Whirligig World Timeline: A non exhaustive history.

Time unit is Earth Years.

Year 0, Day 1: Kerbal Space Program (on stock Kerbin) starts.

Year 50: The Kerbol system has been extensively probed.

Year 100: By this time, the data from the first few interstellar probes launched by Kerbin is starting to return. Faster laser-sail probes are

Year 200: By this time, The solar system has begun to be properly colonized. Eve, Duna, Laythe, and Tylo are all distinct powers from Kerbin. During this century the first crewed interstellar mission will be launched. Colony ships are being built, mining Dres for construction materials, and scooping Jool for fusion fuel.

Year 304: Launch of the U.S.C. Magnificent Desolation

Year 325 or...
Year 0: Magnificent Desolation arrives and crashes at Mesbin. This is Mesbin-Year 0. (Still counting in Earth years though)

Year 1: Survivors of the Magnificent Desolation crash have finished setting up their first base, cobbled together from the remains of the ship. The crew decide not to try to use the existing shuttles to make it to Kerbmun (a longshot plan that no one felt ready to take on), and instead begin to move their base to the equator to avoid the painful gravity at the latitude they crashed at.

Year 2: The base is successfully moved into a cave on the equator called Refuge. The population is 492 Kerbals.

Year 3: The opening to Refuge is sealed off with an airlock, and pumping of breathing mix into the cave begins.

Year 5: The entire volume of Refuge is now safe to breathe.

Year 18: The first child is born on Mesbin.

Year 60: The original ISRU facility, responsible for the production of building materials, atmosphere, and for 3D-printing new materials, is finally worn down to the point where it is not repairable. It relied on components which were more precise than it could output, and so copies of itself couldn't be made. Luckily by this point, much lower tech solutions for the facility had already been put into action.

Year 61: As the solar panels powering Refuge begin to diminish in power output and batteries begin to fail, solar boilers are built to make up for the loss.

Year 62: Drilling to harness Mesbin's geothermal energy begins.

Year 79: The last surviving member of the original Magnificent Desolation mission has died. Two generations have been born on Mesbin, but due to Mesbin's natural deficiency in vital elements, the population has only grown to 502 Kerbals.

Year 85: The last piece of equipment from the original Magnificent Desolation has failed, an electric motor being used as a ventilation fan, formerly a wheel from one of the rovers that had long since failed. First generation of Mesbin-born kerbals, are dying off and, after being recycled, a new generation of children can be born.

Year 86: The Separatist's Party is formed, a small group of colonists who wish to split off and form their own settlement. Refuge is now 70% geothermal powered.

Year 145: By this point, increased industry has resulted in more technology, from fireless-steam traction engines being used on the farms to running water in all homes. Manufacturing standards are still extremely poor, and limited materials mean that manufacturing new equipment is difficult. However, vital elements mining has now increased enough that population is starting to grow, and is now at 690.

Year 155: The population has grown enough that it's becoming clear that the Refuge is not big enough to support the entire colony. At this point the population is 800, many of which are children.

Year 161: The Separatists begin hiring and training engineers and scientists to look for a way to explore Mesbin and find a better settlement.

Year 170: By this point the population has reached the maximum carrying capacity of Refuge, 1,700. Refuge is now filled with multi-floor cobblestone buildings. Previously the farms were able to supply everyone with fresh meat, vegetables, and fruit at least once a week, but now there's not enough room, and the more varied traditional farms were being replaced with algal gunk farms to keep everyone fed. Only the people who are determined to have the most important jobs are allowed to have meat and fresh plants, and for the first time, a power hierarchy began to form. The populations of the large animals fell dangerously low, with the animal farmers insisting that the population be maintained above at least 50 and the rest of the population insisting that those vital elements be put to better use.

Year 174: The population had grown to be far too big for unstated rules and a lack of structure, and so a group of 150 or so citizens formed the Democracy Party. They eventually formed a consortium to establish laws and vote on issues that faced the colony in a more rigid governmental structure. The laws were based upon Kerbin law, but with important modifications as the situation called for it.

Year 179: The Separatist Engineering Corps invent the first prototype of a mobile steam engine, and demonstrate a small scale vehicle running through the city square. They rally for separation soon, and the public begins to support them for the sake of expansion. Enough new members join with this mindset that the Separatist Party is renamed the Expansionist Party.

Year 195: Expedition One is sent out, with ten explorers setting off on foot. No one had gone farther away from Refuge than the end of the solar panels in over a century. The expedition is very nearly a failure. The low-tech space suits were extremely hard to move around in, and had thermal expansion problems during Mesbin's 28-minute-long rotation period. Their only source of shelter was their space suits. This lead to a tragic series of accidents. They were however able to discover the entrance to a nearby cave. When they returned, and only four of them did, Refuge officially began planning to tunnel over the 54 kilometers to the cave.

Year 196: The first railroad is built on Mesbin. A stationary steam engine powered by geothermal energy pulled cars of rock from the tunnel boring operation, where they'd be deposited outside, with a secondary airlock used to avoid the entire town being depressurized.

Year 210: The tunnel to the cave is finished. The second cave, now dubbed Barlor, turned out to be a vast network of caves and lava tubes. The railway is traversed using Equus (horse) and carriage. Solar boilers and generators were built above Barlor and the caves were lit up with electric bulbs. The operation to prepare Barlor for farming and habitation began.

Year 212: The main chamber of Barlor nearest the tunnel had been blocked off from the other caves and tubes, and the surface.

Year 213: The environmental control facility was built in Barlor to handle air conditioning and recycling. Furnaces broke up aluminium-oxide in the soil into oxygen and aluminium on a vast scale, and the air had to be cooled down before it could be used.

Year 214: Geothermal power plants are built inside Barlor.

Year 218: After several years of work, Barlor's main chamber had been rendered fully habitable to the unprotected Kerbal, and a vast multi-level farm was constructed before anything else, and meat would slowly return to the diet of most of Refuge. The vast amounts of rock that was displaced and refined to tunnel through to Barlor and produce enough atmosphere resulted in a proportionally quite vast amount of vital elements, and the population was able to grow, after the farmers ensured that their crops and animals would have enough to survive.

Year 250: By this point, the population had nearly doubled to 3000. The operations to open up more and more of Barlor continued.

Year 251: The operators of the main utilities--water, air, and vitals, come together to try and cement their power, scheming to convert the direct democracy of Refuge and Barlor into representative democracy, which they would of course run for.

Year 253: The first council elections are held, with direct democracy deciding the representatives who would decide on issues and laws. The utility operators's plan failed, none of them were elected.

Year 280: Barlor was now more populated than Refuge, and a steam train (a fireless engine heated with geothermal energy) regularly took passengers between Refuge and Barlor's housing district, while freight trains took food and supplies between the towns. The trains were slow, only able to travel at a few miles per hour.

Year 290: Use of surnames other than "Kerman" are gaining popularity. Mesoman is somewhat popular.

Year 301: The Barlor-Refuge council forms the Exploration Engineering Corps, with the goal of building vehicles which could explore the surface of Mesbin.

Year 302: A Kerbal named Stephorge Kerman invents a steam engine which is heated by aluminium-oxygen combustion. The infrastructure to produce the fuels were already readily in use, and such a vehicle would be able to operate in a vacuum and where there aren't any geothermal power plants to charge the engine. The Exploration Engineering Corps adopt the design for their exploration vehicle.

Year 305: The prototype exploration vehicle is sent on a test run aboveground from Barlor to Refuge, and it carries a trailer of heavy stones back as a proof of concept. However, on the way back, it is mysteriously lost. The cause of the failure was investigated several months later, and it turned out that a micrometeoroid impact had damaged the vehicle's cabin, pressure was lost, and the crew died.

Year 306: The second revision of the prototype exploration vehicle was built. This radically altered design carried a much larger boiler, but also a lot more armor. This time it not only completed its test of carrying rocks, it completed it faster than expected.

Year 307: Photography is invented. The Barlor-Refuge council ordered 10 exploration vehicles to be built.

Over the next few years they would be used to explore the area around Barlor and Refuge, recording the location of several promising caverns. Celestial navigation was redeveloped as a science to accurately locate the new landmarks. People started to wonder about the heavens... which had up until then been considered an unimportant science that was rarely taught to the point that knowledge of astronomy dwindled.

Year 360: Gememma Kerman discovers that the star which was thought to be "Rodocer" was in fact a totally different, "local star of planetary nature." The year after, she published her results in the journal "Space and Some Things To Find In It" and was killed by angry astrologers. The star would become known as Gememma's Star to pay tribute to her and to spite the astrologers.

Year 365: Annie Kerman sets up a photometer to measure the light curve of Gememma. Her light curves would be used in astronomy textbooks for centuries to come.

Year 370: The telescope is invented, and was merely used as a novelty, an expensive toy. It didn't take long for astronomers to realize that it had potential--but it would be impossible to use on the surface of Mesbin, as the eyepiece couldn't reach the eye of observer through a space suit visor.

Year 376: By this time, expeditions from Mesomesbin are sent to track down the crash site of the Magnificent Desolation. Most were stopped by the high gravity, the rest by demoralization.

Year 410: By this point many of the caves around Barlor-Refuge had been colonized. All of them up until now were connected by tunnels and trains to Barlor-Refuge. The population was nearly 100,000. The civlization has adopted a currency and is becoming increasingly hierarchical and capitalist. Vertical mobility has decreased and there is now a clear upper, middle, and lower class. The Mesbin Worker's Party claim to have figured out how to fix heirarchies, and are trying to change the system.

Year 415: A part of the Mesbin Worker's Party do something quite radical: they decided to start from scratch. They packed up all the equipment they figured they'd need to start an entirely new colony, and left in a convoy of 40 exploration vehicles. Their destination was a modestly large lava tube near the southernmost edge of the known lands. Meanwhile the first astronomical observatory is built, in the form of a glass hemisphere built on the surface of Mesbin with an airlock that would allow an astronomer to use a telescope. Initially the plan was to simply hold the telescope, but the need for an actual mount was quickly discovered--Mesbin rotates too fast. The first astronomer to use the telescope was Jerend Mesoman. She was able to see Graymun in incredible detail and was able to resolve the continents on Kerbmun.

Year 416: The observatory was a catastrophic failure. Everyone who used it, unprotected from Kaywell's ultraviolet radiation, developed severe sunburns and a few astronomers died of skin cancer. Finally, the observatory exploded when it was damaged by a single micrometeorite, which caused the dome to completely shatter. Meanwhile the small main cave colonized by the Mesbin Worker's Party, and named Mescov, was rendered habitable.

Year 417: Mescov suffers a catastrophic roof collapse, killing six. A thrilling heist occurs in which five Mescovians steal a breeding pair of Equus from the nearest colony.

Year 418: A second attempt at an observatory was built by a weak and ill Jerend Mesoman. This time it was a closed off metal dome with only a thin tall slit through which to point the telescope. The mount had a clock drive and so it was able to keep the telescope tracking precisely, although the dome had to be continually rotated for any observation off of the celestial equator.

Year 419: Four of the southern colonies, which had been used almost exclusively as farms and mines with little to no recreational development, and no representation, secede from Barlor-Refuge. They collapse the tunnels leading to Barlor, and stock up on weapons in case they have to defend themselves. This becomes problematic as they begin running low on resources. Imterril, Tannor, and Etrograd were discovered orbiting Tyepolbynar. Oshan and Manonam were discovered around Valyr. Reander's big moons were discovered as well.

Year 420: Mescov allies with the southern colonies, forming the Southern Communes of Mesbin. Mescov, which had been developing its industry, formed the heart of the nation. In response, the Barlor-Refuge colonies give themselves a name to contrast with the Southern Communes, and now call themselves Mesomesbin, referring to their equatorial distribution.

Year 421: The SCM begin exploring lands further to the south. Meanwhile, Mesomesbin continues to spread around the equator. Statmun is discovered as the floating mountain "Aetheris Mons" by a Mesomesbin Exploration Vehicle. Using an almanac of observations compiled over 70 years, Yattok Kerlingson Jr formulated his four laws of orbital motion.

Year 422: Astronomers and physicists (re)discover that Mesbin's shape and rotation are linked, and that the mysterious Aetheris Mons could be explained if it were in fact a moon orbiting at the same rate as Mesbin. Astronomers give it the name Statmun. Troymin is discovered.

Year 450: Following in the success of Mescov, many groups begin to spread to then-unclaimed lands. The first aboveground Garden is established above Barlor, a huge glass dome covering a park. Frosted bluish glass protects inhabitants against UV radiation and gives the vague appearance of what it would be like on Kerbin. A "natural" environment inside, with grass and trees and flowers, is a welcome sight. Despite the frosted glass, as Graymun and Kerbmun are revealed in blurry form to the public, astronomy begins to be more and more respected by the general public.

Year 452: Photographs of the moons of Mesbin are becoming widely distributed.

Year 453: A 10 meter wide asteroid impacts Mesbin within a few kilometers of a cave-city called Heebelstead. The cave collapses, killing 1,303 Kerbals. The investigation reveals that the origin of the impactor was from a ring of moonlets orbiting Mesbin. Astronomers begin to discover and track these moonlets.

Year 456: The actual position of the Magnificent Desolation is discovered. Most earlier treks hadn't gone far north enough, and the rest hadn't gone far west enough. Its cross section, which was once circular, now rests in a "D" shape as one side of it had flattened against the terrain.

Year 459: Magnificent Desolation becomes mostly a source of souvenirs- much of the revolutionary tech is either too damaged or too heavy to take home, and the rest is largely inapplicable to more than a specific case. A Southern expedition snakes around unclaimed equatorial territory to get a closer look. A small but useful amount of physical texts--fiction, nonfiction--is recovered from the wreckage, allowing for historians to piece together more about Kerbin culture and civilization.

Year 475: Billy-Bobrik Kerman, certified Rich Man and head of the astronomy department at Barlor University, forms a group to start designing a safe public observatory to allow the general public to come and observe the planets, as well as some of the other objects of nebulous nature which are beginning to be discovered. The Southern city of Podbaston is incorporated, at that time the highest gravity environment ever sustained.

Year 476: Two convoys of exploration vehicles from the Southern Communes and Mesomesbin respectively meet nearby a cave which had significant vital elements resources. When each team realized the value of the discovery, they scrambled back to their exploration vehicles. Except for one of the captains of the Mesomesbin vehicles, who takes a gun out and starts shooting at the enemy vehicles. The first true armed conflict in Mesbin's history begins. One of the Southern vehicles and three of the Mesomesbin vehicles made it back to their respective bases. Each side scrambled to retrofit their exploration vehicles into armed and armored tanks. The Mesomesbin tanks charged in and destroyed the airlocks to two of the Southern outposts that were nearby the contested resources, killing 730 mostly innocent Kerbals. The Southern tanks were already at the cave, and their higher power due to being designed for heavier environments resulted in them destroying all of the Mesomesbin tanks, but their lighter armor meant that they all took catastrophic damage. The First Mesbin War had begun.

Year 481: The First Mesbin War ends, with a Southern Communes victory in part due to their decentralized militia and use of guerrilla tactics. During the conflict, member-cities of both sides seceded and announced their neutrality to save themselves. They would then begin expansion of their own.

Year 495: Mesomesbin, after having rebuilt their army, decide to take the cave by force again, igniting the Second Mesbin War. This time the other nations began to fight as well. The city-state of Gravelboro invented gunpowder rockets for the purpose of defending their airlock--the ability to fire munitions from a great distance was invaluable. Military strategists discovered a couple peculiar quirks of Mesbin's physics--the coriolis effect, which caused missiles and guns to fly off the expected course, and an orbital effect where the range of a gunshot was much lower when pointed west than east. Bombshells and cannons would fly off into the distance when launched east and would barely travel at all when launched west.

Year 496: Mesomesbin steals rocket technology from Gravelboro and uses it offensively to demolish the airlock of conflicted cave-city. Some of the colonies of the Southern Communes retaliate and launch an all-out invasion of Refuge and Barlor. Mesomesbin narrowly avoids a crippling defeat. Materials science developed during the war improves to the point that electric motors powerful enough to drive vehicles are developed. Mandrake and Rutherford Kerman, the first and only conjoined twins to be born on Mesbin, are born.

Year 497: The Second War ends with a treaty drawing up the borders of all known nations. Border monitoring posts are established. The resulting damage from the war resulted in many connected settlements becoming disconnected, and deciding that rather than rejoin the volatile Mesomesbin, they would remain their own powers. Several of these former Mesomesbin states adopt communism. One distant outpost, Nulphrid Basin, adopts anarchocommunism and later formally aligns itself with the southern communes.

Year 498: Electric-motor powered train runs between Barlor and Refuge for the first time. Engineers and inventors experiment with the new rocket technology for more peaceful means. The moment the technology fell into public hands, Kerbals remembered why they loved them so much in the first place. Many an inventor tried their hand at building flying machines with the solid propelled rockets, and many a test pilot died for the cause.

Year 499: Hubert Alfonso Kermanov II claimed to have hit Statmun with a rocket.

Year 500: Ammonium/Oxidizer solid fuel rocket developed, with superior specific impulse.

Year 501: Nuclear physics is (re)discovered.

Year 503: Overland Hotel and Resort built by the Mesomesbin Relaxation Company.

Year 507: Overland Hotel and Resort destroyed by a "stragler" moonlet, shortly before a mining operation by the Quarry Freedom Company was destroyed by debris from that same impact. 500 Kerbals killed. First mechanical computer built by Probodobodobodobodobodobodobodobodobodobo...

Year 508: Mesomesbin Moonlet Tracking and Defense Program is established. A tracking station was built to track and continually monitor all moonlets, as well as other potentially threatening asteroids. First successful nuclear reactor test.

Year 509: New fleets of all-electric exploration and utility vehicles are being developed as battery technology improves. Vacuum tube circuitry is invented. Astronomers using the Moonlet Tracking and Defense Program's antennas attempt to track down signs of electronic civilization from Kerbol... and they hear nothing.

Year 515: Ammenon is discovered by Crimmenon Kerman by analyzing Annie Kerman's Gememma photometry data. Lowel Kerman, perhaps wanting to ride on the planet hype, announces a spurious claim of having discovered a planet of his own around Gememma.

Year 519: Giovan Kerman discovers the planet "Desch," and is sued by Lowel Kerman who claims that Giovan was his planet. Giovan won the case, but named the planet Lowel out of pity anyway.

Year 533: Mandrake and Rutherford take job at Donklan Equatorial Binocular Observatory. Newfort Kerman discovers Pragnik and debunks his own Gememman Aether theory.

Year 534: While Mesomesbin expeditions to the Magnificent Desolation devolve generally to looting, expeditions staged from Nulphrid take on a more archaeological nature. Bodies are properly buried, and attempts at deciphering both written notes and computer systems go into force.

Year 537: Early rocket experimenter Delcan Kerman treks to the Magnificent Desolation's crash site, using surplus liquid fuel rockets he acquired through semilegal means.

Year 539: Mesomesbin creates the SMKIP the Search/Messaging Kerbin Intelligence Program, with the goal of contacting Kerbin and figuring out why they're not talking much anymore.

Year 544: Mandrake and Rutherford discover the binary nature of the blue Gememma planet, and the planet is named after the two.

Year 545: Gannovar is discovered orbiting Gememma.

Year 548: Southern reverse-engineering efforts and computer-making efforts finally produce something capable of talking to the intact data storage devices on the Magnificent Desolation. As of yet, only small chunks of several kilobytes at a time can be read, but there are plans to build a railroad to ferry data tapes between the crash site and the computer research institute at Archan Well. The influx of information is so great that an internet is established between computers in communes across Mesbin. Mesomesbin tries to negotiate for the release of this information, meanwhile their spies are sent to recover the information, and their own archaeologists work at the ancient site.

Year 549: A Southern Communist Space Program announces plans to put a Kerbal in Mesbin orbit using rockets. Ollym is discovered orbiting Gememma. Podbaston City is tragically vented into space due to a faulty barometer network, 90,000 Kerbals died suffocating.

Year 550: Mesomesbin assembles the greatest minds in astronomy, engineering, and rocketry to establish the Mesbin Space Probe Commission. A new vehicle assembly building, research and development department, office, and launchpad begins construction at the site of the Mesomesbin Moonlet Tracking and Defense Center.

Year 556: On the first day of the Mesbin year 1330, the Mesbin Space Probe Complex was officially opened.