Search the Community

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.