# Vessel¶

class Vessel

These objects are used to interact with vessels in KSP. This includes getting orbital and flight data, manipulating control inputs and managing resources. Created using SpaceCenter.ActiveVessel or SpaceCenter.Vessels.

String Name { get; set; }

The name of the vessel.

Game Scenes: All
VesselType Type { get; set; }

The type of the vessel.

Game Scenes: All
VesselSituation Situation { get; }

The situation the vessel is in.

Game Scenes: All
Boolean Recoverable { get; }

Whether the vessel is recoverable.

Game Scenes: All
void Recover ()

Recover the vessel.

Game Scenes: All
Double MET { get; }

The mission elapsed time in seconds.

Game Scenes: All
String Biome { get; }

The name of the biome the vessel is currently in.

Game Scenes: All
Flight Flight (ReferenceFrame referenceFrame = null)

Returns a Flight object that can be used to get flight telemetry for the vessel, in the specified reference frame.

Parameters: referenceFrame – Reference frame. Defaults to the vessel’s surface reference frame (Vessel.SurfaceReferenceFrame). Flight

Note

When this is called with no arguments, the vessel’s surface reference frame is used. This reference frame moves with the vessel, therefore velocities and speeds returned by the flight object will be zero. See the reference frames tutorial for examples of getting the orbital and surface speeds of a vessel.

Orbit Orbit { get; }

The current orbit of the vessel.

Game Scenes: All
Control Control { get; }

Returns a Control object that can be used to manipulate the vessel’s control inputs. For example, its pitch/yaw/roll controls, RCS and thrust.

Game Scenes: Flight
Comms Comms { get; }

Returns a Comms object that can be used to interact with CommNet for this vessel.

Game Scenes: Flight
AutoPilot AutoPilot { get; }

An AutoPilot object, that can be used to perform simple auto-piloting of the vessel.

Game Scenes: Flight
Int32 CrewCapacity { get; }

The number of crew that can occupy the vessel.

Game Scenes: All
Int32 CrewCount { get; }

The number of crew that are occupying the vessel.

Game Scenes: All
IList<CrewMember> Crew { get; }

The crew in the vessel.

Game Scenes: All
Resources Resources { get; }

A Resources object, that can used to get information about resources stored in the vessel.

Game Scenes: Flight
Resources ResourcesInDecoupleStage (Int32 stage, Boolean cumulative = true)

Returns a Resources object, that can used to get information about resources stored in a given stage.

Parameters: stage – Get resources for parts that are decoupled in this stage. cumulative – When false, returns the resources for parts decoupled in just the given stage. When true returns the resources decoupled in the given stage and all subsequent stages combined. Flight

Note

For details on stage numbering, see the discussion on Staging.

Parts Parts { get; }

A Parts object, that can used to interact with the parts that make up this vessel.

Game Scenes: Flight
Single Mass { get; }

The total mass of the vessel, including resources, in kg.

Game Scenes: Flight
Single DryMass { get; }

The total mass of the vessel, excluding resources, in kg.

Game Scenes: Flight
Single Thrust { get; }

The total thrust currently being produced by the vessel’s engines, in Newtons. This is computed by summing Engine.Thrust for every engine in the vessel.

Game Scenes: Flight
Single AvailableThrust { get; }

Gets the total available thrust that can be produced by the vessel’s active engines, in Newtons. This is computed by summing Engine.AvailableThrust for every active engine in the vessel.

Game Scenes: Flight
Single MaxThrust { get; }

The total maximum thrust that can be produced by the vessel’s active engines, in Newtons. This is computed by summing Engine.MaxThrust for every active engine.

Game Scenes: Flight
Single MaxVacuumThrust { get; }

The total maximum thrust that can be produced by the vessel’s active engines when the vessel is in a vacuum, in Newtons. This is computed by summing Engine.MaxVacuumThrust for every active engine.

Game Scenes: Flight
Single SpecificImpulse { get; }

The combined specific impulse of all active engines, in seconds. This is computed using the formula described here.

Game Scenes: Flight
Single VacuumSpecificImpulse { get; }

The combined vacuum specific impulse of all active engines, in seconds. This is computed using the formula described here.

Game Scenes: Flight
Single KerbinSeaLevelSpecificImpulse { get; }

The combined specific impulse of all active engines at sea level on Kerbin, in seconds. This is computed using the formula described here.

Game Scenes: Flight
Tuple<Double, Double, Double> MomentOfInertia { get; }

The moment of inertia of the vessel around its center of mass in $$kg.m^2$$. The inertia values in the returned 3-tuple are around the pitch, roll and yaw directions respectively. This corresponds to the vessels reference frame (ReferenceFrame).

Game Scenes: Flight
IList<Double> InertiaTensor { get; }

The inertia tensor of the vessel around its center of mass, in the vessels reference frame (ReferenceFrame). Returns the 3x3 matrix as a list of elements, in row-major order.

Game Scenes: All
Tuple<Tuple<Double, Double, Double>, Tuple<Double, Double, Double>> AvailableTorque { get; }

The maximum torque that the vessel generates. Includes contributions from reaction wheels, RCS, gimballed engines and aerodynamic control surfaces. Returns the torques in $$N.m$$ around each of the coordinate axes of the vessels reference frame (ReferenceFrame). These axes are equivalent to the pitch, roll and yaw axes of the vessel.

Game Scenes: Flight
Tuple<Tuple<Double, Double, Double>, Tuple<Double, Double, Double>> AvailableReactionWheelTorque { get; }

The maximum torque that the currently active and powered reaction wheels can generate. Returns the torques in $$N.m$$ around each of the coordinate axes of the vessels reference frame (ReferenceFrame). These axes are equivalent to the pitch, roll and yaw axes of the vessel.

Game Scenes: Flight
Tuple<Tuple<Double, Double, Double>, Tuple<Double, Double, Double>> AvailableRCSTorque { get; }

The maximum torque that the currently active RCS thrusters can generate. Returns the torques in $$N.m$$ around each of the coordinate axes of the vessels reference frame (ReferenceFrame). These axes are equivalent to the pitch, roll and yaw axes of the vessel.

Game Scenes: Flight
Tuple<Tuple<Double, Double, Double>, Tuple<Double, Double, Double>> AvailableEngineTorque { get; }

The maximum torque that the currently active and gimballed engines can generate. Returns the torques in $$N.m$$ around each of the coordinate axes of the vessels reference frame (ReferenceFrame). These axes are equivalent to the pitch, roll and yaw axes of the vessel.

Game Scenes: Flight
Tuple<Tuple<Double, Double, Double>, Tuple<Double, Double, Double>> AvailableControlSurfaceTorque { get; }

The maximum torque that the aerodynamic control surfaces can generate. Returns the torques in $$N.m$$ around each of the coordinate axes of the vessels reference frame (ReferenceFrame). These axes are equivalent to the pitch, roll and yaw axes of the vessel.

Game Scenes: Flight
Tuple<Tuple<Double, Double, Double>, Tuple<Double, Double, Double>> AvailableOtherTorque { get; }

The maximum torque that parts (excluding reaction wheels, gimballed engines, RCS and control surfaces) can generate. Returns the torques in $$N.m$$ around each of the coordinate axes of the vessels reference frame (ReferenceFrame). These axes are equivalent to the pitch, roll and yaw axes of the vessel.

Game Scenes: Flight
ReferenceFrame ReferenceFrame { get; }

The reference frame that is fixed relative to the vessel, and orientated with the vessel.

• The origin is at the center of mass of the vessel.
• The axes rotate with the vessel.
• The x-axis points out to the right of the vessel.
• The y-axis points in the forward direction of the vessel.
• The z-axis points out of the bottom off the vessel.
Game Scenes: Flight

Vessel reference frame origin and axes for the Aeris 3A aircraft

Vessel reference frame origin and axes for the Kerbal-X rocket

ReferenceFrame OrbitalReferenceFrame { get; }

The reference frame that is fixed relative to the vessel, and orientated with the vessels orbital prograde/normal/radial directions.

• The origin is at the center of mass of the vessel.
• The x-axis points in the orbital anti-radial direction.
• The y-axis points in the orbital prograde direction.
• The z-axis points in the orbital normal direction.
Game Scenes: Flight

Note

Be careful not to confuse this with ‘orbit’ mode on the navball.

Vessel orbital reference frame origin and axes

ReferenceFrame SurfaceReferenceFrame { get; }

The reference frame that is fixed relative to the vessel, and orientated with the surface of the body being orbited.

• The origin is at the center of mass of the vessel.
• The axes rotate with the north and up directions on the surface of the body.
• The x-axis points in the zenith direction (upwards, normal to the body being orbited, from the center of the body towards the center of mass of the vessel).
• The y-axis points northwards towards the astronomical horizon (north, and tangential to the surface of the body – the direction in which a compass would point when on the surface).
• The z-axis points eastwards towards the astronomical horizon (east, and tangential to the surface of the body – east on a compass when on the surface).
Game Scenes: Flight

Note

Be careful not to confuse this with ‘surface’ mode on the navball.

Vessel surface reference frame origin and axes

ReferenceFrame SurfaceVelocityReferenceFrame { get; }

The reference frame that is fixed relative to the vessel, and orientated with the velocity vector of the vessel relative to the surface of the body being orbited.

• The origin is at the center of mass of the vessel.
• The axes rotate with the vessel’s velocity vector.
• The y-axis points in the direction of the vessel’s velocity vector, relative to the surface of the body being orbited.
• The z-axis is in the plane of the astronomical horizon.
• The x-axis is orthogonal to the other two axes.
Game Scenes: Flight

Vessel surface velocity reference frame origin and axes

Tuple<Double, Double, Double> Position (ReferenceFrame referenceFrame)

The position of the center of mass of the vessel, in the given reference frame.

Parameters: referenceFrame – The reference frame that the returned position vector is in. The position as a vector. Flight
Tuple<Tuple<Double, Double, Double>, Tuple<Double, Double, Double>> BoundingBox (ReferenceFrame referenceFrame)

The axis-aligned bounding box of the vessel in the given reference frame.

Parameters: referenceFrame – The reference frame that the returned position vectors are in. The positions of the minimum and maximum vertices of the box, as position vectors. Flight
Tuple<Double, Double, Double> Velocity (ReferenceFrame referenceFrame)

The velocity of the center of mass of the vessel, in the given reference frame.

Parameters: referenceFrame – The reference frame that the returned velocity vector is in. The velocity as a vector. The vector points in the direction of travel, and its magnitude is the speed of the body in meters per second. Flight
Tuple<Double, Double, Double, Double> Rotation (ReferenceFrame referenceFrame)

The rotation of the vessel, in the given reference frame.

Parameters: referenceFrame – The reference frame that the returned rotation is in. The rotation as a quaternion of the form $$(x, y, z, w)$$. Flight
Tuple<Double, Double, Double> Direction (ReferenceFrame referenceFrame)

The direction in which the vessel is pointing, in the given reference frame.

Parameters: referenceFrame – The reference frame that the returned direction is in. The direction as a unit vector. Flight
Tuple<Double, Double, Double> AngularVelocity (ReferenceFrame referenceFrame)

The angular velocity of the vessel, in the given reference frame.

Parameters: referenceFrame – The reference frame the returned angular velocity is in. The angular velocity as a vector. The magnitude of the vector is the rotational speed of the vessel, in radians per second. The direction of the vector indicates the axis of rotation, using the right-hand rule. Flight
enum VesselType

The type of a vessel. See Vessel.Type.

Base

Base.

Debris

Debris.

Lander

Lander.

Plane

Plane.

Probe

Probe.

Relay

Relay.

Rover

Rover.

Ship

Ship.

Station

Station.

enum VesselSituation

The situation a vessel is in. See Vessel.Situation.

Docked

Vessel is docked to another.

Escaping

Escaping.

Flying

Vessel is flying through an atmosphere.

Landed

Vessel is landed on the surface of a body.

Orbiting

Vessel is orbiting a body.

PreLaunch

Vessel is awaiting launch.

Splashed

Vessel has splashed down in an ocean.

SubOrbital

Vessel is on a sub-orbital trajectory.

class CrewMember

Represents crew in a vessel. Can be obtained using Vessel.Crew.

String Name { get; set; }

The crew members name.

Game Scenes: All
CrewMemberType Type { get; }

The type of crew member.

Game Scenes: All
Boolean OnMission { get; }

Whether the crew member is on a mission.

Game Scenes: All
Single Courage { get; set; }

The crew members courage.

Game Scenes: All
Single Stupidity { get; set; }

The crew members stupidity.

Game Scenes: All
Single Experience { get; set; }

The crew members experience.

Game Scenes: All
Boolean Badass { get; set; }

Whether the crew member is a badass.

Game Scenes: All
Boolean Veteran { get; set; }

Whether the crew member is a veteran.

Game Scenes: All
enum CrewMemberType

The type of a crew member. See CrewMember.Type.

Applicant

An applicant for crew.

Crew

Rocket crew.

Tourist

A tourist.

Unowned

An unowned crew member.