Laythe

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Laythe/Data

Laythe is one of the five natural satellites of Jool. Although mostly covered in seas, Laythe has numerous rocky, sandy islands. Laythe is tidally locked to Jool. Synchronous orbits around Laythe are not possible, as they would lie outside of its SOI, at a radius of 5,186,399 meters. A circular archipelago that is prominent in maps suggests that Laythe suffered a massive impact in its distant past.

Achieving a stable orbit around Laythe from sea level requires a delta-V of ≈2800 m/s.

Atmosphere

Laythe's atmosphere begins at 55,262 meters and is slightly less dense than Kerbin's. It is the only natural satellite in the game which has an atmosphere.

Like all other atmospheres in the game, Laythe's atmosphere fades exponentially with increasing altitude (with a scale height of 4000 m). In general, the atmospheric pressure on Laythe at an altitude expressed in meters is:[1]

With proper aerobraking near Laythe and Jool, reaching Laythe may require the least delta-V of all of Jool's moons. When approaching Jool on a Hohmann transfer orbit from Kerbin, aerobraking with a Jool periapsis of 119.5 km will put your apoapsis roughly near Laythe's orbit.

Landing on higher points of Laythe's surface has to be done with a help of retro burns as parachutes alone are not enough to sufficiently lower velocity for landing.

Jet engines work in Laythe's atmosphere as it contains oxygen. However, their efficiency is slightly lower.

Reference Frames

Template:ReferenceFrames

Gallery

Changes

0.17
  • Initial Release

Notes

  1. A nuclear engine has a specific impulse of 220 in 1 atm, 800 in vacuum, and the following at various Laythe altitudes:
    altitude (m) 600 1464 1800 2238 2698 3296 4104 16435
    specific impulse 400.7 478.2 504.2 534.8 563.7 596.5 633.7 792.4