Planetside Exploration Technologies

Planetside Exploration Technologies | V1.0.1 | Stockalike MMSEV & Surface Bases

Planetside Exploration Technologies adds a suite of parts designed to support planetary surface operations, from small outposts to expansive modular bases in the furthest corners of the solar system.

Key features include:

PLANETSIDE EXPLORATION VEHICLE

The Planetside Exploration Vehicle is a small, multi-purpose spacecraft which can be configured in two ways - as a surface exploration rover, or a free-flying deep space excursion pod. On the surface, Breaking Ground-enabled rotary wheels allow the vehicle to move in any direction, making  docking & manoeuvring easy. In space, the craft can be fitted with a custom made monopropellant tank and a modular grabbing unit, making it ideal for exploring asteroids, or as a space station construction tug. 

PLANETSIDE BASE SYSTEM

To accompany the rover, Planetside features a complete set of 1.875m surface base parts, including a science lab, habitation modules, and even a greenhouse. Combined with a set of adapters and ground platforms, the base parts are designed to fit together perfectly and provide a perfectly-aligned set of docking ports for the Planetside rover. Additionally, a set of hydraulic jacks make moving modules around easy - install a small docking port on the underside, raise the jacks, and drive an empty rover platform underneath before carrying it to its destination! 

All parts are designed with surface bases in mind, but would work equally well used on an orbital station or spaceship! 

3.75m BASE PARTS

Along with the 1.875m surface base parts, Planetside features colossal 3.75m, vertically oriented base parts, inspired by NASA’s Habitat Demonstration Unit modules. These parts offer huge amounts of living space, as well as an inflatable attic for storing supplies. 

WIND POWER

Unique to Planetside Exploration Technologies is a new way of generating electricity in Kerbal Space Program: wind power. Using a custom plugin, a complete set of wind turbines allow you to draw power on atmospheric bodies even when the Sun won't shine. Just make sure to pack the right one - turbines are optimised for different environments, so pick the wrong type and you may end up generating no power at all, or worse, destroying your precious turbines in high winds! 

Wind turbines come in three different types: 

• Tracking - automatically track into the wind direction
• Static - Require manually pointing into the wind direction
• Vertical-axis - spin perpendicular to the wind direction

The Planetside wind turbine plugin is simple but robust, basing power yields on atmospheric density, wind direction and a random fluctuation. Because of this it will work out-of-the-box with any planet mod. Planetside also offers difficulty settings to configure the wind turbines to your liking, such as disabling breakable turbines or adjusting the frequency of power outages.  A UI toggled in the Part Action Window helps to align wind turbines with the wind direction. 

FULL INTERNALS

Every crewable part is just as detailed on the inside as the outside!

DEPENDENCIES

Planetside requires B9PartSwitch, ModuleManager, HabTechProps, and Benjee10_sharedAssets to function, all of which are bundled in the download. 

Rotating wheel mounts & wind turbine servos require the KSP Breaking Ground DLC.  Support is provided for TAC Life Support.  In theory this mod should be compatible with previous KSP versions going back to 1.8.0, but please backup your saves before you try it!

CREDITS

Art by @Benjee10

Plugin by @ValiZockt

Huge thanks to Vali for making this possible & creating an awesome plugin that brings something really new to the game. Big love <3