Shildonia
28-09-2004, 14:05
At 0903 this morning, the Shildonian Space Agency launched it's first Heracles Semi-Reusable Extremely Heavy Lift Vehicle into orbit. The Heracles has been designed to perform several tasks, both military and civillian in nature, though it's primary goal is to launch the Hermes NTR components into orbit as part of Shildonian Manned Lunar Exploration Program.
The Heracles is an unmanned vehicle, capable of carrying up to 145 tons of cargo into orbit. As the name suggests, it is only partially reusable, with the actual Heracles orbiter being discarded in orbit. The External Fuel Tank is also abandoned, though provision has been made for the EFT to be taken into orbit and used as an orbiting storage facility, or even form the basis of a second SSS. However, the most expensive elements of the vehicle - the Heracles engine pod and the twin Solid Rocket Boosters are recovered for reuse. This will help to keep launch costs down to a minimum.
The development costs of the Heracles were shared between the Glaxo medical research company, and the Barrier metalurgical research company, though their contributions were relatively small in comparison to the expenditure made by the Shildonian government. In a joint press release issued earlier today, the two giants of industry announced their plans to construct an orbital research facility, which will be carried aboard a Heracles some time later this decade.
The payload carried on todays mission was a weather satellite, designed to provide data on the possible effects of the alleged global warming phenomona. This data will be used to guide future policy decisions on pollution.
Hopefully the Heracles will usher in a new era in the history of the Shildonian Space Agency, and of the history of Shildonia itself.
[OOC notes: The Heracles is essentially the Shuttle C (http://www.astronautix.com/lvs/shuttlec.htm), except with the ASRB (http://www.astronautix.com/lvs/shueasrm.htm) and [http://www.astronautix.com/engines/ssmeplus.htm]SSME+[/url] upgrades, which explains the increase in payload capacity.
The EFT is essentially the same as the shuttle's ET, but it's been tweaked to make it easier to convert to a space station.]
[Secret IC note: It's not a weather satellite, it's an anti-satellite weapons station, containing 50 ASAT Weapons. The only way to figure this out would be to go up there and have a poke around for yourself, and even if you do you'll just find a cache of Payload Assist Modules, which you'll need to dissasemble to find out they are actually weapons. This would be pretty dangerous, and virtually impossible to do with any degree of secrecy.
Bear in mind GPS only uses about 20 satellites, and I intend to launch at least 18 of these things (into different orbital inclinations, naturally) over the course of the next three years or so.]
The Heracles is an unmanned vehicle, capable of carrying up to 145 tons of cargo into orbit. As the name suggests, it is only partially reusable, with the actual Heracles orbiter being discarded in orbit. The External Fuel Tank is also abandoned, though provision has been made for the EFT to be taken into orbit and used as an orbiting storage facility, or even form the basis of a second SSS. However, the most expensive elements of the vehicle - the Heracles engine pod and the twin Solid Rocket Boosters are recovered for reuse. This will help to keep launch costs down to a minimum.
The development costs of the Heracles were shared between the Glaxo medical research company, and the Barrier metalurgical research company, though their contributions were relatively small in comparison to the expenditure made by the Shildonian government. In a joint press release issued earlier today, the two giants of industry announced their plans to construct an orbital research facility, which will be carried aboard a Heracles some time later this decade.
The payload carried on todays mission was a weather satellite, designed to provide data on the possible effects of the alleged global warming phenomona. This data will be used to guide future policy decisions on pollution.
Hopefully the Heracles will usher in a new era in the history of the Shildonian Space Agency, and of the history of Shildonia itself.
[OOC notes: The Heracles is essentially the Shuttle C (http://www.astronautix.com/lvs/shuttlec.htm), except with the ASRB (http://www.astronautix.com/lvs/shueasrm.htm) and [http://www.astronautix.com/engines/ssmeplus.htm]SSME+[/url] upgrades, which explains the increase in payload capacity.
The EFT is essentially the same as the shuttle's ET, but it's been tweaked to make it easier to convert to a space station.]
[Secret IC note: It's not a weather satellite, it's an anti-satellite weapons station, containing 50 ASAT Weapons. The only way to figure this out would be to go up there and have a poke around for yourself, and even if you do you'll just find a cache of Payload Assist Modules, which you'll need to dissasemble to find out they are actually weapons. This would be pretty dangerous, and virtually impossible to do with any degree of secrecy.
Bear in mind GPS only uses about 20 satellites, and I intend to launch at least 18 of these things (into different orbital inclinations, naturally) over the course of the next three years or so.]