Matching orbits at these
speeds is actual rocket science.Docking to transfer
several tons of snacks.EXTRA LIFE
NOW PLAYING I MOD SPOTLIGHT (^) I HOW TO I DIARY I REINSTALL I WHY I LOVE I M U S T P L A Y
THE DEMANDS OF
RESCUING BILL
FROM DUNA HAD ME
TRYING AND FAILING
FOR SEVERAL HOURS
some of that same patience myself.
It’s good thing I’m an unrepentant
save-scummer, or The Dunatian
would have been a short book, ending
with a rover crash in chapter three.
I’ve spent a few hundred hours
playing Kerbal Space Program over
the last seven years, but even in my
experienced hands the demands of
rescuing Bill from Duna had me
trying and failing for several hours.
Long-time players of KSP can expect
to finish The Dunatian in around five
hours. Fresh new pilots should
probably avoid this mod entirely.
Recreating favourite pieces of
fiction in a game mod is far from an
original concept, and when I started
playing for this mod I expected to
spend my time celebrating a detailed
historical re-enactment. I really loved
The Martian, but I wasn’t prepared
for The Dunatian to make me love it
more, and in a new way.
THE RIGHT STUFFOther great custom missions
THE OLYMPUS-
KERBALEV TEST
PROJECT
In 1975 Russia and the USA
launchedajointmissionfor
the first time. This mod does
an amazing job in recreating
thelookofthespacecraft
involved. Seeing trivia about
the real-life flight made this
mod a charming,
educational project.
2001 - A SPACE
MISSION PACK
KSP’s most recognisable
friendly voice, Scott Manley,
teamed up with another
modder to create missions
based on 2001: A Space
Odyssey. Missions include
landingneartheMonolith on
themoonanddocking
commuter space flights at
space station terminals.
RESEARCH FLAT
EARTH
Did you hear about the guy
who built a steam-powered
rocket and launched it,
trying to get a good enough
view to prove the Earth is
flat? This actually happened
in California in March 2018,
and you can relive this
moment in scientific literacy
thanks to KSP.
The multiple flights I’m juggling
basically follow the plot of the book:
Bill’s departed crew are coming back
for him in their interplanetary vessel,
and they need to resupply without
slowing down into a gentle low-
Kerbin orbit. I’m busy prepping that
resupply flight and running through
the intense mental maths involved in
making an orbital rendezvous
happen between two craft on
dramatically different orbits. My
supply probe ends up matching
speed with the huge NASA ship, and
I pipe over gallons of fuel as the
exhausted long-range crew and the
little robot probe rocket into
interplanetary space together.
While I’m stressing out about
that, I also launch a long-range
supply drop full of snacks to keep Bill
alive for a few years until help can
arrive. Seriously, I don’t care that this
is fictional: NASA should be very
proud that someone even imagined
that they could pull off this many
impossible tasks at one time.
RENDEZVOUS
Real-world physics – or something
close enough for government work
- has always formed the backbone of
KSP’s challenges and the thrill of its
successes. I think the Apollo
astronauts landing on the moon was
pretty amazing, but it wasn’t until I
breathlessly landed my own KSP
lunar lander that I felt how amazing
that journey was. I mean really felt it,
down in my guts. In the same way,
playing The Dunatian gave me an
interactive, bone-deep connection to
a story I’d already experienced
through a book and a movie.
While driving across the
featureless, desolate landscape of
Duna, I started getting bored and
picked up speed, trying to make the
drive finish faster. I was going
beyond a safe speed, and it wasn’t
long until a bump and a skid sent my
precious rover rolling over, spinning
parts loose and bouncing along a
gentle trail of explosions until Bill
was dead. I’d read and watched about
The Martian’s main character’s
incredible self-discipline, but for the
first time I was being asked to exhibit