solar panels had deployed as envisioned, however, no sig nal s are bei ng received from th e pr ob e, no r do es it answer communication attempts from the ground. Altho ug h an off icial statement and root ca use e xp lanatio n from KSA is still pending, an unnamed engineer from the geo-mapping initiative was quoted saying “

The thing ran out

of po wer . Ba tteri es sho t. Th e th in g is a dea d fish in the water. [...] And the cheap panels are pointing away from the sun, ‘cause no one thoug ht abo ut prog ramming an attitude hold with respect to the sun. It’s dead, Jim [...]

”

Left: ScanSat One atop its launch vehicle (concept design)

Expensive Upgrades

KSC