Can Kerbal Space Program Really Teach Rocket Science

This is a video version of a talk I've given to small groups of educators, scientists and parents, I figure that it's worth making a version that can be shared.
All Music in This Video is produced by Kevin Macleod / Incompetech.com
I wish I remembered the titles, but I'm writing this when I'm 30 miles from the computer I edited this on.

[@kennedyflowers696]

Scott "every mistake in KSP has happened in real life." Me: *Searches for an unmanned probe where they forgot solar panels or struts*

[@scottmanley]

+Snoop Doge Sputnik had neither.....

[@Marbo306]

+Scott Manley Sputnik was a demo, like a Xbox kid said: "Its not about put sputniks into orbit, Its showing everyone on Earth USSR did it"

[@EliseyRodriguez]

+Scott Manley That doesn't mean they forgot to attach them... But, well, who knows.

[@tickd8096]

+Snoop Doge GET RECKT

[@MrCosmonaut]

+Snoop Doge I can't imagine situation, when NASA engineers was so high, so they completely forgot to attach parachutes, or heatshield to spacecraft, that meant to be returned home =_=

[@TheRogueWolf]

"I didn't plan any of this." In the truest traditions of the Kerbal Space Program!

[@hyperdude144]

"No fuel left for orbital insertion Rest In Peroxide Dear Jeb".

[@aaronhorton3508]

So true

[@oobanoobaisterrible]

Ahh I think I have a bit more delta-v you know what. We’re landing on the moon/mun too

[@Moondoox_]

What it loses in realism it gains in ability to inspire interest and faith in space exploration.

[@CabbageFoot16]

+Moondoox and you can always mod the realism in afterwards ;b

[@Moondoox_]

"A hundred billion parts, each with a hundred billion tweakables" -Carl Sagan

[@ThePizzabrothersGaming]

+Moondoox and a hundred billionth of a frame per second to watch it in

[@EllenRipley1979]

+ThePizzabrothers Gaming lol

[@donniearcait9364]

You know what is the best thing in the universe, KSP and Universe Sandbox combined.

[@6Twisted]

KSP has taught me enough about physics to ruin almost every space movie for me.

[@gavinoaw]

+6Twisted So true!

[@tronjet66]

Pretty much

[@eriknilsson8493]

+6Twisted omg so true! they have ruined starwars

[@JaredJeyaretnam]

+Javier Soto Pacetti Interstellar was probably the most accurate though - time dilation, dV, staging.

[@nekobama]

+6Twisted NEVER BURN TOWARD THE PLANET TO DEORBIT

[@yudha1577]

to be honest. this game deserve more media attention than no man's sky.

[@roby.3428]

No Sh*t

[@crxstalline_]

_nms updates joined the chat_

[@amberlewis012]

@@RandomNameLastName811 exactly. Does nms teach you rocket science and how to actually build a good rocket? Ksp has to be the superior one.

[@chrisakaschulbus4903]

@@amberlewis012 "Ksp has to be the superior one." the superior what? education tool, probably... but most people don't want to learn about rockets. and since building rockets isn't really the point of no mans sky, just like astroneer, doesn't make them bad games and their "goodness" shouldn't be based on the comparison about what they can teach. we still play to have fun for the most part

[@zachreederau2531]

Preach

[@marionlara428]

NASA is just ksp without a revert option.

[@mystic-malevolence]

And without Jebediah Kerman. Can't forget Jebediah Kerman.

[@keeshovinga2449]

More like the old soviet space program "Oh, the rocket exploded and we cant revert to launch? Ah, just say it was unmanned."

[@samwansitdabet6630]

Also, they don't forget docking ports.

[@kasyu1101]

Also the world is 10 times larger for NASA

[@vladimirtiffany]

Space x because they sent a car in space

[@DKTAz00]

For me, KSP changed how I pictured space missions tremendously. Space used to be a flat piece of paper to me, with straight lines going to each body. Now I clearly understand how orbits work, and how to get places in space. By the time curiosity landed i mars, I could picture the entire trip, and really appreciate the work required to do so.

[@JP-kk7re]

Hah strait lines

[@badbeardbill9956]

@@JP-kk7re I mean there's probably a geometry where the geodesics on its surface are orbits...

[@JP-kk7re]

@@badbeardbill9956 mmm

[@nikkiofthevalley]

@@badbeardbill9956 Spherical geometry, maybe? I remember that 2 parallel straight lines converge in spherical geometry.

[@dsdy1205]

@@badbeardbill9956 You just summarised General Relativity

[@tacosr]

KSP taught me the most important lesson of all, Check Yo Stagin'!!

[@ANippleCripple]

so may times HAHAHA

[@kalebbruwer]

Yep. Launch clamps disengage, rocket has a lack of upwards acceleration, huge fireball, revert to VAB.

[@eannamcnamara9338]

Screams "I agree" in bad staging

[@theundead1600]

So true.

[@XavierBetoN]

It's morning in Poland now and i had enough internet for today, thanks

[@mooncabbagere]

KSP is the difference between learning something and really understanding it. Orbital Mechanics are super counterintuitive, until you can actually mess with them.

[@Malfunct1onM1ke]

Next Generation of Astronauts probably demands to have WASD-controls on their spacecrafts ;)

[@phantomflows0]

+MalfunctionM1Ke personally i would love to see that in the news "manned sun orbit using a razor malfunction because of crisps stuck under the s key"

[@DamianReloaded]

Lol, "manned mission to mars went lost into deep space after the pilot mistakenly pressed shift instead of x and while desperately trying to press x he pressed space and staged the engine away leaving the craft without propulsion whatsoever" XD

[@phantomflows0]

Damian Reloaded that would be the funniest thing i would have ever seen in the news

[@adrianpg_]

+Damian Reloaded omg hahahahahahahahah

[@DrippyWaffler]

+MalfunctionM1Ke Crap! F9 doesn't work!

[@zorkan111]

KSP can fix the most common misconceptions people have about space flight. KSP let's you learn *intuitively* why astronauts float in the space station, why they don't fall to Earth or stay behind the space station when they go for space walks. It teaches you that objects are in orbit because of their sideways velocity, and not because they're "far away from earth so they aren't affected by gravity". It teaches you that space ships don't fly like airplanes, as movies like Star Wars portray it. It gives you a real feel of Newtons first law, because on Earth there's always drag or friction acting on you, so you can never experience the "objects in motion stay in motion" part of the law.

[@mithkabob]

It also made it so I'm a bit disappointed every time I watch a movie and they 'drop' something from orbit down to a planet or do burns in directions that would be either highly inefficient or just not work. Although it is worth it because now I can appreciate a movie like Apollo 13 so much more.

[@HoHhoch]

Such a fantastic movie.

[@MarkTomczak]

I saw the "Planetes" anime not too long ago. What hooked me into watching the rest of it was realizing that they were de-orbiting a piece of space debris by attaching a booster to the front (i.e. on the prograde-facing) side of the debris. "Okay," I said to myself, "This is worth giving some time." :)

[@kyberghost3607]

i was interested in space ever since i knew what it was!

[@googelplussucksys5889]

I hadn't noticed that yet! Watched a dozen episodes and I'm kinda disappointed by all of the tedious drama, but some episodes were interesting.

[@justinsanity501]

"Tell me and I forget, teach me and I will remember. Involve me and I will learn." -Ben Franklin. This quote rings true with ksp and science.

[@linkxsc]

~15:00 Reminds me of something I read from an old glider pilot once. If you push forward on the stick, the houses get bigger If you pull back, they get smaller If you pull back too much, they get bigger again.

[@DiaconescuAlexandru2024]

:)

[@Artameful]

HO LAM YIU The pilot stick. When you push forward oon the stick, you pitch the aircraft downwards, hence making you fly closer to the houses - making them bigger. When you pull back, you pitch upwards, flying away from the houses, making them smaller. When you pull back too much, you end up doing a loop, causing you to face downwards again, getting closer to the houses.

[@parabirb]

Artameful, pulling back too much would cause a stall, causing you to fall down.

[@Artameful]

@@parabirb that's actually a much more reasonable answer

[@ErisAlter]

Am glider pilot, can confirm.

[@raymondgabriel5724]

"Just because I'm biased doesn't mean I'm wrong." - preach it brother.

[@MonkeyOfTheSpud]

Kerbal Space Program is the only reason I got an A in physics in high school and the reason I was my physics teachers favorite student.

[@MonkeyOfTheSpud]

+MonkeyOfTheSpud and of course Scotts videos

[@TheZod00]

+MonkeyOfTheSpud I can't wait to take physics next year! I'm going to take physics at the advanced level and my friends are telling me "don't do it you won't like it, it's too hard". But they don't understand how deeply I love doing physics and learning about the nature of our Universe. Most of the reason why I enjoy physics now is because of Kerbal Space Program. But the reason why they don't enjoy physics is because they see physics as a bunch of equations on a textbook. They don't see the cool things that you can do with it and how much it makes you question nature.

[@MonkeyOfTheSpud]

+sausy mayo Physics is awesome

[@impguardwarhamer]

+MonkeyOfTheSpud KSP and Scott Manley is basically what inspired me to go do physics at university

[@stoutlager6325]

+MonkeyOfTheSpud That's a good point and I think the reason I had a very hard time paying attention to science in highschool back in the 1990's. Science as taught at the time, I don't know how it is now, had very little in the way of demonstration or explanation about the applications of theory. Highschool physics would jump almost instantly to equations after a very brief and very half-assed scenario explanation. Chemistry jumped straight in to the periodic table. Immediately you're talking about the atom, nucleus, and subatomic particles. No explanation on how do we know this, how was it discovered, why these things are important, what applications we can apply this knowledge towards. For me, when everything is nested in theory like that my eyes glaze over and I cannot pay attention. And so I performed poorly, even though I am quite capable of learning these things as I have found out independently as an adult long after grade school and university.

[@AvoytDesign]

This game finally ironed which directions are pitch, yaw, and roll into my mind. Nothing else could do that for me before.

[@dejanhaskovic5204]

Hahahahaaahahha same

[@druze3210]

It’s also like riding a bike with a plane (in ksp at least). Lean over a little in the direction you’re turning, or someone will get hurt.

[@postacorona6746]

Oh SE (space engineers) did that for me by messing with gyros

[@InternetLaser]

KSP inspired me to learn more about orbital mechanics I wanted to lower costs for my launches, so I learned quite a bit of the relevant math to predict delta V's, altitudes, TWRs, etc.

[@burntpotatoes999]

+Ja-Shwa Cardell meanwhile most us are too lazy for that and just googled how much delta V you need and then got mechjeb

[@petti78]

+Ja-Shwa Cardell Kerbal Engineer really needs to be included into the stock game... somehow.

[@_Leouch]

+Tommy Huang nope, I just build huge ass rocket and land with half of stages left >.>

[@HojozVideos]

petti78 I know

[@_Leouch]

petti78 At lower difficulty level... good idea :)

[@Intrepid17011]

And the best thing, people who play KSP get automatically interested in Spacetravel, they appreciate the work of Space X and know how f****** hard it is to land a rocket which was in Space. ( Just for example )

[@dejanhaskovic5204]

Hahaha, so true! :)

[@ukdrilllyrics2624]

@James Kessler rn I'm playing simplerockets 2 but when I get an xbox imma play ksp

[@carlosperezdelema]

KSP is almost the only thing I´m doing for my orbital mechanics. I´m at first year of aerospace engineering and formulas seem so intuitive after playing Kerbal. I take about half the time for any excercise and whenever somebody asks things like ¿when should I change plane of inclination? I´m thinking NOOB.

[@DominatorLegend]

I didn't even know about the existence of Monopropellant and ion engines before playing KSP

[@TheAechBomb]

the funny thing is that monopropellant isn't 'mono', it's usually 2 fuels that mix and self-ignite

[@wtrmute]

@@TheAechBomb No, two fuels are bipropellant; if they self-ignite the mixture is called "hypergolic." Monopropellant is usually pressurised gas that you let escape, the so-called "cold-gas thruster" (usually nitrogen), or a molecule like hydrogen peroxide which you run through a metallic grid which catalyses its decomposition into oxygen and steam. Hypergolic fuel mixtures include hydrazine and derivatives like unsymmetrical [sic] dimethyl hydrazine (1,1-dimethyl hydrazine), which are hypergolic with nitric acid or dinitrogen tetroxide. I mean, I guess formally the Ion engines (as well as the Nuclear Thermal Rockets) are also monopropellant, because the the single propellant species are accelerated electrically in the former case and thermally in the latter.

[@TheAechBomb]

@@wtrmute I was referring to KSP's 'monopropellent', I should've specified RCS thrusters instead. Thanks for the info though, I didn't know hydrogen peroxide was used as a type of monopropellent.

[@tylersmith1468]

@@wtrmute ah yes hypergolic fuels, not to be mixed before use

[@jompis007]

Scott, please do a TED talk

[@scottmanley]

+Dragic I've no idea how you get invited to that kind of thing

[@jompis007]

+Scott Manley There are the TEDx talks tho, just check if there's any events nearby your location and hit 'em up!

[@Gekkibi]

+Dragic His presentation would have to be generalized or else it would be one big product placement. Otherwise +1.

[@comedicgod]

+Dragic That is an epic idea!

[@angelmurchison1731]

+Gekkibi Didn't the guy who made Spore have a Ted talk literally just about Spore? I know he did cause its the main reason that game disappointed everyone.

[@Ularg7070]

Came to my mind that a Scottish man has the name of Scott(ish) Man(ley).

[@JZStudiosonline]

+Ularg And the Manleyest gameplay on KZbin. Also the most educational.

[@eannamcnamara9338]

Conspiracy confirmed

[@justinowens2077]

So uh... problems. Just started my first real no-cheating playthrough (if anything malfunctions or explodes when it isn't supposed to, no reverting) and I'm really enjoying it. But I finally got to the Mun and landed, but during said landing, I attempted to lithobrake and lost the engine, legs, and half of my solar panels. So, she's stuck there, and I use tacls as well as herbal construction time, and she has enough supplies to last 312 days, but the rescue vehicle to around 200 days to make and prepare. So basically, if anything goes wrong, I lose 1, maybe even two pilots.

[@justinowens2077]

Update. Made it to Mun, successfully rescued both crew and data. We didn't have enough fuel to reduce our speed though, and burned up on re-entry. 2 confirmed KIA. Luckily the wreckage rained onto the oceans. (if you're wondering what I mean by that, I have stock visual enhancements (absolutely beautiful mod, by the way. Kerbin looks so beautiful, especially with scatterer) and that adds city textures to the ground in certain areas, so I roleplay that those are actual cities. 1 rocket, Kerbin II, was meant to be my first orbiter, but it failed and the fragments rained down onto a residential area. Only 1 actually landed on the city texture, so I roleplay that that one landed on a house and killed 4 kerbals

[@CorvusPrudens]

my god, what a beautiful story

[@awhahoo]

F

[@ettocraft]

This video was a game-changer in my life. After showing them, my parents finance me to buy my first PC to use with KSP. Few months later I was invited to join the best school ever, which was inside the SpaceX campus.

[@matteohetzy7599]

I totally agree with your point, and this is true also for more advanced issues like structure-control couplings. Playing I discovered that in KSP it's not a great idea have a very tall and slender rocket with thrust vector control at the bottom and the control module(ASAP) at the top because the flection of the rocket can result in the attitude of the ASAP being opposite to the bottom section and the vectoring would then induce more flection and these flection oscillations grow and grow untill the structure fails. at that time I was attending a course of dynamic and control of space structures and this experience resulted in a very good question for the professor(i tried avoid mentioning it was from a videogame anyway). Of course It was a real issue for real rockets too, the solution was modify the control laws with a notch filter at structure's first natural frequency. Unfortunately I could not find a way to implement this real life solution into KSP yet.

[@AdasbaGamingChannel]

I'm 13 and I have found out how to make SSTOs, land on other planets, aerobrake, orbital mechanics, arrodynamics, and more things all due to KSP.

[@AdasbaGamingChannel]

Oops I mean aerodynamics stupid autocorrect lol.

[@nedji8279]

Same here :D

[@autooctavia133]

same but I'm 12

[@ValStartaker]

Same

[@noahgdrums]

Same here!

[@KaidenOZ]

my wife says she learnt more about orbital mechanics then she ever wanted to know from watching me play KSP -_-

[@richardbloemenkamp8532]

Some people get so addicted to KSP that they stop doing anything else in the house. Even when there spouses start orbiting kitchen appliances towards them they think they are facing the final boss.

[@stephen4874]

It definitely can get people interested. KSP helped me choose my major

[@davidplashify]

My "AHA!" moment as a result of my playing KSP came when I was reading The Martian and they talked about breaching the VAL. As soon as they started talking about Delta V I was all "I KNOW THIS!" My second thought was "Why don't they get out and push?" I mean, not that I've ever put a rocket together that didn't quite have enough fuel to de-orbit and my Kerbals had to EVA and actually push but... yes. Yes, I have. :)

[@mihailazar2487]

Idk, seemed retarded they they had to phisically blow up the airlock with a motharfucking BOMB instead of just bypassing the software restrictions and ... Idk ... Just OPEN the bloody door ?

[@HTWW]

@@mihailazar2487 This could potentially offset the vector of thrust. The opening in the hull had to be made in less than a second to actually work.

[@vikkimcdonough6153]

15:07 - That's funny, the way I learned it was "a nose-heavy plane is insurance against unrecoverable stalls and spins".

[@michalsimanek6988]

My KSP motto: "The only diference between doing actual science and screwing around is recordong the thing.". - Somebody famous 😃

[@Sander_Datema]

Screwing around can be more fun. Writing things down is boring :) My motto is ''mod it 'till it crashes!''

[@AlexsMemeDump]

"The only difference between screwing around and science is writing it down"

[@tichepotato7992]

+Sander Datema Mine is "Mod it 'till it crashes! Then add more mods to fix the issues!"

[@Seekay_]

+Jebidiah Kerman Adam Savage eh?

[@fiona9891]

...So, I'll be the guy who mentions he spelled "recordong" wrong.

[@traniel123456789]

18:00 Has NASA tried to put RCS thrusters inside of their fuel tanks to see if they can reach light speed?

[@scottmanley]

+Daniel Vestøl That wasn't a mistake, that was intentional.

[@traniel123456789]

Scott Manley Wait, did they actually do that?

[@scottmanley]

No, I did that to exploit a bug in KSP.

[@LlwtyDeer]

First time i watched gravity: Awesome! When i watched gravity after playing ksp: this is so unrealistic!

[@tebo2770]

The fact that you take the time to share this with parents and teachers is what impresses me. There have been many folks pointing to all that is wrong with gaming past and present. It's nice to see a voice for the other side providing insight into what gaming can be. I've witnessed at least one teen who's life changed direction because of this game. He starts at MIT in the fall. Well done Scott. Thanks for what you're doing.

[@captainoblivious_yt]

"Just because i'm biased doesn't mean i'm wrong" Damn true.

[@ChaosShadow00x]

pretty much everything I know about orbital mechanics and space trivia came from you and your channel. KSP got me started, but because you so thoroughly explain everything your doing all the time it went the extra mile and I went from a noble and promising noob to being actually really good at KSP, actually understanding what i'm doing.

[@giulianotulerman]

Answer to limitations-MODS!

[@giulianotulerman]

And when you say "dont have langrage points", install Principia and have fun!

[@Sander_Datema]

Fun with ejecting planets?

[@giulianotulerman]

+Sander Datema Principia have the capability to add gravity force principle and push up your apoapsis using gravity.

[@aledvirgil]

+Sander Datema fixed

[@Sander_Datema]

+Aled Cuda Long-term?

[@christopheralbano3570]

I dunno how I missed this video. I think that this is a new personal favorite video you have produced. You do an excellent job of enumerating the various ways that KSP is a great educational tool, and as always your style is warm, inviting, and disarming. I wanted to share a bit of my own experience using KSP as part of the process of teaching my daughter about the world we live in, and to never stop being curious or courageous. My five year old loves chattering away about flying her aliens... she understands basic concepts like prograde and retrograde, apoapsis and periapsis, and regularly can successfully send her "aliens" to the Mun ("you just burn prograde when you see the moon rise, dad. It's not hard."), and occasionally to Minmus (which she calls the candy moon, and she still needs a little help adjusting her inclination to gain that encounter unless the timing is pretty much perfect). She has her eye set on Duna now, but we're still working on transfer windows... and landings. On the plus side, her aliens generally survive her flying now. But her lander regularly lands on it's side with little or no fuel left... and even if that weren't the case, I don't think her designs will work for return to Kerbin--she rarely remembers to include parachutes or heat shields). She'll get there though. Eventually she won't need daddy to fly a rescue tug out to the Mun to recover her stranded aliens so she can try again (watching and asking questions the whole time I do it). Then I'll have to get better at design and planning, because she'll be getting them stuck on Eve or Eeloo or some other remote chunk of rock where my own success rate is currently somewhat mixed. I can't wait.

[@aquatax24]

This is so nice! It took me so long to wrap my head around getting to orbit and even longer about going to other worlds. Have you had to do any Eve rescues since?

[@caraceus9666]

Say it simple: KSP is awesome :D

[@pesterenan]

This video was really great, you pretty much summed up all the aspects of playing this wonderful game :) And yes, I didn't knew ANYTHING about orbital mechanics, and now I can dock gigantic ships on orbit :D

[@TheDerperado]

"Just because I'm biased, doesn't mean I'm wrong" -Scott Manley

[@Gekkibi]

Scott Manley, could you make a video where you discuss about flat Earth? Just for the lulz.

[@chris-tx2sw]

Please papa manly please

[@WootmansayWOOT]

please papa manley

[@hanzu5910]

+Gekkibi oh yeah, that'd be clool !

[@ciri151]

+Gekkibi I would watch an hour long vid of him making fun of those people

[@Gekkibi]

NightPanda Ya, same here. I've always enjoyed pseudoscience debunking videos (for example CoolHardLogic's "Testing Geocentrism" series). Flat Earth -theory- -hypothesis- assertion is becoming really popular now, and it should be ridiculed non-stop.

[@trimusic3065]

I wish I had this to learn at school.

[@flashbackflip]

Yup. We DO teach kids physics and astronomy based on KSP in our school. They dig the subjects - even those, who do not have these subjects in their classes' program as it starts in later classes (10-12 y.o.)

[@Cyynapse]

Last time I was this early, Jeb was dead.

[@WootmansayWOOT]

+JACJoe Jeb never dies.

[@fasfdjifndjugbh3746]

Last time I came this early, Panty kicked me out

[@Combatsmithen]

+JACJoe Last time I was this late, my space station ran out of life support 3 years ago and everyone starved, suffocated, de-hydrated, and drowned in their own waste at the same time

[@awhahoo]

@@Combatsmithen what mod is that?

[@Combatsmithen]

@@awhahoo I think it was TAC Life support but I'm not sure

[@uglystyk]

I really appreciate the subtle reference to If, by Rudyard Kipling (6:52). Kudos to you on waxing poetic, Scott! It's one of my favorite poems. "If you can keep your head when all about you are losing theirs and blaming it on you, ..."

[@bails6441]

I think you should have shown a little bit of gameplay in the video, because some people still wouldn't know what your talking about. "Yeah it's sort of realistic and fun, but wtf does it actualy look like?"

[@BobCat981]

Didn't you see the spaceship? YAAAR, says Jeb!

[@CrushOfSiel]

This game gives you a ton of intuition. When you study things like orbital dynamics you're able to picture what is really going on. I think that really helps as I just tore through ch.8 in Marion and Thornton's Classical Dynamics book, my textbook for upper division mechanics. Even my professor was a bit perplexed that a small burst of thrust would turn your orbit from an ellipse to a more eccentric ellipse if you didn't increase the total energy to 0.

[@Combatsmithen]

the 10 dislikes were probably flat earthers

[@LillianWinterAnimations]

+Combatsmithen While I'm sure that was meant as a joke... sadly enough you might be right.

[@Combatsmithen]

Lillian Theuma lol

[@Szarella]

Ayup

[@KillingSystem74]

Watching this now and you are at 953k subscribers. So close to a million! Keep up the good work. Your videos are well delivered, insightful with an equally bright personality. Always enjoy content creators who obviously put soul into their work.

[@FirePandaGames]

Pilot my self....AOA can be abbreviated as α (lowercase alpha)...also I can agree with effects on building planes, I've built a few too many, and even experiment using FAR for experimental designs...too bad wings can't store fuel! (FAR is the only mod I consistently run with)

[@scottmanley]

+MasterMapMaker There are stock wings which can store fuel now.

[@FirePandaGames]

+Scott Manley indeed, but they are much bigger than my usual builds and non-modular

[@scientificakosmos6340]

use tweak scale

[@FirePandaGames]

+Scientifica Kosmos if only it allowed me to change the camber and chord of the wing as well, I build insane things that require manual precision, reason I love the modular parts

[@scientificakosmos6340]

MasterMapMaker Well sorry can't help out, don't know nearly as much programming as is required to make a mod that would easily cover all those functions with stock parts.

[@RoyalFusilier]

It sure helped me develop a conceptual understanding of orbital mechanics in a way no education thing has ever been capable of doing, since I was actually having to struggle with it to get anywhere. There's that whole level of 'doing' that makes this so good for teaching kids about the whole space thing.

[@MrXcreeperx]

when i first played ksp i learned about rockets right away and now i wanna be an astronaut and i play ksp 11 hours everyday

[@MartijnMcFly]

If your real name is Óðin, then you deserve to be an astronaut.

[@MrXcreeperx]

hahaha it is my real name

[@MartijnMcFly]

Ride the thunderous skies on the back of Sleipnir, my Lord, and reach for the shining lights that illuminates our night skies. Go forth, and discover! Don't forget to adjust your apoapsis once in a while.

[@MrXcreeperx]

haha

[@dejanhaskovic5204]

OMG I thought i was the only one who feels that way XD

[@РоманПлетнев-г3э]

Great video! Strangely you didn't mention the awesome in-game soudtracks, despite having them in the background ;)

[@slpk]

Did you actually say "Fly safe" on your presentations?

[@reblogo]

+Slpk I don't doubt it.

[@naphackDT]

+Slpk Probably.

[@linkxsc]

+Slpk well they do it in every eve online presentation I've ever been to. So yeah.

[@darklordbobSmoke]

+Linkxsc it's a common thing to say in eve. we just brought it with us everywhere else.

[@linkxsc]

darklord bob I know. along with o/ which no one outside of that game seems to understand.

[@bmoore4313]

Scott, the audio of this presentation is utterly on-point. However, I think if you were to, say, re-create the Gemini maneuver-failure, and the maneuver nodes, and all the other things you're alluding to, and have THOSE playing visually while they listen to you talk - a picture is worth 1000 words, and you get 60 pictures a second. Mention how you can intuitively see how eccentricity works, or the Oberth effect, or any of the other things that are difficult to explain, but instantly make sense when you play with a maneuver node. The audio presentation is awesome. Make it audiovisual and you're golden.

[@Josearnaldomanuel2]

What have I learned from KSP? Lithobraking. Lots and lots of lithobraking.

[@kingunicorn7353]

I can't imagine me trying to lithobreak without exploding in the process

[@Josearnaldomanuel2]

Oscar Arenas exactly

[@eannamcnamara9338]

Laughs in explosion

[@KSPAtlas]

Bruh I have some spacecraft which are designed to explode

[@theelite8196]

I am 10 years old, almost 11. KSP has helped me learn about rocket science, orbital maneuvering and rendezvous, lift, gravity, weight, and so many other things. I feel like an expert when I first started to understand all of it. It inspired me to want to get an occupation such as a pilot, or astronomer when I get older. To this day, I still play it.

[@almondpotato9483]

"Just because I'm biased, doesn't mean I'm wrong." What I said when I was running for class president. Hint: I didn't win.

[@gamingchamp6728]

XD

[@gamingchamp6728]

Why would you say that XD

[@Zeunknown1234]

Lol

[@ReverendTed]

I think I hear the soundtrack to The Bridge at the beginning there. 2:10 - Yeah, I wouldn't try to pronounce it, either. This talk reiterates something I heard once and believe wholeheartedly - the best way to learn a thing is to find something you want to do that requires you know know that thing. It's not just about learning, it's about doing.

[@daquanrushing5584]

I clicked this video so fucking fast

[@jamswu6398]

I clicked first bitch

[@izl827]

+Rickey & Jimbob who cares

[@neutralspace-ishguy]

+Rickey & Jimbob Scott Manley clicked the video first matey.

[@daquanrushing5584]

Rickey & Jimbob actually, i think i clicked it first because there was no views, no comments, and no likes/dislikes, so either i clicked first, or we clicked at the same time

[@LouisLafleur]

Scott Manley, you've had me convinced years ago :) Yes, not only can KSP teach rocket science but it's also been a great tool for teaching English as a second language to my engineering/science faculty students in Japan. My students wrote incredible blogs accompanied with screenshots of their designs, successes and failures (aka learning experiences). I know some of them will be making the jump to your videos very soon, if they haven't already. Thanks Scott, you were my inspiration to implement KSP in the classroom!

[@uwuunironically3218]

rocket science can't melt steel beams

[@OGBeefStew]

+A E S T H E T I C x OH HELLO

[@SahasaV]

+A E S T H E T I C x LOOMINARTY CONFIRM!!!

[@Fabri91]

Excellent presentation! I'll be sure to pass it along to anyone doubting KSP's effectiveness in teaching orbital mechanics. One nitpick: the background music was at times relatively loud, making it sound rather ominous, like during the description of the aerodynamic effects.

[@yoma4782]

mama max loves you with his love rocket

[@blarzgh]

When I was in high school we were actually allowed to play Minecraft as a sort of class project as long as we were doing something practical (think redstone wiring). In hindsight it was all a bit dumb because we weren't really learning a whole lot of stuff. KSP would've been much better and I could see a place for it in a science class room. Just think, as a sort of demo a teacher could set up a scenario with a small craft in orbit. They could then ask the kids which way they should burn to de-orbit (retrograde isn't the intuitive choice) and which way to expand the orbit to Mun or something. Than the kids could have a go and it really could help them get a proper grasp on the whole thing. They could use RSS and recreate famous space missions from the likes of NASA, ESA and all that. Hell, with the help of hyperedit or something they could even set up a real time sim/interactive map of all the main space craft that humanity has in space and give the kids a sense of how huge the solar system really is. I'm probably a bit over excited (It's 3:30am lol) but I could see this being a fantastic tool to teach kids about the wonders of space

[@eannamcnamara9338]

I agree and they could use RSS in high school too.

[@tomaszdzieduszynski]

Yay, my favourite XKCD comic!

[@warmachine5835]

I spent a solid 8 hours when I first picked up this game, back before maneuver nodes were a thing, trying to work through the rocket equation and Hohmann transfer math. It helped push me forward into learning an appreciating math where I had a very difficult time before.

[@amuffin283]

Real solar system helps teach it, considering Earth is bigger than Jool...

[@rapter229]

Stock teaches the concepts, RSS shows how those concepts manifest in the real Solar System. I would say both are very valuable learning experiences! :D

[@amuffin283]

rapter229 As someone just getting used to RSS, getting in orbit requires over 5000 delta v, it's quite difficult with stock, even modded is hard still.

[@rapter229]

+A Muffin yeah, its a bit of a rude wakeup. You get comfortable and confident in stock KSP. But RSS slaps you around. No more kiddie pool, time for the deep end (not to imply stock is for kids or anything, just a metaphor).

[@theoldcookiemonster]

Love how you make it as difficult as you want, either by mods such as life support or looking up equations and data sites to play accurately.

[@Krebzonide]

nasa should use ksp as a training simulation for astronauts.

[@littlegrabbiZZ9PZA]

cheeseman They are, at least according to XKCD, *strictly* an Orbiter shop.

[@TRoastable]

I'm a first year Aerospace Engineering student and you would be surprised how much of the course I already knew from playing kerbal, delta V, Hohmann transfers, gravity assists and much more all come up. Admittedly they are about as basic as the course comes and most of it was covered in 30 minutes of a lecture but kerbal is definitely a good starting point to get a "feel" of how spacecraft work and operate.

[@andrewkovnat]

7:39 Hey! My friend showed this to me a while back! Heh, what do ya know...

[@NickyDekker89]

I only picked up KSP like a week ago. Just out of curiousity and without any knowledge of rockets or space flight. And I already did my first succesfull moon landing and return to Kerbin. I bet this would be great to teach kids at school at a young age!

[@RealGracefulGoose]

I got started on it when I was nine, and it's kept my intense love of space burning ever since.

[@MrSuperkronos2010]

Can Scott Manley Really Teach us if Kerbal space program really teaches rocket science? mama max loves you

[@OGBeefStew]

+Mr. KoRn OH HELLO

[@FifthSkip]

Its actually taught me a lot about orbital maneuvers, importance of delta V & TWR, getting intercepts, really cool game

[@NChambernator]

A bit long if you ask me and I love the stuff. Most people aren't smart enough to understand 3/4 of this video. Nor will they remember.

[@mikehunt8946]

+Nick Chambernator There was nothing remotely confusing in this video...

[@NChambernator]

Congratulations for being part of the 1/4 that understands anything and everything about this video! I showed it to my mother, a high school science professor and she said a lot of it was pretty advanced. I was making a simple observation that Scott is covering a lot of content in the video and maybe could condense it into some simpler topics to get the point across quicker when arguing KSP as a teaching utility. Which btw I wholeheartedly agree with. Gosh I really don't know why I took the time to respond to this xD

[@mikehunt8946]

Nick Chambernator Scott explained everything he was talking about in the video, which parts exactly are you and your relations struggling with?

[@argh1989]

Mike Hunt I agree, nothing remotely confusing in this video... if you already know about KSP. However this talk/video is made for people who don't and so I agree it will be tough to follow for most of them. It's actually kind of ironic, because he talks about how much easier orbital mechanics and other physical principles can be understood with how interactive KSP is. Yet he doesn't show any video footage of the game, which would help explain certain things *much* easier, for instance when he talked about the manoeuvre node, structural integrity (or lack thereof), aerodynamic forces, the pendulum that turned out to be rubbish etc.

[@chromeinox]

KSP gave me a basic understanding of orbital mechanics, a thing that I've never thought I coulld learn so easily. It's so rare to find a game that actually teaches you important things and gives you a solid base to expand your knowledge. Wondeful, one of my favorite videogames of all time. From the Depths is another great game of the kind.

[@clayton717]

When you say the latest version is 1.1.2 at 2:25 it says 1.1.1

[@scottmanley]

+Ultimate yes because the last time I gave the talk live that was the case

[@clayton717]

Ok

[@Pickelhaube808]

+Scott Manley Scott, do you think that later in development, Unity or what they will use, it will be possible to add more realistic features, such as orbit degradation?

[@acey195]

+RektSkrubs well technically orbit degredation is in KSP, but only for orbits below 70k (Around Kerbin) :P Its just not possible to realtime calculate all crafts in your playthrough at the same time, thats not limited by Unity, but that is just really expensive to do for any software :P. Thats why only one craft (or in a small area of 2km around the current craft) are calculated, the rest is just on-rails

[@Pickelhaube808]

true, but it would at least be cool to simulate under 70km without simply deleting the craft, while loading it and seeing if it would really burn up.

[@wardedthorn6523]

Man, I remember the first time it clicked to me that I was using done of the very same methods used by the greatest minds of rocket science in history. Like, I realized that the "slingshot maneuver" that Apollo 13 used was based on the same principle as using the gravity of the Mun to escape Kerbin, though they bent their trajectory in the opposite way. It was truly crazy to think that I was using real orbital mechanics! Maybe I'm not a real rocket scientist, but I could have a decent conversation with one, and that's really something.

[@PaulGarcia652]

For me, kerbal space program has made the term,"at least it's not rocket science," worthless. I love rocket science ever since beginning kerbal space program. Along with this, it proves that I can do, make, learn anything, as long as I have an interest in something.

[@eannamcnamara9338]

Can relate

[@scottgauer7299]

I wholeheartedly agree. While people were struggling trying to understand orbits and single impulse maneuvers in my astronautics class I was already quite familiar with these concepts and was able to help people.

[@jacob_1311]

Mama max sends you his motherly hugs

[@MicrowaveGenocide]

who the hell is that and why is it all over the comments

[@mrdodge1303]

+sir meme Your face is epic

[@OttoVonGarfield]

+Mister Dodgers Could you tell it was a bread loaf? And yes, it does indeed hang around little children.

[@mrdodge1303]

max larsen Well I thought it's a Vietnam veteran that caught a flashback.

[@OttoVonGarfield]

Mister Dodgers close, he caught a flashbang, with his teeth.

[@UsAsWeAre]

I'm always telling folks that because of Kerbal Space Program, I feel like learning to fly a real spaceship would be completely within my grasp. As if it were learning to sail, or anything else that's down-to-earth. A fantastic basis for understanding! Great presentation, love all your videos.

[@Shyradder]

mama loves you

[@OGBeefStew]

+MadShyPie OH HELLO

[@Josearnaldomanuel2]

I have been playing KSP for about a year now, but I've always avoided rendezvous contracts because I never learned how to and to dock properly until yesterday. 11/10, seriously this game teaches stuff and I think more kids should play it.

[@thijsluttikhuis1252]

another free android(/ios?) app: Space agency

[@scottmanley]

+thijs luttikhuis but that doesn't attempt to do proper orbital mechanics.

[@thijsluttikhuis1252]

+Scott Manley You are right, but at least the app is free. =D

[@Asesna]

+Scott Manley use simple rockets is 2d kerbal space program

[@niklasschmidt9396]

thijs luttikhuis The app is pretty fun, but I wouldn't compare it to Kerbal Space Program for 3 reasons: 1. It's 2D 2. It doesn't really try to simulate real physics 3. You have to build your rocket with predefined parts, making the variety very limited Also, it's not completely free, you have to do mini-transactions to unlock all rocket parts. But, still, the game is pretty fun.

[@falme1275]

thijs luttikhuis space agency is not a learning experience; it isn’t at all representative of real life.

[@doomsdayfighter508]

I can say that without a doubt KSP helped me a lot in better visualising staging procedures, aerodynamics and orbital mechanics. All of these were very valuable in my Aerodynamics and Rocket Science courses! Just being able to see what happens instead of just writing pages of calculations and numbers is awesome.

[@TimmacTR]

No Lagrange points? How are they used IRL btw?

[@caelan03Minecraft]

+TimmacTR IIRC James Webb Telescope will use one

[@izl827]

+TimmacTR in an nutshell and from what i understand a spaceship is an a lower solar orbit compared to earth so it should go faster but the earths gravity keeps it there this also works for the moon

[@izl827]

Kevin J. Dildonik well i tried

[@tixeright9120]

+TimmacTR Lagrange points exist because of multiple (two or more) influences of gravity pulling you equally in their direction at the same time, basically holding you in that position, so long as you don't propel yourself, and nothing else with enough mass comes along to perturb you out of that position. In real life everything massive enough to have a measurable gravity source is pulling on you at the same time, and this is why we have tidal energy on earth. (Because the moon, and the Sun to a much lesser extent is pulling on the earth, and noticeably perturbing oceans. Less noticeable is the effects this tidal energy is having on the earths rotation, and the moon's orbit around the earth. The earth's rotation is slowing. The Moon's orbit is getting further away from earth. Whenever the earth's rotation slows enough so that one side of it is tidally locked with the moon, the moon will no longer be drifting away. But current projections put that eventuality towards the end of our Sun's red-giant phase, and many other calmintous things could have happened to the earth/moon system by then.) Anyway, this is also why our solar-system evolves over time, slowly altering the orbits of our system's planets in a relatively stable system in which profound changes take several mellenia to develop. In KSP only the thing that is being read as "sphere of influence" is the gravity source pulling on you so there's no L points. KSP uses simplified Newtonian physics model, with a clockwork system as the planets around kerbol aren't really effecting each others orbits the way ours are. Real life uses a dynamic physics model with more varibles than we currently understand, and our best approximation of what's going on "out there" is Einstein's physics concerning relativity. In real life L points can be used to place satellites in a relatively stationary position in our solar system, usually in relation to the earth, so they'd be good positions for fueling depots / space stations. Currently they are used for space telescopes, most of which are studying our own sun. They also would make good communication relay positions if we had lots of stuff and people operating in deep space, because you basically have to have line of sight for communications to work well in space. When you don't have line of sight, you have a black out period, like the Apollo missions had whenever they went on the far side of the moon.

[@TimmacTR]

TIXE RIGHT Just thought about something...Lagrange points would be idel places for LIGO type experiment/tools for measuring with more precision gravitational waves and their position in space... DAYUM

[@AluVixapede]

I've learned *so* much from KSP and X-plane, I design craft in both. ~ Without going into too much detail, I've never been particularly academic; I have trouble following lectures and I never remember stuff out of text books. I'm the kind of learner who learns best by making mistakes then researching/experimenting as to why it failed, or how to make it better. There's also something to be said about how sand box simulator games like these can help illustrate the importance of keeping goal/objective oriented and proper time management hygiene. In KSP, I still test crazy ideas on the off chance it might be really cool (read: not efficient or practical :D ) but, those little distractions are more momentary, and I'm always closing in on a goal. It's also taught me that there's a real beauty in simplicity of design.

[@danieldomeisen2632]

And as i have said, this game MIGHT advance North Korea's space program by decades. Just imagine if all nations had atleast KSP. Yeah i MIGHT be more worried about North Korea if they had even KSP level of abilities, as it stands i still joke it is called Korean Space Program. Yeah this game would be amazing as an educational tool, any my kids will play it, once i have kids :)

[@ChristopherMocko]

"yes I am biased, but just because I am biased doesn't mean I'm wrong" Thank you Scott, that's one for the quotes book.

[@yanayang6382]

Get Max'd ♡

[@Wowies_]

+Jana Slamnig cute kid/10

[@OGBeefStew]

+Jana Slamnig OH HELLO

[@OdniindO]

Kerbal Space Program is the best Lego set I never had...

[@ohhhboyy5837]

mama max sends his regards.

[@MoustacheMage99]

Who the hell is mama max?

[@darklordbobSmoke]

+MoustacheMage99 and why should we care?

[@cagataysunal1130]

I didn't get anything when I played this back in 2011. But this year it actually helped me with my physics exam(which was about circular motion, universal gravitation law and simple harmonic motion) and I don't even play it anymore!

[@oskie341]

Thanks for this, it's very educational. At 14:38 you show some facts about Kerbin. Perhaps mention that this the home planet of all the Kerbals.

[@XiaosChannel]

who dont have a PC these days...

[@ZipperOfficial]

People in Africa.

[@jetenginestar]

Or you have a terrible PC that can't run KSP :p

[@XiaosChannel]

well fair enough

[@niklasschmidt9396]

Even my shitty laptop can run KSP, argument invalid! :D

[@mechedrei3036]

Idiots from my school dont have pcs. THE RICHEST ONE OF THEM HAS THE NEW IPHONE X, A PS4, A HOVERBOARD, HIS DAD IS THE BOSS FROM BMW FROM MY CITY AND HE "CANT AFFORD A LAPTOP"

[@MrSuperrcfreak007]

I am an aerospace engineering student and used kerbal space program to help study for a course about orbital mechanics once. It helped a lot.

[@doublehirn]

Kerbal Space Program pretty much ruined every space movie for me.