December 2, 2012: KERBAL Space Program.
A Computer Game that Teaches.
PARENT COMMENT: This is a game I actually
encourage Jonathan to play. Hard to believe.
Written by Jonathan Ciavolino
Kerbal Space Program, made by Squad, is a
very realistic space flight simulator. In KSP
you can build almost any rocket design with the
parts given, and with add-ons the stuff you can
do is endless. You can build space planes,
launched horizontally, or Rockets, Launched
vertically. Right now there is only a Sandbox
mode to the game, but soon there will be career
mode where you have money and other resources.
When you first get the game there is many things
to do like going for a landing on other planets
or flying to the Mun (moon), but the best way to
start is to try and achieve a basic orbit over
Kerbin. The main planet, Kerbin, is about half
the size of earth, so it is quiet easy to get in
to space even with a small rocket If the basic
game somehow gets boring, you can install part
packs that give you better and larger parts to
use in game. Not only is Kerbal Space Program
super fun it is very educating about space
flight.
In the VAB, the building where you build
rockets launched vertically, you can pick from
five command modules that carry your crew
members. There are four sets of parts in the
game right now: Propulsion, Command and Control,
body parts, and utility and scientific parts.
Right now there are 73 parts in the game, but
more are added every time a new update comes
out. They also just announced that in the next
update they are adding many new parts,
electrical systems, and docking in orbit. There
is also the SPH (space plane hangar) you can
build horizontally launched space planes on a
runway. The parts are the same from the VAB but
the way you build the planes in different. The
space plane part of the game is unfinished but
it is getting better.
There are now five planets in the Kerbal
system: Jool, a large gas planet, Duna, very
similar to mars, Kerbin, the earth like planet
and the home of the Kerbals, Eve a planet with
very thick atmosphere, and Moho, pretty much the
same as mercury. There will also be other solar
systems added in the future. They are also
adding two more planets, one extremely close to
the sun, and another one quiet far out in the
solar system.
Even though the game leans heavily on real
physics you don’t need to know much about real
physics to begin flying. One thing you need to
remember is thrust-to-weight ratio, which is
don’t put 1000s of gallons of fuel on the rocket
and only have one engine, the key is balance. If
you understand that you will be able to
successfully travel the universe in the game.
Another thing to remember is that once you get
in to space since there isn’t gravity you can
have a ton of fuel and a small amount of thrust
to move with speed in space. But if you are
still in the atmosphere you always want more
thrust then fuel, because if you have too much
fuel you can’t go anywhere.
Key Links
General View of the Vehicle Assembly building
View of a rocket on the launch pad
Small unmanned rover preparing to enter the
atmosphere of Duna the Mars like planet
View of the rocket going through the low levels
of the atmosphere
Small one man lander on the surface of the Mun
(moon)
Second stage of a rocket entering the orbital
ejection stage
View of the orbital view where you can see your
ships projected path
Large 3 man lander on the surface of the Mun
(moon)
A view of the Mun, Kerbin, and a simple ship
A large 3 man lander entering the decent stage
of the mission
Lander that is about to land on the surface of
the Mun
A Capsule on final decent with parachute open
and the Kerbal space center in the backround.
Capsule on final decent with the parachute open
and all of Kerbal space center in view |
