Jebediah Kerman is unfazed by his impending fiery death.

July 16, 2011 1:38 PM

Fancy yourself a rocket scientist? Want to build rockets and shoot little green guys into space? Comfortable with your rocket flying apart and exploding into a thousand fiery pieces? Able to press the space bar? Try Kerbal Space Program.

Link to Download page.
QuarterToThree thread. (Be sure to get the part addon pack for even more zaniness)

posted by Lord_Pall (26 comments total)

Exhibit 1a: Jebediah Kerman not giving a fuck.
posted by Lord_Pall at 2:03 PM on July 16, 2011 [4 favorites]

Windows only, apparently.
posted by fartknocker at 2:04 PM on July 16, 2011 [1 favorite]

Fancy yourself a rocket scientist?
Yeah, in my dreams.

Want to build rockets and shoot little green guys into space?
That sounds like fun!

Comfortable with your rocket flying apart and exploding into a thousand fiery pieces?
I can most definitely get behind that!

Able to press the space bar?
Yes, a thousand times, yes!

Running the Microsoft Windows operating system?
I... uh... guess I'll pass then. Shucks.
posted by The Winsome Parker Lewis at 2:04 PM on July 16, 2011 [9 favorites]

I wish I had waited, Parker. My comment seems lazy and unambitious now.
posted by fartknocker at 2:15 PM on July 16, 2011

Original Something Awful thread (includes creator comic!), add-ons, and spaceships.
posted by dubusadus at 2:22 PM on July 16, 2011

Security Paranoid Penguin:
Promised fun game, balks at downloading an EXE
posted by Foci for Analysis at 2:25 PM on July 16, 2011

~Comfortable with your rocket flying apart and exploding into a thousand fiery pieces?
~Running the Microsoft Windows operating system?

Ergo?
posted by Thorzdad at 3:08 PM on July 16, 2011 [1 favorite]

Okay, well, I just had what I believe they call a 'catastrophic failure' in the biz.
posted by empath at 3:34 PM on July 16, 2011

This really is a wonderful little game. Can't wait to see how it develops further - some of their planned features are amazing (moons, space stations, etc).
posted by CRM114 at 3:50 PM on July 16, 2011

Finally, proof of a viable model. The Academy laughed at me when I suggested there was a niche for hobbyist brain surgery.
posted by adipocere at 4:00 PM on July 16, 2011

Leaving your home planet at .05c in a flying casket? Jebidiah Kerman gives not one singular solitary fuck.
posted by kzin602 at 4:15 PM on July 16, 2011 [1 favorite]

The construction aspect is pretty cool. That said, I can't help thinking it pales in comparison to the wonderful Orbiter spaceflight simulator, which has been in development for over 10 years. (Free, but sadly also Windows-only.)

Orbiter is somewhat more difficult to get started on, but it has an extremely realistic physics model, and all the controls and instrumentation you need to actually navigate in space. There's also a sizable ecosystem of add-ons, including quite a few real (and fictional) spacecraft. Among many others, there's a mod that recreates the Apollo missions in incredible detail, guidance computer included.

Demo video of an Earth-to-Mars flight using the Delta Glider IV and TransX add-ons.
posted by teraflop at 4:23 PM on July 16, 2011 [2 favorites]

Oh, and apparently Orbiter was the subject of an FPP way back in 2003, but as you can imagine it's come a long way since then.
posted by teraflop at 4:26 PM on July 16, 2011

My problem is that I can't quite line things up vertically very well.

Also I have no idea how to steer.

It does not go well for those poor brave souls.
posted by kafziel at 4:48 PM on July 16, 2011 [1 favorite]

There is a Mac version in the works.
posted by garrett at 6:45 PM on July 16, 2011

Kafziel: I'm not expert, but I think the rocket is supposed to point at the sky, not the ground. ;)
posted by Canageek at 6:51 PM on July 16, 2011

I'm approaching 1200 kilometers and not slowing down... next stop Kmoon? The symmetry thingy at the top right of the build screen is important. Also SAS modules.
posted by polyhedron at 7:24 PM on July 16, 2011

Is it bad that I sometimes don't attach the parachute module, thinking "well, these guy's aren't gonna use it, that's for sure"
posted by hellojed at 7:27 PM on July 16, 2011

Want to build rockets and shoot little green guys into space?

Meh. Whatcha got for politicians?
posted by Twang at 8:43 PM on July 16, 2011 [1 favorite]

Anyone achieved orbit? I've run out of time with a successful > 200k launch, but not nearly enough velocity for orbit. It must be possible right?
posted by meinvt at 8:47 PM on July 16, 2011

Yeah, once you hit an altitude of about 10km (above most of the air resistance) you need to reorient yourself to be thrusting horizontally. Apply just enough upward thrust to keep you from falling back down, and try to gradually level out. According to the wiki you need about 2350 m/s of tangential velocity for a 40km altitude orbit.

Fun facts: those numbers also imply that the planet is 600 km in radius (the size of an unusually large asteroid) but has about the mass of Earth's moon, making it three times as dense as uranium.
posted by teraflop at 9:36 PM on July 16, 2011 [1 favorite]

This looks awesome. I have things to do but I'm painfully tempted to download this right now and start rocketing.

Anyone achieved orbit?

A brief exchange from the Somethingawful forum:

How hard is it to get a geosynchronous orbit?

Pretty hard, the planet does not rotate.

posted by A Thousand Baited Hooks at 9:41 PM on July 16, 2011

Come on people this isn't rocket surgery.
posted by Splunge at 11:00 PM on July 16, 2011

Okay, Lord_Pall why do you hate me? Why, after i finally got enough of MineCraft, do you show me this thing? What have i ever done to wrong you? Why... sorry... gotta make a new rocket... I'll be back. Just... Nevermind.
posted by Splunge at 11:37 PM on July 16, 2011

WTF? 4:13 AM Where the hell did the time go?
posted by Splunge at 1:14 AM on July 17, 2011 [1 favorite]

If this program had all the features they mention ready, rather than in development, then you would have destroyed the rest of my productive life.
posted by CautionToTheWind at 8:16 AM on July 18, 2011