2204: Ksp 2

2019-09-18T18:47:42Z

JarrodBaniqued: Modified incomplete tag

{{comic
| number = 2204
| date = September 18, 2019
| title = Ksp 2
| image = ksp_2.png
| titletext = "The committee appreciates that your 2020 launch is on track, but the 'human capital/personnel retention' budget includes a lot more unmarked cash payments than usual. What are th--" "Public outreach."
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by a KERBAL. Please mention here why this explanation isn't complete. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
''{{w|Kerbal Space Program}}'' (KSP for short) is a space flight simulation video game with a realistic orbital physics engine, allowing for real-life orbital maneuvers. KSP has been previously mentioned in [[1356: Orbital Mechanics]] and other comics. A sequel, abbreviated here as KSP 2, is planned to be released in 2020.

Also planned for 2020 is a Mars rover mission, {{w|Mars 2020}}. The joke in the comic comes as engineers are both involved in KSP2, and in the Mars 2020 mission, and NASA is worried about the Mars 2020 mission being delayed, or failing, because the engineers are too focused on KSP2. Cueball is represented here as being in charge of KSP2, and the other characters are pleading with him to delay the release of KSP2 until the Mars rover program is complete, even being willing to "give [him] a moon".

Literally giving a moon to Cueball is impossible.{{Citation needed}} But it is possible to {{w|Naming of moons|name a moon}} after Cueball, so that may be what is implied instead.

The title text seems to claim that NASA engineers are being paid off in "unmarked cash payments" as a form of bribery to keep them working on the Mars mission, and preventing them from leaving to work on KSP2 instead.

An alternate reading of the comic is that the NASA engineers are taking vacation time and calling in sick in order to play KSP 2 when it launches.

An alternate reading of the title text is that NASA is paying KSP money to delay their release until after the Mars mission.

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript|Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}

:[Cueball sitting at a desk in front of a computer, surrounded to his left and right by Hairy, Ponytail, another Cueball, and Hairbun]
:Hairy: Please hold off until the end of summer. We can't afford the personnel hit right before the late July launch window.
:Ponytail: People have ''already'' started calling in sick!
:Hairbun: Do you want a moon? ''We'll give you a moon!''

:[Caption below the panel:]
:NASA tries desperately to get the Kerbal Space Program team to delay ''KSP 2'' until after the ''Mars 2020'' mission launches.

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Hairy]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Ponytail]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Hairbun]]
[[Category:Multiple Cueballs]]
[[Category:Space]]
[[Category:Mars rovers]]
[[Category:Video games]]

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2204: Ksp 2