Encyclopaedia Kerbalis

[MinimalMinmus]

Hello!

Today, I decided to start a large project on Kerbal space program: writing encyclopedic definitions for every bodies of the Kerbolar system! The infos will be varied, from history of science to exogeology, as well as some kerbal culture. I will try as much as possible to keep the whole scientifically sound. If you see anything that could be improved on this part, be sure to tell me. Also, you can if you want create your own articles, based on a body of the Kerbolar system, or you could expand on some of the topics I mention here.

This works will take OPM as canon, by the way, because things like "gas giants dance" and outer asteroid belts disruptions are easier to explain with three more giants.

So, without further waiting, here is the first "article". Minmus! The Mun, Eve and Gilly are already finished, the two latter only need some polishing, and Duna is WIP.

Oh, and thanks @KSK twice, first to have inspired me to write, and another time as he helped me fixing the style of the articles!

P.S. It's also worth nothing that @KSK has made a companion thread for the encyclopedia, you might want to check it to, and thus here's the link.

 

 

Minmus

 

Minmus (from min -star- and musi -motion-; "the wandering star") is Kerbin's outermost and smallest mun.

 

Discovery:

 

Minmus has been known for at least three millennia. The earliest acknowledgement of its existence was in The Epic of Hijon:

 

"As Father Light left the munless sky, the crew despaired, for they couldn't orient themselves without its rays, and the seakerbs felt panic rise in their hearth. Kidui asked his captain "Shall we follow this white star?" "We shall not. For this is the wanderer. The white fiend maliciously moves in the night sky, tricking the explorer to follow it"".

 

(Book two, chapter five)

 

However, until the eleventh century, Minmus was assumed to be a planet: early depictions of the Kerbolar system show Minmus as a fourth planet between Kerbin and Duna. This model failed to account for the occasional transit of Kerbol by Minmus, causing its eventual downfall.

 

The next step in Minmus' observation was made in 1350, when, for the first time, Minmus was observed by Lagoil Kerman using his newly invented telescope. He was able to distinguish several Minmal features, most notably the three main flats and, by observing their motion over time , was able to calculate Minmus’s rotational period.

 

Observations:

 

Minmus can easily be spotted from Kerbin, with an apparent magnitude as high as -10, making it brighter than Jool and the third brightest object in the sky, after Kerbol and Mun. As such, Minmus can provide a substantial amount of light while full, and can even cast a shadow. While it typically appears as a dot with the naked eye, it can easily be shown to be a disk with binoculars. Its surface features can be seen with a moderately powerful telescope and mountains close to the flats can be seen near the terminator thanks to the shadow they cast. However, its blue color can only be seen while Minmus is half full: during a "full Minmus", the amount of light Minmus reflects makes it appear white.

 

Origins:

 

Minmus' origin is still debated. The most popular theory is the "comet theory” which posits that Minmus is an unusually large comet that was captured by the combined attraction of Kerbin and the Mun about a billion years ago, and proceeded to lose most of its ice through evaporation. The theory further explains how the near-perfect flats were formed: Minmus was born differentiated, and the flats are the exposed outer core of Minmus, while the highlands are still made of dirty ice. However, Minmus’s speed during its fly-by of the Kerbin system would be too high for a capture, given a speed consistent to smaller comets.

 

In comparison, the Kepper-Minmus theory states that Minmus originated in the Kepper belt. Minmus was the mun of a bigger dwarf planet, or alternatively Minmus itself had a mun. According to the theory, Minmus was ejected into the inner system during the extension of Neidon's orbit, four billion years ago. During the fly-by, its companion was ejected, while Minmus stayed in Kerbin's orbit. This theory is supported by the presence of several muns in the Kerbolar system having a similar hue and density, most notably Vall and Polta. The former has even been said to be Minmus' companion, however a double capture, first by Kerbin and then by Jool, is highly unlikely.

 

Surface features:

 

The most visible features on Minmus are the various flats. The best-known flats are the “Greater Flats”, the “Great Flats” and the “Lesser Flats”. However, at least fifteen more have been observed, the biggest of them being the “Northern Flats”, themselves half the size of the Lesser Flats.

 

Every flat is centered on the equator. No flat has been observed at latitudes higher than 45° or lower than -45°.

 

While their flatness was almost known since the first observations, it wasn’t until the first few probes around Minmus, and Minmus’ first topological map that they we revealed to be even flatter than previously thought: the altitude gradient of the Greater Flats is less than fifty centimeters across its whole surface. Indeed, the Sarnus crews were able to calculate Minmus’s curvature from direct observations of the horizon from the Flats.

 

Another noticeable feature of Minmus is the plateaus. Reaching above 5500m compared to the Flats, they are often surrounded by tall cliffs, creating a stark transition between Flats-to-Mountain transitional terrain (the Lowlands) and the lower parts of the Plateaus (the Midlands). It has been theorized that, if Minmus is a comet, then the Plateaus’ darker and less volatile materials protected the rest of the local ice from evaporating.

 

Exploration:

 

Minmus, being smaller than the Mun, was considered a prime target for the first crewed flights beyond Kerbin orbit. However, being farther away than the latter, engineers of the Sarnus program faced difficulties with the life support systems within the service module, postponing the Minmal landing to Sarnus 8. The ship left Kerbin on day 349 of the year 1783, and landed on day 362. On board were the engineer Bill Kerman, mission commander and first to set foot, Madne Kerman, mission scientist, and Lodnie Kerman, as the pilot.

 

After having descended from the lander, Bill Kerman famously said "Today, the one who set a foot on the cyan mun is not called Madne, Lodnie or Bill, he is called Kerbalkind".

 

Three more successful missions were sent to Minmus after Sarnus 8, however after the Sarnus 19 lander was lost due to a faulty solar panel during the descent, forcing the three astronauts to use their EVA packs to get back to the service module, further crewed exploration of Minmus was halted.

 

However, if the comet theory is shown to be true, Minmus would make a prime location for a future surface base, as its ice could be refined into oxygen and hydrogen, while its ammonia ice could be refined into hydrazine.

Edited April 5, 2017 by MinimalMinmus

[MinimalMinmus]

Another day, another mun... but this one has a cap!

Mun

 

The Mun (from the superlative form of min meaning star - literally “The great star”) is both the closest and the largest of the natural satellites of Kerbin.

 

Discovery:

 

Because of its very large size, the Mun has always been known to Kerbalkind. Early depictions of the Mun from as early as the fortieth millennium b.c.e. are known. Furthermore, some insects are known to use munlight for navigating at night.

 

However, as the Mun is tidally locked with Kerbin, many of its surface features were unknown until the space age, most notably five of its ten largest impact craters. They were finally discovered in 1769 when a probe, “Muna II”, successfully took the the first images of the far side.

 

Eclipses:

 

The Mun follows a circular orbit almost perfectly coplanar to Kerbin’s orbit around Kerbol. Coincidentally, the Mun is also the size of Kerbol in the sky, as it is both 1300 times closer and smaller than Kerbol. For those reasons, two eclipses occur every rotational period (6 days, 2 hours and 36 minutes).

 

When the Mun enters it’s full “New mun” phase, a Kerbolar eclipse occurs, during which the shadow of the Mun sweeps along Kerbin’s equator. The full eclipse is only experienced at latitudes close to 0 radians. At higher or lower latitudes, the Mun doesn’t perfectly cover the Sun, resulting in a “Partial eclipse”. With the eclipse comes a temporary but significant lowering of Kerblight. On the equator, the two minutes of the full eclipse are very dark, as Minmus (which cannot be full) provides the only substantial source of light.

 

When the Mun enter its full “Full mun” phase, a Munar eclipse occurs. During it, the Mun fully enters the umbra of Kerbin. Over the course of several hours, the Mun first progressively darkens as it enters the penumbra, and then grows red-brown as it enters the umbra, as the only light that doesn’t get completely removed is red and near infrared, and eventually almost completely disappears, before progressively reappearing. A Munar eclipse can be observed from the whole of Kerbin’s night side.

 

The regularity of the Mun’s eclipses has influenced various kerbal mythologies. One example that remains to this day is the use of a 13-days week, as 13 days is the approximate time between two visible eclipses of the same type on the same hemisphere – in the meantime, another eclipse happens while the hemisphere is on the opposing side.

 

Origins:

 

The leading theory of the Mun’s formation is that Kerbin and the Mun were formed together out of the same primitive material. Indeed, the Mun’s composition is very similar to Kerbin’s, and its orbit is very regular. If the Mun was the product of a gigantic impact with a Duna-sized body, as previously thought, its orbit would have had few reasons to be almost completely circular and coplanar with Kerbin’s.

 

A further proof of this theory is the existence of a very similar system for Duna and Ike. Indeed, the Duna-Ike system is close to being a scaled-down Kerbin-Mun system. The main difference between the two is that, as Ike is proportionally slightly bigger, and Duna is smaller than Kerbin, resulting in fewer disruptions in the form of other giant impacts, Kerbin isn't tidally locked with the Mun, unlike Duna with Ike.

 

Surface features:

 

As the Mun has experienced no geological activity for billions of years, most of its features remained unchanged to this day. The most visually impressive of these are the ten large, dark Munar craters. The Far side Crater, the East Far side Crater, the Southwest Crater, the Polar Crater, the East Crater and the Northwest Crater mark the sites of six large impacts on the Mun. The diameter of the meteors that created them is thought to be around 15 km. The craters are noticeably darker than the surrounding terrain, and are thought to be around 4 billion years old each, an age consistent with the destruction of a large part of the Kepper belt.

 

Two basins, the Northwest Basin and the Far side Basin, can be found on the northern hemisphere of the Mun. They are thought to be far older craters, possibly from a time when the Mun wasn’t completely solid, giving them an irregular shape.

 

The Twin Craters, namely the Upper Twin Crater (UTC) and Lower Twin Crater (LTC) is a complex of two noticeably more recent impacts. They are thought to have formed, almost simultaneously, around 1,500 million years ago. The UTC’s impact was caused by a meteor of a diameter of around 2 km, while the LTC was caused by a meteor of a diameter of around 8 km. They are believed to be the result of a meteor splitting in two shortly after entering the Mun’s SOI, or possibly an asteroid with an asteroid mun.

 

The poles of the Mun are very jagged, with large mountain ranges dotting the landscape. They are believed to be caused by the progressive cooling of the Mun, causing it to slowly shrink and wrinkle.

 

Observation:

 

The Mun is very visible from Kerbin: its apparent magnitude can climb up to -16 a few hours before a Munar eclipse, making it the second brightest object in the sky. The dark side is visible with the naked eye at twilight and sunrise, as the reflected light from Kerbin is enough to partially illuminate it.

 

The Mun can be seen at day during the transitional phases between new and full Mun. However, the brightness of Kerbin’s atmosphere masks the dark side during those phases.

 

Exploration:

 

As the most visible object in Kerbin’s sky, save for Kerbol itself, the Mun has always been a prime target for exploration and was designated the first landing target of the Sarnus program. The first landing was made with Sarnus 6, by Jebediah Kerman, mission, commander and Valentina Kerman, the first astronaut to set foot on another heavenly body, whilst the service and return module, manned by Amrin Kerman stayed in orbit. The spaceship left on day 51 of year 1782, and landed on day 53. Valentina’s first words were: “Today, after overcoming countless obstacles, Kerbalkind steps into the space age”.

 

After Sarnus 6, eleven more successful missions were sent to the Mun: Sarnus 7, 9, 10, 12, 13, 15, 17, 18, 20, 21 and ending with Sarnus 22, completing the Sarnus program.

 

In the future, while the Mun would make a poor refueling station as it has little surface ice, but it’s comparative abundance of metals may make it a possible target for a extrakerbian shipyard, as the Mun has no atmosphere and a lower gravity compared to Kerbin.

Edited April 5, 2017 by MinimalMinmus

[MinimalMinmus]

Next in line: a small article for a smaller mun.

 

 

Eve

 

Eve (From Hevi – Ancient god of royalty -) is the second planet of the Kerbolar system, as well as the largest rocky planet. It is the sixth biggest object of the system, being smaller than Neidon, but bigger than Kerbin.

 

Discovery:

 

Eve is one of the classical planets, along with Kerbin, Duna, Jool and Sarnus, that have been known since the classical era. However, because Eve is perpetually shrouded in a thick layer of clouds, almost every single one of its features remained unknown for centuries.

 

For those reasons, as its extreme surface conditions weren’t known, it was assumed before the discovery of its surfaces features that Eve was very similar to Kerbin, complete with a lush, purple flora. Many authors before this made Eve the home of extrakerbials, the classical type being “little purple kerbals” that would blend with their home world.

 

Eve remained seemingly munless until the year 1685, when, during one of Eve’s period of maximal visibility, the astronomer Meilu Kerman discovered a small mun on an elliptical orbit, which was named “Gilly”.

 

Finally, in the year 1762, the probe Iodine II arrived in polar orbit around Eve, and partially mapped the planet. Then, it detached its lander, which plunged into the atmosphere and revealed the hellish conditions on the surface of the purple planet before contact was lost, probably due to a nearby storm or because of an electronic failure.

 

Atmosphere:

 

The atmosphere of Eve is thick. At sea level, its pressure is slightly more than five bars, or five times that of Kerbin’s atmosphere at sea level. It seems to be mostly made of carbon dioxide (around 90%), nitrogen (around 5%) and more unidentified gases, including the hydrocarbons responsible for its purple haze. From space, the atmosphere makes the Evian surface almost impossible to see.

 

The thickness of the atmosphere came as a surprise for the first missions to Eve. The first probe of the Iodine series was lost due to Mission Control underestimating the danger of aerobraking around Eve, causing Iodine I to be disintegrated by its atmosphere. 

 

During the day, the sea partially evaporates, creating clouds and, eventually, rain. Sometimes those clouds break into violent thunderstorms, with speeds sometimes exceeding 210 km/h (130 mph, 65 m/s)

 

Observation:

 

Eve ties with Duna as the fourth brightest object in the sky, with a magnitude of -3. In the night sky, it can be seen as a vibrant purple dot. Eve is one of the first objects to be seen after dusk, and can even be seen before it, if one knows where to look.

 

Just like the Mun and Minmus, Eve has noticeable phases when seen with a telescope. However, as Eve can only be full while in opposition to Kerbol, it is actually most visible in it’s crescent phase.

 

Transits:

 

Approximately every 31 years, a transit of Eve occurs. During the transit, an observer on Kerbin can see the planet obscuring a fraction of Kerbol’s disk. The transit can be as short as an hour if Eve only grazes Kerbol, and as long as a day if it is perfectly centered.

 

Extremely rarely, a transit of Eve happens at the same time as a transit of Moho. These double transits generally happen once every hundred millennia. The last one was on the day 165 of the year 63874 B.C.E and the next will be on the day 31 of the year 43854 C.E Additionally, on the year 21,543,289, a triple transit will occur, with Moho, Eve and Minmus covering Kerbol at the same time.

 

Magnetosphere:

 

Eve is surrounded a powerful magnetic field. Its surface strength is about 100 to 150 microtesla, or 1 to 1.5 gauss. This would imply that Eve has a fully liquid and large core, without an inner core, unlike Kerbin. Eve’s magnetic field also plays a key role in maintaining surface hydrogen so close to Kerbol, and preventing it from escaping to space.

 

Surface features:

 

After a number of uncrewed landings on Eve, and a systematic mapping of the Evian surface by Iodine II and IV, several features were discovered on Eve.

 

The “Explodium Sea” is the unofficial nickname for the large sea on Eve. It seems to be composed mostly of non-volatile hydrocarbons, hydrogen peroxide and other, longer chain, alcohols. As the former is fairly unstable on Kerbin, some process on Eve must be responsible for replenishing them and it has been suggested that their formation are catalyzed by various chemicals on Eve able to convert water to H2O2.

 

The coasts of the Explodium Sea are very jagged, with a lot of isthmuses, lakes, straights, islands and fjords. This extreme topography is thought to be due to aggressive coastal erosion by the Explodium Sea. As the materials constituting the coast are very uneven, the looser rocks are eroded much more easily than the igneous rocks, creating the patterns we observe today.

 

A series of isthmuses peaks and craters form the “Imperial Peninsula” on the eastern hemisphere of Eve. The peninsula appears  to be mostly volcanic in origins, as the surrounding region seems to be a large hot spot. Most of the local craters aren’t meteoritic but volcanic in origin, and should therefore be called calderas rather than craters.

Several impact craters are present on Eve, most notably the Regal Crater, which has often been compared to Kerbin’s impact crater. It was created about 30 million years ago by a meteor with a diameter of around 25 kilometers, making it the most recent large impact crater in the Kerbolar system. Its bottom was eventually filled by the constant rains. For those reasons the “crater sea” contains much purer peroxides, due to this natural distillation process.

 

The large landmass of Eve, the “Meilu Pangaea” stretches across the western hemisphere of Eve from pole to pole. It incorporates two large inland seas, and is mainly constituted of plateaus and plains, along with the occasional mountain range. The rocks on the surface seem to be mainly igneous intrusive and extrusive, but as Evian lava is hotter than Kerbian lava; it emerges mostly as an altered form of peridotite and komatiite (peridotite’s extrusive form).

 

Exploration:

 

A kerballed exploration of Eve is unthinkable with current technology.

 

High sea-level atmospheric pressure severely reduces the efficiency of current rocket engine designs which, combined with Eve’s high gravity, would make an ascent to orbit extremely challenging. The high gravity would also require a substantially more robust lander than was used for the Sarnus programme, as well as posing a number of questions about the viability of surface extra-vehicular activities and astronaut safety in general.

 

This may change, however, if plans to exploit Eve’s mun Gilly are realised. Gilly’s low gravity would greatly facilitate transfer of materiel, whether that be fuel or spaceship parts, to Eve orbit.

 

Remote exploration of Eve by rover has been suggested, although as yet no rover has been created that can withstand Evian atmospheric conditions and the 150 °C daytime temperatures.

Edited April 5, 2017 by MinimalMinmus

[MinimalMinmus]

Itty teenie munie Gilly

Gilly

 

Gilly (from guilly, prince) is the only natural satellite of Eve.

 

Discovery:

 

Gilly was discovered in 1685, on day 261 by the astronomer Meilu Kerman, during observations of the planet Eve. This landmark discovery was made using a 20cm reflecting telescope, the most powerful telescope of its day. Despite the almost ideal observation conditions, Meilu noticed a persistent shiny, brown spot nearby, slowly moving away from Eve. Thinking he’d discovered a small comet, Meilu decided to track the spot.

 

Three days later, the object started slowing, and eventually on day four after his first observation it stopped and started moving toward Eve. Then, after passing by Eve, the object started to slow again and eventually came back to its original position, over the course of a week. Seeing this, Meilu Kerman transmitted his data to the Kerbin Astronomical Society, which acknowledged the object as a mun and named it Gilly.

 

Gilly remained almost unknown until the probe Iodine III entered orbit around it in 1767, and dropped a simple lander onto the surface.

 

Observations:

 

Because of its small size, observing Gilly is very difficult without a relatively powerful telescope. Furthermore, its faint light can be obscured by Eve: indeed, Gilly reflects 150,000 times less light than its mother planet, for a total magnitude of up to +10 in the best case, putting it out of range of observation by binoculars. The few surface features on Gilly are generally not observable without specialised instrumentation, whether orbital or ground-based.

 

Origins:

 

From its orbit and eccentricity, Gilly is thought to be a captured asteroid. The time of the capture is not clear, but it is thought to have been orbiting Eve for at least two billion years. Gilly itself is believed to have formed along with the rest of the asteroids 4.5 billion years ago.

 

Surface features:

 

Gilly is too small to be differentiated, and from surface tests it seems to be a large “loose conglomerate”, a large pile of rocks held together by gravity. However, Gilly’s surface appears to be looser at it’s “highlands” or regions of relatively higher terrain.

Gilly’s surface rocks are mostly made of basalt and iron oxides, giving it a grey-brown appearance. However, it seems to also contain several organic compounds that stayed unaltered for several billion years, potentially offering new insights into the origins of Kerbian life. Bringing samples of these materials back to Kerbin for further study has been a long-standing objective of the kerbal scientific community.

 

In popular culture:

 

Gilly has featured prominently in kerbal science fiction. Most notably, Gilly is the asteroid home of the eponymous Petit Prince in the Krench novel.

 

Exploration:

 

Unlike Eve, Gilly is considered a serious objective for a future mission outside of Kerbin’s SOI, thanks to its tiny gravity well, far outside of Eve’s. It would be very easy to transfer materials from Gilly to other places for the same reasons, and the possibility of organic materials within Gilly has further reinforced interest in possible colonization.

•  

[MinimalMinmus]

Dun-Dun-Dun(a)!

Duna

 

Duna (from Dun –god of boldness-) is the fourth planet of the Kerbolar system, and the sixth in size, not counting the muns Tylo, Laythe, Slate and Wal, making it the thirteenth biggest object in the Kerbolar system.

 

Discovery:

 

Duna, along with Eve, Jool, and Sarnus, is one of the four classical planets. Its mun Ike has also been known since the classical period, making it the first mun outside of the Mun and Minmus to have been discovered with the naked eye.

 

Duna’s thin atmosphere was discovered in 1763 by the probe Rubidium I. Its sweep of the “red planet” gave the first high-quality picture of Duna, as well as the first landing on Duna by Cinnabar I, its lander.

 

After Rubidium II was lost due to a  trajectory miscalculation during its planned Ike fly-by, Rubidium III’s mission resulted in the first landing of a rover on Duna, known as “Hematite”. Hematite stayed online for five Dunian years before failing due to a dust storm covering its solar panels.

 

Atmosphere:

 

Duna has a thin but noticeable atmosphere, with a sea level pressure 0,068 times that of Kerbin’s. It seems to be almost entirely be made of carbon dioxide, with some significant traces of methane. Dunian clouds are rare, and the preeminent atmospheric features of Duna are its frequent dust storms. Those storms generally form around the equator before rising to higher latitudes, and are known for having winds in excess of than 50 m/s, or 180 km/h. Famously, because of the significant amount of surface regolith and dust these storms carry, one was able to cover the solar panels of the rover Hematite, dooming it to shut down after the batteries ran out six days later.

 

Observation:

 

Duna’s apparent magnitude can go up to -3, tying it with Eve for the fourth brightest object in the sky.  On clear nights, it appears as a red dot with a distinctive hue. With a telescope, more features appear, most notably the two white poles of Duna. As Duna orbits Kerbol more slowly than Kerbin, the latter sometimes overtakes Duna on its orbit. Observations, and eventual predictions, of Duna’s retrograde motion across the sky were key to establishing the kerbolcentric model of cosmology and marked the beginning of the end for the Kerbicentric model, which eventually fell into disuse around the year 300.

 

Magnetosphere:

 

Duna has been confirmed by Rubidium III to have a vestigial magnetic field, with a surface strength of 7-8 microteslas. It is thought to be generated by Duna’s core; it would be entirely solidified, having cooled entirely due to Duna’s small size, but could still generate a weak magnetic field. This magnetic field isn’t powerful enough to fully protect Duna’s surface from cosmic rays, forcing any possible expeditions on Duna to bring extra shielding against Kerbolar radiation.

 

Kerbiformation:

 

Duna is one of the preferred targets for a possible Kerbiformation, the other being Laythe.

 

The first step for such an endeavor would be to add powerful greenhouse gases to Duna’s atmosphere. This could be done by mining fluorite –Duna seems to be rather rich in fluorite- and transforming the fluorite into tetrafluoromethane, a potent but non-toxic greenhouse gas. This would cause Duna to heat up, and its poles to partially melt. Some additional process to thicken the atmosphere will also be required. If Dunian geology is rich in carbonates, then these could be heated to release carbon dioxide.

 

Once Duna’s surface temperature is high enough to support plant life, biosphere construction can begin. Hardy cyanobacteria are likely to be the living organisms to be introduced, followed successively by algae, grasses and then higher plants, once sufficient surface water is present. Photosynthetic conversion of carbon dioxide to oxygen will then eventually produce a thin but breathable atmosphere for animal life and colonists.

 

It has been estimated such a process would take approximately a millennium  starting from a near-future technological base.

 

Surface features:

 

The best known of Duna’s features is the “Midland Sea”. The Midland Sea is a gigantic canyons and valleys complex stretching around Duna’s equator for almost 10,000 kilometers. It has a varying width, ranging from 50 km to 1,000 km, and a depth of around five kilometers. The Midland Sea branches near its ends into several smaller plains and canyons. It is believed to be a gigantic fault caused by Duna’s cooling: As its crust cooled faster than its core, the former became too small to cover the whole surface of the planet, causing it to break and tear apart, forming the Sea.

 

Duna is also known for its two large, white poles. Because of Duna’s low temperatures, they aren’t composed solely of water ice: during the Dunian winter, the temperature at the poles drops so low that carbon dioxide in the atmosphere freezes out, creating carbonic ice. When the temperature climbs during the spring, the carbonic ice sublimes ,releasing carbon dioxide back to the atmosphere.

 

In addition to the aforementioned polar water ice, there is strong geological and geographical evidence that Duna occasionally experiences liquid water floods, making it one of the three bodies of the Kerbolar system to house liquid water, along with Kerbin and Laythe. Indeed, the rover Hematite II, launched in 1786, found clear traces of a water flow, with a pattern reminiscent of a river bank. Such a structure cannot be older than about a million years, as it would have otherwise been destroyed by the Dunian weather. Hence, Duna is thought to house the occasional pocket of salted water. When such a pocket is breached, it bursts and starts flowing, creating temporary rivers, before eventually evaporating or freezing.

 

In popular culture:

 

Along with Eve, Duna in fiction has been often depicted as housing an extraterrestrial species, whose intentions towards Kerbin varies from a medium to another. In the movie Duna attacks! , Dunians are hostile, but the eponymous E.K. the Extrakerbial, who has been confirmed by the author to be Dunian, is nice and helps the young kerbal who rescued him.

More recently, the famous book The Dunian narrates the plight of a stranded kerbal on Duna, millions of kilometers away from home.

 

Exploration:

 

Because of its similarities with Kerbin, and the still present myth surrounding the hypothetical Dunians, Duna has always been a prime target for probes and rovers. Furthermore, Duna is considered a serious target for crewed exploration, thanks to the possible gravitational help from Ike, as well the relatively accessible raw materials on both bodies.

 

However, such an expedition remains very difficult and would push the necessary technology to its limits. The need for a partial closed-cycle life support, the massive fuel needs of a conventional Kerbin to Duna and Duna to Kerbin transfer stage, and the harsh psychological conditions for the kerbal volunteers, who’ll have to spend several years of their life within a small space with practically no intimacy, are only a few of the many challenges to be overcome.

Edited April 5, 2017 by MinimalMinmus

[MinimalMinmus]

Yes, I am late... Ike know, right?

Ike

 

Ike (from Ikel -goddess of friendship, and Dun’s consort-) is Duna’s only natural satellite.

 

Discovery:

 

While not a “classical planet” due to being a mun, Ike has been known for as long as Duna. The presence of two visibly linked but errant bodies in the sky strongly affected kerbal mythology in the past, with Duna and Ike often being portrayed as a pair of brothers, a couple, or as rivals.

 

Ike’s features or even appearance were largely unknown until Pelkre Kerman undertook an in-depth observation of its surface features in 1598, revealing its mountain ranges.

The exploration of Ike was the principal objective of the Rubidium II probe, which was equipped with an Ike lander in addition to a rover for Duna. Unfortunately the probe was lost due to a miscalculation during its braking fly-by of Ike, causing it to crash into the mun. However, the much more successful Rubidium IV reached Ike in 1779, and was able to land the rover Galena. Galena explored the surface of Ike for more than ten years, transmitting a wealth of scientific data in the process, before progressively shutting down due to electronic failures.

 

In the summer of the year 1796, an asteroid named A-Y1795-D145-N1 briefly entered a polar orbit around Ike, and was given the nickname “magic boulder”. However, the asteroid’s orbit was repeatedly perturbed  by by Duna’s gravitational field and it eventually crashed into Ike. A-Y1795-D145-N1 is nevertheless the only other example, save for Wal’s mun Tal, of a natural subsatellite.

 

Observation:

 

When Ike is visible, preferably when the angle between Kerbin, Duna and Ike is 90°, it appears as a dim spot with a magnitude of +1. Over the course of its 3 day rotational period, Ike progressively dims as it approaches the much brighter Duna.

 

The luminosity of the Duna-Ike system constantly varies due to the unevenness of Ike’s albedo, but over the course of one period, four large drops in luminosity are observed:

 

1: When Ike’s umbra sweeps Duna, a Dunian / Kerbolar eclipse occurs, causing Duna to appear dimmer due to its partially obstructed surface. With a telescope, Ike’s umbra becomes visible.

 

2: When Ike passes between Kerbin and Duna, a Dunian / Kerbian eclipse occurs. During the eclipse, Duna gets very noticeably dimmer as Ike reflects much less light than Duna. The two bodies can only be distinguished by telescope.

 

3. When Ike enters Duna’s umbra, an Ikal / Kerbolar eclipse occurs, causing Ike to rapidly become almost invisible. With a telescope, it is possible to see Ike reddening before turning completely red, an effect similar to a Munar eclipse.

 

4. Finally, when Ike passes behind Duna, an Ikal / Kerbian eclipse occurs.

 

Origins:

 

Just like Kerbin and the Mun, Duna and Ike were formed together at the dawn of the Kerbolar system. Unlike the Kerbin-Mun system however, Duna and Ike are tidally locked. It has been estimated that Ike became locked with Duna approximately 3 billion years ago and Duna with Ike approximately 500 million years ago.

 

Ike’s surface’s origin is mostly basaltic: it appears that Ike suffered at least one massive impact in it’s youth, with an asteroid at least the size of Hale. The impact caused a large part of Ike’s surface to melt, forming the basalt plains we know today. Then, over the years, Ike was  impacted by several hundred minor asteroids. It has been theorized that these were ejected from the thinning Drerian Belt, 3.8 billion years ago. 

 

Unlike Duna, Ike has no way to remove the older impacts, and because it was already geologically dead at the time of the impacts, the resulting craters have stayed unaltered since then.

 

Exploration:

 

Thanks to its small size and gravity, as well as richness in metals, Ike is a seriously considered side-target for a Duna mission: While a Dunian base would be able to get the water Ike lacks, an Ikal base would be able to send materials to interplanetary space with little effort.

 

However, such a base wouldn’t be without drawbacks: most notably, Duna’s magnetosphere offers almost no protection to Ike against harmful Kerbolar particles. This means an Ikal base would need a way to shield itself, for example by being built partially buried in Ike’s regolith.

Edited March 25, 2017 by MinimalMinmus

[MinimalMinmus]

Moho

 

Moho (from Moh –scorching-) is the first planet of the Kerbolar system, and the smallest not to be considered to be dwarf, hence excluding Dres and Plock / Karen.

 

Discovery:

 

While Moho was observed accidentally on numerous occasions during the classical era, its irregular orbit prevented its unambiguous identification as a planet and not as another type of celestial body, such as a small meteor or a comet, by classical astronomers. Indeed, Moho is almost completely invisible to the naked eye while close to Kerbol (at perikerbion), and is difficult to observe even at akerbion.

 

It wasn’t until the year 201 that Lyptome catalogued Moho’s motion in the sky, and was able to predict its next appearance. As a result, Moho was originally referred to as Lyptome’s planet before the name gradually fell into disuse in favour of a more formal one.

 

The next breakthrough in Moho’s exploration was made by the probes Osmium I and II, both launched in 1769. Originally, the Moho program would only contain Osmium I, but it was discovered once in Kerbian orbit that one of the main hydrogen tanks of the probe’s transfer stage was leaking and was therefore unusable. To save the probe with a reduced delta-V budget, mission control was forced to ditch its rover and its communication microsatellites before braking into Moho’s orbit.

 

As the transfer window wasn’t over when the leak was discovered, Osmium I’s sister probe was immediately launched, after being stripped of some of its redundant sensors, and immediately sent towards Moho. The transfer was successful, but even then the delta-V budget came short. Famously, when the rocket-propelled rover reached the surface, less than 1% of its fuel was remaining, enough for an estimated 16 ms^-1 delta-V.

 

The rover, called Pyrite, proceeded to navigate Moho south to north over the course of eight years, making it exceptionally long lived for a rover. It finally shut down in 1778 due to a radiation failure linked to Kerbolar high energy ultraviolet rays.

 

Observation:

 

Moho is considered to be very hard to spot in the sky. Its moment of visibility come typically right after dusk or right before dawn, during which it appears as a pale beige spot with a magnitude of typically +1, under good conditions. While it can reach magnitudes of up to -0.5, this occurs whilst Moho is behind Kerbol, making it impossible to observe.

 

The ideal parameters for an observation of Moho are:

1.      Moho is as close to akerbion as possible

2.      Kerbin is neither close to Kerbol nor Moho

 

Transits:

 

Sometimes, when Kerbin, Moho and Kerbol are well aligned, a transit occurs. A transit can be up to four hours long and during it, Moho appears on Kerbol as a small black dot. The observed diameter of Moho can vary by up to 100% depending on its orbital position.

 

Transits of Moho are relatively frequent, despite the planet’s elliptical orbit not being coplanar with Kerbin’s, due to Moho’s short “year”. Approximately, one transit is observed every nine years. The last one happened on the 45th day of the year 1806, and the next one will take place on the 174th day of the year 1815.

 

Transits of Moho are visible from every planet of the Kerbolar system. However, they become rarer and rarer the further from Kerbol the “observing” planet is: from Eve, a transit is seen every five years, but from Neidon, they are more than a millenium apart.

 

Surface features:

 

Moho has four large impact basins, or “Lowlands”. They were formed by various collisions with comets coming close to Kerbol. Their age varies from 900 million years approximately for the youngest, the South Eastern Lowlands, to 3 billion years for the oldest, the Central lowlands.

 

Several non-meteoritic craters exist on Moho. They are thought to be the calderas of old Mohovian volcanoes. The collapse of the magmatic chamber of such volcanoes can create sinkholes, some several kilometers deep. The best-known of these sinkholes, as well as largest and first discovered, is the “Northern Sinkhole”, or “Mohole”, on the North Pole. Its origin probably traces from an ancient supervolcano, or possibly a core flare back to the time Moho still had a partially fluid mantle. The sinkhole itself is four kilometers deep, and seems to be carved into a basalt-like rock. Its ridges are surprisingly jagged, suggesting that some of the hole collapsed recently.

Contrary to popular belief until the arrival of the Osmium probes, Moho isn’t tidally locked with Kerbol: instead it very slowly spins in a 3/2 motion, causing the Mohovian day to be longer than its year. As such Moho has the highest temperature gradient of the whole Kerbolar system: Daytime can reach as high as 700 K, whilst nighttime temperatures plummet as low as 100K.

 

In popular culture:

 

Moho is sometimes seen in science-fiction, yet not as commonly as most other planets. Among others, Moho is where the first novel of the Robot Cycle takes place.

 

Exploration:

 

Moho is considered a very unlikely target for kerballed exploration, as the fuel budget needed for a round trip to Moho and back is too high without using, at the very least, a gravity assist from Eve, which makes the mission only possible at very specific times.

 

An unkerballed mission is however considered possible. The main difficulty comes from Moho’s proximity to Kerbol, the resulting temperatures and radiation levels being capable of frying some of the more fragile electronics. For this reason, it has been proposed to only explore Moho’s night side. In effect a roving vehicle would track Moho’s rotation thus slowly covering as much of the planet’s surface as possible before failing.

Edited April 5, 2017 by MinimalMinmus

[lajoswinkler]

Why don't you divert your efforts to editing the wiki? Threads sink and are forgotten. Wiki is always available.

[MinimalMinmus]

55 minutes ago, lajoswinkler said:

Why don't you divert your efforts to editing the wiki? Threads sink and are forgotten. Wiki is always available.

Most if not all of the info I put is non-canon. In fact, the very genesis of this thread is me thinking about "Things that are cool to know, but the wiki would surely not tell this kind of stuff".

So, it would get removed from the wiki, and everything would have been in vain. Here, however, it is exactly at the right spot.

Edited February 22, 2017 by MinimalMinmus

[Tex]

I'm really loving this, actually- One of my favorite things to do is speculate and research aspects of different games for the fun of it. I tried something similar in Minecraft, and I actually once considered trying to make a Minecraft constellation map.

[MinimalMinmus]

You may be saying Dres doesn't exist, but this does:

Dres

 

Dres (from dres –runt-) is the closest dwarf planet to Kerbol, and the only one in the main asteroid belt.

 

Discovery:

 

Dres is very rarely visible with the unaided eye, and is difficult to see even under the best conditions. As such, Dres was unknown throughout whole classical era.

 

The first reported sighting of Dres was in 1534: Smeiser Kerman was trying to build a star catalogue using his telescope. Unbeknownst to him, Smeiser observed the dwarf planet and classified it as a star. Two years later, Smeiser Kerman double-checked the various stars of the catalogue. In the meantime, Dres had moved, and the astronomer removed it from the catalogue, concluding he had in fact “observed” an eye flare due to the proximity of Duna at the time.

 

However, three days later, on the 412th day of the year 1536, whilst checking another group of stars, Smeiser Kerman found an object he hadn’t classified. Intrigued, he decided to track it. Seeing the object slowly move over the course of several days, he remembered his previous encounter of the object, and decided to compute a possible orbit before sending the proposed discovery of new planet to the Ledic Society of Astronomy,  an august body that would later become the Kerbin Astronomical Society.

 

Unfortunately, by the time Smeiser’s letter was read, Dres was in conjunction with Kerbol, making it unobservable. For this reason, the LSA gave the theory little support, as fake reports of new celestial bodies were, by then, very common.

 

Eventually, Dres moved out of conjunction, and the astronomer Naichem Kerman, friend and colleague of Smeiser, was able to spot it again for the first time on the 21st day of the year 1537.

 

Dres remained mostly unknown until 1809, as the probe “Kerbolrise” was able to enter Drerian orbit, and map its entire surface.

 

Observation:

 

The surface of Dres has a widely fluctuating albedo depending on the side being observed. However, Dres itself rarely gets any brighter than +6. This makes it possible, if challenging, to observe it with the naked eye but only under ideal conditions.

 

It is strongly recommended to use at least binoculars or a low-gain telescope  for observing Dres.

 

Its surface features are large enough to be observed from Kerbin with a research telescope, but the smaller ones remained unknown until 1809.

 

The Drerian Belt:

 

Dres share its orbit with many minor bodies that are thought to be the remains of a previous planetoid the size of Duna. When Jool’s orbit became temporarily erratic, 4.5 billion years ago, due to its migration, Jool entered what would become the Belt repeatedly. Over the course of 10 million years, more than 95% of the Belt’s mass was lost.

 

During this period , almost every large object was lost, having either crashed into Jool or Kerbol or been flung away from the Kerbolar system. It is unknown why Dres was the sole survivor.

 

It has been theorized that Dres would have in fact been a mun of Jool having been ejected by Laythe and Tylo, but that would imply that Dres’ current orbit is purely coincidental.

 

The other possibility, analogous to the interactions between Neidon and Plock, is that Dres entered a chance resonance with Jool, possibly 2:1, long enough to be spared, before the giant returned to its former orbit and broke the resonance.

 

Status:

 

Dres is considered a dwarf planet, as while it has reached hydrostatic equilibrium and is spherical, it hasn’t cleared its orbit, being in the center of the “Drerian Asteroid Belt”

 

However, Dres is much bigger than any other asteroid in the belt: the second biggest, Velas, has a radius of only 15 km. Dres is also by far the largest contributor to the mass of its belt (97%). For this reason, it has been suggested to clarify the definition of “cleared orbit”. If, as proposed, it implies representing at least 90% of the mass of its orbit, then Dres is a full planet.

 

Planetary rings:

 

Dres is the only body of the Kerbolar system not being a gas giant (or an ice giant) to bear planetary rings. They are mostly made of thin rock dust and ice. However, Dres frequently captures other asteroids to its rings. They are generally small, from a few meters to a few dozen meters. The “Dres-teroids” do not stay in Drerian orbit for a very long time, and are eventually flung into space, before being replaced.

 

Surface features:

 

The lower terrain of Dres, or “Midlands”, is very noticeably darker than the “Highlands”. The former has an albedo of 0.2, while the latter has an albedo of 0.8. This causes the Drerian light to vary considerably.

 

Dres is differentiated, and has been observed to have a ferrous core, surrounded by a mantle of silicates, and a regolith rubble crust, with a varying composition: while the dark midlands are apparently made of rocks, the highlands are made mostly of water ice. This duality is unique among the asteroids.

 

Close to the equator of Dres is a large and narrow canyon: the “Smeiser Rift”. It is approximately 15 kilometers long, and up to 5 kilometers deep. Its origin is unclear: it may be a product of the slow shrinking of Dres, just like the Midland Sea of Duna, or it could have been created by long ago geological activity, in the form of a fault.

Edited March 1, 2017 by MinimalMinmus

[MinimalMinmus]

here's an energetic planet: Jool! It's the largest article so far, phew. Next in line: I'm moving my way inwards of the Joolian system, starting with Pol!

Jool

Jool (from Jool -god of nature and top god of the classical pantheon-) is the closest gas giant to Kerbol, as well as the biggest planet of the Kerbolar system.

Discovery:

Jool, along with Eve, Kerbin, Duna and Sarnus, is one of the classical planets, as it is easily visible to the naked eye. However, until the discovery of it's attendant muns, it had been assumed to simply be a planet like Kerbin, albeit one of unusual size.

Most notably, the two biggest muns of Jool, Laythe and Tylo, were only observed accidentally and without the understanding they were orbiting Jool until astronomer Lagoil Kerman decided to study Jool in more detail. For the first time, he observed two large spots (Laythe and Tylo) as well as a much fainter one (Vall) around Jool. He also discovered the “Great Green Spot”, a huge Joolian storm several times bigger than Kerbin itself.

Jool was visited for the first time by the probe “Boundaries” in 1781. Originally, it was only supposed to fly-by Jool and use the Joolian gravity well to perform a slingshot maneuver to Sarnus, but the first images of Laythe were decisive for Mission Control. Instead of simply flying by, Boundaries would use Tylo's gravity well to perform a braking fly-by into Joolian orbit, in order to study its muns more extensively.

Origins:

Jool was amongst the first planets to form. It had already accumulated more than 90% of its current mass while the inner planets were only starting to form. However, for unknown reasons the orbits of some giant planets are quite unstable during the early days of a solar system.They slowly decay, causing them to orbit closer and closer to their parent star, until stabilizing as a “Hot Jool”, typically 5 to 10 times closer to their star than Moho to Kerbol. This was found to be the case with Min-Hori’s planet Moh, thought to have spiraled about 3 billion years ago.

As such, Jool’s orbit became unstable, lowering its perikerbion to only 1.5 UAs. This is thought to have destroyed most of the local protoplanets, severely thinning out the materials available to form Duna and another planet in Dres’ orbit, as the latter became the young asteroid belt’s sole remaining protoplanet. Some unusual metallic absorption lines in Kerbol's spectrum may also imply that Jool destroyed a small gas giant on its way in-system.

At this point, had Jool been the only gas giant, it is thought it would have eventually destroyed every inner planet, including Kerbin. Fortunately, Sarnus started to migrate inwards approximately around the same eon. The gravitational perturbations between the giants eventually caused them both to settle in an orbit near the one we know today.

However, Jool and Sarnus eventually moved to a configuration in which the former moved exactly twice as fast as the latter on its orbit. This resonance, being between two massive bodies, was fairly unstable, and eventually, it caused both Urlum and Neidon to dramatically move away from Kerbol. The latter even entered the young Kipper Belt, causing a large amount of destruction.

Observations:

Jool is the sixth brightest object in the sky, with an apparent magnitude of -2. It appears as a bright, vibrant green spot in the sky. With a moderately high-gain telescope, it becomes possible to see the three Lagolian Muns: Laythe, Vall and Tylo, depending on the time of day. It also becomes possible to see some of the most dramatic Joolian weather, such as the aforementioned Great Green Spot, as well as the equatorial storm region.

Planetary rings and muns:

Jool is known since 1783 to have a very thin, barely noticeable ring system, inside the orbit of Laythe. They are thought to originate mostly from Vallian cryovolcanism and may well have been considerably larger in the past, before the epoch of geological activity came to a close on Vall.

Jool is also the planet with the most muns, with 43 known. The five most massive are, in order of radius, Tylo (5.9 Mm), Laythe (5.2 Mm), Vall (3.1 Mm), Bop (650 km) and Pol (440 km). Other muns are much smaller, the next one being Aten (95 km).

Laythe, the innermost Lagolian Mun, is a Kerbin-like world, with oceans of liquid water covering almost the entire mun and a thick atmosphere. It is the only know body of the Kerbolar system between Kerbin itself to bear a native ecosystem.

Vall, the smallest Lagolian Mun, is an ice-covered body with a thin atmosphere, thought to host an underground ocean. The remains of some cryovolcanoes dot the surface.

Tylo, the largest Lagolian Mun, as well as the outermost, is a Kerbin-sized body with a heavily cratered surface, but lacking the atmosphere such a mass would imply.

Bop is a large asteroid that is thought to be captured. Its surface is very dark. It is the largest member of the Ocythoe Group.

Pol is the outermost large mun, and a captured asteroid. It is a jagged body with several large cliffs, probably after a large impact that torn it apart.

Atmosphere:

Jool’s extremely thick atmosphere is made mostly of hydrogen, helium, nitrogen and chlorine. The latter gives the planet its leaf green color. The atmosphere is also the host of extremely violent storms, in which wind speeds over 100 m/s, is the norm rather than the exception.

The two best known storms of Jool are the “Great Green Spot” and the “Equatorial storm complex” (ESC).

The Great Green Spot is a gigantic anticyclone in the southern hemisphere of Jool, well known for being a very distinct dark green. It is very powerful, with winds that can reach Mach 1, as well as very big: Kerbin as a whole could fit three times in it. Its darkness is thought to be due to gases of the depths being pulled up by its currents into the upper atmosphere. It is unknown if the GGS will last forever, but it has been observed for more than 400 years and shows little sign of weakening. Also, as of the beginning of the 18^th century, another green spot, “Green Spot Junior”, has been observed to be forming, empowering and growing at its south.

The Equatorial Storm Complex is a very large concentration of storms circling Jool at latitudes slightly above the equator, creating an uneven colored band on it. It is more than 10 Mm wide, and the wind as its core is the strongest known on the planet, with speeds reaching over 450 m/s. The ECS seems to pulse over the course of three years, during which it can substantially widen or narrow. Occasionally, a smaller storm gets ejected from the main complex, becoming briefly independent, before dissipating.

In popular culture:

Jool, because of its color and visibility in the sky, has been preeminently featured in literature. The most famous example is of course “1801: an outer space journey” in which Jool is orbited by a very strange monolith not unlike those on Kerbin, built here by a highly advanced extrakerbial race. In the sequel, Jool’s mass gets increased greatly by the same race, turning it into a brown dwarf, and making Laythe more adapted for hosting pluricellular life.

Exploration:

Jool has been the target of 4 different probes, which have flown by all the major muns and mapped them, as well as studying their mother planet. However, longer expeditions become difficult due to Jool’s deep gravity well, forcing every probe to expend a lot of propellant to move between the muns, as well as correcting their ever-changing orbits due to Laythe and Tylo.

A kerballed exploration of the Joolian System has been envisaged for the far future. It would consist mostly of a colonization of Laythe, as well as utilizing Tylo and Vall for habitat, ore and fuel respectively. Famously, the astronomer Sagan Kerman (who gave his name to the huge ocean of Laythe) once said “Being able to land on the five large muns of Jool would be not just a leap to the future, but a new wonder of engineering, astronomy and science”.

Edited March 1, 2017 by MinimalMinmus
Minor typographical update

[MinimalMinmus]

Could it be? I'm detecting signs of life in this thread! I thought it was so not-hot the cold was... Pol-lar.

Pol

 Pol (From Pol –daughter of Jool, and spirit of autumn-) is the fifth biggest mun of Jool, as well as its farthest major mun.

 Discovery:

 Pol was discovered in 1542 by Lescher Kerman, shortly after his discovery of Bop. Lescher Kerman used a then-new 30-centimetres aperture telescope to observe Jool, in search of new muns. His search was prompted by the discovery of many more muns around Sarnus than had previously been known, and the discovery of Eeloo in 1537.

Pol remained mostly unknown until the probe Emerald, the second probe to reach Jool, mapped it during its tour of the outer muns. Emerald revealed Pol’s cratered, jagged surface, as well as capturing the first high-quality pictures of this mun.

Origins:

Pol seems to be a captured asteroid. This theory is supported by the fact that several asteroids from the Drerian Belt have the same spectrographic signature as Pol. This implies that the capture was old, possibly dating back to the destruction of the Belt, but more probably later, with Pol first becoming a Jool “quasi-mun” at the Joolian L4 or L5 points.

Geological evidence gleaned from the Emerald survey evidence suggests that Pol has a violent history, having been broken apart (presumably by a catastrophic impact with another, unknown Joolian mun) and then loosely reconstituted by gravitational agglomeration. Estimates based, on the number of impact craters on the Pollian surface, place the event at about 2 billion years ago.

This fragmentation and reconstitution is presumed to be responsible for Pol’s uneven surface, irregular core and only partially differentiated structure. Viewed from orbit, Pol is now a spectacular sight, full of cliffs and canyons. 

Surface features:

 Pol is almost entirely circled by a large mountain range around its equator, the “Harvest Ridge”. The Ridge is peculiarly preeminent on the trailing hemisphere, as it separates a large lowland from the rest of the body, creating huge, 5-kilometer tall cliffs. It also branches at several locations, creating secondary rifts on the trailing hemisphere, most notably the “Scythe rift”, “Southern Rift”, and “Hyperborean Rift”. They are all believed to be the scars left by the giant impact two billion years ago.

As the leading hemisphere’s rifts are less dramatic than the trailing’s, it is believed that the leading hemisphere was the point of impact. Directly under the impactor, the Pollian crust would have been completely pulverized, without breaking into chunks.

The leading hemisphere is notable for having four large craters: from west to east: Uthar (the largest), Gevin, Lankel (the smallest) and Ginev. They have varying ages, from 1.5 billion years for Uthar to only 270 million years for Gevin. They are thought to have been created either by small munlets ejected from the inner Joolian System by Laythe and Tylo, or by asteroids and comets trapped by Jool’s deep gravity well.

Pol’s density of roughly 3 indicates it is a silicate body, with possibly the remains of an ice mantle and a regolith rubble crust, and a rocky core. Since the impact, however, the distinction isn’t nearly as clear, and previously differentiated areas are now mixed into a substantially homogenous rock and ice rubble.

Exploration:

 Pol was the target of two probes, the first being Emerald in 1787, followed by Jade in 1798, but the latter only performed a fly-by of Pol.

Recently, interest in Pol rose because, if the theory of its origins is correct, then it is one of the only large surviving asteroids of the destruction of the Drerian Belt, along with Dres and Bop. Hence, a deeper exploration of Pol would possibly help to shed light on the origins of the materials in the Kerbolar system.

In a farther future, Pol has the least irradiated environment of the Joolian system, making it a viable place for a permanent crewed base or even a colony.

 

Bop is already as on-rail as it is in game, expect it it during the week!

[Hypercosmic]

Wonder why people treat Outer Planets Mod as a part of the stock system. I personally don't like how it sticks far too much to the Solar System.

Spoiler

I prefer Kerbol Origins.

P.S. The etymology is random, right?

Edited March 28, 2017 by Hypercosmic

[MinimalMinmus]

On Tuesday, March 28, 2017 at 6:32 AM, Hypercosmic said:

Wonder why people treat Outer Planets Mod as a part of the stock system. I personally don't like how it sticks far too much to the Solar System.

  Hide contents

I prefer Kerbol Origins.

P.S. The etymology is random, right?

1. First thing first, I love ths mod, I must admit. Second, some events are easier to explain with OPM.

2. Nope, it's not random, I name kerbals with the name of famous astronomers, and then I heavily remix it.

Kudos if any of you find the original names!

[Hypercosmic]

3 minutes ago, MinimalMinmus said:

1. First thing first, I love ths mod, I must admit. Second, some events are easier to explain with OPM.

2. Nope, it's not random, I name kerbals with the name of famous astronomers, and then I heavily remix it.

Kudos if any of you find the original names!

Pol: Pollen

[MinimalMinmus]

16 minutes ago, Hypercosmic said:

Pol: Pollen

...yes, but I pled not guilty on this one.

[Hypercosmic]

I'd love to see my favorite mod Kerbol Origins getting its own version of Encyclopedia. It's far more original (consider how it is basically a continuation of NovaSilisko's original plans) and creative (unlike the most popular Kopernicus mod, which I personally hate).

[MinimalMinmus]

On 29/03/2017 at 9:40 AM, Hypercosmic said:

I'd love to see my favorite mod Kerbol Origins getting its own version of Encyclopedia. It's far more original (consider how it is basically a continuation of NovaSilisko's original plans) and creative (unlike the most popular Kopernicus mod, which I personally hate).

I may try, after I finish...

...but you realize that, if you are currently using Kerbol Origins, then you are currently using Kopernicus right? Kopernicus is used for every single planet mods.

[Hypercosmic]

Just now, MinimalMinmus said:

I may try, after I finish...

...but you realize that, if you are currently using Kerbol Origins, then you are currently using Kopernicus right? Kopernicus is used for every single planet mods.

You don't have to write all of them. In fact, I don't really care about this. Just Sarvin (GP2), okay?

 

[MinimalMinmus]

1 minute ago, Hypercosmic said:

You don't have to write all of them. In fact, I don't really care about this. Just Sarvin (GP2), okay?

 

I could try, but it wouldn't be canon with the rest of the articles because I talk about the OPs in almost every single of them.

On another topic...

Here's my recom-Bop-ulation of the Kraken. I had quite a bit of fun making it!

Bop

Bop (from Bop -demigod and son of Jool-) is the second farthest, as well as the second smallest major mun of Jool.

Discovery:

Bop was discovered in 1540 by Lescher Kerman. Using his telescope, Lescher decided to search for new muns of Jool beyond the three Lagolian Muns, as the endeavor by contemporary astronomers to find a fourth Lagolian Mun had proven futile, after several false discoveries. Indeed, in 1527, a mun closer than Laythe was “discovered” before it was revealed that the astronomer in question had only observed Vall distancing itself from Jool.

To prevent such a mistake, Lescher decided to focus on bodies farther out than Tylo, and made careful drawings of all the bodies he could observe, including stars. After over a week of drawings, Lescher was able to discern the movement of one of the faint “stars”. Over the following days, he tracked the would-be mun, and eventually managed to calculate Bop’s orbital period.

Unfortunately, Bop is the most infamous mun of Jool, due to a series of mishaps with the first two probes tasked to visit it.

First, Emerald, after having departed from Pol, ran short of fuel before its insertion burn into Bop’s orbit, and only managed to take pictures of the mun before departing to Tylo, its final destination. Then, Emerald II was lost because of confusion over the timing of its insertion burn, caused by Joolian days being used instead of Kerbian ones. The probe fired its thrusters too early and too long, and crashed into Bop. It was only in 1799 that Emerald III successfully flew-by Bop, allowing it to be studied at close range for the first time.

Origins:

Bop is a captured asteroid, as shown by its irregular orbit; unique amongst the large muns of not being coplanar with Jool’s equator. This implies that the capture of Bop was actually relatively recent compared to the rest of the Joolian system, as it would otherwise have been attracted by the Lagolian muns into a planar and possibly resonant orbit.

It is thought that Bop was originally a NJO (Near Jool Object) that was captured after a close fly-by of Tylo around 1.5 billion years ago. After a few chaotic orbits, it would have been forced into its current position.

Surface features:

Bop's surface is distinctly dark brown. It is thought to be colored by iron oxides, hinting it at its origins as an M-class asteroid. However, its density of 3,5 shows that it isn't entirely metallic, and an alternative theory suggests that it is an undifferentiated asteroid with large ice reserves.

Bop has a large and preeminent impact crater near its equator, named “Lescher Crater”. It is thought to have been formed about 1,3 billion years ago, possibly as a result of a collision with a munlet of Jool shortly after its capture.

Surprisingly for such a large body, Bop is very uneven, and is in fact the largest irregular body of the Kerbolar system; the tallest mountains are about 100 km above the deepest valley. In comparison, several smaller bodies such as Minmus or Pol have reached some degree of hydrostatic equilibrum.

The Deep Space Kraken

After the loss or failure of the two Boptic probes that were scheduled to enter orbit, it was joked that Bop was in fact, the home of the "Deep Space Kraken", a malevolent entity that would destroy probes as they approach Bop, named after the mythical ship destroying entity of the classical era. To break the jinx, the KSC decided to reroute Emerald III into a fly-by of Bop before aiming for Vall and Laythe.

Because of these mishaps, Bop is the only major Joolian mun never to have been orbited by a probe.

Exploration

Bop's metallic surface has sparked some interest amongst the defenders of a Jool colonization program. Its low gravity would allow for materials to be extracted and sent to orbit with little difficulty. However, even the staunchest pro-colonist will admit that not enough is currently known about Bop to justify a colonisation program. Although it is unlikely that the Deep Space Kraken really does lurk there, most of the mun’s surface remains a mystery.

[Hypercosmic]

9 hours ago, MinimalMinmus said:

I could try, but it wouldn't be canon with the rest of the articles because I talk about the OPs in almost every single of them.

On another topic...

Here's my recom-Bop-ulation of the Kraken. I had quite a bit of fun making it!

Bop

Bop (from Bop -demigod and son of Jool-) is the second farthest, as well as the second smallest major mun of Jool.

Discovery:

Bop was discovered in 1540 by Lescher Kerman. Using his telescope, Lescher decided to search for new muns of Jool beyond the three Lagolian Muns, as the endeavor by contemporary astronomers to find a fourth Lagolian Mun had proven futile, after several false discoveries. Indeed, in 1527, a mun closer than Laythe was “discovered” before it was revealed that the astronomer in question had only observed Vall distancing itself from Jool.

To prevent such a mistake, Lescher decided to focus on bodies farther out than Tylo, and made careful drawings of all the bodies he could observe, including stars. After over a week of drawings, Lescher was able to discern the movement of one of the faint “stars”. Over the following days, he tracked the would-be mun, and eventually managed to calculate Bop’s orbital period.

Unfortunately, Bop is the most infamous mun of Jool, due to a series of mishaps with the first two probes tasked to visit it.

First, Emerald, after having departed from Pol, ran short of fuel before its insertion burn into Bop’s orbit, and only managed to take pictures of the mun before departing to Tylo, its final destination. Then, Emerald II was lost because of confusion over the timing of its insertion burn, caused by Joolian days being used instead of Kerbian ones. The probe fired its thrusters too early and too long, and crashed into Bop. It was only in 1799 that Emerald III successfully flew-by Bop, allowing it to be studied at close range for the first time.

Origins:

Bop is a captured asteroid, as shown by its irregular orbit; unique amongst the large muns of not being coplanar with Jool’s equator. This implies that the capture of Bop was actually relatively recent compared to the rest of the Joolian system, as it would otherwise have been attracted by the Lagolian muns into a planar and possibly resonant orbit.

It is thought that Bop was originally a NJO (Near Jool Object) that was captured after a close fly-by of Tylo around 1.5 billion years ago. After a few chaotic orbits, it would have been forced into its current position.

Surface features:

Bop's surface is distinctly dark brown. It is thought to be colored by iron oxides, hinting it at its origins as an M-class asteroid. However, its density of 3,5 shows that it isn't entirely metallic, and an alternative theory suggests that it is an undifferentiated asteroid with large ice reserves.

Bop has a large and preeminent impact crater near its equator, named “Lescher Crater”. It is thought to have been formed about 1,3 billion years ago, possibly as a result of a collision with a munlet of Jool shortly after its capture.

Surprisingly for such a large body, Bop is very uneven, and is in fact the largest irregular body of the Kerbolar system; the tallest mountains are about 100 km above the deepest valley. In comparison, several smaller bodies such as Minmus or Pol have reached some degree of hydrostatic equilibrum.

The Deep Space Kraken

After the loss or failure of the two Boptic probes that were scheduled to enter orbit, it was joked that Bop was in fact, the home of the "Deep Space Kraken", a malevolent entity that would destroy probes as they approach Bop, named after the mythical ship destroying entity of the classical era. To break the jinx, the KSC decided to reroute Emerald III into a fly-by of Bop before aiming for Vall and Laythe.

Because of these mishaps, Bop is the only major Joolian mun never to have been orbited by a probe.

Exploration

Bop's metallic surface has sparked some interest amongst the defenders of a Jool colonization program. Its low gravity would allow for materials to be extracted and sent to orbit with little difficulty. However, even the staunchest pro-colonist will admit that not enough is currently known about Bop to justify a colonisation program. Although it is unlikely that the Deep Space Kraken really does lurk there, most of the mun’s surface remains a mystery.

The canon version of Bop mentioned that the name was from the Kraken god. Have fun! (I was attacked by a Kraken twice yesterday, both tearing my ships apart and flinging my manned capsules at the fraction of the speed of light.)

[MinimalMinmus]

On 31/03/2017 at 4:43 AM, Hypercosmic said:

The canon version of Bop mentioned that the name was from the Kraken god. Have fun! (I was attacked by a Kraken twice yesterday, both tearing my ships apart and flinging my manned capsules at the fraction of the speed of light.)

From the in-game description:

Bop is a small moon in the vicinity of Jool. In Kerbal mythology, Bop is believed to be the home of the Kraken, a mischievous creature said to play with the ships of hapless explorers by spinning them out of control until torn asunder, then casting them into oblivion.

Where did you read that Bop is the name of the Kraken?

[Hypercosmic]

8 hours ago, MinimalMinmus said:

From the in-game description:

Bop is a small moon in the vicinity of Jool. In Kerbal mythology, Bop is believed to be the home of the Kraken, a mischievous creature said to play with the ships of hapless explorers by spinning them out of control until torn asunder, then casting them into oblivion.

Where did you read that Bop is the name of the Kraken?

I see. Thanks.

Anyways, I'll not bother you anymore.