Mission Log 4: Mapping Land & Sky
Following further launches to bolster the VRN’s signal capacity, NoPE 1 finally was able to transmit its data to the lab, albeit with a very hefty loss in clarity. With the disheartening discovery that NoPE wasn’t able to find Santa’s Workshop with its mission, the directors of the Clover Beds have been more confused and divided than ever.
While some are considering that perhaps the workshop exists at the South Pole instead, many are beginning to doubt that the elusive workshop even exists at all, and that perhaps Santa’s stockpile is spread out across the globe. A growing number though (including flight director Gene Kerman himself), have been swayed by the possibility that the “workshop” is, in fact, a space-faring vessel vast enough to manufacture gifts, and maneuverable enough to land and deploy the Sleigh full of presents to be delivered. These assumptions are born of a supposed structure found beneath the ice caps at the North Pole which resembles a derelict ship.
In an effort to to both rekindle lost hope as well as ensure that NoPE is as thorough as possible in its search, we have launched a satellite with the explicit goal of using radio waves to map the surface of the world, and provide a detailed overview of our world. This space probe, lovingly called Phonix 1, has been stuffed to the brim with scientific instruments, all designed to analyze space particles, cosmic rays, and also making a detailed map of the homeworld.
After a quick and somewhat shaky launch aboard a Q8 rocket, Phonix 1 managed to enter a stable polar orbit, and over the course of a week, managed to completely map our planet. While the map hasn’t been able to identify any land features as matching descriptions of Santa’s Workshop, it has nevertheless pinpointed what appears to be an as-yet uncharted monument of ancient history - a strange structure in the deserts of Kegypt!
As the hunt for Santa continues, we of the Clover Beds have launched our first joint-funded mission. Blue Dog Bureau and Reaction Systems Ltd. have both come forth to participate in a complex mission to test the concept of “geosynchronous” orbits; the mission, dubbed Ping/Pang/Pong, was launched several days ago, and has begun to reveal impressive results.
Geosynchronous orbits are a strange phenomenon, yet bears immensely beneficial potential for future launches. Put simply, at a certain orbit, the satellite’s speed to remain in orbit is the same speed as the rotation of the planet, keeping the satellite in one spot relative to the planet below. This type of orbit would be immensely valuable for communications satellites, and could even theoretically be used for some form of global positioning system, utilizing fixed reference satellites to guide and orient anyone with the capability to utilize it!
Above: View from Pong, parent satellite, after its radometer dish has been deployed.
Bottom-Left: Reaction System Ltd’s satellite Pang, in angular orbit.
Bottom-Right: BDB’s satellite Ping, in Geosynchronous orbit.
To study its effects, two satellites (Ping and Pang) were deployed in geosynchronous orbits - one being in an orbit in line with the equator, and one with a tilted orbit. The parent satellite, equipped with a massive reciever dish, would recieve telemetry from the two probes as they orbited the planet, exploring how their orbits would deviate and change if at all.
Unfortunately, communications once more proved a problem; apparently, the transmitters aboard the Ping and Pang probes weren’t strong enough to recieve commands from the command center planetside. However, according to results sent by the Pong parent spacecraft, the results do hold true! BDB’s Ping spacecraft has indeed not wavered from its position in the night sky; Reaction System’s Pang probe, though the same distance roughly, does move up and down in its position in the night sky.
Thanks to these results, future launches to reinforce and enhance the VRN will be planned to use these geosynchronous orbits. This may end up leading to more elaborate launches soon...
