Moho

Moho/Data

Moho is the innermost planet of the Kerbol star system. It is the Mercury analogue for Kerbal Space Program. It is similar to Dres and Eeloo in that it has no atmosphere and no natural satellites. As of 0.18, it is no longer tidally locked to Kerbol.

It has a slightly eccentric and inclined orbit around Kerbol making it hard to reach and also has neither an atmosphere allowing aerobraking nor a moon allowing to lose speed through a gravity assist, making it even harder to stop after reaching it. These factors make a mission to Moho quite challenging. Getting to Moho via a standard Hohmann Transfer orbit is still more efficient than a Bi-elliptic Transfer, as as the ratio from Kerbin's orbit to Moho's orbit is not 1:11.94 or greater, but is approximatley 5:13.

Topography

Moho's surface ranges from light brown highlands to dark brown Maria. It is heavily cratered, but less so than the moons of Kerbin and Jool, suggesting erosion. Because of the lack of an atmosphere on Moho, the primary suspect of Moho's erosion is volcanism. It is probable that Moho under goes volcanic periods, induced by tidal friction with Kerbol. The fact that this occurs in periods, likely on a geologic timescale, is proven in that volcanism of Moho was removed in 0.18. It must have been discovered just before it stopped being volcanic. The vulcanism would lead to the filling up of craters.

Moho has two very deep wells at the geographic north and south pole of a, as yet, undetermined depth. Current analysis and probes dropped into the crater at the north pole revealed it to be more than 5 km deep before the probe crashed into the ever narrowing canyon walls. It is possible that these are volcanic tubes that are as of this moment dormant. Further analysis of the canyon walls is needed before a definitive answer can be presented.

Orbital Statistics

Mohosynchronous orbit is not possible — it would require an altitude of 0.00 m, outside of Moho's sphere of influence.

For a semi synchronous orbit of ½ Moho day (307.75 hours or 1,107,882 seconds) an orbit of 0.00 m above Moho is needed with a velocity of 0.00 m/s.

Reference Frames

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Solar System Counterpart

Moho is the Kerbol System Mercury analog.

Moho and Mercury share a similar, cratered landscape, similar to most bodies with little to no atmosphere. They are both the closest planet to their respective Sun, and neither has a natural satellite.
Unlike Mercury, Moho has a brown texture while Mercury itself has a grey to dark grey color. In addition, Mercury has a very tenuous atmosphere, whereas Moho has no atmosphere.

Gallery

A topographic height map of Moho as at Version 0.18.2 made with the ISA MapSat plugin.
A successful landing at Moho pre-0.18. Note the engines still overheating.
A Probe wedged in the 5km deep lava well at the north pole.
A probe performing a Moho flyby.