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We're still adding engines to our part roster, and here's a peek at one that's still in the early whitebox phase -- we still haven't come up with a Kerbal-fied name for this LOX-Augmented Nuclear Thermal Rocket (or LANTR). Super NERV? SNERV? Suggestions welcome!  A few details for our forum friends: This is a 2.5m part that, like the new NERV, runs on liquid hydrogen fuel. This engine also has a hidden talent: liquid oxygen can be injected into the nozzle to create a high-thrust mode, and its vacuum nozzle can be retracted for use in atmosphere.

Behold, the completed Nuclear Engine for Rocket Vehicles - UpScaled, or NERV-US (thanks for the name suggestions)! This engine's nozzle retracts when the LH2 engine switches to its O2-injecting afterburner mode. Model by Jonathan Cooper.

This week we added rocks to our terrains. We're living out our Apollo 11 fantasies as we spend precious delta-v flying sideways to avoid boulder fields! Seen here, a few shots of Gilly, Mun, and Pol.

KSP2's atmospheres have been getting some much-needed love from our environment team and graphics engineers, and there are still more improvements on the way. We're especially proud of Murshed Choudhury's work on the new atmospheric scattering system!

Here's a first look at the in-progress Kerbal Space Center, showing off the beautiful work of artists Matt Reynolds and Jordan Pack.

Ahoy Kerbonauts! Senior designer Tom Vinita here with a short update about part modules for you today! Part modules are the extra optional bits of functionality that are added to the part in order to allow it to perform specialized functions. For example, if we add Module_Engine to a part, it now has the ability to provide thrust, consume resources for that thrust, and many of the other essential functions required in a rocket engine. If a part doesn’t have any modules, then it tends to be something simple like a truss or an I-beam. Kerbal Space Program has a lot of different parts, and so it follows that it has a lot of different modules. One of our design goals with Kerbal Space Program 2 is to create a simulation that feels as close to Kerbal Space Program’s as possible while building fresh improvements along the way. If you build a rocket that worked in KSP, it is our goal for that rocket to perform in largely the same way if you rebuild it in KSP2. To that end, the team is going to painstaking lengths to document and remake, and enhance KSP’s extensive list of part modules in addition to all of the new part modules coming in KSP2. To see one example of this in action, let’s take a look at lights: Fairly simple in concept, right? They turn on, and they turn off. Well, KSP’s lights have a little more going on than that, and they’re useful in a variety of important situations. At the start of the process for bringing a part module into KSP2, a designer first studies KSP’s documentation and common uses of the module in question during general gameplay and wacky uses the community has come up with. From there, they write a series of user stories that define a list of use cases that this part module must be able to accomplish. A short example for lights would be: • As a player, I want a tool to help me see the ground when I’m landing on the dark side of a planet. • As a player, when I’m docking I want to be able to see my vessel and the vessel I’m docking with, even when both vessels are in shadow. • As a player, I want to customize my vessel with a wide variety of light patterns, whether they’re stylish, goofy, or both! Once these user stories are defined, the designer studies the player-facing tweakable values of the part—in this case things like the blink timer and the dynamic light color—and the list of values that are exposed in the part’s data for fine-tuning its behavior. The designer provides detailed documentation for everything being brought forward into KSP2, and looks for spots where the module can be enhanced. With all these values defined and the module’s functions outlined, the spec is handed off to an engineer who does the hard work of programming the module. Once the module has been written, it falls to a designer (usually myself) to attach that module to all the necessary parts, tuning the numbers of each part along the way as necessary. You can check out the results of this process below, with the new and improved Mk1 Illuminator showing off its new ability to pitch! That’s a look at some of the work that goes into making sure all the fun stuff you can accomplish in KSP can still be done in KSP2, as well as an example of finding a way to make that fun stuff even better in KSP2. Shine on! -Tom

What are Kerbals made of? Plants, snacks, regret? Intercept Senior 3D artist Jordan Pack decided to explore what Kerbals would look like if they were made of different materials. Check 'em out. These won't be in Kerbal Space Program 2, at least until we add a puppetry expansion.

Ovin is a terrestrial super-Kerbin, 60% larger than Kerbin with a gravity of 4G’s. Ovin has no tall mountains - this is a smashed, scorched landscape. Ovin courtesy of artist Jordan Pack.

In KSP2, players learn basic flight concepts in a virtual simulator that can be accessed anytime the game is paused. Here's Jon Cioletti testing his new tutorial shader. In a way, it's like the Kerbals are playing KSP... inside KSP. Whoa.

Gurdamma is a young terrestrial planet that's still experiencing heavy asteroid bombardment, much like Kerbin did billions of years ago. Still to come: a thick atmosphere and a very close (i.e. within the rings) moon!

Some of the KSP Show and Tell videos appear to be taken in a deep, sand-colored valley of some sort. Is this environment just a test scene, or is it located on an in-game planet or moon? The amount of terrain detail and the inclusion of a sun / atmosphere seems to indicate that this place is a real location in-game. If not Kerbin or Laythe, where could this be?

Welcome to Pol, Jool's patchwork moon. The Mun may be made of cheese, but Pol is made of at least four kinds of cheese, some of which may no longer be edible. Courtesy of environment artists Jordan Pack and Sung Campbell.

Our VFX artist Aaron Lundquist continues to create new engine exhaust effects. The first of these engines runs on an as-yet-announced fuel (guesses welcome)! The other two are metallic hydrogen and jet engine. We're all really proud of Aaron's shock diamonds! The score, as always, is by the incomparable Howard Mostrom.

New power generation modules for colonies! Your nuclear power options will progress from compact fission reactors to giant fusion tokamaks to next-generation Z-pinch fusion reactors. Yes, the radiator on the fission reactor opens and closes like an umbrella. Credit to Jonathan Cooper and Matt Reynolds for the fusion reactors, and special thanks to our friends Bob Palmer (RoverDude) and Alexander Martin at Squad for building the fission reactor.