The staff at the Kerbal Space Centre started the second year of their operations with some what of a bleak beginning. The two StarComm satellites, which were the first long-term communication satellites put into orbit, were purposely returned to Kerbin's atmosphere.
After the CommSat geostationary network project was completed, the two StarComm satellites were rendered obsolete. Although arguments were made to use the satellites as back-ups for CommSat, the decision was to test de-orbiting for scientific purposes.
An illustration of one of the StarComm's being lifted into orbit on it's second-stage booster
StarComm I burned up in the atmosphere after more than 270 days of operation. Starcomm II, which was de-orbited several hours later, had complete more than 197 days.
'It was a sad day to see these pioneers of space sent to a fiery death,' said one of the Kerbin Orbital Communications project leaders. 'But they were now obsolete. To use them as spares for the CommSat's meant getting them into the same orbit. Although achievable, they would have used almost all of their fuel to do so and it was deemed pointless. But the teams used to operate the craft will benefit the project more by concentrating on the next phase.'
When asked what those other things might be, the reply, with a smile, was simply:
'Well, the Mun, of course.'
"For scientific purposes": Kerbal shorthand for "We want to see what happens when they explode." :p
ReplyDeleteOr... 'we just want to see explosions' :D
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