NASA is teaming up with Kerbal Space Program to make an asteroid landing mission pack
41 replies, posted
[img]http://imgkk.com/i/4p42.png[/img]
[url]http://www.polygon.com/features/2014/1/27/5338438/kerbal-space-program[/url]
[quote]The final Space Shuttle mission, STS-135, returned to Earth the same month that Kerbal Space Program launched in 2011. And while Squad has grown, NASA has shrunk in relation to the rest of the U.S. Federal government. But NASA's mission remains: to explore and also to inspire. Soon the lowly, cockeyed green Kerbals will be called upon to assist in that mission.
A downloadable mission pack, made in partnership with NASA, is in the works that will allow players to put Kerbals on an asteroid. It will be one of the most complex and dangerous missions in an already difficult game.
Players will first have to launch a spacecraft to fly alongside the asteroid, the equivalent of parallel parking one missile next to another. Then they will have to push the giant rock into a stable orbit around the Kerbal's home planet without creating an extinction-level impact below. Finally, they'll need to safely land on it.
The mission pack will represent everything terrifying and wonderful about manned spaceflight. To Falanghe and his team it's more than an opportunity. It's a genuine privilege.
"I look up to NASA as one of the pinnacles of human achievement," Falanghe says. "It's not just an American space program. It's an inspiration for all mankind."[/quote]
Promoting NASA's real-life plan to land humans on an asteroid by 2025
Woah, things are really working out for squad
Kerbal, while difficult to understand, gave me a whole new level of inspiration to explore and study the stars and how galactic colonization could be a possibility. It's also a fun game to build really stupid ships and watch the physics go full retard trying to keep it together. This kind of news is rad as hell.
[QUOTE=Vaught;43713438]Kerbal, while difficult to understand, gave me a whole new level of inspiration to explore and study the stars and how galactic colonization could be a possibility. It's also a fun game to build really stupid ships and watch the physics go full retard trying to keep it together. This kind of news is rad as hell.[/QUOTE]
All I seem to make in KSP are ICBM's. At least they blow up like one.
It took pure luck and a rocket that accidently resembled a swastika to just get an Earth orbit for me, no idea how I'd do this
The problem is it [I]is fucking rocket science[/I]
The real mission is scheduled for 2025
Just imagine being the first man to set foot on an asteroid, for christ sakes. That would be fucking metal.
[QUOTE=Dr.Critic;43713459]It took pure luck and a rocket that accidently [b]resembled a swastika[/b] to just get an Earth orbit for me, no idea how I'd do this
The problem is it [I]is fucking rocket science[/I][/QUOTE]
Hey so I'm not the only one.
I have 11 years to join NASA and complete astronaut training, wish me luck guys
This image from the article looks like a quote from God when he quit his job to work full time on the universe.
[img]http://imgkk.com/i/sdln.png[/img]
I'm excited at having some new celestial bodies, its been too long.
I haven't even made it out of Kerbin's SoI, so that asteroid is going to take some time to get to.
And here i am, failing to even get into low kerbel orbit
I don't even know what mun looks like i'm that bad at this game.
[QUOTE=_Maverick_;43713644]And here i am, failing to even get into low kerbel orbit
I don't even know what mun looks like i'm that bad at this game.[/QUOTE]
Oh don't worry, I've managed to see Mun. Face first. Multiple times. I suck at landing is what I'm saying.
[QUOTE=Dr.Critic;43713459]It took pure luck and a rocket that accidently resembled a swastika to just get an Earth orbit for me, no idea how I'd do this
The problem is it [I]is fucking rocket science[/I][/QUOTE]
[quote][i]A good rule for rocket experimenters to follow is this: always assume that it will explode.
— Astronautics, issue 38, October 1937.[/i][/quote]
[QUOTE=Saxon;43713524]I'm excited at having some new celestial bodies, its been too long.[/QUOTE]
More excited at the fact that apparently you can affect their orbit.
YES. NOW I CAN MAKE A RETARDED ROCKET THAT WILL CRASH INTO AN ASTEROID INSTEAD!
[QUOTE=Pvt. Martin;43713700]A good rule for rocket experimenters to follow is this: always assume that it will explode.
— Astronautics, issue 38, October 1937.[/QUOTE]
Works really well in medicine too
[QUOTE=Swilly;43713762]YES. NOW I CAN MAKE A RETARDED ROCKET THAT WILL CRASH INTO AN ASTEROID INSTEAD![/QUOTE]
There are technically asteroids in the game already, gilly and bop, but they're captured moons so usually don't count.
Don't worry about crashing into them, orbit velocity is something like 10m/s and you aren't going to hit them very easily.
[video=youtube;Hv6RbEOlqRo]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hv6RbEOlqRo[/video]
New Feature Inbound :v:
[quote]Then they will have to [B]push the giant rock into a stable orbit[/B] around the Kerbal's home planet without creating an extinction-level impact below.[/quote]
That is definitely going to be fun to attempt.
I love reading all the careful calculations on orbital velocity and delta-V changes to get to other planets, timing it with their location and the rotation of Kerbin...
And then just brute-force it it anyway with as many Rockomax stacks as I can asparagus together, ramming my way through space with no regard for science.
[editline]29th January 2014[/editline]
[QUOTE=Datsun;43714016]That is definitely going to be fun to attempt.[/QUOTE]
We now know where the giant crater on the opposite side of Kerbin from the the KSC came from.
[QUOTE=Wealth + Taste;43713476]The real mission is scheduled for 2025
Just imagine being the first man to set foot on an asteroid, for christ sakes. That would be fucking metal.[/QUOTE]
You landed on, assumingly, a part of a planet that died and exploded into a shower of molten rock, full of precious metals. That's as metal as shit gets.
(I'm not entirely sure if asteroids are floating bits of dead planets or if stars can also do that)
Finally an update with actual content
[img]http://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/six_words.png[/img]
Not correct anymore? :v:
[editline]29th January 2014[/editline]
Maybe, facing the constant pressure of low funds and cuts, maybe NASA is considering alternative platforms to carry their simulations on!
I really hope that some NASA engineers work with the Squad programmers to certify their code, then you can make KSP Rockets as personal projects to put on your resume :v:
[QUOTE=Smasher 006;43713866]There are technically asteroids in the game already, gilly and bop, but they're captured moons so usually don't count.
Don't worry about crashing into them, orbit velocity is something like 10m/s and you aren't going to hit them very easily.[/QUOTE]
Don't ruin the fun of me panicking after making a miscalculation and lose Jeb.
Lol, stable orbits.
I'm going full Planetary Annihilation and launching it into other planets.
