Kerbin

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Kerbin is a planet which is the home planet of the Kerbals, the location of the Space Center and the main focus of Kerbal Space Program. It has two moons, named Mun and Minmus. It is the third planet in orbit around the M class star Kerbol. It is the third largest planet (after Jool and Eve) and the fourth largest celestial object around Kerbol (the moon Tylo being slightly larger).

Topography

Topographical image of Kerbin.

Kerbin has a roughly equal distribution of surface liquid water and solid land, with polar icecaps and scattered deserts. There are mountains exceeding 3 km in height, with the tallest peak being at least 3750 m in altitude.[1]


Atmosphere

Kerbin has an atmosphere of unknown composition, though because Kerbin has plants and animals, it can be assumed there is O2, N2, and CO2. The atmosphere ends at 69,077.55 meters and, as on Earth, becomes exponentially less dense as altitude increases (with a scale height of 5 km).[2] In general, the atmospheric pressure and density on Kerbin, at an altitude expressed in meters, are:

Orbits

Geosynchronous orbit is achieved at an altitude of 0.00 m. A semi-synchronous orbit with an orbital period of 1/2 of Kerbal (3 hours or 10800 seconds) is achieved at an altitude of 0.00 m with an orbital velocity of 0.00 m/s.

Interplanetary Travel

From the lowest stable orbit around Kerbin (70 km), the amount of delta-V needed to reach the orbits of other celestials is as follows:

Body Delta-V
Mun ~860 m/s
Minmus ~930 m/s
Eve ~1033 m/s
Duna ~1060 m/s
Moho ~1676 m/s
Jool ~1915 m/s

Reference Frames

Paid (0.17) Demo (0.13.3)
Rotational/Inertial transition 100,000 m 70,000 m
Warp Minimum Altitude
1x Any
2x n/a 0 m
5x 69,078 m (above the atmosphere)
10x 69,078 m (above the atmosphere)
50x 69,078 m 150,000 m
100x 120,000 m 300,000 m
1,000x 240,000 m 600,000 m
10,000x 480,000 m 1,200,000 m
100,000x 600,000 m n/a

Gallery

Changes

0.17
  • Improved atmosphere visuals.
0.15
0.14.2
  • Much more varied and taller terrain added. Prior to this, some mountain ranges exceeded 600 m in height, but the tallest point was at an altitude of approximately 900 m.[3]
0.12
0.11
  • Terrain overhaul, oceans became wet.
0.10.1
  • Atmosphere extended from ~34,500 m to ~69,000 m.
?
  • Initial Release

Notes

  1. http://kerbalspaceprogram.com/forum/index.php?topic=11388.msg176509#msg176509 [Broken Link]
  2. Forum thread 16000, "[KGSS] Examining Kerbin's atmosphere"
  3. http://kerbalspaceprogram.com/forum/index.php?topic=6446.0 [Broken Link]