Chapter 5. The Worlds of Kerbal Space Program
The universe of Kerbal Space Program is large and filled with planets. It also has a few people in it. In this chapter, we’ll introduce you to both.
Meet the Kerbals
The heroes and heroines of your space program, the Kerbals, are googly-eyed little green people who will soon be off and about, exploring, mining, and researching their way across the solar system.
Each Kerbal (or Kerbonaut) you recruit has a few different attributes: a name to help you tell them apart, a specialization to give them a role, and two different personality values — courage and stupidity.
Your brave Kerbonauts can have one of three different specializations, which can give you some direction about how you might want use them:
As the name implies, these are the Kerbonauts who pilot your ships. If you don’t have a pilot on board, your craft will rely on the ship’s communications system in order to fly (refer back to “Communications” for more information).
Tip
If your spacecraft does not have a pilot aboard, and it does not have a communications link back to the Kerbal Space Center, you will not have full control of the spacecraft.
Your crew’s skills impact the game in different ways, and we’ll be looking at those details in “Kerbonaut Skills and Experience” .
The two basic personality values, courage and stupidity, determine how your Kerbonauts will react during missions. Particularly courageous or very stupid Kerbals will be laughing and having a ripper of a time regardless of what is currently happening. They will be having a great time whether the ship is performing an orbit or burning up in the atmosphere. The more intelligent or less courageous Kerbals will be quite a bit more stressed when their vessel is in danger.
The final attribute is a name. All Kerbals have a unique first name and share the same surname: Kerman. There are six Kerbals who remain the same every time you play the game; four make up the original four Kerbonauts and two are support Kerbals. Let’s meet them.
Tip
All Kerbals in the space program might be related, which makes Kerman a family name. Of course, it could also be a a tribal name, and all Kerbals in the space program are part of the same tribe. Or perhaps it means nothing, but it is fun to think about…
Jebediah Kerman
Jebediah aka Jeb, Kerbonaut #0001, is the first Kerbonaut in the game and will rapidly become your new best friend. Because Jeb is the first in the list of available Kerbals, he will often be the one who’s off completing most of your career missions or testing your new rocket design.
We like to think of Jeb as the Kerbal equivalent of Yuri Gagarin, Alexey Leonov, and Neil Armstrong — all rolled into one happy little chap.
Jeb is the first pilot available, regardless of what mode you choose. Jeb possesses middle levels of both stupidity and courage, but he has a rare trait in Kerbalkind: Jeb is a badass .
The badass trait means Jeb will mostly ignore his stress levels when determining how happy or afraid to be, resulting in him almost always having a maniacal grin even when he’s about to crash straight into a planet.
Like all four original Kerbonauts, Jeb has an orange spacesuit (instead of white), and, unless you change the game’s settings, appears to be immortal. No matter how many times you crash Jeb into a moon or explode the rocket he’s commanding, the little green guy will appear back on the roster of available Kerbonauts after a while.
Note
Immortal Kerbals won’t reappear if you’re playing on Moderate or Hard difficulty.
Bill Kerman
Bill, the second Kerbal on the roster, is the original engineer of the Kerbal Space Program. Bill has the same amount of courage as Jeb but is by far the stupidest of all the original Kerbals.
As the first engineer you get, Bill will be the Kerbal who goes around making repairs on the rockets that Jeb keeps almost crashing. Much like Jeb, and all the original four, Bill gets an orange spacesuit and is as strangely immortal as Jeb.
Bob Kerman
Bob, the third Kerbonaut on the roster, is a scientist. Bob is the least stupid of the original Kerbals, but at the same time has the least amount of courage. Thus, it is very common to see Bob completely terrified at almost all points of the flight.
Being the first scientist you get, Bob will generally be cruising around with Jeb and Bill helping to improve the amount of science you are discovering on the mission.
Like Jeb and Bill, Bob gets an orange spacesuit and is, you guessed it, immortal.
Valentina Kerman
Valentina is the second pilot you will get and the final of the original four Kerbonauts. Valentina is just as courageous as Jeb and is just as much of a badass, giving her the same love of piloting a rocket as Jeb. Valentina is quite a bit less stupid than Jeb and is the second-least stupid of the original four.
As the second pilot available, Valentina will soon be off on missions exploring different parts of the system, or sent to go rescue Jeb from the latest mess he’s gotten himself into. Just like the other three originals, Valentina gets an orange spacesuit and has the same unusual immortality as the guys.
Note
Valentina is the first female Kerbal in the game and is based on real-life badass and first female cosmonaut, Valentina Tereshkova, who on her first mission spent three days in space and remained the only woman to fly to space for almost two decades.
Gene Kerman
Gene Kerman is the Kerbal Space Program’s mission controller. Gene is responsible for running the whole show and will be your guide through some of the tutorials in managing your space program. Gene wears a white vest and is the only Kerbal to have light-colored hair.
Gene is almost certainly inspired by both the Apollo mission controller Gene Krantz, and Eugene Cernan, the Apollo 10 pilot, Apollo 17 commander, and last man on the moon (as of the time of writing, in 2016).
Wernher von Kerman
Wernher is pretty easily identified by his glasses and mustache, and is very likely named for real-life rocket engineer and designer Wernher von Braun, the lead rocket designer for most of the American rockets in the space race — including the Saturn V rocket for the Apollo missions.
If Sergei Korolev and Wernher von Braun were mashed together, and also a Kerbal, you would get Wernher von Kerman. Wernher is the head of Research and Development for the space program and your guide during the rocket design tutorials.
A Space Tourist’s Guide to the Kerbol System
Welcome, brave adventurer, to the Space Tourist’s Guide to the Kerbol System! This nifty little guide gives you all the information an aspiring Kerbonaut needs to get out there and experience all the wonders space has to offer.
With this guide in hand, some rocket fuel, and a bit of gumption, you will be able to plot your way through the system in no time, see all the highlights, and be home in time for tea.
Warning
Adventurers beware! Space travel is dangerous, and even with this guide there are hazards aplenty.
We have done our best to make clear the nature of the universe, but you will still find danger and uncertainty. If you wish to make your way without knowing what mysteries the universe holds, read no further. Sometimes it’s safer at home.
Kerbol
What can one say about the sun? Kerbol is large and dangerous, and the influence it exerts makes orbiting it tricky. Getting too close is a guaranteed way to cut your trip short, and being cooked alive by the huge levels of energy it releases is no laughing matter.
You might be wondering: why even bother? Well, the sun does offer some exciting possibilities for scientific research, but more importantly, what Kerbonauts worth their salt don’t want to come face to corona with the single most powerful object in the system?
The sun is deadly and beautiful, and therefore well worth visiting to experience the raw power personally.
Moho
The first planet in the Kerbol system, Moho, is not the nicest pit stop for the adventuring Kerbal. With its unusual orbit, lack of atmosphere, and no natural satellites, Moho is a hard rock to orbit and even harder to land on.
The surface of Moho is lightly cratered and shows evidence of erosion, and the terrain ranges from slightly dark brown to slightly light brown, and all shades of brown in between. This environment was likely formed through volcanic activity early in the planet’s lifecycle.
For the Kerbal who enjoys brown, Moho is your dream, with scenic brown vistas as far as the eye can see, as well as some of the most stunning views of Kerbol that the system has to offer.
With a relatively small radius, and a pleasant gravity of 0.275g, Moho is enjoyable enough to explore on foot. For the geologically inclined Kerbal, Moho features one of the strangest occurrences in the entire system: a giant hole at the north pole, over four kilometers deep. How this came to be and what lies at the bottom is a mystery well worth exploring.
Tip
There are many unexplained objects and features on the planets in Kerbal Space Program. As you visit each planet, keep an eye out for surprises.
Eve
All Kerbals, at some point in their lives, have gazed longingly up at the purple sphere of Eve and said to themselves, “I will go there!” With a mass above that of Kerbin (another planet, discussed shortly) and strikingly close by, Eve is an easy hop to make. We’ll be visiting Eve later in this book, in “A Probe to Eve” .
A gravity above Kerbin’s and a dense toxic atmosphere doesn’t make the planet particularly easy to get around; rovers are tricky to drive, and EVA jetpacks are next to useless. Don’t let this turn you off going, as Eve has large oceans, rolling hills, and even a few mountains to entertain the mountaineering Kerbals.
The ground is a strong purple, and the oceans are full of a violet liquid none are brave enough to identify. The atmosphere ranges from indigo to green and pink, and sunrise on Eve is one of the must-see sights.
For the more prodigious rocket designers among you, a nonjet plane works staggeringly well in Eve’s atmosphere and is the recommended way to explore the planet.
Leaving Eve is a far more daunting task than arriving and requires you to prepare for the task well in advance. Once you’re back into space, it is worth taking a quick look at the planet’s only moon, Gilly.
Gilly
Gilly may not look like much, and that’s because it really isn’t much! Considered to be a captured asteroid, Gilly is the smallest satellite in the entire system.
An uneven, lumpy shape and a gravity only 0.5 percent of Kerbin’s makes Gilly quite tricky to land on, and almost worth ignoring were it not for the fun to be had there. To show off your maneuvering prowess, you can park your ship in orbit, get out of it, and descend to the moon’s surface using only your Kerbonaut’s EVA jetpack.
Once there, you can jump and glide across the surface with no effort whatsoever. Other than the low gravity and potential new game opportunities it offers, however, Gilly has little of interest to a daring Kerbonaut.
To get back, you can jet your way to your ship with your trusty EVA suit, redock, and be on your way with a minimum of fuss.
Kerbin
Where does one start with Kerbin? The birthplace of Kerbalkind, cradle of all rockets, bedrock of the space program: home .
Featuring a variety of biomes and life, Kerbin offers some of the most beautiful locations in the entire system. The oxygen-rich environment is a perfect excuse to go for a flutter around the planet in a jet or just take a break and remove your helmet.
Kerbin has several large craters worth a look, but the true reason to visit Kerbin is the Space Center.
The Space Center is your one-stop shop for all rocket- and plane-related needs. Featuring an array of facilities for building and launching ships, managing missions, or choosing a flag, the Space Center is sure to become your new best friend.
Facility tour
The Kerbal Space Center (see Figure 5-1 ) is where you’ll select your missions, recruit your crew members, manage your space program, design your spacecraft, and launch your missions.
When you start a game in Career mode, your space program will be a very bare-bones operation. You’ll need to spend some of your funds to upgrade buildings before you can do certain things in space, like transfer crew members between command pods or refuel ships in orbit.
The Space Center is a collection of buildings, each with its own function. Let’s take a closer look at what each one does.
Figure 5-1. The Space Center
Vehicle Assembly Building
The Vehicle Assembly Building, or VAB (see Figure 5-2 ), is where you’ll design all of your rockets. You’ll spend the majority of your time in here when not flying a mission.
Figure 5-2. The Vehicle Assembly Building
Note
We explore the VAB in detail throughout this book; for an especially detailed look at it, see “Building a Rocket” .
Space Plane Hangar
The Space Plane Hangar, or SPH (see Figure 5-3 ), is the second construction area in the Space Center. In this building, you’ll design space planes — that is, vehicles that are designed to launch by taking off from the runway, as opposed to launching vertically from the launch pad.
Figure 5-3. The Space Plane Hangar
Note
Space planes are complex — so complex, in fact, that they get their own chapter: Chapter 4 .
Astronaut Complex
The Astronaut Complex (see Figure 5-4 ) is where your astronauts hang out whenever they’re between missions. It’s also where you can review your crew roster and hire new crew to go on missions.
Figure 5-4. The Astronaut Complex
Research and Development
The Research and Development building (see Figure 5-5 ) is where you spend science points to research new technologies, which will unlock new parts for you to use in the VAB and the SPH. You can also review the science data that you’ve previously collected, which can help you work out what kinds of experiments you should run next.
Figure 5-5. Research and Development
Note
We’ll be looking at Research and Development in more detail in “Science, Technology, and Research” .
Mission Control
The Mission Control building (see Figure 5-6 ) is where you can review and accept new contracts. Contracts reward you with science points, funding, and reputation, which will allow you to undertake more complex and challenging missions.
Figure 5-6. Mission Control
Tracking Station
The Tracking Station (see Figure 5-7 ) shows the location and orbit of all of your missions, flags you’ve planted, and asteroids you might be tracking. It’s a quick way to jump directly to a particular mission that you want to keep flying.
Figure 5-7. The Tracking Station
Flagpole
The flagpole, which is at the front of the Astronaut Complex, lets you change the flag that appears on your spacecraft (see Figure 5-8 ).
Figure 5-8. The flagpole
Administration
The Administration building (see Figure 5-9 ) allows you to manage your space program. From here, you can choose to select different strategies — such as whether to get a bonus in science points instead of money, or to get a discount on parts by sacrificing a little reputation.
Figure 5-9. Administration
Note
We’ll be looking at strategies in more detail in “Strategies” .
Eventually you will feel space calling you back. On your way off Kerbin, don’t forget to take a quick look at Kerbin’s two moons, Mun and Minmus.
Mun
A large, gray, cratered, and tidally locked rock, at first glance Mun doesn’t really seem like much. It’s pretty cool, though, and you should definitely visit.
Mun is tricky to land on, as it has a rather large gravitational pull (0.166g), numerous craters, and no atmosphere.
Once you’re safely down, however, Mun is a wonderful place to cruise around on a rover and has plenty to see and do. Among other curiosities, it’s worth tracking down the three Monoliths: mysterious vertical slabs of stone whose creators and purpose is unknown, except perhaps to the game designers.
Mun is tidally locked to Kerbin, which means that Mun also offers some of the greatest photo opportunities of Kerbin you can find; if you land on Mun and you can see Kerbin, it will never go out of your view.
For the academically inclined Kerbonaut, Mun is a gold mine. Featuring a variety of biomes and conveniently close to Kerbin, Mun is a powerful source of research possibilities during your early career. We’ll be learning more about how science and research work in “Science, Technology, and Research” .
It is worth mentioning that, despite claims to the contrary from Kerbin authorities, many a Kerbonaut described encounters with the mysterious Kraken on Mun. All Kerbonauts are advised to take precautions when performing an EVA.
We’ll be visiting Mun in “Luna 9 (First Soft Landing of Probe on Moon)” .
Minmus
A cyan-colored icy speck floating out beyond Mun, Minmus is far smaller than Kerbin’s other natural satellite. While Minmus is farther away from Kerbin than Mun, landing on and leaving Minmus is much easier than with its heavier sibiling.
The current scientific understanding based on temperature has declared Minmus a large comet composed mostly of frozen salt water, captured by Kerbin.
Note
If you were to ask the common Kerbal, you’d learn Minmus is made from a tasty mint dessert. Despite the popularity of this urban legend, few visitors to Minmus seem game enough to put their tongues on the line to test this theory.
Regardless of the composition, Minmus certainly has ice in plenty, with icy hills and lakes being all about the place. For the ice-skating enthusiast or curling-inclined adventurer, Minmus offers some fabulously flat and large frozen lakes, which are, very cleverly, named The Flats.
The variety of hills and lakes gives Minmus a great deal of exciting biomes for the researcher to explore, making it as useful a scientific hub as Mun itself. Curiously enough, much like Mun, Minmus also features a Monolith, and just as little is known about this one.
Duna
A striking red dot from the surface of Kerbin, Duna is farther away from Kerbin than Eve, but its smaller size, lesser atmosphere, and low orbital inclination has long made Duna a popular first planet to visit for the new Kerbonaut.
Arriving on and then leaving Duna is not much more of a challenge than visiting and leaving Mun, making Duna possibly the most explored planet in the system other than Kerbin itself.
As Duna possesses an atmosphere, aerobraking and parachutes are the recommended means of landing on the planet, although you should be wary — the atmosphere is quite thin.
Duna itself is a rather attractive shade of red and has large flat areas believed to be former lakes, as well as tall mountainous areas just begging to be explored. The atmosphere and rocky environment have led to the formation of quite large polar caps.
The Dunan atmosphere also makes exploring the planet via plane tricky, but not impossible — although jets will not work and a different form of propulsion will be necessary.
For the Kerbal interested in the occult, Duna has some very unusual features for you to investigate. One of the most prominent peculiarities worth a look is the Giant Kerbal Face. Some say that is a natural formation and its appearance is a coincidence, while others say it is proof of higher powers. Explorers of Duna might also encounter a strange energy in a pattern that feels too structured to be random. Attempts to understand the anomaly have resulted in what appears to be a picture coming out of the signal, leading some to label the event a transmission from another, more ancient species. Other experts have labeled this utter nonsense, but the mystery still remains.
While perhaps not a mystery, Duna’s moon, Ike, is very large relative to the planet and tidally locked; it also exhibits a very strange movement worth pausing for a moment to observe.
We’ll be visiting Duna in “Destination: Duna” .
Ike
Ike is gray, extremely rocky, and a bit of a mystery. The moon has gigantic mountains and valleys. Some are 12 km from top to bottom, making landing tricky, although the valleys are your best bet.
The moon shows no signs of cratering yet has no atmosphere to have eroded the craters.
Ike also has a strange relationship with its planet: from the surface of Duna, Ike will appear to grow and shrink due to its unusual orbit. The unusual orbit itself adds to the mystery of the moon, as it seems to be almost designed to intercept anyone trying to reach Duna.
Even the dirt of Ike is strange: it will occasionally not reflect light, making the moon appear in darkness during the day.
Kerbonauts of old speak of a magic boulder floating in a low polar orbit around the moon that destroyed all who strayed too close. Recent missions to Ike have failed to find any trace of the magical boulder, but the stories remain.
Even in a universe full of the strange and unusual, Ike stands out, making it a stop well worth considering during your adventures.
Dres
Dres is tiny. A seasoned space traveler such as yourself might think you know just how small a planet can be, but Dres is here to tell you otherwise.
Dres is so small that it isn’t fair to the other planets to call it a planet, making it the first dwarf planet in the entire system. Dres’s tiny size and unusual orbit have given it a reputation as an untrustworthy planet, but when visiting Dres you will quickly see that the dwarf planet is undeserving of this reputation.
Dres is gray and lightly cratered in a very similar manner to Mun. Alas, Dres has no atmosphere, no moons, and almost nothing of interest other than a large canyon just south of the equator.
Tip
There have been some unconfirmed reports of small objects in the vicinity of Dres. It might be worth sending a probe to investigate.
Jool
Jool has two characteristics that make it stand out from its planetary siblings: it is green, and it is big. Really big. Jool is the largest planet in the system by quite a bit — 10 times the radius of Kerbin — and the closer you get, the larger it will seem.
The brilliant green appearance comes from the heavy atmosphere; Jool is a gigantic ball of swirling and mingling gases. The atmosphere is incredibly dense and makes aerobraking, even from extremely high speeds, the recommended way of descending the depths of Jool.
Once you’re in the atmosphere there isn’t a lot to do, as one swirling cloud of gas looks a lot like the next and the thick gases hide any secrets that lie beneath them. It is said that beneath the clouds lies a surface, but it is haunted by the Kraken. Many a foolhardy Kerbonaut has tried to land on the rumored surface of the planet, and many a Kerbonaut has been claimed by the creature for their audacity. Other Kerbals say there is no Kraken and it is simply the planet itself destroying vehicle and Kerbal alike at those depths. Who truly knows what lies at the bottom of such a giant planet?
Other than the almost certain death by pressure or space beast and the lovely green appearance, there is no great adventure to be had in Jool. The true reason to head toward the giant is the five moons it possesses.
Laythe
Laythe is the first of Jool’s five moons, and at first glance it would be easy to mistake the moon for a smaller version of Kerbin itself. Laythe has water, an atmosphere, and even oxygen in the air.
The atmosphere allows for aerobraking, and once you’re down into the planet the ideal way to explore the satellite is through a plane. The oxygen atmosphere allows for jet engines to be used. The gutsy Kerbonaut can select a perfect landing site, all the while enjoying the pleasant experience of exploring the moon.
The surface itself is mostly water, with many small to large islands breaking up the surface. For the geologically inclined, numerous craters dot the surface of the planet, and there is a large archipelago that appears to be the result of a gigantic impact at some stage in the moon’s history.
Once on the ground, you might be tempted to kick off your suit boots and go for a swim or have a romantic picnic, but alas, Laythe is not your friend here. The water is only kept from freezing via the high levels of salt, and the atmosphere, even with its levels of oxygen, is toxic.
For our readers with a scientific bent, Laythe is the true jewel of the Jool system. The moon’s islands, oceans, and atmosphere allow ample opportunity for some serious scientific research.
We’ll be visiting Laythe in “A Flight over Laythe” .
Vall
The second, and second-smallest, moon of Jool, Vall is an icy, tidally locked bumpy rock that was one of the last identified moons of Jool.
The surface of Vall ranges from light blues to shades of white, covered in rocky outcroppings, mountains, and remnants of craters. Vall is a difficult moon on which to find a landing zone. Compounding this issue is the lack of atmosphere, removing aerobraking as a viable option.
Once you’re on the surface, Vall is not the most exciting moon, but for the petrologist at heart it features an abundance of rather striking black-and-white-speckled boulders just waiting to be understood.
Before you leave the moon it is worth trying to locate Vall’s strangest rock formation — a collection of cleanly cut stones standing upright in a mostly concentric pattern, referred to as Vallhenge by those brave enough to discuss it. No one knows what Vallhenge is, how it came to be, or if it is anything more than rumor — a mystery well worth investigating.
Tylo
Tylo is the largest of Jool’s moons. With a radius the same size as Kerbin and with a gravity of 0.8g, Tylo is easily the largest moon in the entire system.
The large gravity makes Tylo an ideal location for performing gravity slingshots when entering or exiting the Jool system.
The heavy nature of the moon does make landing quite a bit more tricky than you would like. The moon also has no atmosphere, meaning aerobraking isn’t an option. This does, however, make high-speed and low-altitude orbits quite easy. The lack of atmosphere on Tylo is quite a mystery, as the moon should by all accounts have one.
Once you’re on the ground, Tylo looks quite similar to Mun, slightly more uneven but less heavily cratered. The surface is also quite a bit brighter than Mun, but the similarities are spooky at times.
The main reason to visit Tylo is for the scientific opportunities it presents. While not as bountiful as Laythe, it is still a good candidate to advance your academic career.
As you’re leaving, Tylo offers the Kerbal with a camera one of the greatest photo opportunities in the system: the Joolrise. The lack of atmosphere allows for stunningly sharp pictures of the gas giant as it rises on the horizon.
Bop
Lumpy, rocky, irregular, and most likely a captured asteroid, the fourth moon in the Jool moon quintet, Bop, seems very similar to Gilly.
No atmosphere, little flat space, and a tiny gravity makes landing on Bop tricky but fairly straightforward. Once you’re on Bop, at first glance the brown surface doesn’t appear to be of much interest, but it has a few suprises. The moon features the largest mountain in the entire system, at a colossal 22 km high, as well as a gigantic, white-rimmed crater located on the moon’s northern hemisphere.
Bop also has been reported to hold one of the strangest and most unusual anomalies in the system: the corpse of the Space Kraken. While the existence of the Kraken has been denied many a time, all experienced Kerbonauts have felt the creature’s tentacles around their vessels at least once in their adventures. Official statements regard the physical impossibilities as simply our misunderstanding of how the universe truly works.
With the death of the creature, some hope that the dangers it posed are gone, but does a being that powerful need to be alive to impact the universe? Does its mere existence distort reality? Are there more Krakens swimming about the system, devouring Kerbals as they roam? Are Krakens nothing but innocent space creatures harming no one, being blamed for the dangers of space?
Is the creature even truly dead?
The answers to these questions are for you, brave Kerbonaut, to answer yourself, but the often strange events that occur on your adventures may well be due to the Kraken, so be wary of its tentacles.
Pol
From a distance, Pol is hard to see; the closer you get, the less impressive it seems. With a lumpy and uneven appearance akin to Bop, Pol would seem worth a pass, but first impressions are deceiving.
The smallest moon of Jool, Pol, again like Bop or Gilly, is likely a captured asteroid. Pol features the lowest gravity of any moon other than Gilly. This would seem to make landing easy on RCS thrust alone, but the terrain of Pol has other ideas.
The brown-to-yellow-to-green surface at distance hides the very unusual terrain. Pol is covered in many mountains and gigantic cliffs, kilometers wide and deep, making your choice of landing site paramount to your survival.
If the cliffs and mountains weren’t unique enough, Pol has numerous twisted spike rocks covering the surface, the existence of which is a mystery just waiting for a genius geologist Kerbonaut to solve.
Eeloo
The last and farthest planet in the system, Eeloo is small, not being much bigger than Mun. Eeloo is commonly categorized as a dwarf planet.
Getting out to Eeloo will require very efficient engines, quite a long time, and a lot of fuel. Getting home will require even more. The orbit of Eeloo intersects with Jool, but luckily (or unluckily for the photo opportunities), the planets are not on a collision course.
Once you’re at Eeloo itself there is no atmosphere to help with landing, but the small gravity makes landing and escaping pretty straightfoward.
The surface is covered in ice, giving the planet a ghostly white appearance. In some of the canyons and craters, the true brown surface of the planet can be seen.
Due to the extreme distance from Kerbol, the prepared Kerbonaut will pack extra solar panels for powering electronics, as well as extra sandwiches for the long journey.
Other than the impressive nature of the journey itself, there is little to excite you on this planet. Few impressive geological or unusual features, and no moons, make the final planet in the system duller than its closer siblings, but who knows what lies beyond it? Will you be the first Kerbonaut to discover there is more beyond Eeloo?
Summary
There’s a huge amount of space to explore in Kerbal Space Program, and making your way to every planet and moon is a huge accomplishment that few manage.
This is the end of Part I. In Part II we’ll start having some proper adventures in space as we look at what it takes to actually run a space program, get to various parts of the solar system, and reenact some famous Earth-originating space missions in the Kerbol system.