Kerbin's Gone Kablooey! What about the astronauts?

[RogueMason]

Hmm... I've got a fair few Kerbals scattered around. I'll list them off the top of my head:

Kerbin orbit (10 kerbals):

Kerbin Orbital Station -- 5 crew

Kerbin Spacedock -- 2 crew

MSV Libra LBR-030-B -- 3 crew

Mun (11 kerbals):

Columbia Outpost -- 3 crew

MSV Constellation CST-052 -- 4 crew (only warp-capable vessel in service)

Eagle Base -- 4 crew

Minmus (12 kerbals):

Libra Memorial Station -- 3 crew

Frostbite Base -- 9 crew

Duna (4 kerbals):

MSV Venturer VNT-050 -- 4 crew (5 prior to an accident)

So, that is 37 Kerbals out in space. Given the time between discovering the asteroid and its impact (however long that is), I could probably increase that to 50, plus get some recovery vehicles for the bases on Mun and Minmus. Not too bad, especially when one considers that the Constellation is equipped with a warp drive that could enable the Kerbals to seek out another home in the stars. While they waited for news of a habitable planet, some of the others could colonise Laythe with what equipment they have at their disposal, which admittedly would be difficult short of sacrificing both the Libra and the Venturer for their command and habitation sections, and I wouldn't do that lightly seeing as it would be beneficial to leave at least one cruiser in operation.

Laythe itself wouldn't be perfect, especially with the threat of radiation from Jool's Van Allen belts, but the atmosphere is presumably breathable, and the water can be purified if it isn't fit for consumption straight from the oceans, so anybody living there would be alright.

Once a habitable world had been discovered around another star, the Constellation could start ferrying the Kerbals from home, provided they wanted to go to this new world. Mun and Minmus would either be abandoned, or the facilities already present could continue to monitor the situation on Kerbin. It's not like they're cut off should something happen; Constellation could be there very quickly if necessary.

...

I may have over-thought this whole thing, but whatever, it's a cool contingency plan

[Bishop149]

I have 2 Kerbals in permanent residence on Minimus and 3 on Pol.

The guys at at both bases have a rover to drive around in. The chaps at Pol also have two space craft capable of getting them to back to Kerbin, which could easily carry them to Laythe if needed, as the next most habitable planet. . . they wouldn't be leaving again though.

Jeb is usually off somewhere manning the first test flight to somewhere. . . he currently just returned from Dres.

So my system Kerbal popululation would drop to about 6

Two would be stuck on a iceball orbiting something not there anymore. . . . Minimus would probably end up as a dwarf planet.

One would likely be on a craft which may more may not have the DeltaV to send him somewhere useful.

Three would probably be ok.

You know what, I'm sending the Minimus lads a Jool capable shuttle. . . .

[Spartwo]

8 crew on Duna and more on the way I'd be alright.

[Brotoro]

My only kerbals off of Kerbin at the moment are four males and two females on Laythe. Not much genetic diversity there.

Oops! I forgot about Desdin on Eve.

Edited November 19, 2013 by Brotoro

[alacrity]

I recently started a Remote Tech career main.

The outlook would be grim. My advancement is about at 1973 Nasa. Just finished a few manned Mun landings, no permanent orbital platforms, hab units and docking clamps just added to my inventory. My heavy lift gear is very limited, capping out at poodle engines.

The Kerbal race would be very doomed. Given another two years in game time and I could have some semi serious presence on the Mun, maybe even limited Duna habitation. Maybe if I went into full emergency mode I could make a real go. Multiple launches and missions going together. The remote tech hard mode might slow things down a bit tho.

Alacrity

[Mr_Brain]

6 Kerbals in my Minmus base (and space for 12, so it won't be too uncomfortable and crowded). I think we're doomed. Oops.

[shinyarceus4]

Well I'm doomed, since I have no off-planet colonies...

[Javster]

Quite similar to IRL. Everyone but a few would die.

[Agent30632]

I only have 1 kerbal in orbit.

Unless kerbals reproduce asexually, the Kerbal Race is screwed

[The Destroyer]

Right now about 20 kerbals are in Jool orbit, with four landers and a ship with 2.2 kms of delta-v, so they could do an emergency ditch to laythe.

Another (failed) moho station carrying 7 kerbals... get to fry bacon for free

So, 7 kerbals are doomed, and 4 may be able to survive...

[blackfire83]

I like this thread.

That being said, Kerbal-kind in both my Sandbox game and Career game are doomed. In my Sandbox game, I've got a few Kerbals in a base on the Mun, a few in a Base/Kethane Drilling Operation on Minmus, and a couple in an LKO orbit. No Kerbals on any extra-Kerbal body with an atmosphere, though. We're doomed.

In my Career game, I've yet to leave Kerbals anywhere outside of the atmosphere.

Now I have goals, though! Time to get a Duna and/or Laythe colony going on. As well as a space station in a polar orbit at the terminus line, me thinks.

[Dweller_Benthos]

Interesting thread. Of course, since I do almost exclusively unmanned missions, there's no one off planet to survive the coming apocalypse. My sandbox game, which I haven't run since career came out, has a bunch of probes around most of the planets and moons, but nothing habitable. I was in the middle of building a station in LKO but it only has fuel tanks and nothing much else, no habitable modules.

My career save isn't much better, a bunch of unmanned probes and debris in various places. The only thing habitable is a 3 Kerbal Mun lander that I left there when it ran out of fuel. Sent a robotic lander up to get them and returned it to Kerbin, so, yeah, they are pretty much extinct.

Might make for a cool game challenge, though. You have X number of game years (2? 5? 10?) to get as many Kerbals off the planet before the disaster happens. Sustainability of colonies subject to interpretation. Without mods, there's no way to gather resources, so just getting a habitat module to another planet/moon would be enough for a basic game. Running mods like kethane to gather resources would mean a more "realistic" sustainability factor. Once there is more resource gathering in the game, you could add things like manufacturing new habitats and getting a larger colony going with a "breeding" population with enough individuals to ensure a large enough gene pool to keep the population thriving.

[Commissioner Tadpole]

Everyone would die, because my skill level is not high enough to place a base in another planet/moon...or in space at all, for that matter.

[KvickFlygarn87]

In my current save? All but the about 12 kerbanauts in my station are doomed.

[The Deep Space Kraken]

All my kerbals would be dead.

[Wahgineer]

In my 0.22 sandbox save: a single satprobe in kerbin orbit

In my 0.22 career save: no one in space currently, but all my ships have space for only one kerbal.

So... yeah, the kerbals are screwed.

BUT, if I had the Orion drive mod, was in sandbox, and had fair warning, the Kerbals would have a good chance. Especially considering that I might be able to build the ships to carry 128 kerbals each, with NO orbital construction, launch them directly from the GROUND, and launch 5-6 of these vessels a DAY.

Never underestimate the power of nuclear explosives.

[GamerMitch]

Post- .21 I have a space station with A crew capacity of 10.I only have 4 in it though...

Pre- .21 I have nothing

[FenrirWolf]

Jebediah would be the last remaining Kerbal, sitting alone and contemplating his existence next to his broken spaceplane on Laythe.

[Eadrom]

Note, I play with KSP Interstellar.

Main career save: 33 Kerbals in low orbit around Moho doing research. Mostly empty fuel tanks, but can be refueled by flying the refueling depot I have I orbiting the edge of Kerbin's SOI to Moho. I have a research base on Laythe with 4 research labs, 4 hitchhiker cans, and a 2-crew lander can. Base currently has 18 crew operating. Base landed on a 400k or so kethane deposit. I have an empty research ship fully fueled in LKO that can take a crew of 7, just needs crew and she's ready to fly. I also have an unmanned warp capable freighter to move anything with a large docking ring around and in low Laythe orbit I have the core module for a space station I have started to build.

I think I could reasonably have a population of 40-50 Kerbals to the surface of Laythe; few more if KSC is able to launch a last second ship up to transfer crew to the previously mentioned research ship in LKO. Nuke reactors at the base on Laythe would last for a decade or two, hopefully long enough to get some caves dug out and they can scrap pieces of the landed ships and the base to create an underground complex warm enough to allow them to survive. Maybe some rudimentary mining of kethane to fuel heaters and stoves.

All in all, I think my Kerbals would have a small chance of keeping the species alive for a few years at least.

[Aragosnat]

Well. My 0.22 Jeb would be alive since he is driving on Mün looking for base sites and 5 others currently enroute to the Mün to gather more dirt as well as land at potential base sites too. But, after they get refueled in orbit.

[Poryy]

Interesting thread. Of course, since I do almost exclusively unmanned missions, there's no one off planet to survive the coming apocalypse. My sandbox game, which I haven't run since career came out, has a bunch of probes around most of the planets and moons, but nothing habitable. I was in the middle of building a station in LKO but it only has fuel tanks and nothing much else, no habitable modules.

My career save isn't much better, a bunch of unmanned probes and debris in various places. The only thing habitable is a 3 Kerbal Mun lander that I left there when it ran out of fuel. Sent a robotic lander up to get them and returned it to Kerbin, so, yeah, they are pretty much extinct.

Might make for a cool game challenge, though. You have X number of game years (2? 5? 10?) to get as many Kerbals off the planet before the disaster happens. Sustainability of colonies subject to interpretation. Without mods, there's no way to gather resources, so just getting a habitat module to another planet/moon would be enough for a basic game. Running mods like kethane to gather resources would mean a more "realistic" sustainability factor. Once there is more resource gathering in the game, you could add things like manufacturing new habitats and getting a larger colony going with a "breeding" population with enough individuals to ensure a large enough gene pool to keep the population thriving.

I actually just made that chalenge.

[Doctadeth]

I've got 3 Kerbs on Eeloo, with about a quarter full fuel tank. 2 kerbs on Dres just waiting for rescue, and had 5 on the way to jool system, except the rocket went phhht, and failed to get up to speed. resulted in my aborting the mission, and returning to Kerbin.