List of easter eggs

“

An Easter Egg is an intentional inside joke, hidden message, or feature in a work such as a computer program, video game, movie, book, or crossword.

— Easter egg (media) on Wikipedia

”

In Kerbal Space Program, this corresponds to any anomaly that has been hidden in the game on the surfaces of bodies in the Kerbol System the Main Menu, in IVAs, and any other applicable area by the developers. This does not include bugs like terrain glitches.

This page contains spoilers, as you have already been warned. For any who wish to preserve the sense of exploration, please do not continue.

Kerbol

There is a "Landed At Sun" status available...

Moho

Although itself a terrain glitch, the Mohole (a large, steep vertical "tunnel" at Moho's north pole) could be considered an easter egg, since anomalous forces are present around its rim, which may well be deliberate, and the fact that the mohole has its own biome, the Northern Sinkhole. In the version 1.2 readme file, the changelog states that "Mohole given an empty PQSCity, which allows it to appear in KerbNet." suggesting the Mohole's are no longer glitches, but now permanent Easter Eggs.
One Green Monolith (Randomly spawns for each game)

Eve

One Green Monolith (Randomly spawns for each game)

A Green Monolith on Eve.

Gilly

Near the zero longitude meridian on Gilly, there is an anomalous "slot" in the terrain, which is about 2m x 1km in dimension. On approach, you can see stars in the slot. Touching the slot with a Kerbal on EVA or with a craft will destroy the Kerbal or the craft. It is not clear whether this is an intended Easter egg, or just a bug.
One Green Monolith (Randomly spawns for each game)

Kerbin

Five Monoliths: one visible from KSC, one by the tracking station at the Inland Kerbal Space Center (20° 40′ 15″ N 146° 29′ 48″ W), one at 35° 34′ 13″ N 74° 58′ 38″ W, one at 0° 38′ 25″ S 80° 46′ 0″ W, and one at 28° 48′ 30″ S 13° 26′ 24″ W
Destructible memorial to the old Mk1 Command Pod outside the level 3 VAB.
A temple in the desert (6° 29′ 47″ S 141° 40′ 3″ W) It is actually called Tut-Un Jeb-Ahn, if you crash into it.
A crashed flying saucer on northern ice cap (81° 57′ 18″ N 128° 30′ 50″ W)
The Old Airfield (1° 31′ 43″ S 71° 54′ 8″ W) has a hangar containing old versions of these parts: a Command Pod Mk1 (but scorched and oversized), an old FL-T400 Fuel Tank and an old LV-T45 Liquid Fuel Engine.
The level 3 flagpole at KSC can be climbed by Kerbals.
When the level 3 Astronaut Complex is destroyed, a toilet is visible in the rubble.

Toilet in the exploded Astronaut Center

In the ocean just south of the KSC, about midway between land and the southern ice cap (about 30° 0′ 0″ S 80° 0′ 0″ W), engraved into the ocean floor is a giant smiley face, best seen from orbit or on a topography map like File:Kerbin heightmap.jpg. Also surprisingly it's really close to kerbin a lowest trench according to kerbal maps. Maybe there is some secret underwater down there?
The inland KSC at (20° 40′ 15″ N 146° 29′ 48″ W) actually has its own biomes, even including launch pad. if a flag is placed on it and you try to launch a rocket, it will make you remove the flag. As of 1.2 this bug has been fixed.
One Commnet station is called "Nye Island," possibly a reference to Bill Nye.
Tardis near Level 1 R&D building (unproven)

The Giant Kerbal Face of Duna

The camera which looks like that of the Curiosity rover, no longer buried in the soil as of 1.2 (now sticking out of boulder 30° 20′ 30″ S 28° 48′ 37″ W)
Hill making SSTV signal (66° 3′ 12″ S 160° 53′ 38″ W) The source of the signal was several hundred meters beneath hill as of 0.22, but as of 1.2, the signal is back at the surface.
One Monolith (36º 44' 30" N 32º 59' 1" E)

Ike

Magic Boulder - Missing since 0.18 - The magic boulder used to orbit Ike at an altitude of 15 km with zero eccentricity and an inclination of 80 degrees. The mesh (physical surface) for the magic boulder did not match its texture (visible surface) which could result in ships apparently digging into the surface with no ill effect. It would also cause ships to explode seemingly spontaneously, sometimes metres away from the surface, displaying "vesselname crashed into Magic Boulder" in the Flight Log. It also seemed to glow green as if radioactive, and there was a Monolith on its leading edge. The boulder had no gravity, did not appear in the map view and could not be targeted, much like any other easter egg, except in orbit. The Magic Boulder was re-added as a random asteroid as of 1.1.3 and cannot be found orbiting Ike, but can be found as an asteroid if you're lucky enough to track it. It's known to come in different colours: Pink, Orange, Blue, Red, Yellow and the good old green.
One Green Monolith (Randomly spawns for each game)

Magic Boulder asteroid in 1.1.3

Dres

Ring System of Asteroids - Asteroids now spawn around Dres in a circular formation. To be able to see and track the asteroids, you must travel to Dres first.
One Green Monolith (Randomly spawns for each game)

Jool

Even though the "surface" of Jool is inaccessible (since it is a gas giant and parts are destroyed due to the pressure), there are still science logs for the situation "Landed on Jool".

Laythe

There is a biome called "The Sagan Sea" which may be a reference to Carl Sagan.
One Green Monolith (Randomly spawns for each game)

Vall

Formation on Vall

Stonehenge formation, sometimes known as Vallhenge (60° 5′ 10″ S 83° 46′ 48″ E)
One Green Monolith (Randomly spawns for each game)

Tylo

Crater with Carl Sagan's face [Removed]
Cave-like formation (40° 11′ 58″ N 174° 0′ 5″ E). Between 0.23 and 1.1.2 ironically enough, the cave was hundreds of metres below the ground. Since 1.1.3 it is again on the surface.
One Green Monolith (Randomly spawns for each game)

Bop

Dead Deep Space Kraken (68° 25′ 48″ N 117° 1′ 48″ E)

Large Orange Circle (4° 44′ 24″ S 72° 46′ 12″ W)
One Green Monolith (Randomly spawns for each game)

Pol

One Green Monolith (Randomly spawns for each game)

Eeloo

One Green Monolith (Randomly spawns for each game)

Easter Egg Narrative

In a forum post from late 2013,^[1] Squad member Jeff C.(NovaSilisko) described an idea he had for connecting many easter eggs into a story concerning a civilization which predated the Kerbals. Experiments with interstellar travel resulted in the homeworld of this "precursor civilization" being flung out into an extremely distant orbit. Before they froze to death, they launched monoliths and other messages onto many planets and moons in hopes of seeding intelligent life. Instead, they created Kerbals, not-so-intelligent life.

The planet would not show up in any map and would be too distant to be observed with a telescope, making locating it by chance nearly impossible. However, players would be able to find transmitters beaming out SSTV signals on various bodies, each one of which would provide part of the orbital parameters necessary to locate it. The planet would be a bit smaller than Kerbin, covered in ruined cities and frozen oceans, and perpetually in twilight due to being so far from Kerbol.

The only element of this narrative which made it into the game is the SSTV transmitter on Duna, which transmits an image originally intended to depict 4 members of the precursor civilization standing on their homeworld, with the logo of their government. Had the narrative story been completed, it would also have contained part of the orbital parameters. Because the story was never implemented into the game, this explanation for the SSTV signal's imagery is arguably non-canon.^[2]

Miscellaneous

While not easter eggs per se, the exact geographical poles of most bodies have highly unusual topography, usually making them inaccessible, see terrain glitch.

Kerbals

An average of the skin color in Kerbal arm textures compared to the rumored colors

The color of the Kerbals' skin is close to is #BADA55 ( ) in hexadecimal but does not match it exactly. The hexadecimal RGB value spells like “badass” in leetspeek. Some say #84D455 ( ) is the color of a Kerbal which is even further away than #BADA55. This connection is rumored, because Kerbals can have a BadS flag, which is usually interpreted as badass.

IVA

Some of the cockpits have post-it notes and other humorous writings inside them. The writing is somewhat blurry on normal settings and hard to read, but still legible. For transcripts of the notes, see the respective part pages.
When double-clicked on the screen which says "docking mode" in the mk1 cockpit, the IVA view changes to show upwards through the window on the top-back of the cockpit with a flight console. This suggests Kerbals can leave (or rotate?) their seats to make it easier to dock. It should be designed to be used with Inline Clamp-O-Tron.

Parts

On the Z-100 and Z-400 Rechargable Battery, the logo claims the batteries are Batt Man Batteries. This is a reference to Batman.
On the Communotron 88-88 is the hexadecimal number 0x62656570. When 0x62656570 is converted to ASCII it spells "beep".
Also on the Communotron 88-88, is the serial number 04101957, which is the launch date of Sputnik 1, 4 October 1957.
When the Mystery Goo™ Containment Unit is opened, revealing the holes, if one looks very closely in them, a faint smiley face can be seen. There is also "Containment Vessel" sign inside of it
When the SC-9001 Science Jr. is open, a message can be seen printed on the rear of the bay reading "Danger! Science Stuff" and Biohazard sign.
The COSPAR designations and names of both the International Space Station and Mir (in Cyrillic script) are printed on the Mobile Processing Lab MPL-LG-2 hull.
The FL-T200 Fuel Tank has a very faint drawing on it which can just about be observed when fully zoomed in. The drawing becomes more visible during re-entry and appears to depict a failed re-entry procedure which has then been crossed out.
The Mk3 to Mk2 Adapter has the word "Kurvy" written on it, most likely a reference to its shape.
The EAS-4 Strut Connector has a cost of 42 an obvious reference to The Hitchhiker's guide to the galaxy's answer to the ultimate question.
The Telus Mobility Enhancer is similar to the ladder on the A-10 "Warthog" Close Ground Support Plane.
The LY series landing gear is a dual reference to Akron, Ohio based "Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company" and Buzz Lightyear from the Toy Story Franchise. On the tires,"Lightyear" is written.
The Kerbodyne Launch escape system has the designation A-004, a reference to A-004, the final test of the Apollo launch escape system

Loading Screen

While not that much of an Easter Egg instead of a reference, the loading screen makes a reference to The Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy, stating "Answering Ultimate Question" one of the well known phrases from the book.
As of 1.2, there are many more 'witty loading hints'.
One of the loading hints is "Falling With Style...", which may be a reference to Toy Story when Woody says, "That's not flying, that's falling with style!"

Main Menu

One of the two main menu images is that of a Kerbal standing on the Mun's surface, with Kerbin in the background. There is a 1 in 40 chance that a sand castle made of Mun dust can be seen near his feet.

The Mun dust castle.

Scenarios

The Kerbal XX orbiting Duna

During the Space Station One scenario, by zooming out far enough to show the planetary map, a ship by the name of 'Kerbal XX' can be seen orbiting around Duna in a near-equatorial orbit (as of 0.23)

Patcher

If you look into the patcher log, before updating, the log says "HOLD ON TO YOUR BUTTS!"

References

Gallery

Happy face engraved on Kerbin's ocean floor.
Happy face with increased brightness and contrast.
Goo Canister face with increased brightness and contrast.
Kerbal XX from the Station 1 scenario.
Drawings made by a rather pessimistic Kerbal engineer.
A Monolith on the Mun (aka Munolith)
The Gilly's "slot"
Hideous details inside of parts

List of easter eggs

Contents