With all focus on manned flight, one would forget that there are other missions as well. Project Demeter was initiated by the Woomerang Science commission, with a renewed interest in the surface composition, or rather what was beneath it.
And so we saw the launch of S101A Geo 01 on an Arrow IIB. “We don’t see those very often anymore at KSC.” said Bob who was overseeing the launch and representing KSC. The satellite was put in a 160×140 km near-polar orbit and proceded mapping. “All systems green, this is indeed the data we are looking for.”
With this confirmation, it was time to launch Geo 02. The extra boosters that were supposed to take Geo 02 to the Mun, however, nudged the tower and the rocket came crashing down next to the launch pad.
After fixing the problems Geo 3 and 4 sent off into polar orbits and waited for a transfer window to Kerbin’s moons.
The rest of the journey was uneventful. They entered orbit with tight fuel reserves, all debris did fall back to Kerbin and they started mapping the moons. “In a few months, we will know the best locations to find ore, which will be very useful when refueling rockets,” Bob explained the results to the science commission.
But why land at all? S100A IRAS 01 was launched on a mission to map asteroids. KSC found it plausible that these could be captured and probably also yield some resources. The first step, however, would be to figure out where they were and what the trajectory was. IRAS, or Infrared Radio Astronomy Satelite was designed to discover orbits of asteroids to allow for a near Kerbin asteroid research mission. IRAS used the Mun to kick itself out of Kerbin’s SOI, it would be the first craft to reach the Mun in 2 hours before sailing off in the darkness of interplanetary space.
The one key element that came from these missions was a comprehensive biome and resource map that revealed high concentrations of ore near the mun arch, but also a polar location that had an unusual neutrino signature. Both sites were under investigation for a potential landing.
KSC Archives 