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Moho is the innermost planet of the Kerbolar system. Its orbit is very eccentric and inclined making it a difficult planet to intercept. It also has no moons or atmosphere and functions as the analogue for the real life planet Mercury. It is the 3rd smallest planet in the Kerbolar system after Eeloo and Dres . It is home to the famous "Mohole". In the tracking station it is erroneously said to be tidally locked; it however has a solar day that is approximately 20.83 Kerbin days longer than its year.
Synopsis
Most Moho missions crumble early on because of the logistics. It zips along an inclined eccentric orbit making interception a nightmare. If you make it into Moho's SOI there's no atmosphere for aerobraking and there's severe heat on its sunny side due to it being tidally locked with Kerbol. But imagine beholding those craters in person!
Surface
Moho has a brown rocky surface that is pockmarked by impact craters. It is similar in appearance to the Mun with the notable differences of being brown in color and lacking any mares. In the southern hemisphere a crater of gigantic proportions known as degraded crater is clearly visible. Impacts from Moho-crossing asteroids and sungrazing comets are believed to be responsible for the majority of the myriad of craters scarring the surface of Moho. Some of these craters are almost as old as Moho itself. The planet currently does not have significant seismic activity and is thus considered not geologically active. Due to its extremely long solar day, lack of atmosphere and proximity to Kerbol, Moho's surface temperature fluctuations are among the most extreme in the Kerbolar system. The daytime surface temperature can reach up to a blistering 438 C while temperatures plummet to a frigid -180 C at night. This extreme temperature flux causes rocks on the surface to become brittle and shattered. Stellar radiation from Kerbol is high on the daytime side. The surface composition is made up of quartz, feldspar, mica, amphibole, pyroxene, olivine, ferrous ore, sulfur, and other trace minerals. It is similar to that of the Mun but with much higher concentrations of ferrous ore and sulfur. This ferrous ore is also present in the many rocks and boulders scattered over the surface. The high percentage of iron in Moho's composition makes it one of the densest planets in its system. Moho's surface topography is varied; the lowlands range from hilly to relatively flat while the highlands can be steep and mountainous. Steep craters are the biggest threat to those attempting to land on this world.
The Mohole
The Mohole is a surface feature on Moho present near its north pole. It consists of a deep sinkhole with a flat bottom. The Mohole has its origins in ksp1, where it first appeared as a terrain glitch that was widely accepted by the community at the time to be a feature. It later received its own biome and was called the "northern sinkhole". In KSP2 it is an intentional addition. The flat terrain at the bottom of the Mohole makes it suitable for landings, but one has to be careful not to crash into the steep cliff walls on descent.
Degraded crater
This surface feature covers a significant portion of Moho's southern hemisphere and is easily visible from orbit. When approaching Moho it is this crater that is responsible for the "feeling of being watched" often experienced among the Kerbal crew. It is a very large multi-ringed impact basin believed to be the result of a small planetoid smashing into the planet at a speed of over 10,000 m/s. Carbon dating reveals this impact must have happened over 2.5 billion years ago. This event left a significant portion of the surface melted possibly for centuries. This is evidenced by the solidified lava fields still present inside the basin. Faint tremors can still be experienced in the basin to this day owning to a molten hot spot trapped deep underneath the basaltic floor. Theories exist that this impact was much more energetic than is apparent at first glance and is responsible for Moho's anomalously high average density (even after accounting for the downscaling of sizes and distances in the KSP franchise) as well as its inclined and eccentric orbit. This theory remains unconfirmed at this time. The Basin's morphology is complex; it has a tight peak ring resembling a central peak at its center followed by alternating terraces and further peak rings until reaching the slumped crater rim. There is currently no consensus on how this type of impact morphology comes to be. It is notable that the presence of a central peak-like mountain range is unusual for a multi-ringed basin. The basin floor contains multiple smaller craters itself caused by more recent impacts. The entire basin measures approximately 384 km across, making it one of the largest impact sites in the Kerbolar system. Small amounts of radiation are detectable in the rocks and boulders found in the basin, but these are likely not native to it and rather the result of ejecta from younger craters nearby. The epicenter is located at roughly -28 lat -82 long.
Concentric crater
This large concentric crater is located just west of degraded crater. It is a peak ring crater measuring 76 km in diameter, meaning it has a single roughly circular mountain range inside the crater rim. This differentiates it from its much larger neighbor which has multiple of these 'peak ring' mountain ranges and is thus classified as a multi-ringed basin. Both are examples of complex craters . Data suggests its formation was the result of a high energy impact that happened over a billion years ago. The composition of the ground in this crater shows no meaningful traces of radiation and consists of 70% ferrous ore and 30% silicate minerals, suggesting the impactor was an iron-rich asteroid. The crater's namesake concentric ring was formed when mass ejected from this impact smashed back down into the surface creating a second impact event inside the crater left by the initial one. It is said to have the highest walls out of any recorded crater but this has not been officially confirmed. Its epicenter is located around -28 lat -129 long.
Magnetosphere
Moho does have a tiny magnetic field, but it is powerless to stop the intense radiation it receives by Kerbol from reaching its surface.
Science regions
Moho has four surface regions: Lowlands, Highlands, Concentric crater, and Degraded crater. Moho can be a decent but hard to reach location for mid to late game science collection due to its high Δv requirement from Kerbin. Returning samples from this world may prove a challenge and should only be attempted by experienced players.
Discoverables
It's breaking mo-heart to see this section is empty for now...
Version history
- Added science regions.
- Added new discoverables.
- Terrain scatter updates.
- Initial release.