What new science experiments would you like to see in Version 1.1?

[Birdco_Space]

Making an assumption that Squad may add new methods of science to go along with the antenna overhaul in 1.1 ( a wild assumption at this point), what new types of experiments would you like to see?

The coolest thing for me from the update that brought us the ISRU was the new Resource scanner. The challenge of getting a large experiment needing a fairly specific orbit made a lot of my probe missions fun. (almost as fun as my unmanned materials bay return missions)

For me, I have 2 new experiments I'd like to see. Yes, these may be in mods, but I'd like to see these with the smooth and balanced gameplay that stock usually brings.

1) Magnetometer: Large deployable boom that gathers information about a celestial body's magnetic field. Has a form factor that takes some effort to design around. 3 situations to gain science from, Space High, Space Low and in a circular equatorial orbit (lots of science from detailed study, if the celestial body has a magnetic field).

2) Optical Scanners. what's the point of probes without sending back photos of where you've been? I see a tiered system of optical sensors, from small surface mounted cameras that provide small amounts of science, all the way up to inline mounted Multispectral imager that an provide much more detailed pictures (thus more science). All forms of optical scanner science would be highly transmittable (80-100%), but would come at the cost of large amount of data needed to be transmitted to get the science. The size of the camera would determine where biome specific experiments would be available (the lowest tier would only be biome specific landed, general science above that, the mid tier (heavy but still radially mounted) would have biomes in space low, while the largest optical experiment would have biomes in space high and space low but unusable on the surface.

What new science experiments would you like to see?

[Scotius]

Proper satellite mapping for starters. And advanced surface sampling - for search of ore, life signs etc.

[MalfunctionM1Ke]

Not in 1.1 but some time in the future.

- Telescope to Detect/Track the Planets around you to begin with.

- Multi-Wavelength Cameras for Orbital Observations

- Impact Science like they did during Apollo

- Drills (?) and automated Sample-Return

- PROPER surface Samples so you have to walk to a rock, have the Kerbal smack it with a hammer and so on. So you have to walk around on the planet and dont scrape the Surface Sample off the Lander Can.

- PROPER EVA-Report. Same goes for the EVA-Report. Have the Kerbals run around for X-Number of meters away from the Lander to get a Notion what the planet is like.

- More than everything I want science reports that make sense and are not duplicated.

Edited November 8, 2015 by MalfunctionM1Ke

[Caelib]

A camera is the most-basic science experiment and does not exist yet, it should!

[More Boosters]

Proper satellite mapping for starters

Thanks man you just reminded me to turn the SCANSAT altimeter on on my Kerbin station.

[Grumman]

How about being able to mine a resource for science? We've already got abstracted small samples in the form of Surface Samples and Asteroid Samples, but how about being able to dig up a ton or two of Munar regolith for bigger experiments like its possible use for construction, either on Kerbin (recovered for science instead of kerbucks) or in a mobile laboratory?

[Sky_walker]

Space Telescope.

That should have been implemented ages ago, IMHO, as it's a very common type of scientific spacecraft.

[Dfthu]

Make Asteroid day stock and Asteroid day also adds new contracts.

[Raptor9]

1) Magnetometer: Large deployable boom that gathers information about a celestial body's magnetic field. Has a form factor that takes some effort to design around. 3 situations to gain science from, Space High, Space Low and in a circular equatorial orbit (lots of science from detailed study, if the celestial body has a magnetic field).

One incentive for doing a magnetic field survey of a celestial body could be the inability to use a navball without a command pod or probe core. For example, during the Apollo moon landings, they couldn't have a terrestrial compass on the rover because it wouldn't work, so an inertial computer calculated the direction back to the landing site. In KSP, you could limit an Inertial Nav Unit (INU)-guided navball to command pods/probes (not including EAS-1 external command seat of course), so when someone EVA's or drives a (podless/probeless) rover around, they don't have that navball to assist. However, if you have performed a magnetic field survey, you could assume the Kerbal aerospace engineers at the KSC were able to whip up a calibrated compass for that planetary body for the Kerbals to use.

I see this as similar to the incentive of performing an orbital Ore survey to give a player better situational awareness of the local Ore densities and abundance before they choose a location for a mining site. On another hand, like with so many other features, maybe make this a toggleable limitation in the debug menu for those that wouldn't want that limitation.

*NOTE: For those that haven't been following the next update, EVA Navball is a new feature showcased in 1.0.5, not available in 1.0.4.

Edited November 8, 2015 by Raptor9

[severedsolo]

So when someone EVA's or drives a (podless/probeless) rover around, they don't have that navball to assist. However, if you have performed a magnetic field survey, you could assume the Kerbal aerospace engineers at the KSC were able to whip up a calibrated compass for that planetary body for the Kerbals to use.

Don't take my EVA navball away before I even have it! DO YOU KNOW HOW LONG I HAVE BEEN WAITING FOR THIS?!

Seriously though, why make rovers harder? It's not like you have a massive incentive to use them. Seen one bit of Duna, seen them all.

[Sky_walker]

- PROPER surface Samples so you have to walk to a rock, have the Kerbal smack it with a hammer and so on. So you have to walk around on the planet and dont scrape the Surface Sample off the Lander Can.

It'd be great if this could come with a container to store the samples and an additional mass, even if tiny.

Eg. regular sampling would be like 0.02 for an empty container and 0.05 for a full container (size-wise it could be like a smaller version of FL-R10 that can be mount not only linearly but also radially), to be gathered by EVA.

large samples could be size 2 with 0.05 empty mass and 0.5 full, and require robotic arm to capture.

[Stoney3K]

A camera is the most-basic science experiment and does not exist yet, it should!

I'm in favor of the camera! Would be nice to have a "Photo Album" feature to go with that so you can snap pictures of your missions from a first-person POV and store them in your save.

Yes, the screenshots are great, but they have no purpose in-game right now aside from showing off.

[GoSlash27]

A core sample drill, automated surface sample scoop, atmospheric sample duct, mass spectrometer, and of course a telescope.

It would be cool to have a science setup that restricts the available info about a body until you actually discover it.

Best,

-Slashy

[klgraham1013]

Personally, I'm looking forward to the doohickey examitron and the slippery slime test table.

...or the Hubble. That would be cool.

Edited November 8, 2015 by klgraham1013

[Raptor9]

So when someone EVA's or drives a (podless/probeless) rover around, they don't have that navball to assist. However, if you have performed a magnetic field survey, you could assume the Kerbal aerospace engineers at the KSC were able to whip up a calibrated compass for that planetary body for the Kerbals to use.

Don't take my EVA navball away before I even have it! DO YOU KNOW HOW LONG I HAVE BEEN WAITING FOR THIS?!

Seriously though, why make rovers harder? It's not like you have a massive incentive to use them. Seen one bit of Duna, seen them all.

A lot of players said the same thing about heat effects when that was in the works: "Why make reentries harder?". That is why I said make it toggleable, like every other feature that adds depth but more difficulty to the game. Some players want more, some less.

[regex]

I'm hoping for a total science revamp where I don't ever have to right-click an instrument again.

[HyperbolicKerbonaut]

One incentive for doing a magnetic field survey of a celestial body could be the inability to use a navball without a command pod or probe core. For example, during the Apollo moon landings, they couldn't have a terrestrial compass on the rover because it wouldn't work, so an inertial computer calculated the direction back to the landing site. In KSP, you could limit an Inertial Nav Unit (INU)-guided navball to command pods/probes (not including EAS-1 external command seat of course), so when someone EVA's or drives a (podless/probeless) rover around, they don't have that navball to assist. However, if you have performed a magnetic field survey, you could assume the Kerbal aerospace engineers at the KSC were able to whip up a calibrated compass for that planetary body for the Kerbals to use.

I see this as similar to the incentive of performing an orbital Ore survey to give a player better situational awareness of the local Ore densities and abundance before they choose a location for a mining site. On another hand, like with so many other features, maybe make this a toggleable limitation in the debug menu for those that wouldn't want that limitation.

*NOTE: For those that haven't been following the next update, EVA Navball is a new feature showcased in 1.0.5, not available in 1.0.4.

I really like this idea.

[Pthigrivi]

Yah we've talked about this over in the suggestions forum, but to me adding more experiments without taking the grind out of the existing ones kindof just adds to the problem. Mapping would be great, but could simply be what the Gravoli detector does.

[luizopiloto]

If we could use that observatory at the R&D complex... to observe the sky and find planets, moons and asteroids... and only after begin observed they appears on the map view...

[Robotengineer]

Forget experiments, the entire science system needs a do over.

[NovaSilisko]

Things that actually reflect real science gathering, not "silly" stuff like mystery goo or whatever. Dirt scoops, core drills, magnetometers, cameras, geiger counters, alpha-particle x-ray spectrometers, and so on. In short, basically the DMagic science pack. Perhaps somewhere between that and "realistic but fictional" science, ala the gravioli detector.

[CptRichardson]

See: Everything by Dmagic in his Orbital Science pack. Just all of it. Ported straight in.

[r_rolo1]

Things that actually reflect real science gathering, not "silly" stuff like mystery goo or whatever. Dirt scoops, core drills, magnetometers, cameras, geiger counters, alpha-particle x-ray spectrometers, and so on. In short, basically the DMagic science pack. Perhaps somewhere between that and "realistic but fictional" science, ala the gravioli detector.

Well, I can live with the mystery goo with some ( aka a lot ) rationalization ( we just have to assume that the goo is a bio payload ), but yeah, this

[CaptRobau]

For me the most important changes they could make to the science system are:

1. Make experiments different from each other gameplay-wise

All current experiments are basically the same. It's all 'put-into-specific-place-and-press-button' experiments. The Impact! mod or SCANSat show that you can have many different ways to make getting science more interesting, from requiring precise orbits for scanning or by coordinating two spacecraft to get impact data.

2. Make experiments matter, by giving you information that's useful for future missions

The blurbs are fun, but add nothing to the game itself. Real-life experiments often make future missions easier or possible. From mapping a landing site in great detail to revealing the make-up of Martian soil (useful for ISRU), experiments often show us better/other ways to go ahead with a future mission.

[Pthigrivi]

I made some suggestions very much in that vein here.