REVIEW: Kerbal Space Program

There are a lot of games that I love and/or enjoy that allow me to be creative and have fun while enjoying a challenge in building something or figuring out how to do so in certain situations, especially when space travel and flight are involved. One such game is Kerbal Space Program (or KSP for short.) This is a game in which you take control of a space program of a earth-like planet called kerbin which is inhabited by humanoid aliens called kerbals and takes realistic (most of the time) aerodynamic and orbital physics and such while allowing players to build planes, rockets, space stations, etc. and get them out and about throughout the solar system that the game takes place in, or at least try to anyway.

This is actually smart as players must carefully think about the weight of their craft and payload if there is one, the amount of thrust from their engines and the requirements that those engines need to work and how much thrust and lift needed to get a craft moving, etc. in order to either build their craft and be able to get it to fly or do whatever is it supposed to do while planning out their missions either roughly or to the last detail before during or after launch.

Having no way to keep the craft stable other than a stability assist system (or SAS) to keep their craft on the same path or change it by hand and have to keep making adjustments to keep their craft on the intended path is also something that players must take into account when building their rocket and aircraft along with how the intended payload (if any for aircraft that are meant to return to the planet after launch.) will be transported and released from the main carrier vehicle.

The game also has some interesting scenarios and tutorials which can be played through to help new players get the concepts of the game but the most interesting one is a NASA supported “Asteroid capture and redirection scenario in which the player must use a claw game like claw part to dock with an asteroid and move it out of the path that would lead to an impact on kerbin.

Overall there are many different ways for players to get their builds off the ground like the “strap rockets on it until it flys.” method, or using the most powerful rockets and engines they can to get the most of their part count (which has a max of 300.) while keeping their mass (or weight) as low as possible or use a combination of methods. One way to do so is to use “air breathing engines” which require air intakes to work in atmosphere, and rocket engines which require fuel and oxidizer to provide thrust for flight outside of the atmosphere, so using a combination of the two allows a craft to be lighter as less oxidizer is needed for atmospheric flight but since they need intakes to work the craft would need to have more parts for that same reason, which could negate the weight reduction.

However this issue can be solved easily using one of the engines which is a two way engine, the “CR-7 R.A.P.I.E.R. Engine is one engine which should be used for craft that will be flying in and outside of the atmosphere which is where only liquid fuel would be needed, and in space where oxidizer is needed. This allows for the part count and vehicle weight to be used effectively, while allowing the weight to be lower. This also means that the engine never really has to be shut down until either touchdown or when docking with a station or other craft.

Another engine that can be used for all rocket fuel use is the

T-1 Toroidal Aerospike “Dart” liquid fuel engine which has the highest T/W (thrust to weight) ratio of the game with a ratio of 15.65 in atmosphere and 18.35 in vacuum while having a weight of only 1 ton and having a very high fuel efficiency (isp) of 290/340, meaning less fuel can be used but more thrust can be gotten out of the engine.

For stability systems there are reaction wheels for most parts that are the base of the craft/vehicle but they also have reaction wheel parts that can be attached separately for any build that does not have the necessary torque to stabilize themselves quickly enough normally or have no built in reaction wheels. There is also RCS, a electricity free alternative for reaction wheels but requires monopropellant for their engines except for one which requires rocket fuel but the highest thrust because of it.

There is also many ways to solve the issue of electricity such as solar panels or a radioisotope (nuclear) generator which can provide eternal energy which is good for situations when and where where solar panels cannot be used.

There are also a lot of structural parts that can allow different builds to be made and used for different needs and plans, such as adapters for large parts to attach smaller engines, increasing the amount of thrust gained and making takeoff easier, docking ports and decouplers, struts and so on all of which can be used to make a better craft, that is capable of various things.

Overall I love the game and would love for it to be used as a tool for classes that revolve around flight and physics especially with an affordable $39.99 cost, it could be the most well used tool for teaching flight mechanics and physics and potentially set their future in aerospace engineering and maybe end up with them working for NASA.

Currently I am trying to make a relatively 1:1 scale of the dreadnaught from the game Destiny in sections, and any suggestions for doing so in a way that involves a manned craft transparts parts to between kerbin and it’s moon along with other game/movie/tv inspired builds in KSP can be sent to sexton355@lex2.org, and don’t forget to follow me on Facebook, YouTube, Instagram and Twitter where I will post screenshots from Xbox of the builds and clips of how they fly along with any answers to any questions about the game or give advice to those who want it for making their own builds along with responding to comments to them. Also follow me on Twitch where I will stream the building processes, challenges and playthroughs with commentary of KSP and other games.