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[Glloyd]

proper link

Also, Inaccessible bothers me a bit. At the equator, it spins faster than its escape velocity. That ain't possible :I

Neither is the entire Kerbol system. I just take it in stride at this point.

[Sean Mirrsen]

proper link

Also, Inaccessible bothers me a bit. At the equator, it spins faster than its escape velocity. That ain't possible :I

Sure it is. It would need to have been a metallic-core planet(oid) after a massive collision with something else. All the silica and molten metal would be tossed off with the spin acquired, but the solid core could remain together through the tensile strength of metal. Just like any typical asteroid can spin faster than its escape velocity, as long as the rock it's made of is strong enough.

I doubt the Inaccessable is designed or meant to be anything like that, but that would be a good explanation.

[Glloyd]

proper link

Also, Inaccessible bothers me a bit. At the equator, it spins faster than its escape velocity. That ain't possible :I

Sure it is. It would need to have been a metallic-core planet(oid) after a massive collision with something else. All the silica and molten metal would be tossed off with the spin acquired, but the solid core could remain together through the tensile strength of metal. Just like any typical asteroid can spin faster than its escape velocity, as long as the rock it's made of is strong enough.

I doubt the Inaccessable is designed or meant to be anything like that, but that would be a good explanation.

I believe it's designed to be a comet, so that may help explain why it's spinning so fast.

[Putnam]

Ice has only about 17% of the tensile strength of aluminum though... and comets are dusty as hell, so it'd be shedding like crazy if it were spinning that fast.

[LoSboccacc]

proper link

Also, Inaccessible bothers me a bit. At the equator, it spins faster than its escape velocity. That ain't possible :I

Neither is the entire Kerbol system. I just take it in stride at this point.

True. What we need is now also munlit, a jool moon which is a cube.

[ank]

So in order to land on Inaccessible you'd have to do a very low fly-by, at the rotational velocity, then burn down to land (!?), and keep burning down to stay landed?

Or just land at the poles I guess?

[Putnam]

Yeah, you'll get flung off due to the faster-than-escape-velocity speeds at the surface. You need to land near the pole.

Check it out.

[WillowLuman]

So looks like your best bet for a base is in orbit. Because fuck the surface.

[ank]

Yeah, you'll get flung off due to the faster-than-escape-velocity speeds at the surface. You need to land near the pole.

Check it out.

I was thinking about it being possible to land near the equator if you just had enough friction with the ground.
The rotation is not pushing you upwards, but rather sideways, so with enough landing legs planted it should be possible to stay stuck to the surface.
Then again, it might turn out you'd need millions of legs or something.

[forsaken1111]

Or just use anchors and grapples from KAS

[BigD145]

KAS has an anchor and grappling hook. Worth testing, just not me. I'm busy making a kethane base on the Mun. Also part clipping and hiding stuff in stuff.

[MagmaMcFry]

Yeah, you'll get flung off due to the faster-than-escape-velocity speeds at the surface. You need to land near the pole.

Check it out.

I was thinking about it being possible to land near the equator if you just had enough friction with the ground.
The rotation is not pushing you upwards, but rather sideways, so with enough landing legs planted it should be possible to stay stuck to the surface.
Then again, it might turn out you'd need millions of legs or something.

Let g be the planet's gravitation at your current position, ω be the planet's rotation speed (in radians per time unit), R be the distance from the center of mass to your landing position, α be the global latitude, and β be the local latitude (the angle between the equator and your local surface normal).
To keep staying on the ground without hooks, you need an acceleration of at least ωēRcos(α) to the axis of rotation. Let's put this in a coordinate system so we can use 2D vectors. The acceleration required is a1 = (-ωēRcos(α), 0), and the planet's gravity provides a2 = (-gcos(α), -gsin(α)). The difference a1 - a2 = (gcos(α)-ωēRcos(α), gsin(α)) needs to be covered by surface friction. For this to be possible, we need tan(ß) to be greater than (ωēR/g - 1)cot(α). For α=ß (landing on a horizontal surface), we get tanē(α) > ωēR/g - 1, or cosē(α) < g/ωēR.

In case of Inaccessable, g = 1.18 m/sē, ω=0.0143, R = 15000, so you can only stay on horizontal surfaces in latitudes greater than around 52°, although you'll need to go at least above 75° unless you have a buttload of friction to spare.

/physics

[WillowLuman]

It really ought to be rockier than it is, since all the loose dust would get flung off.

[Descan]

I still need to fiddle with the tech-tree for Kethane and KAS, as well as Quantum Struts... >_>

The other mods I have area already techified (I think? Is Relay Tech tree-ified?) or don't involve parts...

[MagmaMcFry]

It really ought to be rockier than it is, since all the loose dust would get flung off.

In fact, the solid rock near the equator should get flung off too, since it's under about the same stress as a pencil lead lifting an orca whale.