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Stargazer Point
Mar. 1st, 2024 06:32 pmAfter completing the Kapy Rock mission, it was immediately followed by another mission to the southern hemisphere, this time to a set of islands south of the Great Desert that look similar to New Zealand. New Kerbland or Kerb Zealand.
Even though the rover was crap, I’m going to launch the same rocket for this mission because I know now that even if the rover can’t make it to the destination, I can walk the rest of the way and collect the mission points even though I would miss out on the science from the RGSCM-01 “Science Jr. Jr.” attached to the rover.
Mission Designation : KB-2
Rocket Model : Kapybara KH-I
Total delta-V : 4,864 m/s
Surface TWR : 1.18
Total Mass : 119.81 t
Dry Mass : 22.5 t
Part Count : 88
Height : 17.42 m
Width : 5.50 t
Length : 5.50 t
Mission Objectives : Land at Stargazer Point
Crew : Bob Kerman
Rather than launching to the southwest directly towards the destination, I launch northeast so that I will approach the landing zone from the southwest. As I do just that, I burn all the fuel remaining in the core tank, targeting just beyond the landing zone. That does a pretty good job as I come down only 3.2 km from Stargazer Point, which I could see on the parachute down.
Stargazer Point is an analog for Devil’s Tower or Bears Lodge in Wyoming and, not coincidentally, featured in “Close Encounters of the Third Kind.” (1977).
The terrain from where I landed is much more difficult than the mostly flat desert I had to deal with at Kapy Rock, but there does seem to be a mostly traversable valley that heads right there. I flip the rover several times. At least twice I was unable to right the rover with the integral reaction wheels and had Bob get out to push the rover over. It then rolled away, down the valley, and up the other side. Then back down and back up the hill to run over Bob trying to stop it. Then back down and up the other side, until it ran out of momentum.
Yet, for all that comedy, I was actually able to drive to the foot of the formation.
The base is approximately 200 m across. It is a igneous intrusion, where magma rose up though the surrounding sedimentary rock. As the magma cooled, it formed the characteristic columnar structures. As the surrounding softer rock was eroded, the harder basalt remained.
How high is it? Is it climbable?
Yes. In fact it’s relatively easy. Humans will take 4 to 6 hours to climb Bears Lodge. Bill was able to free climb it in 28 minutes, which an impressive feat given that, to scale, a Kerbal is about half the size on a human but Stargazer Point is 186 m high, about 70% the size of Bears Lodge. It got trickier near the very top and the incline became almost vertical and there appeared to be even some overhang. It took a while, but Bill was able to find a line to the top.
Even though the rover was crap, I’m going to launch the same rocket for this mission because I know now that even if the rover can’t make it to the destination, I can walk the rest of the way and collect the mission points even though I would miss out on the science from the RGSCM-01 “Science Jr. Jr.” attached to the rover.
Mission Designation : KB-2
Rocket Model : Kapybara KH-I
Total delta-V : 4,864 m/s
Surface TWR : 1.18
Total Mass : 119.81 t
Dry Mass : 22.5 t
Part Count : 88
Height : 17.42 m
Width : 5.50 t
Length : 5.50 t
Mission Objectives : Land at Stargazer Point
Crew : Bob Kerman
Rather than launching to the southwest directly towards the destination, I launch northeast so that I will approach the landing zone from the southwest. As I do just that, I burn all the fuel remaining in the core tank, targeting just beyond the landing zone. That does a pretty good job as I come down only 3.2 km from Stargazer Point, which I could see on the parachute down.
Stargazer Point is an analog for Devil’s Tower or Bears Lodge in Wyoming and, not coincidentally, featured in “Close Encounters of the Third Kind.” (1977).
The terrain from where I landed is much more difficult than the mostly flat desert I had to deal with at Kapy Rock, but there does seem to be a mostly traversable valley that heads right there. I flip the rover several times. At least twice I was unable to right the rover with the integral reaction wheels and had Bob get out to push the rover over. It then rolled away, down the valley, and up the other side. Then back down and back up the hill to run over Bob trying to stop it. Then back down and up the other side, until it ran out of momentum.
Yet, for all that comedy, I was actually able to drive to the foot of the formation.
The base is approximately 200 m across. It is a igneous intrusion, where magma rose up though the surrounding sedimentary rock. As the magma cooled, it formed the characteristic columnar structures. As the surrounding softer rock was eroded, the harder basalt remained.
How high is it? Is it climbable?
Yes. In fact it’s relatively easy. Humans will take 4 to 6 hours to climb Bears Lodge. Bill was able to free climb it in 28 minutes, which an impressive feat given that, to scale, a Kerbal is about half the size on a human but Stargazer Point is 186 m high, about 70% the size of Bears Lodge. It got trickier near the very top and the incline became almost vertical and there appeared to be even some overhang. It took a while, but Bill was able to find a line to the top.
