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Showing results for tags 'solar science'.
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Good evening all. As I am reaching the middle-age of my first (stock1.02still) game, I am finding that I wish there were "more" beyond mere planetary biomes, even if I were to add OPM. Voyager has made significant discoveries after 40 years of travel, finding a roiling magnetic froth where the solar wind inter-mixes with the interstellar medium. I think I would find it extremely rewarding if, were I to have the patience, a ~10km/s probe were to extend far out beyond Eeloo (or Plock) to reach a new biome to collect science from. Even if it is impossible to have multiple stars (if I am reading Kopernicus correctly) in the game, it would be pretty darn cool to find Near Magnetic Sheath, Heliopause, and Interstellar Medium "biomes" (even though "bio" should be excised from the term in such a case). [subsequent post affixed for visibility] It would be plausible to say that the magnetic field over the poles of a star is functionally different than other areas, and so a distinct Region Of Unique Science (biome) would be possible [over the poles]. However, if you parse down the state and effect of the entire magnetic field far enough, you could easily justify a dozen distinct ROUSs over Kerbol. This would be awesome for Gravioli sales, but maybe also a bit of opening the barn door too much for the development team. For the purposes of this conversation, for my part I would advocate its focus on Distant Solar Science; Kuiper Belt Region (1 ROUS, accessible upon close approach to an object; for ease of implementation, functionally the same asteroid generation system as exists near Kerbin) -the science returned for all instruments would be tailored for Pluto-type objects and smaller; Nitrogen ices and Tholins observed, atomic sublimation to solar radiation of surface replenishables, etc. Heliopause (1 ROUS, accessible upon reaching a given distance from Kerbol) -the science returned would be almost exclusively up to the Gravioli Detector, as I could offer little argument for allowing any other instrument to collect science that would be functionally different than 100 km earlier. This would be the boundary where Kerbol's magnetic field begins to interact with the extra-solar medium. Interstellar Medium (1 ROUS, accessible upon reaching a given distance from Kerbol) -the science returned here would be broader, as uncontaminated (relatively) observations of nearby stars and local gasses could be made; I could argue for Barometric science (perhaps the best instrument extant to detect gasses) as well as Gravioli. One could lobby for the Science Junior to be a stand-in for a stock astronomic analysis of nearby stars, though reasonably this return should not be dependent upon it reaching This point. This region would be the Gold Star achievement, rewarding dedication, persistence, & patience. So, those are my notions so far. I am not a scientist, and cannot claim to have anything more than a layman's understanding of such matters, but to me this seems to have a kernel of logic and at least a spark of fun.