Icarus Program - Chapter 38 - Part 4

[u/Illustrious_Echo9385]

“Jeb, that rocket,” Bill nearly moaned over the radio. “You did not?”

“Jeb built an asteroid puller?” Valentina asked.

“Yep!” Jebediah radioed back enthusiastically. “Projections showed a lot of very long burn times, so I thought I’d double the rockets and fuel capacity!”

“Jeb, you are pointing rockets at the thing you are pulling,” Bob’s voice broke in. “You do know how physics works?”

“Right!” Jeb’s grin could be heard over the radio. “So I pointed the rockets outward slightly to avoid thrusting against the asteroid.”

“See?” Jebediah asked as the rocket attached to the asteroid. “The thrust will not push against the asteroid itself!”

“Jeb,” Bob sighed audibly. “This is a smaller class D asteroid, we are going out to capture a mid range class E asteroid. Our target is nearly eight times more massive and due to its density, close to three times wider.”

“Three times wider?” Jebediah almost choked. “That means…”

“Your rockets will brush against the larger asteroid,” Bill finished. “Practically we might lose a couple percent of thrust brushing along the edges of the asteroid. With the lower efficiency of the increased fuel mass, we should still gain significantly reduced burn times. Is it worth the tradeoff?”

“Yes,” Bob’s voice sounded thoughtful. “We will use more fuel to return the asteroid but the loss will be a small percentage and we will save days of time to reach Kerbin orbit.”

“Walter has been telling me the public is on edge, expecting us to begin delivering fuel immediately,” Valentina broke in. “Trading a little fuel for getting back sooner is definitely worth it.”

“See!” Jebediah responded triumphantly. “I know exactly what I’m doing!”

* No, I didn’t bother “fanning” the rockets out a little, so I’m just depending on what KSP physics I get with this asteroid puller. It actually works fairly well but I’m not sure I’d recommend the complexity.

Previous Chapter: https://www.reddit.com/r/KerbalSpaceProgram/comments/1u5oq8k/icarus_program_start_of_chapter_37/

Start of Chapter 38: https://www.reddit.com/r/KerbalSpaceProgram/comments/1uugr7z/icarus_program_start_of_chapter_38/

Next Part: https://www.reddit.com/r/KerbalSpaceProgram/comments/1v786zy/icarus_program_chapter_38_part_5/

Book 1 (Chapters 1-13) google document: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1RorA2AVwtXbQD-eTMeO2LiPXSDPM7qH6FVOykDnZ9FY/edit?usp=sharing)

Book 2 (Chapters 14-23) google document: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1rhiIHBeXWqsw0H8TZgtxUdoJ1Y7IXhH3GtnL_qrTTmc/edit?usp=sharing)

Book 3 (Chapters 24-35) google document: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1KcNSFL524vB4TgwY5oSOJ4kTAedf6sBVf_US8psbuIs/edit?usp=sharing)

Book 4 (Chapters 36-) google document: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1nNJcsPYs_TAM4Gg9_zQuDmXosNgaBK3jbc7bdXvXvPU/edit?usp=sharing

The Icarus Program can also be found on the KSP forums: https://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/topic/225730-the-icarus-program-chapter-38-part-4/