Terminal Cruise

Now let’s turn to the Soviet space program, and consider the Proton roc ket configured with a Blok-D upper stage with a fission thermal engine. We’ll call it Blok-N. The direct Soviet counterpart to the NERVA flight engine was the RD-0410. Thrust=35.3 kN. Dry mass=2,000 kg Specific impulse= 910 s. This engine is lighter than the American 75K NERVA and even more efficient, though it has much lower thrust. The Proton/Blok-N configuration was used in a series of launches to construct a space station called Zarya (“Dawn”) at the Earth-Moon L-4 Lagrange point. After reaching L-4, the Blok-N upper stage would circle behind the Earth through L3 and reach L-5, where it would be safely parked to be reutilized at a future date as an orbital tug. No manned missions would utilize the Blok-N stage due to radiation hazards.

The federally protected Aubry National Glasslands is named for François Xavier Aubry who (apart from Native Americans who roamed there from antiquity) first explored the area in the 1840s. It embraces 93,520 acres and lies in a rough ring around the rim of the Dole impact basin across three different states, embracing the geologically most interesting radius of the Dole meteor strewn field. The borders of this ring are conformed to rectangular section lines, as though it were a low resolution graphic of a fat circle. It is particularly rich in splash-form tektites created from the shales and sedimentary rock prevalent in the area. The area is a veritable museum of impact breccias. Layers of microtektites overlay the bedrock. There are impact glasses ranging from black to gray to green are evident on the surface. Access is by primitive gravel roads, but it remains public land. Typically, however, from November through May the natural glasses on the surface are typically hidden by snow.

At the Dole impact complex the originating event opened fractures in the underlying crust causing deeper sources of magma to rise relatively near to the surface, resulting in a set of geothermal features similar to those found at Yellowstone and Thermopolis. The impacting bolide, estimated to have been approximately 120-150 feet in diameter, has never been recovered but surface fragments with sulfur content are widely evident. Many fumeroles, hot springs, and mud pots exist within the crater, but the most striking feature is a thick and persistent geothermal fog similar to what is found at the Gunnuhver site in Iceland. The rim of the central crater serves to confine this fog, resulting in a micro-climate where the mean daily minimum from December through February hovers near freezing rather than 15 F found outside of the Dole system. Summers inside the crater are uncomfortably sticky and almost tropical, but not unbearably so, as the permanent fog greatly attenuates sunlight.

Dole Crater was identified as an complex impact structure in the 1870s and later dated to about 1.6 million years of age. The crater rim rises to a mean 250 feet above the slightly depressed crater floor and 220 feet above the surrounding plains. Migdalel Butte (“Tower of God”) at 370 feet is the remnant of a central splash-back peak, one of the few clear examples of such on Earth, and only the second found in North America. Of the four rivers flowing from the Garden in Eden Gen. 2:11 reads, 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘯𝘢𝘮𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘧𝘪𝘳𝘴𝘵 𝘪𝘴 𝘗𝘪𝘴𝘰𝘯: 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘪𝘴 𝘪𝘵 𝘸𝘩𝘪𝘤𝘩 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘱𝘢𝘴𝘴𝘦𝘵𝘩 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘸𝘩𝘰𝘭𝘦 𝘭𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘰𝘧 𝘏𝘢𝘷𝘪𝘭𝘢𝘩, 𝘸𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘪𝘴 𝘨𝘰𝘭𝘥. There was never real gold in modern Havilah, but always much fools gold. The impacting bolide was the origin of much ejecta in the form of iron pyrites. However, compression and fractures in the underlying bedrock accessed a source of natural gas that became important for the economy of Havilah in early 20th Century and justified a rail spur that remains the primary means to access the town.

The Pison River begins in an underground pool of warm water in the center of the Dole impact complex and enters Lake Taijitu on the east side of the crater interior. The name of this lake suggests its Yin-Yang shape: there is a small round island in the widest portion. The lake overflows the lowest part of the rim and after penetrating a short winding gully cutting through the crater rim it meanders roughly east by northeast across the Great Plains and eventually becomes a string of isolated ponds in a twisting ravine some two hundred miles long. With the exception of one or two rainy weeks in spring and again in autumn the Pison River parallels the White through much of South Dakota but never quite reaches the Missouri River intact. The Pison is named from a mythical river in Genesis (using the KJV spelling) that has never been identified. The same passage also gave the name Havilah to the town that was platted out inside the crater along the west side beginning in 1866.

The majority of residents in Havilah are descendants of a group of German-American pacifists who fled Maryland during the Civil War when their cornfields became battlefield cemeteries and their meetinghouse became an abattoir. As they wintered over in Missouri during their 1865 migration a child among the settlers named Linda Bergin learned that some oxen were not so easily turned by the touch of a pole. They were called “stiff of neck” and this was the cause for many references in the Bible which referred to the children of Israel as a stiff-necked people. But the cherub Ariel told her such stubbornness was really a good thing if it was desired to move toward a single goal without turning to one side or the other, which was indeed the case. So little Linda took to calling the pilgrims “Stiffnecks” and it quickly caught on. To this day the Protestant white folk of Havilah, the ones who have not been driven off by the unearthly location itself, proudly call themselves Stiffnecks.

In recitals at Angel Academy Rashiel Shybear played a double-bass standing on an end-pin which she had lengthened to be more comfortable. Sometimes at rehearsals she set down her bow and plucked the strings pizzicato with meandering bass lines while daydreaming she was a black cat slinking around at night. In 1961 when the Havilah Harmonics became Miss Goodmile Rash set aside her acoustic bass (which was always difficult to mic for concerts anyway) and picked up a Fender Precision electric bass, or P-Bass. The notes went through a spring reverb box so she could essentially duet with her own slapped-back notes. But the new electric bass took some getting used to. It lay horizontally across her chest, supported with a shoulder strap, which allowed her to get out of her seat and dance around the stage. Not that it helped her visibility very much. The bass player was absolutely crucial to any band’s sound but typically ignored. Rashiel was confident enough to sing backup but never solo.

Rashiel’s human brother is Cadence “Coyote Cub” Shybear, a Kuwapi youth. In Lakota Kuwapi means “The Left Behind Ones”. They were a small band of Oglala discontents who thrived in Havilah when the people from nearby tribes, including the Oglala mainline, moved to reservations as barbed wire decimated the herds crucial to their way of life. At Angel Academy and in the Havilah Harmonics Cubby played saxophone. After the band changed their name to Miss Goodmile Cubby began to play a 1951 custom Fender Broadcaster with no model name displayed on the head stock due to a trademark scuffle. Today some collectors call it a Nocaster. The Lord of Hosts Fellowship retained a virulent racism that has been endemic in the church since Havilah was founded in 1866. Cubby’s marriage to Remiel Zinter in open defiance of the customs of the church brought the ugly rot within the church to the surface with bloody results.

Miss Goodmile were previously known as the Havilah Harmonics. In 1961 they moved from Havilah on the Great Plains to a revitalized ghost town named Franklin in the Seattle area, where they discovered the joys of skiing. In 1962 they released 𝘚𝘵𝘢𝘮𝘱𝘦𝘥𝘦, named for a Cascade mountain pass where they liked to hit the slopes. Some reviewers said the album was a gimmicky attempt to extend the surf music genre to the winter months, but the band members genuinely enjoyed their new hobby and this came out in the music. Miss Goodmile settled into a format for their albums that rarely changed. The first side of 𝘚𝘵𝘢𝘮𝘱𝘦𝘥𝘦 was structured like a typical symphony in pacing and theme. The first track (𝘉𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘬 𝘈 𝘓𝘦𝘨) set the theme with allegro tempo and laid out the stakes. The second track (𝘚𝘪𝘵 𝘉𝘺 𝘔𝘺 𝘍𝘪𝘳𝘦) was a downtempo ballad, adiante. The third track (𝘙𝘦𝘥 𝘏𝘰𝘵 𝘖𝘯 𝘞𝘩𝘪𝘵𝘦 𝘗𝘰𝘸𝘥𝘦𝘳) was a scherzo that segued without pause into the extended sonata instrumental (𝘚𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘯 𝘏𝘶𝘮𝘱𝘴).

Side two of 𝘚𝘵𝘢𝘮𝘱𝘦𝘥𝘦 opens with what the members of Miss Goodmile guessed would be the hit, 𝘚𝘯𝘰𝘸 𝘉𝘶𝘯𝘯𝘺. On this and subsequent albums the fifth track was frequently also released as a 45 single with an unreleased track on the B side. In the case of the debut album the 45 featured the title cut 𝘚𝘵𝘢𝘮𝘱𝘦𝘥𝘦 (appearing as track six on the LP) with 𝘋𝘰𝘸𝘯𝘩𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘍𝘢𝘴𝘵 on the B side. Track seven was a cover of the instrumental 𝘔𝘳. 𝘔𝘰𝘵𝘰 by the Bel-Airs, and the album closed with 𝘎𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘚𝘬𝘪𝘪𝘯’ evoking a joyous winter carnival atmosphere. The second side of other Miss Goodmile albums frequently had a similar structure, but actual sequencing changed based on what songs the publishers estimated would get more airplay or whether the cover track was vocal or instrumental.

Lagrange points are handy places to put your stuff if you’re interested in finding it again. The L4 and L5 points (bean-shaped halo orbits, really) are preferable because they work like gravitational sinkholes. You don’t need to spend propellant in stationkeeping maintenance to stay there like you need to do at saddles like L1 or L2.

In Terminal Cruise I like L4 for my stuff, and L5 to dump the expended fission thermal engines to get my stuff there.

The L3 point always has the Earth blocking any view of the Moon so that’s where we should to build a deep-space treatment center for Lycanthropy.

Apollo-Sigma uses the Saturn 1B, which is capable of delivering 21,000 kg to LEO. The payload is a Centaur D-1T kick stage with a 10-foot hemispherical capsule for a two man crew. The mass of the Centaur D-1T is 15,320 kg (1,830 kg inert + 13,490 kg propellant) and the mass of the capsule is 5,200 kg. The Apollo-Sigma vehicle only requires potable water, oxygen, food, and electrical power for seven days. Once reaching the Cynthia station at Earth-Moon L1 the ship is placed on standby and the crew transfers to the station to use the station’s life support. Total initial mass in LEO is 20,070 kg (well within Saturn 1B’s capacity). Total final mass is 6,680 kg (capsule + dry Centaur). Centaur specific impulse is 444 seconds. Mission delta-v is about 4,800 m/s. Margin for error is about 350 m/s at Cynthia arrival.

Remove empty directories under the working directory:

find . -empty -exec rm -rf {} \;