Engineer Nikolas Leyeiv, GT-ho7d crashed object recovery, final report exert:
Local day 6; standard day 26:The night team finished to unearth the bottom of the object.
6.00: The lift procedure was activated.
6.05: The HNI Optimum, Valkyrie class, took off with several hundreds mono-wire attaching her to the object. A second ship, the HNI Désirée, Hermes class shuttle, was to stabilize the object during the ascent.
6.15: The Optimum gave full thrust for a few seconds and lifted the object up to 15 meters. A team checked if all wires where properly strung up, and the load balanced between the two ships.
6.45: The team finished asserting the correct conditions for lift off.
6.50: The area was cleared and the Optimum, followed by the Désirée, started the ascension at roughly 50m/s.
7.15: After clearing the thick of the atmosphere the ships engaged full thrust to reach orbit.
7.17: With the sudden acceleration, some wires started to oscillate.
7.17: The wires vibration started to resonate with the object's own vibrations. The oscillations rapidly gain in amplitude.
7.18: The oscillations were now strong enough to be felt by the crew of the Désirée. The ship was pulled up and down on 0.1 meters 2 times per second.
7.19: The oscillations can now be felt by the crew of the Optimum. The Désirée is now undergoing a 0.5 meter long oscillation. This is still in the operational parameters of the wires, but very uncomfortable for the crew and could easily lead to mechanical failures.
7.19: In an attempt to reduce the stress of the cables, thus changing the oscillations frequency and nullify the resonance with the object, the Désirée's pilot got slightly closer to the Optimum. While it instantly had the desired effect on the Désirée's wires, it transferred a significant portion of the load to the Optimum, and gave the object a slight swing.
7.20: The Optimum captain inform the Désirée's pilot that his ship is getting much stronger vibrations and ask him to take back it's position. Then they were to slightly reduce the thrust and reach orbit on a slower, less stressful trajectory.
7.20: The Désirée get back into position, at the same time the object was at the peak of it's swing. As it went back it suddently pulled the Désirée with it toward the Optimum. The Désirée's cables were no longer lifting any weight and the tension was brutally transmitted to the Optimum's attach points.
7.20: Several wire snapped on the Optimum, changing it's angle of attack, and the object started to spin in addition to it's swing. The Désirée's pilot managed to recover the control of it's shuttle and tried to get back in position with the Optimum. At the same time the Optimum ordered to cut the thrust by 75% the time to stabilize the object.
7.21: Still unaware of the Optimum's captain order, the Désirée's pilot flew past the Optimum, avoiding the collision by mere meters. The two ship were pulling the object in opposite direction.
7.21: The object undergo a catastrophic mechanical failure between the bulkhead 64 and 65. This was probably due to a previous weakness caused by the crash. The rear part, approximately one third of the object, was attached to the Désirée. The front part to the Optimum. Several wires ruptured, but enough resisted that none of the parts fell.
7.22: Now lightened from a third of the load, the Optimum could resume the ascension on the planned profile. The Désirée however was badly overloaded and started to fall.
7.33: The Désirée managed to slow the object speed to 30m/s, on a now vertical trajectory.
7.37: The Optimum reached orbit, it is quickly joined by the fleet tugs to help him bring the object within the ships formation.
7.41: The Désirée pilot arm the maneuvering jets of his ship to break the object speed when close to the ground.
7.43: The Désirée fire up it's maneuvering jets, it's descent speed is not of a mere 9m/s, 57 meters from the ground.
7.43: The engine number 7 of the shuttle overheated causing it's explosion. The two adjacent engines get damaged but continue to function at 50% capacity. Due to the imbalance, the Désirée start to take some lateral speed.
7.44: The payload technician has been injured during the use of the maneuvering jets, but his assistant release the object 10 meters from the ground, before the assembly take too much horizontal speed.
7.44: The jets are cut, the shuttle engines suffer a complete failure at the same time. The Désirée start to fall only slowed down by the attitude thrusters.
7.44: The Désirée hit the ground at 17m/s, 36 meters from the object. Nobody is further injured.
12.45: After a thorough inspection, the Optimum get it's flight clearance. It descend toward the second part of the object.
14.10: The Optimum get attached to the second part of the object.
14.57: The Optimum start a second ascend with the second part of the object. This ascend proceed without incident.
15.42: The Optimum join the fleet with the second part of the object. After unloading the payload it will proceed to evacuate the excavation site.
16.21: The lift procedure is officially terminated.
Personal notes:
All debris from the rupture of the object have been recovered. It is interesting to note that the object now being smaller, it will be possible to transport it into two standard freighter cargo holds rather than having to unload half of an Atlas containers.
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PRIORITY MESSAGE207.210.18Lieutenant Gomez,
The Comodore A'Holia send her compliments and ask you to join her in the briefing room as soon as possible. The detection section just found something lurking around the fleet.
*click to enlarge*