The Fall of the Solar Outposts

Solar Outpost 1 (SU1)

Solar Outpost 2 (SU2) with docked ATV shuttle

Solar Outpost 1 & 2 were two ill-fated stations located near the Sun.   They were designed to operate as a pair.

Solar Outpost 1 (SU1) was located very close to the sun to study the solar radiation.  Due to the close proximity to the sun, it would be difficult to cool a  large self supporting station.  Instead a smaller station was designed that required regular replenishment of 02 and C02 scrubbers.  A sister station, Solar Outpost 2,  was constructed to resupply SU1.  Solar Outpost 2 (SU2) was located further from the sun where cooling was not a problem.

The transfer of supplies between SU1 and SU2 was originally intended to be done through a precise alignment of the two stations.  The ATV transfer vehicle would use the momentum from undocking from one station to carry it across the 100 unit distance to the other station.  Because the two stations were precisely aligned, no fuel would be required to re-orient the ATV or to accelerate or break it.

Unfortunately, maintaining this precise alignment proved difficult.  Several times the ATV missed the docking connection and knocked the station even further out of alignment.  Procedures were then changed to manually pilot the ATV shuttle between the stations instead of relying on an unattended transfer.  This caused concern as the fuel supplies began to run down faster than planned.

However it was not the lack of fuel, but a gravity fluctation, that struck the fatal blow to this pair of stations.  Solar Outpost 1 was positioned very close to the sun, its science module inside the circle of influence, while the living quarters and radiators kept the station anchored just outside of the sun's orbit.  A a gravity fluctuation caused SU1 to be tugged slightly closer to the sun and out of its stable location.  Being a minimal station, SU1 did not have any propulsion modules.

The ATV shuttle was immediately launched from SU2 to try to bring SU1 back to a stable location. It was not able to  reach SU1 before it was pulled into the sun's orbit.  The ATV shuttle was already low on fuel because of the change in docking procedures.  The shuttle did not have enough fuel to exit the sun's orbit.  The crew was forced to abort their mission and watch helplessly as SU1 and the two scientist on board fell into the sun.

The destruction of SU1 led the the eventual abandonment of SU2 since the two stations were designed to work as a pair.

Rescue One

Rescue One is an unmanned ship designed to provide fuel, oxygen and power to other ships in an emergency.  It is automatically locks onto a distress beacon and travels to its location.

When Rescue One arrives at the location of the emergency, it can automatically dock with the vessel in distress to provide power and atmosphere.  The two station refuel silos can also be used to refuel stranded ships with enough fuel to return home.

The solar panels on the stand-alone laboratory combined with the batteries inside, provide enough power to recharge other ship's batteries.  The oxygen garden keeps the atmosphere fresh inside Rescue One and also can replenish other ship's CO2 scrubber and oxygen.

Rescue One is currently stationed in orbit around EMA, ready to provide support to any long range missions.

Station One

Station One was the original space station constructed by Centauri Spaceworks.  It was located at the site of the original STA station and was constructed using parts from it.

The communication arm with the Voyager X antenna, and the two main docking ports point toward the home planet.  This enables easy docking with resupply ships and a constant communication link.

The back side of the station contains the solar arrays and the fuel storage tank.  It is also the docking point for the station's tug.

Resupply modules serve as station keeping engines.  They are balanced along the station's center line to enable for easy adjustments.  Keeping a station in balance was one of the lessons learned during the construction of this station.

Proton V

Proton V on the launch pad with a station module as a payload.

Proton V in flight.  Payload is a station hub and an Oxygen Garden.

After Nooleus nerfed the SLS  Core in the 1.6 update, Centauri Spaceworks was forced to find another launch vehicle for heavy payloads.  Enter the Proton V.  It is a two stage rocket that combines the first stage of a Saturn V with the second stage of a Proton rocket.

It has enough power to launch a hub and a station module at once.  It can easily handle any single payload.  The roar of the Saturn V makes it a blast to launch.

The Hermit

Wealthy oil tycoon and germaphobe, Harold Hawkes, commissioned Centauri Spaceworks to construct a small ship called the Hermit.  Rumor has it that he plans to live out his life in the far reaches of the solar system away from the bacteria and germs on Earth.

To begin the construction of the Hermit, an ATV was launched with supplies including: water, food, and Harold's personal library of books. It was connected to an oxygen garden to supply atmosphere and additional food.  A transponder module was added on for communication.  Finally an Orion Capsule with Harold was launched and connected to the 3 modules already in Earth orbit.

Harold then left orbit, traveling first to KAT, the heading on to JOR where he plans to stay until Earth is free of germs, or his supplies run out, whichever comes first.

Pylons

The two pylons of Centauri Spaceworks keep the Station Builder Tugs and other vehicles used in the day to day operations supplied with fuel and power.  They also serve as the boundaries of the construction area, at waypoints CS1 and CS2.   While not very impressive by themselves, these two small stations help Centauri Spaceworks create its large ships and stations.

Ppylon with docked vehicles.

More Hubs

Left to right: 120° hub, long hub, and standard hub (for reference)

Centauri Spaceworks has designed two new parts that enable the creation of more varied stations and ships: the 120° hub and the long hub.  Hopefully our part supplier, Nooleus, will manufacture these parts soon.

The 120° hub enables the creation of hexagonal and angled stations.  It has the same dimension as the standard hub.  Instead of four ports at a 90°, it has 3 ports spaced at 120°.  The larger spacing between ports means that it can fit all existing parts without modification.  It consumes 5 power, the same amount as the standard hub.

The long hub provides a way to dock large modules side by side.  Two standard hubs don't quite provide enough separation to dock small modules side by side.  While possible it requires a slight overlap between the modules and docking must be done carefully via the docking auto-alignment glitch.  The second module must be docked at an angle away from the 1st so that the connect before the sides collide.   The process of auto alignment straightens it out, but doesn't do collision detection so the the two small modules end up docked but overlapping slightly.  This also causes them to shoot off wildly or explode when they are undocked.

The long hub it the height (or width depending on how you look at it) of a large station module.  This means that if you connect two long hubs together via port 1 (the port with the white dot), you can dock in two large station modules side by side without any overlap.

The long hub can also be used when a hub is too short, but adding in a standard station module would add too much length.   Due to the extra size, this part consumes 8 power.

Mars Port of Entry

Exterior of Mars Port of Entry

Mars Port of Entry is a customs station for the Martian Empire.  It is home base for a fleet of 3 ATV shuttles.  These shuttles are used to perform inspections on ships entering or leaving Martian space.

The ATV shuttles are ready to leave at a moment's notice to intercept any ships that my try to sneak past.  Two Voyager X bodies provide storage for O2 and CO2 scrubbers.  Storing these in the Voyager X bodies keeps them fully charged and ready to be moved to the ATV's prior to launch without having to top them off in the Oxygen Garden before launch.

Interior view of Mars Port of Entry

Two Orion Capsules are docked as escape vehicles. There is also a LK Lander ready for excursions to the surface of RED.

Crystal Voyager

Centauri Spaceworks announces its latest ship, the Crystal Voyager!  The Crystal Voyager is luxury yacht that can accommodate up to 8 passengers with its 4 habitation modules.

The ship gets its name from the eight cupolas.  These cupolas provide a crystal clear view of the heavens.

Two pods make it easy passengers to take excursions around the nearest planet.

The Crystal Voyager puts safety first with two life boats that can be used in emergencies.  The life boats can be either a crew module or an Orion module depending on the buyer's preference.

The stand-alone laboratory module stocked with batteries provides all the power needed.  The small fuel tank in the lab module is augmented with a larger reserve fuel tank so the Crystal Voyager can take you anywhere in the solar system.

Transponder

The transponder is a new part in 1.6.0 that helps track ships in space and the vehicles list.  Centauri Spaceworks will be including this its on larger ship designs.

No other part can do what the transponder module can.  It adds a dynamic waypoint that moves with the location of the transponder module.  The waypoint is always the location of the transponder module.

Transponder Navi-comp with an option to provide a long name

The transponder also stores a longer name that appears in the vehicles list.  The name can be up to 12 characters long to use instead of the typical 3 for a waypoint name.  The one down side is that there is no space key (despite the screenshot from the transponder information page showing a name with spaces).

Unlike the other parts, the transponder is not unlocked after completing missions in campaign mode.  The only way to unlock it is to purchase it.   It is a good purchase to add some new functionality.  Like the other premium features it isn't something you have to purchase to get the experience of the game, but still is useful for players who may run their own aerospace agencies

The down  side of the transponder module is the size.  it is about the width of a large station module or the refuel silo.  This makes it a large for smaller ships, like the Squirt, or stations that only contain a few modules.  Something the size of the crew capsule would have been a better size to fit on smaller ships.

Since the waypoint moves with the module it isn't helpful for stations that should remain in a fixed location.  As part of its daily operations Centauri Spaceworks ships have often, unintentionally given a stations a little bit of momentum as they dock.  With regular way points it is easy to see how far off the mark the station moved and put it back to the original location.  This isn't possible with a transponder way point since it moves with the station.

Given the transponders large size and what it does, Centauri Spaceworks will only be adding it the larger ships it manufactures.  Stations and smaller ships will not be equipped with a transponder.