The Sky Calls

The previous two flights using essentially the same rocket have experienced a problem on launch where the trajectory hasn’t been showing. Without a trajectory line, you can’t place a maneuver node leading to an estimation for the orbital burn. Then, when closing out and coming back the craft is suddenly on a crashing trajectory. I was able to get around this by then using “F8” to cheat the craft back into orbit.

I thought this had to do with having and originally built the craft with two probe cores then having deleted the first core, leading to game confusion over what is controlled. So, what I did was to save the rocket part as a temporary craft then build the probe part from scratch.

Mission Designation : SCAN-6
Rocket Model : EchoStar J-Ib
Total delta-V (to orbit) : 10,031 m/s (6,258 m/s)
Surface TWR : 1.383
Total Mass (to orbit) : 382.93 t (75.56 t)
Dry Mass : 68.21 t
Part Count : 89
Height : 32.28 m
Width : 7.99 t
Length : 8.02 t
Mission Objectives : Orbit and scan Joolian moons

This did not work.

I still experienced the problem with the craft becoming an “Inactive Vessel on a crashing trajectory” except, in this case, it wasn’t actually on a crashing trajectory. It was still in orbit, which is good, but it still didn’t have the orbital trajectory, which is still bad. Doing an “F8” and cheating it into the orbit it was already in restored the trajectory line and allowed me to create a maneuver node for the Jool ejection.

I didn’t have my protractor with me and so, when I eyeballed the maneuver node, I somehow got a better ejection than when I was being careful. I was able to save about 400 m/s on the transfer, ending up with a Jool insertion at pretty much the same as the previous launch. Remember that the delta-V requirements and Ejection Angles presented by the online worksheets are averages or estimations. The planets are constantly changing positions and thus changing requirements. Using a program like Alexmoon’s Launch Window Planner will return more precise information for any specific launch but, given the mechanics of KSP2, that is not usable until the beginning of in-game Year 2.

Much like the previous mission, there will be a midcourse correction in about 80 days and in building that maneuver it looks like I might just be getting a Tylo encounter. Thing is, the craft will still have a lot of velocity from having swung around Jool and not having an insertion burn, made more efficient by, again, being deep in Jool’s gravity well. That means all that velocity will need to be burned off getting into Tylo’s orbit, which will be more than if I had previously gotten into Jool orbit.

I will need to wait until I am at Jool to work that out.

The next job from Mission Control is to go to Duna, but before that, a launch window to Moho will open up. I will send a probe there to get some science and, if I do it right, put a satellite in orbit to use the Orbital Survey mod to begin mapping the planet.

I know this launch window is coming up because the Alarm Clock mod will apparently reach out to Alexmoon’s Launch Window Planner to tell you when those windows will be. The mod predicts the window for Year 1, Day 154.

Wanting the detailed information about Ejection Angles, Ejection Inclination, and the delta-V required, I went to the Launch Window Planner website and it gave me conflicting information. There was a not-so-good window back on Day 94 and a good window coming up on Day 269. Day 154 was pretty much the worst time to try to get to Moho.

I wasn’t sure why the dates were so different but using the protractor on the screen method of judging the 108.2 degree transfer window, it looks like the year 1, day 154 information from the Alarm Clock mod is the correct one

That doesn’t tell me the Ejection Inclination, so there may be an inclination change maneuver node needed.

It also doesn’t tell me the specific delta-V requirements. According to the KSP delta-V map:

(930 transfer + 760 capture + 2,400 low orbit) + 20% = 4,908 m/s

The KSP delta-V map suggests a possible 2,520 m/s might be necessary for an inclination change but that assumes you are going to be burning at an ascending ot descending node to match inclinations. You probably don’t need to do that but, even so, Moho is a challenge for being so deep in the sun’s gravity well and you will probably use more delta-V than even Launch Window Planner would predict. Even with the 20% I threw in there as Standard Operating Procedure, I will build with more.

As the plan is to have a single satellite perform both the visual and region orbital surveys, I add two antennas, the Communotron DTS-M1 and the RA-15 Relay Antenna because they work with the Orbital Survey map to provide Region and Visual mapping respectively. I also need to make sure I can communicate with the probe. The RA-15 is rated with a maximum range of 86 Gm. The maximum distance to Moho (semimajor axis 5.3 Gm) from Kerbin (semimajor axis 13.6 Gm) is about 18.9 Gm, so it is well within the capabilities of the antenna. In fact, before the Duna window, there is a launch window to Jool (semimajor axis 68.8 Gm) so the RA-15 should be good out to there as well.

To that satellite, I add some solar panels, two X200-64 fuel tanks, and an RE-L10 “Poodle” engine. Altogether, this works out to 6,117 m/s of delta-V, almost 50% over the predicted requirements.

There is another online application I like to use called the KSP Optimal Rocket Calculator. It’s for an older version of KSP1 and hasn’t been updated since before Making History but it is a great way to build a rocket. You enter the specifics of what parts you have available, the mass you want to lift, what planet you are lifting that mass from, and the program starts building rockets. It will build hundreds and compare the efficiency of them against one another and, in a few moments, will spit out a list of rockets, starting with what it thinks is the best.

They aren’t necessary the most usable designs but if you tweak the settings (such as excluding non-launcher engines) you will get something that works.

In this case, my 57 t craft is launched with a unexpectedly short Mainsail core, a pair of short boosters with Skipper engines, and then two more tall boosters with Mainsails, asparagus staged into the previous ones. Because I don’t have the the large nose cones yet, I use RS-AD-SL 800 Fuel Tanks to get a more aerodynamic profile, and downsize some of the other fuel tanks because of it. It’s a bit weird looking, but should work.

Mission Designation : SCAN-4
Rocket Model : ScanSat M-II
Total delta-V (to orbit) : 10,212 m/s (6,117 m/s)
Surface TWR : 1.16
Total Mass (to orbit) : 361.17 t (57.12 t)
Dry Mass : 59.69 t
Part Count : 53
Height : 31.51 m
Width : 3.94 m
Length : 8.02 m
Mission Objectives : ScanSat into Moho orbit



The first launch tore itself apart on launch because I forgot struts.

The second launch failed because, in the reload to VAB, the fuel ducts disappeared for some reason, so the staging discarded the two long tanks still mostly full of fuel.

I double and triple checked everything and the third launch was successful. . . except that I did not see the line showing my trajectory. But, though it wasn’t the most efficient burn, lacking a maneuver node at apoapsis, the craft was in orbit.

I switched to the Tracking Station to maybe get the display to reset and when I return, my craft is suddenly on a deorbiting trajectory.

So, the fourth launch goes like the third, with the trajectory disappearing, but I close out of the session and reload. The craft is still in orbit properly but it is still not showing the orbit. Closing KSP2 altogether and relaunching has the same missing trajectories but at least it’s still in orbit. Only after a reboot can I see the orbital trajectory and create a maneuver node to try my transfer.

Remember, KSP2 is in Early Access.

The Ejection Angle (where in Kerbin’s orbit you place the maneuver node) for Moho is 61.3 degrees. I use the protractor on the screen method of trying to line it up and start working on an encounter. Given the 7 degree inclination of Moho’s orbit, it is not ideal. The best case scenerio would be to use prograde only to intersect with Moho’s orbit at the craft’s periapsis. That would require Moho’s orbit to have its ascending/descending node line up with the craft’s periapsis. For this encounter, the ascending node is earlier, maybe 50 degrees. So, you have to shift the orbit using the Normal vector to pull the encounter towards that node. Prograde, normal, prograde, normal, you walk those three things together; the marker for Moho, the market for the craft, and the node. When they all come together you get an encounter.

And with a little fiddling, I get a nice polar flyby at 68 km altitude for a 10 and a half minute burn.

After burning 2/3 of the fuel, I have my encounter with 3,625 m/s of dV remaining.

Is 3,625 m/s going to be enough to get into orbit? According to the Delta-V Map. . . probably. 760 m/s for the capture and then 2,410 m/s for low orbit totals 3,170 m/s. I’m not going into a low orbit but instead am going to get into a 400 km polar orbit to do an Orbital Survey. Will less than a 500 m/s buffer be enough?

I won’t know for sure until I actually enter Moho’s sphere of influence because KSP2 doesn’t allow you to make maneuver nodes outside of the SOE you are in.

At worst, I’ll have a close flyby to get the Low and High Orbit science. Not bad, considering the first real world missions to Mercury were flybys.

And that encounter will be on Year 1, Day 254. Before that, though, the Alarm Clock predicts a launch windows for Jool (Day 199) and then the Duna window (Day 229) that Mission Control wants.

Why is the online Launch Window Planner off when the Alarm Clock, using the same data, appears correct?

I looked in the forums and found out that the problem appears to be that Year 1, Day 1 in KSP1 calculates to Year 0, Day 1 in KSP2, even though the game calendar SAYS Year 1. You can’t enter Year 0 into the Launch Window Planner website so, for the first year of game play, I will need to use the protractor method. After that, I will always need to subtrtact 1 year from the in-game calendar to use in the website.

And another thing I thought of only after the launch, is timing the launch to the Ejection Angle. This is especially important when you want an inclination to your ejection, as I think it would have helped me on this launch. So, to work this out in the case of Moho, the Ejection Angle is 61.3 degrees. With a 6 hour Kerbin day, this works to a convenient 1 minute per degree. 61.3 degrees retrograde would be 1 hour, 1 minute past sunrise which, at the Space Center, is 04:14. Launch at 05:15 at the appropriate inclination and, on the next orbit, eject at the now ascending or descending node to get the correct ejection inclination.

But I won’t be able to get that information from the Launch Window Planner until Year 2.

With all the known discoverables on Kerbin and the Mun discovered, the last that I am aware of that can earn some science is on Minmus. According to the forums and the KSP2 Wiki it is located north of the Greater Flats.

Mission Designation : LN-9
Rocket Model : Lunaria UL-II
Total delta-V (to orbit) : 8,842 m/s (4,013 m/s)
Surface TWR : 1.20
Total Mass (to orbit) : 184.07 t (30.46 t)
Dry Mass : 37.93 t
Part Count : 62
Height : 23.79 m
Width : 7.99 m
Length : 3.96 m
Mission Objectives : Discover discoverable on Minmus
Crew : Valentina Kerman, Tim C Kerman, Theobus Kerman

As with most of the other missions, it seems that I arrive on orbit when the landing zone is in darkness. Minmus rotates a lot more quickly than the Mun and so it doesn’t take as long waiting for rotation to bring things around.

I make an orbital pass overhead to see if I can see the actual target but from low Minmus orbit, I can’t see anything. If my Orbital Survey waypoint is accurate, it is on a saddle or hill between two craters. Because this craft6 is designed for the Mun, it has tons of extra delta-V so, even if I don’t land near the target I will have plenty of fuel available to take off again and land there later.

On the next orbit, I burn all the remaining fuel in the transfer stage to descend almost straight down towards the target. When I then go to discard the stage, it gets stuck. The lander has six 48-7S "Spark" engines attached to the bottom of the service module that clip into the stack decoupler. Usually making the staging a little rough but in this instance causing more problems. I do a 360 degree flip to dislodge the stuck stage and then extend the gear.

Approaching the landing, I pan around for the target and think I see it up on a hill. Again, because of Minmus’ lower gravity and plenty of extra delta-V I am able to gain more altitude, slew over, and land right next to the target.



This discoverable is a rock balanced on top of another rock. The base rock is a somewhat triangular block about 8 meters across and 4 or 5 meters above the surface. The rock atop it is more round and about 5 to 6 meters in diameter. It appears to be made of a slightly darker and more rough stone than the rock it is balanced on.

The science region around the teetering rock is quite small, only 26 meters in diameter.

Mission Summary
Mission Elapsed Time : 15d, 2h, 34m
Highest Altitude : 45,633 km
Maximum Velocity : 3,116 m/s
Landing Site : Ocean north of Eastern Strait
Science : 336

Mission Control has two missions for me. The first is to land a 200 ton something on Minmus and while that is well within my technological capabilities, it is only worth 35 points of science. In online interviews, the devs admit this is too low and the next update will likely be increasing this return on investment. I will wait for the update.

The other mission is to investigate a signal from Duna. In the VAB I have been working on the craft that will take me there and back but according to Alexmoon’s Launch Window Planner, that window open up on Year 1, Day 236. At this moment I am at Day 135 and so I have plenty of time to do other things. In fact, there is a launch window right now, or soon, to go to Moho. While there is sure to be a mission to Moho, I hate passing up a launch window when there is science to be had.

That’s for another posting.

The Orbital Survey sat in low Munar orbit has completed its task. It'd be great if the mod had a high resolution output, like the ScanSat mod had in KSP1. Maybe that will happen later. In the meantime the best I can do is a screen shot the size of my screen.

Having discovered all the known discoverables on Kerbin, it is time to set my sites on the Mun. Mission Control has already sent me to the Monument (the golden arch) and I have found another arch. There are at least three others that I haven’t seen from low orbit so I “cheated” a bit and went to the forums to look up where they are.

One is south of the Mare Orientalem Plagam (the East Farside Sea), another is southwest of Mare Tergus (the other Farside Sea) and the third is on the northwest “coast” of Mare Chorum (the Northwest Sea). The plan is to go to the Mun and see which one turns out to be the best opportunity for landing.

Mission Designation : LN-5, LN-6
Rocket Model : Lunaria UL-II
Total delta-V (to orbit) : 8,842 m/s (4,013 m/s)
Surface TWR : 1.20
Total Mass (to orbit) : 184.07 t (30.46 t)
Dry Mass : 37.93 t
Part Count : 62
Height : 23.79 m
Width : 7.99 m
Length : 3.96 m
Mission Objectives : Discover discoverable
Crew : Jebediah Kerman, Kaldun Kerman, Jonbles Kerman

The first launch glitched for some reason. I switched to map view during the launch and when I switched back, I could not see the craft or the UI. The map view wasn’t showing the trajectory or the UI. In IVA I had the UI. There was no way I was going to space that way so I shutdown my engines, staged everything, and parachuted back to the ground.

Closing and restarting the application returned control to normal and I was able to launch, orbit, transfer, and orbit the Mun without issue.

The inclination was pretty steep but didn’t quite line up on any of the targets. The first was near the sunset terminator so I could have burned a a bunch of fuel changing my inclination and attempting a landing at nightfall but I wanted to have at least one orbit to flyover and judge the landing zone before actually performing the landing. I resolved myself to waiting on orbit for a few days until a landing zone came into the next day.

The second target was also not quite along my trajectory to get a look before it too went into darkness.

The third one, In was able to see something on the horizon before it too went into darkness. It will likely be my next landing target as it was big enough to see from a ways off.

The first target had now crossed the morning terminator and I did a small change on inclination burn to pass over it. From an orbit of 16 km I couldn’t tell much. Maybe a big rock in the middle of a crater.

On the next approach, I used the last fuel of the transfer stage to deorbit and descend.

I had to slew my landing because I was coming down right on top of it and didn’t want to do that. I landed just as it was getting dark as I touched down just as Kerbin eclipsed the sun.



It was, in fact, a big rock. The Mun Mound is an apparently huge piece of ejecta 100 meters across and 34 meters high. It sits in the center of a crater that is about 286 meters across though, because of the way craters are made, it is not the impactor that would have made the crater. The region appears to be 240 meters in diameter and my craft had landed just outside that, meaning I would need to gently lift off and slew closer so that the “Science Jr. Jr.” can make an observation.

And I fell over.

Much like Intuitive Machines' Odysseus lunar lander had too much lateral speed on it’s landing and fell over, my craft had the same problem, thankfully not breaking anything. I was able to retract my gear, then, by applying torque trying to right the vehicle with the reaction wheels and re-extending the gear, the craft was able to pop back upright. Again, without breaking anything.

But I still wasn’t within the fairly small science region. So I tried again. And fell over again. And had to right myself again.



At least I got my science.

Mission Summary
Mission Elapsed Time : 5d, 5h, 55m
Highest Altitude : 10,640 km
Maximum Velocity : 2,952 m/s
Landing Site : Ocean east of Great Lakes Seaway
Science : 220

The last of the Kerbin discoverables to be noted in the Forums is located close to where the Woomerang Launch Site was in KSP1, north of the northern hemisphere peninsula that looks like Kamchatka.

Again, I use the Aeris-K3 to fly there and have three Mk16-R Parachutes for the landing. Even though this is where a Space Center used to be, I’m not expecting a runway.

It takes two hours of flight time and about half the available fuel to arrive.



Just west of the KSP1 Space Center was a very tall set of mountains with a very high peak, over 6,000 meters. Kerbin in KSP2 has a lot of mountain regions, much more than in KSP1, but those mountains don’t seem as high. And this mountain near Kamchatka, while distinctive compared to the rest of the mountain terrain, does not seem as high.

Derrie Kerman will need to climb it to be sure.

The ground at 1,450 meters above sea level has scattered chunks of snow. This represents the lower limit of the “snow line”. On Earth, the snow line, of course, varies based on climactic conditions but is generally at 4,500 meters. This scales Kerbin at around 33%, at least in this context. Higher up, there is more snow but it is not a distinct line, at least not on this mountain.

About 150 meters up the slope from the base of the snow line, the science collection region changes from Mountains to Kerb-2 Summit, even though I am far from the summit itself. There is still a lot of climbing ahead.

There is no upper tree line, again not on this mountain, as there is a tall pine near the summit on a saddle. On Earth, the tree line would be somewhere between 3,500 and 4,000 meters above sea level, scaled here to maybe 1,500 to 1,700 meters. Kerbin trees are much more hardy, apparently.

The Kerb-2 summit itself is at 2,520.64 meters above sea level, similar to Mt. St. Helens in Washington. But given the scale of Kerbals (44% the height of a human), Kerb-2 would be comparable to an Earth summit of around 5,600 meters, in the range of Kilimanjaro. K2 in the Himalayas, on which Kerb-2 is vaguely modeled, is second only to Everest and stands at 8,611 meters.



Kerb-2 is a piece of cake to climb as compared to a monster like K2.

Having reached the summit, I can measure back to where I landed and the so-called “summit” region is about 5 km in diameter.

There is supposed to be at least one more discoverable; Snowcone Glacier. According to the modder of Science Arkive, the region exists in the code but experiments cannot be performed there for extra science. He doesn’t reveal where that is.

I had a lot of difficulty getting the space station into orbit but my Crew Transfer Vehicle is a consistent flyer so getting it to orbit is going to be the easy part. I’ve been away from docking for a few years so we shall see if I remember how to do this.

Mission Designation : TR-2
Rocket Model : Trefoil KH-I
Total delta-V (to orbit) : 8,429 m/s (2,378 m/s)
Surface TWR : 1.20
Total Mass (to orbit) : 106.30 t (15.69 t)
Dry Mass : 25.21 t
Part Count : 30
Height : 28.97 m
Width : 5.52 m
Length : 5.52
Mission Objectives : Dock with Kerbin Orbital Station
Crew : Bill Kerman, Bob Kerman, Tim C Kerman

Orbital rendezvous begins with eyeballing it, much like getting to the Mun or Minmus, but then has some math. The Kerbin Orbital Station is in a 150 km orbit and the CTV begins in a lower orbit of 80 km. Since the CTV launched when the station was over the Great Desert, the CTV is ahead of the station and, in a lower orbit, is moving faster. It will take a number of orbits for the CTV to outpace the station and catch up.

After a while, you can build a maneuver node that intersects with the station. I prefer having to intercept points which allows me to adjust the final rondezvous to be closer.

Adjust the maneuver node forward or back and the prograde/retrograde vectors until the second intercept (or the first, if you prefer) is no closer than about 50 meters. There are mods that allow you to adjust those numbers even closer but, one, I haven’t installed the maneuver manager mod yet and, two, I’m out of practice and so don’t want my intercept to be too close so as to risk collision.

Perform the maneuver.

You are not going to be dead on so turn on RCS and thrust forward or back a little to tweak the final intercept. Again, I don’t want it to be too close. I end up with a projected closest approach of 186 meters.

Now, the math.

The projected intercept velocity is 100 m/s. Build a maneuver node at the intercept. You aren’t going to actually use this node, just need the numbers it produces. A maneuver node that uses that 100 m/s projects a burn of 7 seconds. Divided by two is 3.5 seconds. 3.5 seconds at 100 m/s is 350 meters. Plus the closest approach of 186 meters is 536 meters. So, as the CTV approaches the target, when the range gets to 536 meters, start the rendezvous burn, run the engines for 7 seconds, and you should be good.

And it was good. Exactly according to plan and without too close an approach.

But like the mission to the Soviet Salyut 7 space station in 1985, the Kerbin Orbital Station was tumbling. I used the “]” key to switch over to the space station and could stop it’s tumble but could not get it to hold station. It would drift slowly but consistently.

I tried approaching and docking multiple times but, as the station kept drifting, I couldn’t line up and dock.

Only after a very long time and a lot of frustration as the two craft passed into Kerbin’s shadow, did I realize that I had entirely forgotten to turn on SAS with the “T” key. Am I remembering correctly that KSP1 would remember the SAS state and keep the craft stable when you reloaded the game? In any case, once I remembered how to turn on SAS, I could get the docking ports lined up and it got a whole lot easier.

From the CTV, approach slowly and carefully, close enough that you can right click on the primary docking port and set it as the target. Then, switch over the the station and do the same. Point the station’s docking port at the CTV then switch back.

The Mk1-3 “Gumball” Command Module has integral RCS ports but those are only for translation and rotation. The don’t go forward or back and so the CTV already has a second set of RCS blocks. On the command pod, you want to go into the RCS controls and turn off Pitch, Yaw, and Roll. Let the integral reaction control wheels do that and use RCS only for translation.

Turn the craft so that it is aligned the same as the space station then look at the Nav Ball. There will be a white “V” indicating where the craft is pointing. There will be a white target icon which indicates the target port. And the green prograde/retrograde marker indicating the direction the CTV is moving. Use translation keys IJKL to move the ship sideways to move the white target to the center “V”. Use your Mark One Eyeballs to confirm you are pointing along the axis of the station and at the docking port. Finally, use “H” to move the ship forward and the IJKL to move the green prograde marker just outside the white target marker, essentially pushing it towards the “V” target.



I successfully docked. It wasn’t too bad, again, once I remembered to turn on SAS on the station. I undocked, backed off, did a 360 degree turn, approached and docked again. I did this a few more times and am now pretty comfortable docking again.

When you craft docks with another, the name changes to “Combined” and when you un-dock, instead of the craft returning to their original names, they become “Default Name” and “Combined.”

I have installed the mod Vessel Renamer so I can change the names back to something useful.

Docking also resets the Mission Elapsed Time clock. The Mission Summary is providing less and less useful information.

While the previous Orbital Survey missions delivering Visual data are welcome, the Region data is much more useful. Especially for regions on the Mun such as Craters. While Mare are very obvious for what they are, Craters are less so. There are a lot of craters but not every crater is its own region and you can’t rely on size or prominence to tell the difference. It seems somewhat random.

You can pass over and select the Science report button on the HUD on the left and it will tell you the region below but that is labor intensive. Using a mod like Orbital Survey streamlines that process producing a map of the vartious regions.

At this point, the Mun has only been scanned to 36% but that is enough to see a number of craters as potential landing zones. Orbital Survey also includes a simple waypointing feature to mark those craters.

Mission Designation : LN-4
Rocket Model : Lunaria UL-II
Total delta-V (to orbit) : 8,842 m/s (4,013 m/s)
Surface TWR : 1.20
Total Mass (to orbit) : 184.07 t (30.46 t)
Dry Mass : 37.93 t
Part Count : 62
Height : 23.79 m
Width : 7.99 m
Length : 3.96 m
Mission Objectives : Land at a Crater Region
Crew : Valentina Kerman, Bob Kerman, Tomfal Kerman

The craft enters into Munar orbit at a 17 degree inclination. That affords plenty of opportunities. In fact, on the next orbit there are three crater regions available under the orbital path just north of Mare Orientalis (the location of the second Mun arch). I could choose any one of them, and choose the first.

The descent and landing goes norminally. Mostly back to the skill level I had before my break, at least in terms of landing on the Mun.



I like big rocks. And, if you were not aware, nearly all the rocks found on the surface of the Mun represent bedrock that had been carved out and thrown about by asteroid or meteoric impacts.

Mission Summary
Mission Elapsed Time : 2d, 5h, 46m
Highest Altitude : 11,167 km
Maximum Velocity : 3,011 m/s
Landing Site : Ocean West of KSC
Science : 220

The Mun ScanSat delivered 25% of a region scan and so produced 30 points of science. The Kerbin ScanSat is up to 50% with 72 points, and the Minmus ScanSat is up to 25% and 42 points. With the science collected on the surface, there are 1,146 points total. The next major mission is to Duna and even that 1,146 points isn’t going to get me any leaps in technology to get there.

Science Arkive indicates there are two more Regions still located somewhere on the Mun. These would be for discoverables such as the Monument or the Arch. There are two ways to find these sites. First is to orbit low enough and, by chance or design, pass over one so that you can see the glittering render on the surface. This is how I found the one arch on the northern edge of Mare Orientalis.

The other is to seek out instructions on the Internet. The KSP forums has a page that identifies the locations of these discoverables without spoiling what you will find there. Tech nodes are getting expensive so even if I do go there for the science, those few hundred points aren’t going to get me into Tech Level Three. For that, I’ll need to get to Duna.

Val has had enough of Bob's crap.

I have only just now realized that I have had the Communotron DTS-M1 antenna for quite some time but haven’t used it as a scanner for the Orbital Survey mod. I already have the Visual scan completed for Kerbin and ongoing for the Mun and Minmus but using the DTS-M1 will allow me to scan for Regions. Kind of not so important at this point given that I have logged all the regions of Minmus and have only one remaining to collect on the Mun (excepting the several ???? discoverables, which Orbital Survey doesn’t yet find).

Using the DTS-M1 to do a Region Scan, according to the mod page, uses 2 e/s of electricity. Orbit the satellite above Kerbin at the ideal altitude of 1,500 km, above the Mun at 500 km, or above Minmus at 200 km is calculated (by Visual RemoteTech Planner) to need battery power for 938, 1,329, and 1,469 seconds respectively. 1,469 seconds at 2 e/s is 2,938 e, and the satellite would need eight Z400 Rechargable Batteries to keep operating.

I’m not doing that.

Instead, I’m just going to throw one on there and expect that there will be gaps in the data, filled given enough time.

The DTS-M1 antenna weighs 0.05 t. If I put a Z400 battery (0.02 t) and an OX-10C Solar Panel (0.035 t) on the other side, that almost balances the center of mass. Adding a Communotron 16 (0.005 t) on the same side as the DTS-M1 balances it properly.

Mission Designation : SCAN-1, SCAN-2, SCAN-3
Rocket Model : ScanSat KH-I
Total delta-V (to orbit) : 6,294 m/s (2,182 m/s)
Surface TWR : 1.4
Total Mass (to orbit) : 13.69 t (????)
Dry Mass : 3.19 t
Part Count : 21
Height : 14.02 m
Width : 1.87 m
Length : 1.87 m
Mission Objectives : Kerbin, Mun, Minmus orbit

After completing the Kapy Rock mission, it was immediately followed by another mission to the southern hemisphere, this time to a set of islands south of the Great Desert that look similar to New Zealand. New Kerbland or Kerb Zealand.

Even though the rover was crap, I’m going to launch the same rocket for this mission because I know now that even if the rover can’t make it to the destination, I can walk the rest of the way and collect the mission points even though I would miss out on the science from the RGSCM-01 “Science Jr. Jr.” attached to the rover.

Mission Designation : KB-2
Rocket Model : Kapybara KH-I
Total delta-V : 4,864 m/s
Surface TWR : 1.18
Total Mass : 119.81 t
Dry Mass : 22.5 t
Part Count : 88
Height : 17.42 m
Width : 5.50 t
Length : 5.50 t
Mission Objectives : Land at Stargazer Point
Crew : Bob Kerman

Rather than launching to the southwest directly towards the destination, I launch northeast so that I will approach the landing zone from the southwest. As I do just that, I burn all the fuel remaining in the core tank, targeting just beyond the landing zone. That does a pretty good job as I come down only 3.2 km from Stargazer Point, which I could see on the parachute down.



Stargazer Point is an analog for Devil’s Tower or Bears Lodge in Wyoming and, not coincidentally, featured in “Close Encounters of the Third Kind.” (1977).

The terrain from where I landed is much more difficult than the mostly flat desert I had to deal with at Kapy Rock, but there does seem to be a mostly traversable valley that heads right there. I flip the rover several times. At least twice I was unable to right the rover with the integral reaction wheels and had Bob get out to push the rover over. It then rolled away, down the valley, and up the other side. Then back down and back up the hill to run over Bob trying to stop it. Then back down and up the other side, until it ran out of momentum.

Yet, for all that comedy, I was actually able to drive to the foot of the formation.

The base is approximately 200 m across. It is a igneous intrusion, where magma rose up though the surrounding sedimentary rock. As the magma cooled, it formed the characteristic columnar structures. As the surrounding softer rock was eroded, the harder basalt remained.

How high is it? Is it climbable?



Yes. In fact it’s relatively easy. Humans will take 4 to 6 hours to climb Bears Lodge. Bill was able to free climb it in 28 minutes, which an impressive feat given that, to scale, a Kerbal is about half the size on a human but Stargazer Point is 186 m high, about 70% the size of Bears Lodge. It got trickier near the very top and the incline became almost vertical and there appeared to be even some overhang. It took a while, but Bill was able to find a line to the top.