# 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 active_vessel or vessels.

name

The name of the vessel.

Attribute: Can be read or written str All
type

The type of the vessel.

Attribute: Can be read or written VesselType All
situation

The situation the vessel is in.

Attribute: Read-only, cannot be set VesselSituation All
recoverable

Whether the vessel is recoverable.

Attribute: Read-only, cannot be set bool All
recover()

Recover the vessel.

Game Scenes: All
met

The mission elapsed time in seconds.

Attribute: Read-only, cannot be set double All
biome

The name of the biome the vessel is currently in.

Attribute: Read-only, cannot be set str All
flight([reference_frame = None])

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

Parameters: reference_frame (ReferenceFrame) – Reference frame. Defaults to the vessel’s surface reference frame (Vessel.surface_reference_frame). Flight 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

The current orbit of the vessel.

Attribute: Read-only, cannot be set Orbit All
control

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.

Attribute: Read-only, cannot be set Control Flight
comms

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

Attribute: Read-only, cannot be set Comms Flight
auto_pilot

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

Attribute: Read-only, cannot be set AutoPilot Flight
crew_capacity

The number of crew that can occupy the vessel.

Attribute: Read-only, cannot be set int All
crew_count

The number of crew that are occupying the vessel.

Attribute: Read-only, cannot be set int All
crew

The crew in the vessel.

Attribute: Read-only, cannot be set list(CrewMember) All
resources

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

Attribute: Read-only, cannot be set Resources Flight
resources_in_decouple_stage(stage[, cumulative = True])

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

Parameters: stage (int) – Get resources for parts that are decoupled in this stage. cumulative (bool) – 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. Resources Flight

Note

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

parts

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

Attribute: Read-only, cannot be set Parts Flight
mass

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

Attribute: Read-only, cannot be set float Flight
dry_mass

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

Attribute: Read-only, cannot be set float Flight
thrust

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.

Attribute: Read-only, cannot be set float Flight
available_thrust

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

Attribute: Read-only, cannot be set float Flight
max_thrust

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

Attribute: Read-only, cannot be set float Flight
max_vacuum_thrust

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.max_vacuum_thrust for every active engine.

Attribute: Read-only, cannot be set float Flight
specific_impulse

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

Attribute: Read-only, cannot be set float Flight
vacuum_specific_impulse

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

Attribute: Read-only, cannot be set float Flight
kerbin_sea_level_specific_impulse

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

Attribute: Read-only, cannot be set float Flight
moment_of_inertia

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).

Attribute: Read-only, cannot be set tuple(double, double, double) Flight
inertia_tensor

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.

Attribute: Read-only, cannot be set list(double) All
available_torque

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.

Attribute: Read-only, cannot be set tuple(tuple(double, double, double), tuple(double, double, double)) Flight
available_reaction_wheel_torque

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.

Attribute: Read-only, cannot be set tuple(tuple(double, double, double), tuple(double, double, double)) Flight
available_rcs_torque

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.

Attribute: Read-only, cannot be set tuple(tuple(double, double, double), tuple(double, double, double)) Flight
available_engine_torque

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.

Attribute: Read-only, cannot be set tuple(tuple(double, double, double), tuple(double, double, double)) Flight
available_control_surface_torque

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.

Attribute: Read-only, cannot be set tuple(tuple(double, double, double), tuple(double, double, double)) Flight
available_other_torque

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.

Attribute: Read-only, cannot be set tuple(tuple(double, double, double), tuple(double, double, double)) Flight
reference_frame

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.
Attribute: Read-only, cannot be set ReferenceFrame Flight

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

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

orbital_reference_frame

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.
Attribute: Read-only, cannot be set ReferenceFrame Flight

Note

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

Vessel orbital reference frame origin and axes

surface_reference_frame

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).
Attribute: Read-only, cannot be set ReferenceFrame Flight

Note

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

Vessel surface reference frame origin and axes

surface_velocity_reference_frame

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.
Attribute: Read-only, cannot be set ReferenceFrame Flight

Vessel surface velocity reference frame origin and axes

position(reference_frame)

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

Parameters: reference_frame (ReferenceFrame) – The reference frame that the returned position vector is in. The position as a vector. tuple(double, double, double) Flight
bounding_box(reference_frame)

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

Parameters: reference_frame (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. tuple(tuple(double, double, double), tuple(double, double, double)) Flight
velocity(reference_frame)

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

Parameters: reference_frame (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. tuple(double, double, double) Flight
rotation(reference_frame)

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

Parameters: reference_frame (ReferenceFrame) – The reference frame that the returned rotation is in. The rotation as a quaternion of the form $$(x, y, z, w)$$. tuple(double, double, double, double) Flight
direction(reference_frame)

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

Parameters: reference_frame (ReferenceFrame) – The reference frame that the returned direction is in. The direction as a unit vector. tuple(double, double, double) Flight
angular_velocity(reference_frame)

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

Parameters: reference_frame (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. tuple(double, double, double) Flight
class 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.

class 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.

pre_launch

Vessel is awaiting launch.

splashed

Vessel has splashed down in an ocean.

sub_orbital

Vessel is on a sub-orbital trajectory.

class CrewMember

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

name

The crew members name.

Attribute: Can be read or written str All
type

The type of crew member.

Attribute: Read-only, cannot be set CrewMemberType All
on_mission

Whether the crew member is on a mission.

Attribute: Read-only, cannot be set bool All
courage

The crew members courage.

Attribute: Can be read or written float All
stupidity

The crew members stupidity.

Attribute: Can be read or written float All
experience

The crew members experience.

Attribute: Can be read or written float All
badass

Whether the crew member is a badass.

Attribute: Can be read or written bool All
veteran

Whether the crew member is a veteran.

Attribute: Can be read or written bool All
class 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.