Kerbal Space Program: Laythe Aircraft

Mission: Fly an aircraft on Laythe!

Jool: Jupiter
Laythe: N/A

Pancake 3 with Robo-Mouse launch.

Mission Control was feeling very ambitious after the success of the Mouse aircraft on Kerbin. The Kerbals were curious to find out if the "laws of flight" worked equally well on alien worlds. We would send an unmanned aircraft to Laythe, one of Jool's moons, to answer this question directly. A probe version of the Mouse was developed by replacing the cockpit with a probe core and reactionary wheel. The new Robo-Mouse craft was tested on Kerbin and was discovered to fly equally well. The Pancake 3 prototype had just been developed (for a Moho rescue mission) and would be responsible for delivering the Robo-Mouse to Jool and Laythe. A handful of small adjustments were made to fit the Robo-Mouse to the Pancake 3 and the spacecraft was launched.

Scouting a landing site with our Laythe Satellite.

The small Laythe Satellite we had put into orbit many decades ago was useful for locating a landing site on the mostly liquid-covered moon. A pair of very large islands were spotted in the northern hemisphere. The high plateau on the south of the eastern island would be the landing site for the Robo-Mouse.

The Robo-Mouse flying within the Laythe atmosphere.

Laythe entry was achieve in a highly dramatic fashion. Instead of performing an aerocapture maneuver with Jool and a transfer to Laythe, Mission control directed the craft to immediately approach the Laythe within 20km while traveling at several kilometers per second. In other universes this approach might have torn the entire spacecraft apart in a wondrous fireball, but that is not our universe! The Laythian atmosphere slowed the spacecraft down to a few hundred meters per second, which was spiraling out of control as it quickly approach the ocean surface. The Robo-Mouse was separated from the Pancake 3 spacecraft and the quickly steered away from its collision course. We were achieving the previously unthinkable: flight on an alien world!

Approaching a landing site.

The Robo-Mouse consumed approximately one quarter of it's fuel arriving at the landing site scouted by the Layhe Satellite. The Robo-Mouse had previously landed on a very small island and reascended to insure the aircraft was operating as expected on Laythe. The Robo-Mouse aircraft disabled its engines and gently floated down towards it's final landing site. It was a mission success!