I turned 26 four and a half years ago. Moving on!

I've returned to my one and only blog after a long hiatus to host some writing projects I have lined up.

Why the long hiatus? I don't have much motive to write without feedback, ultimately. I simply didn't keep in touch with my old acquaintances (a terrible trend of mine) so the blog lacked my main driving force at the time.

A lot has happened since then (finished my basement, got a new job, got into a relationship) but I'll assume anyone who is reading just wants to know what I'm doing right now and what brings me back here.

Last summer I ran a session of the classic Oregon Trail PC game in a ‘Let’s Play’ format, wherein I would post journal entries every few days and encourage readers to.provide comments and input (particularly those whom I named party members after). The results were relatively popular and the game ran for several weeks to completion, the party arriving in Oregon without any fatalities. Had I remembered this blog at the time, I would have used it for that play-through.

Ever since, I’ve been tempted to run another Let’s Play, but I wanted something that I could write about in-depth and with more involved gameplay. The real challenge always revolved around finding the right game; doubtfully would a second round of Oregon Trail uncover any new interactions, and my access to different versions are nil at this point. I sorted through my games looking for one that allowed for enough interesting choices, back-seat gaming, and be presentable through screenshots and journal entries at regular intervals. Basically, I wanted to show off a game that makes for a good narrative.

I finally settled on Kerbal Space Program.

www.kerbalspaceprogram.com

This is a space simulator game that lets the player build their own rockets and fly missions to explore a solar system. It is currently still under development but the version available has more to offer than a lot of other games. The big advantage of KSP for my purposes is that a space program presents a very clear set of objectives in an episodic manner. I will be building rocket modules from a variety of components, with the specifics of their functions, crew, mission objectives and even their names open to the whims of the audience.

Let’s jump right into KSP and see how I’ll be conducting mission entries. Afterwards I’ll go into detail on the direction I’ll run the game and how you can contribute as a reader. The first thing that needs to be answered before anything else: what the hell is a Kerbal?

This is a Kerbal. Hello!

Think of Kerbals as friendly, eager versions of little green men. A more accurate biological description would be a genetic cross between a potato and an idiot, but let’s stick with the little green men comparison. 

Kerbals live on the planet Kerbin, a tiny planet with earth-like gravity and environments. They have just started their space program at a centralized facility, simply named Kerbal Space Center.

Imagine Disney World, if every ride potentially explodes.

Kerbal Space Center’s primary features include a vehicle assembly building, a rocket launch platform, research facility, recruitment center, and experimental jet hangar. All missions will be initially conducted from here.

Our first Kerbal Astronaut (Kerbonaut?) will be named James Kerman, after myself. I’ll elaborate on our other Kerbonaut recruits later. He will serve as our initial pioneer of space travel in order to get this program off to a solid start, providing us with his own experimental rocket. This simple rocket is made up of four essential components:

James' rocket is being prepared for launch.

Crew module

The Mk1 command pod holds a single crew member and is capable of surviving space travel and any minor crashes. The astronaut can exit and re-enter the pod during a mission and log reports in or out of the module.

Fuel Tank

This FL-T200 fuel tank carries one ton of a liquid fuel/oxidizer mix, contributing to about a third of the rocket’s total weight. the fuel provides both power and propellant to the rocket engine.

Rocket Engine

Fuel/oxidizer is directed to the engine’s ignition chamber and is ignited. The resulting explosive reaction is directed out through the engine nozzle and that force provides an equal but opposite reaction of forward momentum to the vessel. In layman’s terms, this is where the magic happens.

Parachute

It would be boring if none of our astronauts could come back for new missions. The standard parachute is designed to deploy at 500 meters above the ground, slowing the rocket’s descent for a safe landing. There is a theoretical maximum weight limit which may restrict how large a rocket can be built and return intact.

Kerbal physics are based on real physics, with some concessions for the sake of hardware performance and entertainment. The advantage Kerbals have is they’re very low maintenance and seem to not need food, water, or air. Plus, if we lose them on a mission we can just make more of them. There’s a lot more room to test new technology and reach for big mission goals without doing a lot of calculations or planning on paper.

Though I already have a good grasp of the principles involved my readers understandably do not. I will be taking this through the hopefully more interesting parts of rapid space pioneering but some missions will be need to be performed to simply demonstrate essential rocketry concepts as much as achieve milestones in space travel. I won’t throw math at you but I’m not going to gloss over why a spaceship needs fuel to slow down, either.

After all, this is rocket science.