Why use Kerbals?

[Wijbrandus]

With the technology available, we can send rockets and landing craft to the Mun and beyond using automated guidance (probes) for command modules. Therefore, it is not ethical, moral, or even rational to utilize Kerbals to crew these ships, especially considering the high rate of failure that has been experienced.

How do you justify the sacrifice of so many Kerbals in your space program? Why do you continue to ask (or force) our people to make the ultimate sacrifice?

I have not yet sent a Kerbal into space. I use probes exclusively. This saves Kerbal lives. And, if at some point a horrible tragedy occurs that makes the probes become self-aware, and they return to take over Kerbin, then I for one welcome our new machine overlords.

(Yes, this post was made tongue-in-cheek.)

[swiftgates24]

Because it is fun to have insane, little, green men. It's Kerbal Space Program, not Probe Space Program.

[Custard Donut (In Space)]

I always feel very sad when a kerbal dies, i can only expect that feeling will get even worse once career mode comes round the corner.

[Nikolai]

Therefore, it is not ethical, moral, or even rational to utilize Kerbals to crew these ships, especially considering the high rate of failure that has been experienced.

Perhaps. But it is hysterical.

Seriously, though -- whether you "kill" Kerbals or not, all you've done is shuffle some voltage around on microscopic capacitors. You haven't really performed an ethical or moral act either way. As for rational... while KSP fans seem to like a certain amount of reason and puzzle-solving in their fun, there's no reason entertainment has to justify itself logically.

[LeonG17]

I think the Kerbals love being sent into space strapped in massive rockets with multiple SRBs, haven't you seen the look on Jeb's face when he's in a command capsule during re-entry at over 2000m/s knowing he has no parachutes?

[Promii]

For Kerbals, as for Humans, "because it's cool".

[SkyRender]

There's a good reason why most of my Kerballed missions are considered to be either colonists or space tourists... Probes are just so much more convenient unless you're planning to set up base (or take a week off to visit the sights of the Mun).

[Francesco]

just wait for 0.20. flag planting. 'nuff said.

[MBobrik]

Why to use kerbals ? Because they want to fly. It's their space program after all

.

And also, who would repair all the broken rover wheels and repack parachutes ?

[CalculusWarrior]

Kerbals don't require any sort of life support or power, while probes do. For a lazy engineer like me, the choice is obvious

[Pulstar]

I for one enjoy flying around ships and space stations in EVA.

[Spatzimaus]

Power. Unmanned probe controllers require power, which requires either solar panels or an RTG. Manned vessels don't require any power, although it's still usually a good idea to have some for the lights.

Torque. Manned capsules have much higher torque rates than unmanned ones, at least in stock. Try maneuvering a big orange fuel tank in orbit without using RCS some time. It's not just that the unmanned controllers are all 0.625m parts; they've also just got atrociously low torque values in general. Mods can be used to fix this, of course.

It's not the journey, it's the destination. So you sent an unmanned probe to Laythe, or Eve, or wherever. Now what? What does it do when it gets there, besides look nice sitting on the ground? A Kerbonaut can plant a flag, jump around, take a swim, make snow angels, and so on. Sure, we've now got rovers to do interesting things without men, but it's still better to send manned missions to these places, because there's just more you can do once you're there.

This also applies to space stations; being able to fly around the thing with your jetpack is just fun.

Bragging rights. It's the same reason we've got so many threads about making SSTO spaceplanes. It's HARD, compared to the more traditional designs, so accomplishing it successfully is something you can be proud of. Sending a man to Mun requires more effort than sending an unmanned probe; the capsule is much heavier, you've got to attach ladders and such, and so on. It's like the first time you use the Kethane mod, and suddenly it matters WHERE on the planet/moon you land; you've added a new variable or two to the game, and made things that much harder for yourself.

The faces. Jeb is awesome; the guy never seems to get scared, no matter how badly things are falling apart. A probe doesn't have the same sort of reactions.

IVA. If you want a REAL challenge, try piloting a vessel purely from inside the cockpit, looking out the windows. Can't do that with a probe...

[OneRedBlock]

"ask or force"

The space program run by Block Industrial is purely volunteer based, I assure you.

[Wijbrandus]

All great reasons so far. Keep em coming!

[Aeshi]

Kerbals can fix Rover Wheels (and possibly Solar Panels?) and the command pods have more Torque, but that's about it.

I personally gave up on using Kerbals quite a while ago, since Probes are lighter (even factoring in the reactor & batteries) and it's easier to send a rocket somewhere when you know it never needs to come back.

Edited May 7, 2013 by Aeshi

[Noticeably FAT]

They strapped themselves into my rickety design, they knew what they were getting into. I say, let 'em crash.

[Paul Kingtiger]

I always test a design without crew to "man rate" it. But why not carry on like that?

Because Kerbals choose to go to the Mun and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard!

[RawChicken]

Well because other than controll is easier with kerbals...

YOu can repack chutes or interact with ships, also, yuo can go IVA or EVA wich is awesome and much more! I use probes only for rocket stages that will be destroyed on purpose.

[Spatzimaus]

Kerbals can fix Rover Wheels (and possibly Solar Panels?)

Ooh, that's another one I forgot: repacking parachutes. Really important for a design that's supposed to land on Duna and then return to Kerbin. On the same note, if you use the Kerbal Attachment System mod, you need a kerbonaut to haul the winch/fuel line over to the destination vessel; an unmanned setup won't be nearly as effective, since you'll have to line up everything perfectly.

Now, there's one other note I should mention: redundancy. All of my manned designs ALSO include at least one unmanned control node, simply so that I can still play with ladders, lights, brakes, drills, etc. while my Kerbonaut is on EVA. In one case, I had to have my Kerbonaut transfer from his usual vessel to a spaceplane to land on a planet, take off, and get back into his original ship; if I hadn't been able to control the now-pilotless main vessel, it would have made things much harder. It's the same reason all of my stations have unmanned nodes, even if they're always manned as well.

[Eric S]

Before the great forum oops, someone had a signature that perfectly summed up why.

To paraphrase (my memory isn't as good as it used to be):

"I like to think of Kerbals as space-minded vikings. They don't go to heaven unless they die trying to get there." I'm assuming that there's a clause in there for dying while coming back from space as well.

A more general way of saying it would be "I'm fine with dying doing something important to me. It's dying because I forgot to look both ways crossing the street that would suck." Though I can't say I'd be fine with it, but at least I'd mind it a lot less.

A parallel in reality. We've orbited several of the system's celestial bodies, actually landed robotic probes on Mars, we've got a probe that has left the solar system by most definitions, and yet, ask anyone what NASA's biggest achievement has been, and they'll tell you it was the moon landing. We had done flybys of Mars, and the soviets had even had failed attempts at sending landers to Mars before we landed on the moon.

When I look back on my missions, the manned missions just stick out more. Heck, my mothership to Jool had a crew of 12, even though I never had more than two of them outside the mothership at a time, and in fact could have flown the whole mission unmanned.

I also think one factor that affects this that isn't present, at least not yet, in KSP's manned missions is that a manned mission can do more science in an hour than a probe can do in a week, in most cases. An astronaut doesn't need to wait for hours while ground control figures out the best way to walk around an obstacle to pick up a desired rock. From what I read, typical rover mission travel distances are messured in meters per day, and it's not a big number, because many movements have to be planned out and checked for anything that could go wrong. An astronaut is also more likely to be able to do something that wasn't forseen in the original mission plan. See an interesting rock and you want to see what's inside it? If you're lucky, a rover's manipulator arm might be able to deal with that. An astronaut could easiy find out, and if noone thought of sending a hammer, they can improvise by grabbing a bigger rock (though probably after checking to make sure there are no sharp edges to tear their suit on).

Rovers are getting better at autonomy, but they've still got a long way to go to catch up with the autonomy of an astronaut in a space suit, let alone an ordinary human without one.

Edited May 7, 2013 by Eric S

[dr_jt]

Consider Kerbals

Edited June 6, 2013 by dr_jt

[leax256]

You ask why, I ask Why not?

[Mufasa]

You would do that? starve the kerbals of the chance to land on other planets? to experience space? You'd have probes get all the pleasure?

But seriously, career mode is going to be awesome.. My heart is going to be pounding every launch of a Kerbal

[Dictator Dan]

No matter how hard I try, I cant keep them out of the capsules, which makes me think they have done something, and are trying to run away. So in a sense, if a rocket fails, its justice.

[Brotoro]

We choose to launch kerbals into space in this decade and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard...because that goal will serve to organize and measure the best of our energies and skills...because that challenge is one that we are willing to accept, one we are unwilling to postpone, and one which we intend to win, and the others, too.