Mun

The Mun (or Mün) is a large moon orbiting Kerbin, it can be thought of as an analogue to our own Moon. It is gray in appearance with craters of various sizes and mountains exceeding 3400 m in height. It is possible to land on the Mun or use it for gravitational slingshots to outer bodies such as Minmus or into Kerbol orbit.

There are anomalous geological formations called Mun Arches and Monoliths (also known as munoliths) can be found on the surface of the Mun. To preserve the enjoyment of exploration for new players, those who have found these sites are encouraged to keep their exact coordinates secret.

Synchronous orbit around the Mun is not possible, since it would have to occur at an altitude of 0.00 m, beyond the Mun's sphere of influence. However, putting your spacecraft just outside Mun's SOI and having the same SMA would make it appear stationary.

Reference Frames

	Paid (0.18.1)	Demo (0.13.3)
Rotational/Inertial transition	100,000 m	5,000 m
Warp	Minimum Altitude
1x	n/a
2x	n/a	0 m
5x	5,000 m
10x	5,000 m	20,000 m
50x	10,000 m	50,000 m
100x	25,000 m	100,000 m
1,000x	50,000 m	200,000 m
10,000x	100,000 m	400,000 m
100,000x	200,000 m	n/a

Geology

Information on the Mun's geological make up is mostly hypothetical based on certain observations. The Mun is mostly composed of igneous rocks. Lowlands -- or Maria -- are basaltic in nature and show signs of lava flows from impact craters into the surrounding terrain. These lowlands are probably much younger than highland regions where the albedo is much higher and consists probably of anorthositic rocks. Scattered boulders on the surface are Breccia and are of much higher albedo than Maria regions. Canyons on the Mun show signs of lava flow in accordance with their dark appearance and smooth text- ture and are sometimes several hundred meters deep and a few kilometers long. It is believed by some that the Mun shows signs of water-erosion, however, this is highly unlikely as no signs of weathered or oxidized rock have ever been found on the surface or observed from orbit. Smooth edges are more probably the result of micro-meteorite impact in the past. This can be inferred from the abundance of small ditches, rivets, and craters that are found scattering the surface in almost every area. Due to their higher albedo, scattered rocks appear to shimmer or sparkle when approaching or orbiting low over them. It is hypothesized that basaltic Munar rock was the result of mafic lava flows in the distant past, meaning the Mun's surface could have exceeded 950 degrees celsius. This also suggests that the Mun would have taken a long time to cool and therefore is more than a few million years old at least.

Gallery

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  A full projection map of the Mun as of version 0.14.2 and above

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  A topografic height map of the mun made with the ISA MapSat plugin

• 

  A Mun arch

• 

  A Monolith

• 

  Neil Armstrong memorial on the Mun

Trivia

• Prior to version 0.14.2 (and thus in the demo as well), the tallest points on the munar surface were no higher than roughly 600m.
• Mun was Kerbin's, and indeed the game's, very first moon.
• After its implementation, many fans began calling the body Mün, pronounced "moon", believing the original spelling to be a mistake. However, several of the game's developers have been heard referring to it as Mun, pronounced "muhn". In the "Surface of the Mun" title screen, a crashed lander has the words "Mün or Bust" scrawled on the side. As it is not entirely clear what the official spelling is, both are generally accepted.

Changes

0.18

• Easter Eggs added (one fixed, one added)
• New small art pass.

0.17

• Texture Improvements

0.16

• Easter Eggs added

0.15

• Texture Improvements

0.14.2

• Terrain overhaul

0.12

• Initial Release