Kerbal Space Program partners with European Space Agency for free Shared Horizons update

Private Division, the indie arm of Take Two Interactive, recently shifted its focus to the highly anticipated Kerbal Space Program 2. So, fans of the original game probably weren’t expecting any more updates. However, Private Division and Squad have just announced a partnership with the European Space Agency (ESA) to create a new free update for Kerbal Space Program called Shared Horizons.

This new update is a celebration of the ESA’s incredible contributions to space exploration. It will land on PC on July 1. The Shared Horizons update will add two new missions to Kerbal Space Program, as well as the ESA’s iconic Ariane 5 rocket, new parts for building spaceships, new science experiments for players to conduct, and highly-fashionable ESA spacesuit for Kerbals.

Go where no Kerbal has gone before

The first new mission in Kerbal Space Program is called BepiColombo. It is a recreation of the ESA’s ongoing mission with Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency to Mercury. In this mission, players will attempt to reach the Orbit of Moho – Mercury in the Kerbal universe. You’ll then need to execute a landing on the planet. Along the way, you’ll also have to complete numerous scientific tasks from the actual ESA mission.

The second mission is called Rosetta. This one pays tribute to an ESA mission that landed on a Jupiter-family comet. The mission allows the ESA to gather important data on the comet’s environment.

“Both Rosetta and BepiColombo are highly complex missions that have specific challenges; however, each proved to be very rewarding for ESA and the global scientific community,” said Günther Hasinger, Director of Science at ESA. “Because of this, I am very happy that these ground-breaking science missions can be experienced on Kerbin as well as on Earth.”

If you haven’t experienced the physics-based fun of Kerbal Space Program, you can pick it up for PC through Steam. Plus, you can get it for 75% off its usual price until May 25. You’ll need to own the base game if you want to launch into the Shared Horizons update.