Today, the team at KSC made history when they launched the first artificial satellite into orbit around Kerbin. This started the dawn of a new era. Named 'Frontier', the probe was lifted by a brand new two-stage rocket design named 'Houndstone', which was developed from the X-Series rockets. The second-stage booster of the new launch-vehicle is also expected to stay in orbit with the satellite. It had been mentioned that the new rocket turned out to be over-powered when instruments showed that the booster still had over 50% of it's fuel remaining at the time of engine shut-down.
The new Houndstone launcher with it's tri-booster first-stage leaving the launchpad with Frontier
Frontier is a small satellite that was designed only for proving that a sustained orbit around Kerbin can be achieved. At it's peak, the probe has an altitude of 208.7km, and dips down to 74.3km at the lowest point. Confirmation that it is operating in space comes form a continuous series of 'beeps' that it transmits.
Gene Kerman said:
'What an achievement. It feels good. Of course, shortly after it reached orbit we lost contact with the probe as it disappeared over the horizon. We had guys here turning blue waiting for signal re-acquisition, which would indicate the probe had made it into orbit. Sure enough, it appeared again on the other horizon thirty-eight minutes later.'
An artists impression of Frontier in orbit
There was a cheer at mission control as the probes beeps were detected again, proving that Frontier was in a stable orbit around Kerbin. Being battery powered, however, Frontier eventually ran out of power nearly three-and-a-half hours after launch. In that time, it completed four orbits.
Frontier and it's second-stage booster are expected to remain in orbit permanently.
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