K.E.V.

The KEV, with the shield and side-boosters still attached.

The **K.E.V.** (Kelnis Exploratory Vehicle) is a large probe made to explore the Kelnis System. It is one of the largest interstellar unmanned probes built by Kerbalkind.

Because of the large distance between Kelnis and Kerbin, the K.E.V. is equipped with two large boosters to help it reach Kelnis faster. It also has a micrometeorite shield to protect it from space debris.

   The K.E.V. also comes equipped with 3 landers. They are designed to land on Irke, Ora and Nelvem, the 3 most habitable worlds in the system. Each lander is also equipped with 4 monopropellant engines to boost it towards the surface.

## History

The KEV was constructed and launched from Kerbin orbit a month after the K.I.X. was launched. It remained in interstellar space for 15 years before reaching the Kelnis System using an encounter with a couple of the planets. After deploying its boosters and shield, the mission finally begun.

First, the KEV made an encounter with Irke to study whether the planet was able to support liquid water despite being outside the habitable zone. It made the discovery of both a liquid sea on the terminator and a large ice cap on the dark side, meaning the planet could be host to some form of life.

    A lander was deployed to touch down on the shores, which the computer figured would be the most likely source of life there.
Life on the surface of Irke is extremely controversial based on the results of the lander. It found strong evidence of bacterial life on the surface, such as cell-shaped structures and organic deposits, but the experiments yielded no vital compounds found on life on Kerbin, such as oxygen consumption or production. Some scientists believe that there could be exotic life on the surface that lives in Irke's thin atmosphere, but others say the cell-shaped structures could be from erosion from the waters. The debate continues.

    After the fly-by of Irke, it went into orbit around Ora to study its geology. It found evidence of life both on the islands and in the seas, with extremely complex ecosystems which rival that found on Kerbin. A lander was deployed onto the surface, but it was destroyed by an animal shortly after completing its mission.

    It later made a fly-by of Telim and discovered that the planet was actually a small gas giant. The KEV found that it had green bands of clouds, which could be photosynthesizing algae, but the KEV was unequipped with a probe that could descend into the planet successfully.

It quickly moved inwards towards Avor, and did a fly-by of it. The KEV confirmed that Avor has no chances of hosting life, but at the same time it may have once been possible. During the fly-by, the KEV observed one of the many transits of Hilio, which it used to study the planet without burning up on a fly-by.

Afterwards, it rocketed itself towards Cyln to observe any possibilities of habitability, which still remains uncertain. The probe found evidence of what could be a subsurface ocean, but it still remains unknown.

The fly-by of Cyln flung it towards Nelvem, where it studied the environment of the ocean planet. It deployed its last lander to see if Nelvem has life, but the results came back inconclusive.

    The lander touched down on the ice sheet at the terminator and found samples of frozen bacteria that has long been dead, and also observed slight amounts of radiation in the ice too. No living samples have been detected, but many scientists think there could be organisms deep in the oceans where radiation should be less significant.

It went back into an orbit around Ora to survey the alien environment on the surface. After a few years of studying Ora and collected all the data it could, the KEV flew itself into Telim to avoid accidental contamination of any life on Ora.

## Accomplishments

* First probe to land on an exoplanet
* First spacecraft to explore the Kelnis System