[Carmen les Toreadors]

www.kerbalspaceprogram.com

Kerbal Space Program or KSP is a (currently) freeware rocket building and simulation game set on a fictional planet. While there is no single-player campaign right now it is strangely fun to build all sorts of rockets and launch them as though you had unlimited resources.

Most people aim to fly to the moon and while hitting the moon is not that difficult (read: unlimited resources in freeplay mode), successfully doing the parking, transfer, and return stages all in one sitting can challenge even the most avid space flight fan.

However rockets are not the only thing you can build there - there are some community developed aircraft parts that allow you to build rather believable 'adaptations' of real life aircraft.

For instance, an F-104 replica does somewhat fly like an F-104, being quite fast in a straight line but plain nasty if it spins out during maneuvers. Basic delta wings like on the Dassault Mirage III are efficient, but give a quite bumpy ride at low altitude. To improve your KSP aircraft (and rocket) designs you are encouraged to take a look at how it was done in the real world. For aircraft, it means adding canards (foreplanes) to improve maneuverability. Little fins are also used to smoothen out airflow and/or balance the centre of lift vs centre of gravity placement for easier control.

The best thing about KSP is that it allows you to go absolutely mad with your adapted RL or DIYed creations - witness the evolution of a Tu16 Badger (early Cold War Soviet medium bomber) replica here. First it was a big brick because KSP's flight model does not model fuselage lift on the Badger's inner wing and fuselage sections. So I added additional airfoils under the engine nacelles to simulate said lifting body effects. Eventually I went totally Dale Brown with it after looking at his fictional EB-52 Megafortress design, and the Badger sprouted twin V tails for reduced weight and post-modern supplemental airfoils for enhanced maneuverability, all of it balanced to a point where no trim is required for level flight (unlike the original which changes pitch as fuel is burned).


Oh and obviously, I only build aircraft in KSP, rockets not my taste it seems lol.

Here are a couple youtube videos of KSP in action

1. Atlas V replica made from community created parts
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2K7_j...eature=related

2. EB-116 Badger medium bomber evolution - working missiles and air to ground railguns
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3_IEWN-s-is


Download KSP (it's only 100mb+ without mods) at
http://www.kerbalspaceprogram.com

[Reaper2137]

Thank you! this looks really fun... I'll check it out as soon as I can.