This is another space program set in the Whirligig World mod for Kerbal Space Program, set on the planet Mesbin.

Children of Destiny, Part 2b: Ups and Downs, Mesbin

Another rocket soars over Mesbin's terrain, terraced near the space centre. This one consists of a just-separated thin cylinder first stage, a spherical solid rocket booster for the second stage, a short cylindrical liquid rocket pack for the payload, and the payload itself- a little hexagonal probe with three girders (with solar panels on them) for landing legs, and fuel plus engines on the opposing three faces.
The Mesbinites don't have an answer to Satellite Four and its return to the surface- but maybe they don't need one, not just yet.
The probe- here its name, Reunion 1, can be seen- soars high over Mesbin, three batteries and an antenna platform prominent in its middle and the rocket pack revealed to have a small set of thrusters for aiming and fuel tanks for the thrusters to feed from. Mesbin's terrain, here several rille-canyons in the dark basalt ocean and the bulk of a lighter continent to the north, fills most of the shot.
Reunion 1 is a lander, though....
Reunion 1 over Statmun. Statmun is roughly potato-shaped, a cratered metal mountain in shades of red, orange, mauve, and yellow. It has craters, plains, little hills of its own. The spacecraft's seismometer is visible, wedged on a tiny triangular platform that also braces the probe against the rest of the rocket pushing it. In the background are moonlike Graymun and blue cloudy Kerbmun.
It's just designed for the nearest of Mesbin's moons, little Statmun.
The probe descending towards some of the more beige parts of Statmun, a tall hill in the background. The rocket pack has been shed, revealing the circular bottom of the probe's triangular science platform beneath the probe core itself.
Statmun, as an asteroid, is small enough that a spacecraft like Reunion 1 can be expected to make several 'hops' across its surface before running out of fuel.
Reunion 1 resting on the hill, its flag visible obliquely and Kerbmun off to the side in the background. Mesbin is so large it's less a background and more just most of the sky.
First is a small northern hill, though not that far north.
The spacecraft flying again, mauve and beige hills of metal in the background. Mesbin takes up most of the top half of the image, a midocean ridge and continent plainly visible.
After a few orbits of battery charging to recover from the costly transmission of scientific data, it's up again...
Resting again on a ruddy hill, Graymun peeking out from behind the terrain.
...and off to another hill.
Soaring over plains that remind me of marinara sauce, if marinara sauce had craters.
There's been an enduring mystery about Statmun, though- it's so small, and so close to Mesbin, that really... it should have been flung apart long ago.
The probe flying backwards over more red-orange terrain.
While the cause of this is fairly well-understood, at least since the start of the space age (Statmun is a single monolithic mass of metal)....
Sliding just above orange terrain, the ship's shadow barely a ship-length below and Graymun about half-illuminated in the sky.
As Reunion I slides across Statmun's surface, pushed onto an escape trajectory just by the speed of the surface itself, it's nice to have experimental confirmation.
Resting, with the camera at an oblique angle, on darker orange ground. Mesbin's oval bulk takes up a quarter of the screen, and would take up more if it wasn't cut off by the side of the image. Graymun's in a similar position and shape to last picture.
Reunion I finds a place for its final fuel-deprived rest in Statmun's northern latitudes.
A rocket just like the previous one, lifting off from the launchpad. Its disproportionateness is on display, as are the four struts that hold the two stages together.
Reunion II is much like its sister, but unlike Reunion I it'll explore the southern half of Statmun.
Reunion II braking with the rocket pack as it approaches Statmun. Graymun is setting behind Mesbin, and Kerbmun's not far behind- and Statmun's shadow can be seen on Mesbin, about as large as the smaller craters on Mesbin's surface.
Reunion II over the mass of Statmun. Ridgelines can be seen on the mostly mauve surface, and there are many craters of varying sizes. Most prominent is a huge slightly southern crater taking up almost a fourth of the total width of the moon, with a bright yellow patch on its northwestern side.
Doing a little surveying to find the lowest parts of Statmun, for the best chance at staying fixed at the equator.
Another picture of the spacecraft over Statmun- this time it's over a deep red equatorial patch, and a knoblike edge of Statmun is visible to the left.
This deep, flat area seems to be the closest to the center.
Reunion II pointed downwards, firing its little rocket pack to close in.
The spacecraft heads down...
Maneuvering in the bowl of a large russet-floored crater, towards two smaller connected craters deep on the edge of the rim.
Finding a particularly deep set of craters.
Scraping the bottom of the sub-craters...
Reunion II finds that even the closest part of Statmun's equator to the center of the moon move too fast to stay put on.
Statmun stretches out below the spacecraft, an odd rumpled mountain in mauves and browns.
After a night of floating up, it takes effort to get back to the initial position!
A deep crater on Statmun, floored in red and walled in mauve. Reunion II moves to head down into it...
A particularly promising crater is found to the south....
Reunion II braced, slightly off-vertical, on the crater floor.
Twenty-five degrees south, a deep crater has a section of floor that's angled just enough to keep the spacecraft from sliding up off the wall into space.
The crater is left behind, and its orange-red-mauve surroundings are visible all around.
A fascinating spot found, Reunion II continues back towards the south pole.
Crossing over a deep russet region.
...And a pinker section of the same region.
Reunion II sitting in near-darkness in the same region, the bulk of Mesbin visible as well as crescent Graymun and half-full Kerbmun.
It stops a few times along the way, of course.
Headed further south, to a patch of mountainous terrain...
The pole is in sight!
Wedged in a cleft just metres from the south pole.
...And Reunion II finds itself stuck in the rugged terrain.
A larger rocket- an octagonal probe at top, a bundled four-solid solid rocket stage, two cylindrical solid rocket stages for achieving orbit, and eight smaller boosters around the bottom stage- lifts off, with moonlike Graymun and the star Gememma visible in the sky.
Outreach VI isn't a lander- but it'll have a long journey of its own.
The longer bottom solid rocket booster burns, its eight side boosters detached. Mesbin is like a wall on the left of the image, while one of Graymun's larger basalt-floored 'seas' is visible covering much of its disk.
It takes a lot of effort to launch something with its own kicker stage to orbit!
The four solid rocket boosters of the upper stage firing, shedding light on their RCS thrusters and the spacecraft's solar panels.
After a loop or two around Mesbin, the bundled upper stage boosters fire to place the spacecraft on a path outwards.
An oblique view of the knob-shaped part of Statmun, in rusty near-mauves, with one large crater visible as the spacecraft speeds by.
Incidentally, it passes by Statmun at high speed.
A side view of Outreach VI and its still-attached upper stage, four little antennae and the cylindrical science equipment visible. Graymun is in full-disk splendor, with three major seas visible on its left side and the last stretches of its inner-hemisphere 'ocean' visible on the right.
Soon enough, though, its true target- Graymun- looms ever-closer.
Graymun up close, with Outreach VI relatively small. Its surface is shades of grey from light highland to dark basalt sea, with two prominent basins visible just below the spacecraft. A third sea is in a visible depression towards the north pole.
While it can't communicate with Mesbin, with the planet blocked by Graymun's bulk as it is, Derbinite antennae can just about see it as it passes further from Mesbin than even the abortive Kerbmun Shuttle Plan ships.
The stunning contrast of Mesbin, basalt seas and light continents at once similar to Graymun and vastly different. Many islands and small light craters are visible, especially towards the football or lentil-like rim. Barely visible, a hair's-breadth thread, are the rings cutting across Mesbin. Thresomin is visible as a small greyish blob near the center of the image.
Once safely out from behind Graymun, Outreach VI can transmit the first truly high-fidelity views of Graymun's outer hemisphere- Derbinite observatories, while large, find it hard to peer through Derbin's many cloud layers; and neither of the crews of the U.S.C. Magnificent Desolation or the F.S. Deepsky Meandering were particularly interested in astronomy- especially not as their journeys drew to a close.
Thresomin as a little reddish-grey ball, features barely visible. To the right is Mesbin, still huge but not taking up everything- oceanic ridges are visible, as are rugged continents and islands. In the north a vast shadow plays across the surface, Kerbmun eclipsing Kaywell.
It passes by Thresomin at a fair distance, enough to learn a little more about it each time but nowhere near as well as Graymun. It's also in a good position to catch eclipse shadows!
A close view of Graymun, one where it fills the view. A sea is visible to the right, filling the bottom of a large basin; in the center is a squarish region of relatively uncratered terrain. Around are many craters of varying sizes, and in the middle is the spacecraft and its upper stage sliding towards the unlit left side.
The peculiar geometry of the flybys means that Outreach VI passes over similar parts of Graymun each time- but naturally these parts are all largely unknown to Mesbin below, so it's always useful new information.
The spacecraft, having cast off its upper stage, in deep space. On the far left is a crescent Graymun, while Mesbin's slightly-green rings cut like a needle across the right side of the view- bisecting a thin crescent Kerbmun. Derbin, its distance making it the smallest of the three, is above the rings.
Many small maneuvers are made to guide the spacecraft properly towards repeated approaches to Graymun.
The spacecraft fully lit, its solar panels and antennae shining as well as the bulkhead that connected it to the upper stage. On the far left is a full-face Derbin, the speck of Dermun barely visible; to the right is most of Mesbin in its particular lentil-like glory with a long midocean rift bisecting the planet. Continents, islands, craters of many sizes, and a single volcano are visible. Thresomin overlaps the ocean of Mesbin, one large dark crater and features like reddish midlands and lighter ridges visible on its own surface.
Outreach VI closes in for its one close flyby of Thresomin.
Thresomin rushing by, a ruddy band below the spacecraft and reddish highlands bordering it. Near the top is a knoblike mountain.
While it speeds by so fast that it's hard to ascertain information, a peculiar reading catches the eye of the public- Thresomin may be outgassing, very slightly. When presented with a puzzle like that, who wouldn't want to know the answer?"
A zoomed-in view of Graymun- taking up much of the shot, with its circular seas about the visual size of Kerbmun and Derbin. Kerbmun and Derbin are together to the side, looking for all the world like a pair of cloudy worlds on their own. Derbin is smaller still, about the size of one of Kerbmun's continents- and off to the side is a little greenish dot that must be Dermun.
Then it's back to Graymun flybys, of course. Many enticing views are to be had- for example, this odd off-kilter view of Mesbin's larger moons.
The spacecraft's thrusters fire while Mesbin is occluded from view by a crescent Graymun.
"This is a temporary setback," says Outreach program direction Marleb Podman. "While we're unsure of the reason for the loss of Outreach VI, taking place during a flyby as it did, we already have plans of making up for its loss. Really, it was already in the later parts of its mission- we expected only a few flybys...." He continues on about the aim of the mission, but the soundbite is gathered.
A tall, multi-stage rocket of a similar type to the previous one- this one with the eight-side-booster assembly around a long solid rocket booster, topped by a bundle of four boosters; with a spherical booster on top and finally a hexagonal lander probe on top of that- taking off from the pad, washing it in yellow light.
Reunion 3 is aimed towards Mesbin's second asteroidal moon- Thresomin. The data from Outreach VI needs a lander to help nail down its source, after all.
The bundled boosters firing over Mesbin's surface. Hills are visible in the background, and notably prominent are lava tube rilles still glowing red.
The ascent from Mesbin is becoming almost routine now.
As slightly red Thresomin zooms closer, the booster bundle is discarded and the spherical booster fires to place the probe into Thresomin orbit.
The slowdown at Thresomin, however, is something near-entirely new.
The spacecraft, tiny, with Thresomin and Mesbin off to the sides at nearly the same size. The tiny details of Thresomin's terrain are visible among ruddy ground, while Mesbin's huge crater and its ejecta are prominent.
The speeds involved are immense- but the rocket booster holds out.
Shedding the spherical booster so that the lander engines can be used to enter final orbit and land, with a half-full Kerbmun and Mesbin's rift-bisected continent visible on the right.
It's discarded, and the spacecraft enters its own Thresomin orbit.
The tiny Reunion 3 in Thresomin orbit as night falls, with Graymun prominent and nearly fully-lit.
A few orbits are spent using the spacecraft's little camera to find landing sites- no evidence of outgassing in the photos, though.
The little hexagonal spacecraft over a reddish part of Thresomin. The terrain is rugged- the asteroid is covered in lighter mountains and darker lowlands.
It doesn't take long to descend.
On the surface in a particularly brown area, surrounded by ups and downs in the terrain.
This first landing spot already shows evidence of outgassing- possibly volatile materials boiling off in the sun.
A glance up at a zoomed-in view of a party in the sky- Mesbin's limb at top, with continents and ocean visible; Derbin and Kerbmun next to each other below, and Graymun a ways further below.
Reunion 3 stays on the surface for a long while before hopping again.
Planted again on Thresomin's surface, the early morning light illuminating a ruddy mountain. Mesbin itself is like a mountain in the sky, even with under a third of its island-covered bulk illuminated.
Up to the north, then...
In flight over a gray region of Thresomin. Graymun is visible at near-full on the left, and Mesbin is almost entirely unilluminated- only its red volcanoes can be seen.
Remarkably, every landing site has shown signs of volative outgassing. It may be that Thresomin is very icy, just beneath its surface!
Early morning on the ground, most of Thresomin's surface unlit. The light-cyan spike of Mesbin's rings cuts across at an angle, fading as it approaches a crescent Kerbmun. To the left are Graymun and Derbin, each close to half-full.
There are fantastic sights to be had all across Thresomin- what a marvelous little moon.
Reunion 3 above a deep crevasse, its far side lit by the sun and half of Mesbin visible over the lip.
Unfortunately for Reunion 3, it falls in a crevasse near the north pole....
A similar rocket to that of Reunion 3, viewed horizontally. Its eight boosters are falling away in a star shape as Mesbin's gray terrain rushes past below, and a crescent Kerbmun can be seen on the horizon.
Reunion 4 is very similar to its sister probe, but carries a modified form of cave study tool- much like the identification of high-pressure water-filled caves or of Mesbin's subsurface hydrogen ecosystems, it should be capable of figuring out Thresomin's internals without needing to drill into them.
The spacecraft discarding its spherical rocket booster, its red nozzle still glowing, as Thresomin begins to dwindle. Derbin's visible as a small half-full disc.
The spacecraft begins braking just a little late- but with the speeds involved, and the low gravity of Thresomin, a slight miss like this is corrected within half an orbit.
Braking above Thresomin. The terrain goes from lighter rugged highlands to darker and redder lowlands very prominently.
Reunion 4, undettered, descends.
Floating just above the surface, the spacecraft's shadow prominent.
Even just off the surface, the spacecraft's instruments are enough to determine- Thresomin is full of volatile materials, quite possibly of sorts that can be relatively easily refined into rocket fuel.
An askance view of Reunion 4 on the surface, its nameplate visible and its large surface scanner box facing away from the camera. Mesbin juts up from Thresomin's ground like an odd gray mountain, a midocean ridge crossing the terminator.
Before the mission even begins its second hop, Mesbinite writers are envisioning networks of refuelling stations across Mesbin system- and Derbinite planners are gearing up to examine Derbin's own moons.

Previously...

The Derbin side of things...

Continued (Don't click yet!)

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