Blalo is a habitable super-Kerbin and is the third planet in the Kelin System, as well as a potential new home for Kerbalkind. It is a mountainous planet with abundant plant life and signs of ongoing geological activity. It also has faint rings, three moons, and a prominent impact crater. The discovery of Blalo was a major scientific breakthrough for Kermanity.
"The planet Blalo was a great find for interstellar planet finders, offering the most Kerbin-like home away from home yet discovered by kerbal kind. It boasts a system of three moons, quite a lot for a planet of its size. The Kerbin Society of Natural History, believe that Blalo used to have only one moon: Alar, but was recently impacted by a Dres-sized planet which left an interesting mark on the surface of Blalo, as well as faint debris rings and two more moons. The balmy tropics and cool beaches make Blalo a very popular vacation spot for kerbals tired of their home planet."
Discovery and Potential Colonization[]
Blalo was the first Kerbin-like exoplanet to be discovered. The planet was discovered using the transit method as kerbal scientists noticed that the brightness of Kelin dropped with a small amount on a regular basis.
After studying the planet over the course of a few weeks, they concluded that it was a rocky planet roughly the size of Kerbin. It wasn't until better technology was invented before scientists discovered its habitability.
Once it was found to possible host life, it became the prime target for colonization attempts, speeding up the development of technology needed to reach space. Some theorists believe that Blalo's habitability may have been the biggest factor in the formation of the Kerbal Space Program.
Back home in the International Kerbal AeroSpace Organization (IKASO), Kerbals are up in heated debate about whether or not to colonize Blalo. On one hand, colonization risks contaminating or even destroying the delicate native ecosystem with invasive Kerbin life, as they argue Blalo's native life may have very unique species and environments found nowhere else in the Universe.
On the other hand, Blalo is too Kerbin-like to resist the temptation. Because of the giant impact that occured 50 million years ago and wiped out most species on Blalo, some Kerbal scientists even see the planet as a clean slate, ripe for colonization.
Only time (and the player) will tell which side wins out.
The first direct image of Blalo, imaged by the K.I.X.
Physical Characteristics[]
Blalo is known as the most Kerbin-like world outside of Kerbin. It has a similar chemical composition, similar mass, and is also an E-class planet. Blalo's continents have shown more evidence of plate tectonics than the ones on Kerbin, with mountain ranges and large flat plains. This is mainly due to the fact that Blalo is slightly larger, giving it a higher potential for plate tectonics. One of Blalo's most interesting destinations is it's giant impact crater in the northern hemisphere. The impact is believed to have been caused by a protoplanet that collided with Blalo soon after the Late Heavy Bombardment Period of the Kirb System, which led to the formation of Leyn and Rav, as well as the extremely faint rings around Blalo.
Atmosphere[]
Blalo's atmosphere is surprisingly very Kerbin-like, with a similar balance of oxygen, nitrogen, and other gases. But the atmosphere is a little denser at the surface due to the higher gravity. Due to a higher air resistance, it is more difficult to travel through the lower parts of the atmosphere. Just as the atmosphere of Kerbin, Blalo's clouds are made of water vapor and ice crystals. The sky also appears blue but due to the weaker light of Kelin, it is slightly more pale.
Climate[]
Of course, Blalo has seasons like Kerbin. There are just a few differences in these seasons on Blalo. For starters, Blalo is a warmer world than Kerbin, with temperatures almost always above 0°C, making ice very rare on the planet. Because of this, winters are pretty balmy compared to those on Kerbin, likely being the equivalent of fall or spring back home, while summers are extremely hot, often reaching above 40°C.
The other main difference between Blalo's climate and Kerbin's is the less tilt in Blalo's axis. Being about half of Kerbin's, seasons aren't as noticeable on Blalo. This makes the seasonal temperatures more consistent, leading to what some kerbal scientists described as an "eternal heat wave".
Life[]
Life on Blalo has developed surprisingly similar to life on Kerbin, but has adapted to live under a K-type star. Plants are darker green in color to absorb a different frequency of light.
It is thought that when Blalo's biosphere was in its infancy, a small impact event sent pieces of Blalo's crust (and some early microorganisms) to the surface of Alar, beginning a separate biosphere on the moon. This would later be essential in the re-population of Blalo's surface after a total extinction event.
50 million years ago, Blalo suffered a giant collision from a Dres-sized body that vaporized the planet's surface and wiped out the entire superhabitable biosphere in one fatal blow. This massive extinction event is the largest Kerbalkind has ever discovered and is known as the H-S (Habitable-Sterile era) Total Extinction Event, or the Great Sterilization. The planet's few intact fossil records that date back this far show that the planet remained uninhabitable for at least a million years after impact.
Eventually, reverse panspermia from Blalo's moon Alar re-introduced life to the planet when the surface cooled enough to support living organisms. Soon after, the transplanted flora and fauna evolved astonishingly quickly, reaching multi-cellular complexity in just 45 million years of evolution. This sudden increase of biodiversity post-extinction is known as the Klalean Explosion. A second spike in diversity was found about 2 million years ago, possibly from a spike in radiation from one of the Nova Kirbani stars.
In terms of Blalo's current biosphere, Blalo is covered in extensive grasslands spread across the surface with tropical forests scattered around (mainly due to the drier climate compared to Kerbin) and large amounts of animal life spread throughout the land and seas.
The warmer oceans of Blalo support a variety of sea life, including giant kelp and various species of two-tailed fish, to name a few. The waters on Blalo are also saturated with green algae, which provides a plentiful food source for many aquatic creatures. Much of Blalo's coastlines are also lined with reef-like structures.
On land, most plant life is stockier and shorter than on Kerbin due to the higher gravity. Plant leaves are also larger and darker than Kerbin plants to accomodate the decreased solar output of Kelin compared to Kerbol. Surface animals on Blalo mostly share the same hexapod (six-legged) body plan, due to the hexapod nature of their most recent common ancestors (six legs also helps with the higher gravity). Insects and parasitic organisms are plentiful on Blalo. While this is mostly good for the biosphere on Blalo, it does spell bad news for Kerbal visitors. It is always advised to remain inside a spacesuit or any other airtight area whenever possible on Blalo to prevent cross contamination of either Blalean or Kerbal microbes.
Rings[]
It is believed that Blalo's rings are the result of an ancient catastrophe. 50 million years before present day, a destabilized protoplanet nearly the size of Dres collided with high velocity into the surface of Blalo, forming the moons Leyn and Rav, as well as the Giant Impact Basin which is still visible today. The debris that was thrown up formed a ring around Blalo which was much more massive than the current faint rings. But due the gravitational interaction between Blalo and its other 3 moons, the rings lost a lot of their mass over time. It is expected that Blalo will lose its faint ring system in 5 million years, leaving the Giant Impact Basin as the only evidence of Blalo's violent past.
Moons[]
Blalo has 3 moons, a rather large amount for a planet of its size. The moons (in order by distance from Blalo) are Leyn, Rav, and Alar. It is believed that for most of the planet's history, Blalo only had one moon: Alar. However, a high-velocity collision with a Dres-sized body 50 million years ago (The H-S Total Extinction Event) spewed enough material into space to form two new moons: Leyn and Rav. You can still see the mark of the giant impact (albeit highly eroded) on the surface, as well as thin rings of debris that still circle the planet.
If you look closely at a map of Blalo, you can tell the continents almost form a supercontinent, connected by landbridges and the Giant Impact Basin.
Blalo used to host a biosphere diverse and large enough to classify the planet as superhabitable. However, the planet lost this status when an impact with a large Dres-sized body sterilized the planet. Although the ecosystem has recovered surprisingly well (after panspermia from Alar reintroduced life to Blalo), the planet still needs a few million more years before it can fully return to super-habitability.
As of now, Blalo is a subhabitable exoplanet, a clean slate for colonization.
