#ksp loading...

[kerbaldevteam]

KSP Loading...: No Place Like Kerbin

Welcome to our official newsletter, KSP Loading…!  If you want to learn about all the current developments of the KSP franchise, then this is the place to be!

Kerbal Space Program Update 1.9 on PC

Another orbital period has completed, and as human tradition has it, it’s a good time to reflect on past achievements as well as look forward to goals we set for ourselves during this new decade. 2019 was a great year for us: We released several major updates and a content-filled expansion on PC. KSP Enhanced Edition also got some deserved attention with the History and Parts Pack and the Breaking Ground Expansion, as well as a considerable amount of free content. Not too shabby, right? And 2020 is looking great for KSP fans, too! For starters, we’re kicking off the new year with update 1.9, which will not only include performance and graphical improvements, but some new neat features that we’re excited to show you. Not to mention Kerbal Space Program 2 and some other stellar surprises we have currently in the VAB for you. For the time being, and for this KSP Loading in particular, we’re going to focus on some of the stuff that is going to roll onto the launchpad in Kerbal Space Program 1.9: No Place Like Home! So buckle up:

Terrain Revamp for Kerbin

In addition to the revamps of Moho and Dres that we’ve shown you already, Kerbin has received major visual improvements. With detailed high-quality texture maps and (because there is no place like home) an Ultra Quality shader option, the Kerbal home planet is looking better than ever. Check it out!  

Click here to see the full hi-res gallery

Drain Valve

Kerbal Space Program 1.9: No Place Like Home! will also include a new part that works as a release valve for parts with drainable resources, such as monopropellant, ore, liquid fuel, oxidizer or xenon. This part will also allow you to set the drainage over a specific amount of time, a feature that will undoubtedly come in handy. 

Click here to see a high-res image.

Part Revamps

RE-M3 "Mainsail" Liquid Fuel Engine

One of the heaviest and most powerful large-diameter Kerbal engines is getting a well-deserved makeover. We’re talking, of course, about the Rockomax Conglomerate’s RE-M3 “Mainsail” Liquid Fuel Engine. With its new geometry, textures and emissive map,  this humongous engine has never looked so good. Additionally after listening to your feedback, we’re including Mid and Bare variants.

Click here  to see high res images.

RE-I5 "Skipper" Liquid Fuel Engine

Rockomax Conglomerate’s RE-I5 "Skipper" Liquid Fuel Engine has also been modernized by our art team. Brand new geometry, variants, textures and emissive maps have given one of our favorite medium sized engines a befitting fresh new look! And after listening to your feedback, we’ll be including Bare and Truss Mount variants.

Click here to see high res images.

BACC "Thumper" Solid Fuel Booster

With reliable performance at a good price, the Rockomax Conglomerate’s BACC Solid Fuel Boosters have always been a popular choice to get the massive bulk of large multi-stage rockets off the ground. This large SRB is finally getting a physical renewal to better match its place in our SRB lineup. Check it out!

Click here to see high res images.

Quality of Life Features

Additionally, Kerbal Space Program 1.9: No Place Like Home! will include several quality of life features, mostly drawn from our players’ feedback. Some of the inclusions are: an adjustment to the time warp system that removes restrictions on warping at certain altitudes; a new cheat menu option that will allow you to place your craft above the surface of any celestial body; a search box for the R&D Tech Tree; and a new Screenshot Mode that will allow you to pause the game, move the camera and take the best shot by hitting the Escape key and then F2. There are several more QoL features we’re sure you’ll appreciate, too!

Blade improvements 

Rotor blades in the Breaking Ground Expansion are getting some improvements by adding cyclic and collective deflection controls. This will ultimately help players have better control of their bladed vehicles, whether it is a traditional single-rotor helicopter or a drone-like quad-copter. There’ll be a Devblog explaining the details about these improvements coming up soon, so stay tuned.

New Stock Craft for Expansions 

With this update, we are also including a few new stock craft that take advantage of Breaking Ground’s parts and demonstrate how we used the new blade functionality! We’ve also added easy access to some of the historical craft from Making History. So, if you just want to pilot cool crafts or retro-engineer the heck out of them to create your own, you’ll surely enjoy these; we certainly had a lot of fun building and testing them!

Remember, you can share and download crafts and missions on Curse, KerbalX, the KSP Forum and the KSP Steam Workshop.

That’s it for this edition. Be sure to join us on our official forums, and don’t forget to follow us on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook. Stay tuned for more exciting and upcoming news and development updates!

Happy launchings!

[kerbaldevteam]

KSP Loading... The KSP franchise expands

Welcome to our official newsletter, KSP Loading…!  If you want to learn about all the current developments of the KSP franchise, then this is the place to be!

Kerbal Space Program 2

Last week at the opening night of Gamescom we announced the forthcoming sequel and newest addition to our franchise, Kerbal Space Program 2! This sequel will be expanding upon what makes Kerbal Space Program great and will bring space exploration to the next generation with exciting new features that will delight veteran and new players alike. 

We’re excited to introduce you to Star Theory Games, the developer studio behind Kerbal Space Program 2!

Learn about the new development team joining the franchise by watching the Developer Story Trailer. Watch our Cinematic Trailer below to see what we’ll be bringing to KSP2!

So what can you expect in 2020, when Kerbal Space Program 2 comes out of the VAB? These are just some of the features, you’ll be able to enjoy:

Improved Onboarding

Rocket science can be a bit overwhelming sometimes and one of the things that Star Theory has set their minds towards is helping facilitate newcomers on their journey to become space explorers. With new animated tutorials, improved UI, and fully revamped assembly and flight instructions, it will be easier than ever to put your creativity to the test, all without sacrificing any of the challenge from the original game.

Next Generation Technology

Kerbal technology is taking major steps forward in Kerbal Space Program 2. With next-generation engines, parts, fuel, and much more, prepare to venture farther within and beyond the original star system!

Colonies

Long term colonization of celestial bodies has become a priority for Kerbalkind. Gather resources to construct buildings, space stations, and habitations, as well as find and process unique fuel types. Eventually, these colonies become advanced enough for vehicle construction, propelling them towards deep space and beyond. It’s time for Kerbals to become a type 2 civilization!

Interstellar Travel

With their next-gen tech, colonies, and resource gathering, Kerbals will reach new levels of exploration: interstellar travel. That’s right, in Kerbal Space Program 2, you’ll be able to discover extrasolar systems with whole new celestial bodies to explore. Among them: Charr, a heat-blasted world of iron; Ovin, a ringed super-Earth with relentless gravity; Rask and Rusk, a binary pair locked in a dance of death; and many more to reward exploration. What mysteries await in these alien worlds? It will be up to you to find out!

Multiplayer/Modding

Modding has always been an essential part of KSP and with Kerbal Space Program 2 it will continue to be so. The technological developments made to the foundations of Kerbal Space Program 2 will build on the beloved modding capabilities of the original game, as well as deliver on the long-requested addition of multiplayer. Soon players will be able to share the challenges of deep space exploration. We’ll reveal more details on these and more features at a later time, so stay tuned!

Click here to see these and more screenshots in high-res.

PAX West 2019

Want to see the behind-closed-doors presentation of KSP 2 gameplay? Come by booth 1909 during normal show hours to chat with the developers, take a photo with the Jeb statue, see the presentation, and grab a PAX West exclusive KSP Flag! If you take a photo there be sure to tag @KerbalSpaceP and use #BuildFlyDream.

Kerbal Space Program Update 1.8

We are all very excited for what’s coming in 2020, but until then, there is still plenty of KSP for everyone to enjoy! Squad will continue to support the current game, and as some of you may have seen, there is some really cool stuff coming in the next update for the game Click here to read Squad’s statement in regard to the KSP 2 announcement.

Squad’s goal will always be to provide the best experience for all KSP players. The gameplay experience will be improved even further for KSP 1 with the 1.8 update. Here are some more details of what you can look forward to in this latest update.

Celestial Body Visual Improvements 

If you’ve been following KSP on social media, you might have already learned that new high-quality texture maps & graphic shaders are being implemented for various celestial bodies. In update 1.8 you’ll find high quality texture maps for Mun, Duna and a few other Celestial Bodies that will be revealed along the way. 

If there are any concerns that the update might hinder the game’s performance on your computers, rest easy knowing you’ll be able to select the celestial bodies’ shader quality in the settings to low (legacy), medium or high. Even for the legacy option, you can expect texture stretching errors to be vastly improved.  With the high-quality option, pixel density will be maintained regardless of camera distance to the celestial body, as well as a lack of tiling problems. All in all, celestial bodies will look sharper and more realistic. Take a look for yourself:

Unity Upgrade

Update 1.8 brings an improvement that Squad has wanted to introduce for some time now - an upgrade to the underlying engine of the game to Unity 2019.2

With this upgrade there are some long-desired performance and graphic improvements, some of which come out of the box, and some which will allow further enhancements down the road.  

These include:

KSP will now run under DX11 on the Windows platform (DX9 will no longer be supported) which allows many graphical improvements, such as those on the planetary textures.

A new PhysX version with the associated performance and precision improvements.

GPU instancing to improve rendering performance.

Incremental garbage collection to reduce frame rate stutters, particularly in modded installs.

And many others.

While this version will have a larger impact on many mods, more than 1.6 or 1.7, the process has been tested and is relatively fast.  Still, there will be several changes, due to the introduction of the Roslyn compiler, which brings full C#7 support and moving to full .NET 4.x API (.NET 3.5 support is deprecated). There will be continued efforts to reduce significant impact for Modders, but the belief is this time around the benefits of this upgrade far outweigh the drawbacks. 

New Parts for Breaking Ground

Update 1.8 will also include some exclusive treats for owners of the Breaking Ground Expansion. A new set of fan blades and shrouds will continue to push the creativity of KSP players even further. By combining these fan blades with small electrical rotors and the new shrouds, you’ll be able to increase the performance and thrust of your propellers. Use them to create drones, ducted fan jets, or anything you can imagine. 

Improvements are also being made to robotic part resource consumption, with better info on consumption and new improved options for power-out situations.

Remember, you can share and download crafts and missions on Curse, KerbalX, the KSP Forum and the KSP Steam Workshop.

That’s it for this edition. Be sure to join us on our official forums, and don’t forget to follow us on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook. Stay tuned for more exciting and upcoming news and development updates!

Happy launchings!

[kerbaldevteam]

KSP Loading... Deep Dive on the Breaking Ground Enhanced Edition Expansion

Welcome to our official newsletter, KSP Loading…!  If you want to learn about all the current developments of the KSP franchise, then this is the place to be!

Kerbal Space Program Update 1.9 on PC

The KSP team is so excited about the features being worked on for Update 1.9. Similar to the last update, 1.9 will focus on furthering the performance and graphical improvements to the foundations of the game. These improvements include: new textures and mappings for Celestial Bodies, new shaders, optimizations, additional revamps and much more. Our goal for update 1.9 will be to continue to build upon the foundations that make KSP great.

Terrain Revamp for Moho and Dres

We’re continuing to revamp our celestial bodies, and in 1.9, Moho and Dres are getting fresh high-quality texture maps & graphic shaders. Take a look!

KSP breaks ground on consoles!

As we announced recently, Breaking Ground, the second expansion of Kerbal Space Program Enhanced Edition is coming to PlayStation 4 and Xbox One on December 5th and it will have 100% feature parity with its PC counterpart.

Kerbal Space Program Enhanced Edition: Breaking Ground is all about exploration, experimentation and technological breakthroughs. With this expansion console players will be able to discover mysterious surface features across the moons and planets of the Kerbolar System. Players will also have the ability to collect data with brand new deployable experiments and design complex crafts with the addition of robotic parts.

Deployed Science

This feature will allow you to deploy experiments on the surface of celestial bodies to take measurements over time. You will need to bring these experiments with you, unpack them from storage containers on your craft and set them up to run. In order to do so, you will need to place a central station, one or more power generating devices and possibly a booster antenna to get your science base set up. The experiments and power generators will run better if the right kind of Kerbal sets them up, thus giving you more reasons to bring Kerbals with different professions on an adventure.

Click here to see the different experiments that will be available in Kerbal Space Program Enhanced Edition: Breaking Ground 

Surface Features

Surface features are items of scientific interest scattered across all celestial bodies.  These features include meteorites, craters, mineral formations, and even stranger planetary oddities. Surface features vary in size and Kerbal astronauts will be able to pick up and return the smallest of them to study back at KSC. However, larger specimens will need to be scanned and analyzed on-site by the newly developed Rover Arms. The Rover Arms come in three levels that you unlock via Research and Development, each of which have more sensors and tools that allow you to collect more science from the same surface feature.

Click here to see more images of Surface Features and the Rover Arm in high-res. 

Robotics

With Breaking Ground, you will see a number of robotic parts including: hinges, pistons, rotors, rotational servos, propeller blades and turbo-shaft engines. Available in a range of shapes and sizes these new parts operate under realistic physics, with real forces and torques, electricity consumption and even motor mass accounted for. 

We are also including a controller part that will let you coordinate the behavior of many different parts on your craft. Use Hinges to provide angles of rotation between two parts. Pistons give you linear motion. Rotors will allow you to generate torque around their axis. Rotational servos will give you precise control of angular position. Propeller Blades and Turbo-shaft Engines will allow you to build helicopters and other blade-propelled contraptions. 

The KAL-1000 controller can sequence the actions of all the robotics parts and a number of other fields.  It gives you access to a powerful track editor tool which lets you plan how parts will behave over time. Using this controller, you can set up complex cranes, walking crafts, disco lighting or whatever you can dream up!

Click here to see the Robotic Parts images in high-res.

The New Suit

This futuristic-looking suit was designed to match the spirit of Breaking Ground. It not only looks great on Kerbals, but offers customization where players can choose what color the helmet and suit lights will glow when in a darkened environment.

Click here to see the Suits in high-res.

Free Update for Consoles

Coupled with the Breaking Ground Expansion, Kerbal Space Program Enhanced Edition is getting a FREE content-filled console-optimized update that will bring all improvements, features, color variants and part revamps we’ve added up to PC 1.7.3 to console. These updates include:

Altimeter mode toggle

A long-requested quality-of-life feature that will allow you to toggle the altitude mode from Above Sea Level (ASL) to Above Ground Level (AGL) by simply clicking on the new icon to the altimeter. The KSP Team is optimistic that this will lead to improvements in the KSC’s survival rates…

Delta-v per Stage and Delta-v Tool App

Plan missions better and find flaws in your ship staging setup with this long requested feature that will let you visualize the Delta-v values along with a range of other technical data for each stage and the vessel overall. Plus, a Delta-v app that will allow you to get the vessel environment for how Delta-v is calculated in the VAB and SPH. Players will find this very useful!

Improved Burn Time information

The  improved burn time indicator will now calculate based on dV and not acceleration. Additionally, it will contain a staging indicator that shows which stages contain the dV needed to complete each part of the maneuver. This will show a red section at the end if there’s not enough dV in the current vessel to complete that maneuver. In the extended mode of the burn time indicator two extra lines are shown, allowing you to adjust how much time you want to spend burning before and after the node during the maneuver as well as showing you a countdown for when you need to start burning fuel to do so.

Extensions to the Action Group System

Along with those updates we’re also adding two extensions to our action group system. The first one adds another type of action group for controls that lets you bind input controls to fields - an axis group. The second adds Action Sets, which allow you to enable or disable sets of axes or action groups.  

This extends what you can do with a limited number of buttons, allowing you to put your craft into different modes of operation. You can even override the base controls with the action set feature, furthering how you can fine tune the interface between you and your craft. We developed these extensions to give players more options to control their robotics, but it certainly will be useful for stock and modded players as well.

Revamped Parts

A large number of parts have been given a fresh new look since the last update. You’ll be pleasantly surprised to find over 40 new part revamps, including the MK2 Lander Can, which like many other parts, includes a new variant for you to choose at will.

KSP 2 Developer Diary

In case you haven’t read through our latest KSP 2 Developer Diary yet, we invite you to check it out! Included in the post is an early animatic for the concept of our KSP 2 Announce Trailer, which was illustrated and narrated by Star Theory’s Creative Director, Nate Simpson.

To learn more about the effort that went into creating this trailer and how every bump, hiccup and cheer of triumph led to the final KSP 2 Announce Trailer, be sure to read our latest Dev Diary.

Apollo 12 Challenge’s Stellar Stand-outs

Thank you to everyone who participated in the #KSPApollo12 in-game challenge to re-create the Apollo 12 mission. There were so many amazing posts and we wanted to highlight 3 stellar submissions here: 

IG: ksp_space_agency

YouTube: Dronez

TWT: Punet Shrivas

Remember, you can share and download crafts and missions on Curse, KerbalX, the KSP Forum and the KSP Steam Workshop.

That’s it for this edition. Be sure to join us on our official forums, and don’t forget to follow us on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook. Stay tuned for more exciting and upcoming news and development updates!

Happy launchings!

[kerbaldevteam]

KSP Loading... Content for consoles and PC coming soon!

Welcome to our official newsletter, KSP Loading…!  If you want to learn about all the current developments of the KSP franchise, then this is the place to be!

A new DLC and a Free Update for Kerbal Space Program Enhanced Edition is on its way

We have some big news for console players! The team is currently working on a new DLC for KSP Enhanced Edition! Based on the PC release of the Breaking Ground Expansion, this downloadable content will be all about exploration, experimentation, and technological breakthroughs. So put on your helmets and prepare to explore the vastness of the Kerbolar system from the comfort of your couch. 

Coupled with the DLC, a free and content-filled update will be released for KSP Enhanced Edition. This update will include several of the features that we have developed over the past year. We will reveal more information about the features and the exact release date in the upcoming weeks, so stay tuned!

Kerbal Space Program Update 1.8 on PC

The KSP team is so excited about the features being worked on for Update 1.8. With this update we continue making KSP more stable and performant while adding quality of life features to improve the player experience. In addition to what you have already learned in our previous installment, we have some other neat content coming to this update.

Terrain Revamp for Eve and Gilly

Eve and Gilly are two more celestial bodies which are getting a make-over with new high-quality texture maps & graphic shaders. Together with Duna, Ike, Minmus and Mun, the celestial bodies will be worth revisiting, if only for the view. 

Eve

Gilly

Ike

Minmus

Click here for high-res images.

KSC Texture Improvements

At the Kerbal Space Center, we have reduced the grass repetition, improved blending between grass and concrete and tweaked some level 1 and 2 buildings with some new textures and improved shaders. All in all, the KSC will look better than ever after this update.

Click here to see the high-res images.

Map Mode Changes

Some adjustments are being made to the game’s Map Mode. With this update you will be able to use docking mode and stage your craft whilst in map mode. The stage display button (formerly stage mode) now serves as a toggle to show & hide the stage stack, whether you’re in flight or map view and the map labels will now persist when going back and forth between map and flight mode.

New SRBs

If you’ve been following us, you’ll already know that we’re bringing a range of new solid rocket boosters to the game. From the tiny .625m stack size Mite to the titanic 2.5m wide, 144ton Clydesdale, these new boosters will offer a range of versatile solid-fuel options.  Making History owners get an extra bonus here too with the “Pollux” and a 1.875m nosecone to fit on top of it.

Click here to see high-res images.

Warp to Next Maneuver in NavBall

We are also including a small quality of life feature to the NavBall suggested in the public tracker by 5thHorseman. A warp to next maneuver button is being added to have this option on hand whenever players need it.

Kerbal Space Program 2 at PAX West

We’d like to say thank you again to everyone who visited our Kerbal Space Program booth at PAX West! We are forever grateful for the continued support for Kerbal Space Program 2. Over 2,000 Kerbonauts visited our booth to take photos with Jeb on the Mun, watch our “behind closed doors” presentation with exclusive details sharing gameplay footage of KSP2, and all attendees received their very own KSP flag! 

During PAX West we also had the chance to hold our very first KSP Community Event with content creators like Scott Manley, Das Valdez, EJ_SA, Shadowzone, Bad News Baron, and Billy Winn Jr. Also attending the event were leaders within the KSP Forum and Modders; Snark, Galileo and LinuxGuruGamer. 

These pivotal community members had the opportunity to meet with Star Theory and pose questions regarding KSP2 directly to the developers. Many of these content creators have since shared their thoughts on this momentous experience across their respective channels and we encourage you all to give them a watch! Thank you all so much, it’s because of your avid support and interest in the game that we have officially grown into a franchise.

Matt, Star Theory developer who got signatures from fans at PAX West who visited our booth.

Take a look at our PAX West booth in our Instagram story videos!

(L to R: Galileo, Shadowzone, Snark, EJ_SA, Jatwaa, LGG, Das, Nate Simpson (Creative Dir. Star Theory), Scott Manley, Chuck Noble (Principal Engineer at Star Theory), BadNewsBaron, Geoff (Museum of Flight).

Scott Manley at PAXW

ShadowZone at PAXW

Loading Screen Contest

We also want to remind you that you still have until next week (October 2nd) to participate in our Loading Screen Contest! So submit your illustrations, screenshots, pictures and/or any form of fanart you’d like to see in KSP’s in-game loading screens! We will select a set of finalists and their art will be included in update 1.8.

Remember, you can share and download crafts and missions on Curse, KerbalX, the KSP Forum and the KSP Steam Workshop.

That’s it for this edition. Be sure to join us on our official forums, and don’t forget to follow us on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook. Stay tuned for more exciting and upcoming news and development updates!

You can also follow Squad and Star Theory on the main social media platforms:

https://www.facebook.com/startheorygames/

https://twitter.com/startheorygames

https://www.instagram.com/star_theory_games/

https://twitter.com/SquadDevs

https://www.instagram.com/squaddevs/

[kerbaldevteam]

KSP Loading... Breaking Ground under the spotlight!

Welcome to our official newsletter, KSP Loading…!  Do you want to learn about all the current developments of KSP? Here’s the place to be, so let’s get started!

Breaking Ground Expansion

With the release of the Kerbal Space Program: Breaking Ground Expansion just around the corner, our team is working very hard to wrap up the final details for this exciting DLC. We also thought this would be a good opportunity to dive into a little bit more depth and give you a better idea of what you can expect in Breaking Ground.

As we mentioned previously, this DLC is all about exploration, experimentation and technological breakthroughs. We want to give you more reasons to explore Kerbin’s solar system, more things to do while you’re on a celestial body and exciting new robotics parts that add a whole new level of complexity allowing you to build even more incredible crafts.

Deployed Science

This feature will allow you to deploy experiments on the surface of celestial bodies to take measurements over time. You will need to bring these experiments with you, unpack them from storage containers on your craft and set them up to run. In order to do so you will need to place a central station, one or more power generating devices and possibly a booster antenna to get your science base set up. The experiments and power generators will run better if the right kind of Kerbal sets them up, thus giving you more reasons to bring Kerbals with different professions on an adventure.

We wanted to broaden the possibilities for future development, adding a time-based mechanic with deployed science, which also introduces inventory into stock KSP. - Paul Boyle, Lead Designer

Let’s look at the equipment available for Deployed Science:

Probodobodyne Experiment Control Station

This part is crucial if you want to generate any useful data. Acting as the hub for all other experiments, the Experiment Control Station will distribute and control both power and data from nearby deployed parts, as well as coordinate the transmission of science back to Kerbin.

Mini-NUK-PD Radioisotope Thermoelectric Generator

No science base will run without power, and the Mini-NUK-PD Radioisotope Thermoelectric Generator will provide plenty of power to run a central station and deployed science experiments. If deployed by an engineer it will more efficient, if they are a high level one then even more.

OX-Stat-PD Photovoltaic Panel

An alternative power generator is the OX-Stat-PD Photovoltaic Panel, which will also be more efficient when properly set up by a trained engineer.

Communotron Ground HG-48

Although the Experiment Control Station has its own data transmission device, if you’re on a faraway planet, you might need to bring the Communotron Ground HG-48 antenna with you to boost the signal of your deployed science base.

Go-ob ED Monitor

The Goo Observation: Extended Duration Monitor watches the always enigmatic Mystery Goo for a long period of time on a planetary body. As with all the other deployed science experiments, the data collection speed will be increased when placed by a scientist, especially a ranked-up scientist.

PD-3 Weather Analyzer

This multi-function experiment gathers data on wind, pressure, temperature and humidity to generate a picture of the planet’s climate model over time. Naturally it will only function on a planet with an atmosphere.

Ionographer PD-22

This experiment allows Kerbals to analyze different particles and radiation incident on planetary bodies with no atmosphere.

Grand Slam Passive Seismometer

Unlike other experiments, the Grand Slam Passive Seismometer only operates under one condition… when controlled seismic events are created by crashing something into a planet. In addition to the excitement and fun of smashing things, you’ll collect data instantaneously with this device.

Click here to see all images of the Deployed Science experiments in high-res.

Surface Features

Surface features add a new component to the exploration of planets and satellites in the KSP solar system. These are items of scientific interest scattered across all celestial bodies.  These features include meteorites, craters, mineral formations, and even stranger planetary oddities. Surface features vary in size and Kerbal astronauts will be able to pick up and return the smallest of them for study back at KSC. However, larger ones will need to be scanned and analyzed on-site by the newly developed Rover Arms.

Exploring celestial bodies and using rovers has never had as much value as we would have liked, and while the real Opportunity is now quietly resting on Mars, we wanted to give the players the opportunity to do more valuable science driving across Duna (and the other bodies) in KSP. So we added interesting new features to the surface of the planets that can be explored and have experiments performed on them. - Jamie Leighton, Lead Developer

Rover Arms

These parts are used to gather scientific data from surface features. The Rover Arms come in three levels that you unlock via Research and Development, each of which has more sensors and tools that allow you to collect more science from the same surface feature. Only the largest Rover Arm has the full suite of scientific instruments, so you might want to unlock that one as soon as possible!

Click here to see all these and a couple more images of Surface Features and the Rover Arm in high-res.

Robotics

With Breaking Ground, you will see four types of robotic parts - hinges, pistons, rotors and rotational servos. Available in a range of shapes and sizes these new parts operate under realistic physics, with real forces and torques, electricity consumption and even motor mass accounted for. We are also including a controller part that will let you coordinate the behavior of many different parts on your craft.

Giving our community the ability to build even more complex creations might seem like a strange idea for anyone familiar with KSP, but it is something the whole team is passionate about. I’m really looking forward to seeing what people can make and animate with the new parts and controller combination. - David Tregoning, Lead Developer

Hinges

Hinges will give you a limited angle of rotation between two parts. Perfect to create jointed machines for example.

Piston

The pistons give you linear motion. If set up right, they will allow you to create all sorts of craft with hydraulic-like mechanisms.

Rotor

Not much to explain about the rotor, it will allow you to generate torque around its axis. Maybe you’ll build a spinning space station or ferris wheel with this, or any other rotational contraption you can think of.

Rotational servo

The Rotational servo will give you precise control of angular position. Using proportional control, servos have unlimited potential to create all sorts of inventions, where you want to have precise control of the position of certain parts.

KAL Controller

The KAL-1000 controller can sequence the actions of all the robotics parts, and a number of other fields.  Its gives you access to a powerful track editor tool to let you set up how parts will behave over time. Using the controller, you can set up complex cranes, walking craft, disco lighting or whatever your heart desires.

Click here to see the Robotic Parts images in high-res.

The New Suit

This futuristic-looking suit was designed to match the spirit of Breaking Ground. It not only looks great on Kerbals, but its seams glow in the dark when you turn on the helmet lights!

For the spacesuit we tried a few options based on existing concepts from real life space programs, but some of those looked too slim or too sci-fi-ish. We also tried different helmets, but something felt weird about the shapes, and as the Kerbal helmet is iconic, we kept the classic shape when designing a new one. Apart from the design, we wanted to give the suit something that the others don't have: An emissive light at the seams, something that comes in handy to help find your Kerbals when they are far from the sun or on the dark side of a planet! At first, we thought skinning the accordion arms would be problematic, but we managed to do it, and we are pretty happy with the result. We hope you like it as much as we do! - Rafael Gonzalez, Lead Artist

Click here to see the Suits in high-res.

Additions to the base game

With the release of Breaking Ground, the base game is also getting some updates that will add a few new features.

For starters, the inventory mechanic that is used by deployed science will be available in the base code, for modders to use and extend as they wish.  

Additionally, we're adding two extensions to our action group system. The first one adds another type of action group for controls that let you bind input controls to fields - an axis group. The second adds Action Sets, which allow you to enable or disable sets of axis or action groups.  

This extends what you can do with a limited number of keys, letting you put your craft into different modes of operation.  You can even override the base controls with the action set feature, further fine tuning the interface between you and your craft. We developed these extensions to give players more options to control their robotics, but it certainly will be useful for stock and modded players as well.

Finally, we’ve added EVA portraits, so that you can check data on your Kerbals even when they’re out and about.

Remember, you can share and download crafts and missions on Curse, KerbalX, the KSP Forum and the KSP Steam Workshop.

That’s it for this edition. Be sure to join us on our official forums, and don’t forget to follow us on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook. Stay tuned for more exciting and upcoming news and development updates!

Happy launchings!

[kerbaldevteam]

KSP Loading... Preview: Advanced Maneuver Mode

Kerbal Space Program 1.7: Room to Maneuver releases next week! Check out this new feature that will transform the way you perform planetary transfers.

[kerbaldevteam]

A "KSP Loading..." Preview: RV-105 RCS Thruster Block Revamp

Everyone is familiar with these small monopropellant thrusters that have helped us with attitude control and linear motion for years. The textures of the RV-105 RCS Thrusters were pretty outdated, though... That’s why our art team took up the task of giving these a well deserved overhaul: With new textures, tweaked geometry and emissive maps, the RV-105 looks slicker than ever. Additionally, each nozzle will now react individually with the movement of your craft, cool right?

Click here to see a high res image

[kerbaldevteam]

A "KSP Loading..." Preview: Protective Nose Cone Mk12A & Mk16A

Coming to update 1.7, we are introducing the extra large Mk12A Protective Nose Cone. A cone designed to fit on the 3.75m in diameter Kerbodyne S3 fuel tank series. Additionally, owners of the Making History Expansion will also get the 5m in diameter Mk16A Protective Nose Cone that will perfectly fit on the huge Kerbodyne S4 fuel tank series. 

Click here to see high-res images