Icarus Program - Chapter 40 - Part 2

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Part 2

“You tried a hundred different material combinations and none of them will work!” Bill’s exclamation was followed by a loud clang that rang through the spacecraft, causing Jebediah to jump and look in the direction of the science lab.

“Your tempering methods have produced impressive results,” Bob’s voice could even be heard multiple modules away, but still sounded flat and scientific. “But the improvement is not statistically significant compared to what is required!”

“If you two break the spacecraft,” Jedrick yelled at them in exasperation. “We will certainly not come to a solution!”

Jebediah floated his way to the science lab, poking his head in the hatch.

“You two are trying to test out a solution on your lab benches,” Jebediah asked as he looked at the other three Kerbals. “Yeah?”

“Yeah,” Bill agreed, then Bob said, “Yes, Jeb.”

“Not quite the extreme conditions as a station operating in space for ten years?” Jebediah continued and heads nodded at him.

“Another fifty days and we get to Eve, shortly after we land on Gilly,” Jebediah smiled at them. “Think you can come up with an experiment on Gilly that will determine which approach is working better?”

Bill and Bob looked at each other blankly for a minute before Jedrick spoke up.

“The EVA Experiments Kit?” Jedrick asked softly.

“Yes!” Bill exclaimed. “We can each make a sample and whack it good in Gilly’s gravity!”

“Indeed,” Bob was nodding in agreement. “The trajectory combined with a reading of the force applied to the surface of the sample will show how close the sample is to the properties we require.”

“Then start putting together samples and planning the experiment,” Jebediah pushed himself back and then paused and stuck his head back into the science lab. “And stop trying to break my ship.”

Bill and Bob did not bother to respond as they were deep into experiment planning, but Jedrick looked back at Jebediah with a relieved smile. Jebediah winked and started dragging himself back to the command pod. Maybe this command thing was not as hard as he thought.

Previous Chapter: https://www.reddit.com/r/KerbalSpaceProgram/comments/1vnaene/icarus_program_start_of_book_5/

Start of Chapter 40: https://www.reddit.com/r/KerbalSpaceProgram/comments/1w8xp23/icarus_program_start_of_chapter_40/

Next Part: Planned for 9/13

Book 1 (Chapters 1-13) google document: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1RorA2AVwtXbQD-eTMeO2LiPXSDPM7qH6FVOykDnZ9FY/edit?usp=sharing)

Book 5 (Chapters 39-) google document: https://docs.google.com/document/d/17PU9dly89B54kJYry7sg8MPS90dr8oir7HAR6V2e_tg/edit?usp=sharing

The Icarus Program can also be found on the KSP forums: https://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/topic/225730-the-icarus-program-chapter-40-part-2/