The biology of Kerbals

[Alpha_star]

As we know, Kerbals in the first game are justgreen humanoids, with no distinctive features between individuals to tell them apart other than gender. They are just simple, cartoonish characters. However, with more information about our little green Kerbals in KSP2 and more diversity, I believe now would be a perfect time to discuss about the biology of Kerbals. Below is one of thoeries about the species just for refrence:

Kerbals are hybrids beteen animals and plants. I am not talking about the Pequeninos-ish "transform between plants and animals" hybrid, but animals that can ultilize chloroplast to generate energy, intergrating some plant-ness into their biology in the progress. This partially explains how they can live for years without eating: Just give them carbon oxide and light, and they can live on.

What's your thoughts?

[TechieV]

Hmmm... Maybe the long forehead could house something large inside? Maybe kerbals have a large brain? This would make sense, because kerbals have invented stuff that humans have had a very hard time with quite quickly, like 100% reliable rocket engines.

[Bej Kerman]

46 minutes ago, TechieV said:

Hmmm... Maybe the long forehead could house something large inside? Maybe kerbals have a large brain? This would make sense, because kerbals have invented stuff that humans have had a very hard time with quite quickly, like 100% reliable rocket engines.

Not needing international competition to go to the moon is probably another thing. Less room left in those heads for spite?

[TechieV]

17 minutes ago, Bej Kerman said:

Not needing international competition to go to the moon is probably another thing. Less room left in those heads for spite?

Yeah! The kerbals seem pretty chill with each other (cough, will change in KSP2 Multiplayer, cough), so they could use less brain in competition!

[Alpha_star]

But……If you do the math, then a Kerbal’s head is usually about 35cm in length and 25-30 for a human, which might be not that much smaller due to the fact that our heads are mostly round while Kerbals have long, cylindrical heads. A kerbal’s brain might take up less volume than a human’s.

However, a smaller brain is not exactly the same as dumb since whales are no smarter than us. Indeed, Kerbals are likely to be about as smart as us given the pace of technological revolutions.

Moving on, how do Kerbals reproduce themselves? We do by mixing sperms and eggs, but they might do it differently despite having at least two genders. What are your thoughts on this?

[Bingmao]

Some time ago I made a comic about how I imagine the origin and behaviour of the Kerbals. Photosynthesis and snacksual reproduction 

 

[LoSBoL]

Hmmm, I personally liked the homogeneous look of the Kebals in KSP¹ more than the differentiation in KSP2. In KSP¹ they are Ragdolls to me, without a conscious mind or own will, subdue'd by the player.

The personalization of Kerbals within KSP2 gives the impression they do have their own mind, ow. will and opinion. 

I'll live with that, they'll have to keep living with me as well.

[GluttonyReaper]

19 hours ago, LoSBoL said:

Hmmm, I personally liked the homogeneous look of the Kebals in KSP¹ more than the differentiation in KSP2. In KSP¹ they are Ragdolls to me, without a conscious mind or own will, subdue'd by the player.

The personalization of Kerbals within KSP2 gives the impression they do have their own mind, ow. will and opinion. 

I'll live with that, they'll have to keep living with me as well.

I personally liked the pre-EVA KSP1 kerbals, which were just green blobs with eyes and a mouth in a spacesuit. No indication of any individuality, and only had the three most important emotions: indifferent, terrified, and maniacal.

[Wheehaw Kerman]

On 11/19/2023 at 10:18 AM, LoSBoL said:

Hmmm, I personally liked the homogeneous look of the Kebals in KSP¹ more than the differentiation in KSP2. In KSP¹ they are Ragdolls to me, without a conscious mind or own will, subdue'd by the player.

The personalization of Kerbals within KSP2 gives the impression they do have their own mind, ow. will and opinion. 

I'll live with that, they'll have to keep living with me as well.

I have a similar issue - a lot of the neoKerbs look like they belong at the controls of a Karbucks espresso machine, not a spacecraft.  My agency will only be hiring steely-eyed missileKerbs who look the part.

[Bej Kerman]

16 minutes ago, Wheehaw Kerman said:

I have a similar issue - a lot of the neoKerbs look like they belong at the controls of a Karbucks espresso machine

I don't recall NASA having a limit on hair length so as long as they bring clips they're probably fine.

[Chilkoot]

On 11/14/2023 at 11:33 PM, Alpha_star said:

animals that can ultilize chloroplast to generate energy

This has come up a number of times... I mean it's fun to think about, but chloroplasts don't generate anywhere *near* enough energy to maintain animal life.   Even on the relatively bright Earth in equatorial regions, a jellyfish that has a symbiotic relationship with algae lives an almost entirely sedentary life resting on the bottom of shallow ponds and still requires additional food sources to live.  There is a reason plants can't uproot and run away when something tries to eat them - photosynthesis just doesn't provide enough energy.

If the game is going to enforce rigid science otherwise, it would make no sense to throw science out the window for photosynthetic Kerbals.

[Periple]

6 minutes ago, Chilkoot said:

If the game is going to enforce rigid science otherwise

It's not though.

Photosynthetic kerbals are in my opinion in the same league as a 1/10 scale fully Newtonian universe modeled with patched conics!

[GluttonyReaper]

1 hour ago, Bej Kerman said:

I don't recall NASA having a limit on hair length so as long as they bring clips they're probably fine.

Genuinely I'd rather the choices be wilder than they are now - I want to see Kerbals with afros and mohawks, practicality be hecked. 

[Chilkoot]

39 minutes ago, Periple said:

Photosynthetic kerbals are in my opinion in the same league as a 1/10 scale fully Newtonian universe modeled with patched conics!

Fair point.  Seems to be very hardcore science in some areas, and somewhat physically impossible stuff in others.  I get the need for patched conics just to make it work on desktop gaming hardware, but the 1/10th scale has always rubbed me the wrong way.

[Bej Kerman]

24 minutes ago, Chilkoot said:

the 1/10th scale has always rubbed me the wrong way.

I'd be willing to mess about with 1/4 scale stuff given the apparent reputation for matching the part balance better. If the developers added the ability to hotswitch system packs - which they should - I'd love a 1/4 scale option.

[Alpha_star]

On 11/24/2023 at 11:21 PM, Chilkoot said:

This has come up a number of times... I mean it's fun to think about, but chloroplasts don't generate anywhere *near* enough energy to maintain animal life.   Even on the relatively bright Earth in equatorial regions, a jellyfish that has a symbiotic relationship with algae lives an almost entirely sedentary life resting on the bottom of shallow ponds and still requires additional food sources to live.  There is a reason plants can't uproot and run away when something tries to eat them - photosynthesis just doesn't provide enough energy.

If the game is going to enforce rigid science otherwise, it would make no sense to throw science out the window for photosynthetic Kerbals.

I mean yes, but hopefully it can generate enough energy to sustain sleeping.

[Chilkoot]

On 11/26/2023 at 1:19 AM, Alpha_star said:

I mean yes, but hopefully it can generate enough energy to sustain sleeping.

Even with full exposure (no ship, no suit) on the surface of a habitable "Goldilocks zone" planet, it wouldn't be enough even to facilitate blood circulation.  I mean there's a reason, say, elephants need to eat like 350lbs of vegetation per day even when browsing and not active.  Photosynthesis just doesn't provide nearly enough energy for animals to survive, esp. endothermic ones.

[Periple]

26 minutes ago, Chilkoot said:

Even with full exposure (no ship, no suit) on the surface of a habitable "Goldilocks zone" planet, it wouldn't be enough even to facilitate blood circulation.  I mean there's a reason, say, elephants need to eat like 350lbs of vegetation per day even when browsing and not active.  Photosynthesis just doesn't provide nearly enough energy for animals to survive, esp. endothermic ones.

Hibernation, then? How much energy does a hibernating hedgehog, frog, or snake use?

That would be a pretty nice rationale for non-lethal life-support. When deprived of snacks, kerbals go into hibernation and will survive for a very long time with no resources at all, and indefinitely if exposed to light (i.e. if the craft has electrical power or sunlight)!

 

[Scarecrow71]

I think Kerbals are kind of like Kenny from South Park.  They live, they do stupid stuff, they die, they come back in next week's episode.

[Wheehaw Kerman]

On 11/24/2023 at 9:59 AM, Bej Kerman said:

I don't recall NASA having a limit on hair length so as long as they bring clips they're probably fine.

It’s a mental aesthetic thing, really.  KSP1’s Jeb, Bill, and Bob all looked exactly like John Glenn would if he was reincarnated as a cartoony little green alien, and that somehow managed to hit me squarely in the spaceflight history aesthetic sensibility.  It fit the pioneering rocketry vibe of early KSP perfectly.  Squad replicated this well when they brought Val in - she looked like she had the Right Stuff too.

For whatever reason inside my head Kerbals that don’t give off the same vibe as Season 1 of For All Mankind or Apollo 13 do not have the Right Stuff and do not belong inside cockpits or on the cover of Life magazine.

YMMV, and that’s fine.  And in the real world, when making hiring decisions, what the candidate looks like is immaterial to me so long as they have the qualifications and are a good personality fit.  But in KSP2 I am going to be basing my hiring decisions on looking properly Space Age/Atomic Age, as well as being high Stupidity high Courage.

1 hour ago, Periple said:

Hibernation, then? How much energy does a hibernating hedgehog, frog, or snake use?

That would be a pretty nice rationale for non-lethal life-support. When deprived of snacks, kerbals go into hibernation and will survive for a very long time with no resources at all, and indefinitely if exposed to light (i.e. if the craft has electrical power or sunlight)!

 

I’m vaguely curious as to where this whole hibernation thing came from.  AFAIK it doesn’t get mentioned anywhere in the game…

[Periple]

46 minutes ago, Wheehaw Kerman said:

I’m vaguely curious as to where this whole hibernation thing came from.  AFAIK it doesn’t get mentioned anywhere in the game…

It’s just baseless speculation.