Posts

Showing posts from January, 2026

Kaysetta completes its mission around comet, Filae lander lands on comet

Image
Year 25, Day 182 Kaysetta and Filae have completed their mission, studying and landing on comet 67K/Kuryumov-Gearisimanko. This comet (67K for short) was a truly spectacular one in Kerbin's night sky; but it was even more spectacular for one observer: Kaysetta and its companion Filae. The Kaysetta probe was a weird one. A comet orbiter, with a detachable comet lander named Filae. This is the first look we've ever seen at landing on a comet, and it was amazing. Filae retrieved impressively clean samples from the surface of 67K and shot incredible photos (visible more below). This mission will inspire for a very long time; it shows how creative and unique Kerbals can be, and how we can do whatever we want, as long as we set our mind to it.

Kaia Telescope launches to map the galaxy

Image
Year 23, Day 312 The Kaia Telescope has launched to uncover the secrets of the Galaxy's stars and map the whole of the Galaxy. Kaia is a new space telescope launched by KSA to map the majority of stars in the Galaxy and, specifically, the Karion Arm, the spiral arm of the Galaxy that Kerbin is located in. Kaia has already made promising progress; it's already mapped over a million stars, pushing to a hundred million and beyond. This is just in its first month of activity. It's expected to reach a billion in a couple years. Kaia will push for more and discover more, and will hopefully map the entirety of the Karion Arm, giving us a comprehensive map for the future.

Eve Xpress arrives in orbit of Eve

Image
Year 23, Day 272 The new Eve Xpress orbiter has arrived in orbit of the purple planet Eve, and plans to do amazing things. Eve Xpress is a new orbiter that arrived at Eve, the purple planet. We already learned from the Evera missions that Eve is a hellish place; so why did we go back? The only reason that KSA sent Eve Xpress to Eve is for pure research; perhaps Eve could house Kerbals one day, even though right now, it may not seem like it. Surface conditions are all we've measured, and they were terrible. Completely unsuitable for Kerbal life. But who's to say conditions elsewhere there are as bad? They could be far better, as KSA states. Eve Xpress plans to look not to the ground of Eve, but the atmosphere. Particularly high above the clouds, where pressures are stable, temperatures are even, and sure, the air isn't breathable, but at least pressures and temperatures could be far better. So good, in fact, that if what Eve Xpress finds matches research models, it means ...

Kuriosity Rover lands at Duna

Image
Year 23, Day 114 The newest rover has landed on Duna, named Kuriosity, and plans to study the red planet in detail never seen before. That's right; another Duna rover has been landed on Duna by KSA! This one is truly special. Kuriosity was planned for years by KSA, and only recently got launched and sent to Duna. Long-standing mission commanders and directors have been dreaming of the day their project finally touched down on the red sands of Duna. Their dream has finally been fulfilled. Kuriosity plans to study what scientists believe could be a crater (nicknamed Kale Crater) that possibly once had liquid water billions of years ago; a dried lakebed. Kuriosity will, over the course of years, attempt to crawl up to the rim of the crater. The reason it will take years is that it can't drive at night due to power conservation and lack of external lights to see, as well as its slow travel speed (1 m/s maximum). It will also, along the way, make stops to rest and perform scientif...

Yuno Orbiter starts mission orbiting Jool

Image
Year 23, Day 62 The newly developed Yuno orbiter has arrived at Jool, starting as the replacement and new orbiter around the gas giant, replacing the old Kalileo orbiter. After Kalileo was decomissioned, KSA wanted a new orbiter ever since for Jool. And so, they came up with Yuno. Yuno was designed to be the "next big thing" for Jool; an orbiter far superior to Kalileo. The new orbiter comes equipped with many tools at its disposal: the YunoCam being one of them. The YunoCam is Yuno's priority visible-light camera, designed to take pictures and timelapses of up-close Jool. It has already captured some spectacular sights at the cloud tops of Jool, which you can see more below. In summary: Yuno is the next Jool orbiter which will do wonderful things, and study the secrets of the green gas giant (Jool) that lies in all our Kerbin skies.