Asteroid Day Official Mod - Discussion

[Endersmens]

Today, the Asteroid Day mod was released by KSP developers at SQUAD as an official DLC.

Here are the things it included if you missed the announcement:

New Parts!

• The Sentinel Infrared Telescope mimics the real world Sentinel mission
  
• The HECS-2 Probe Core comes with integrated batteries and SAS, to make
  building a compact Sentinel probe much easier.
  
• The OX-STAT-XL Photovoltaic Panels are a much larger version of the stock
  static solar panels, for larger probes.
  
• The HG-55 High Gain Antenna can transmit larger amounts of data than any
  of the existing antennae in the game.
  New Contract!
  
• Your mission will be to recreate the Sentinal mission profile in Kerbal Space Program,
  deploying a telescope around Eve’s orbit. When deployed with an antenna and a
  power source between Eve and Kerbin, aligned to face away from the Sun, and
  activated, the telescope will begin to map the orbit of the outer planet in a 200°
  vision cone for passing asteroids.
  

This thread is to discuss the addon. What do you think of it?

*the descriptions were taken directly from the announcement to retain accuracy, I hope this isn't a problem.

Edited July 6, 2015 by Endersmens

[Parkaboy]

I haven't had the time to play with it yet, but the parts look really nice. Can anyone explain how does the telescope work? In what places/biomes can it be used?

[322997am]

I like the idea but I don't get the emphasis of it. Like if I had KSP running 64x and I had multiplayer in stock KSP and gp2 then yeah but until then I'm againgst it

[Endersmens]

I haven't had the time to play with it yet, but the parts look really nice. Can anyone explain how does the telescope work? In what places/biomes can it be used?

I haven't played it either, but my guess would be that you activate it, it drains electric charge, and after a while asteroids pop up near kerbin as discovered.

Bear in mind that is a guess though. Can someone confirm/deny ?

[maculator]

were do I get it? Will steam load it automatically?

[Endersmens]

were do I get it? Will steam load it automatically?

It is on curse.com.

[Arsonide]

You place the sentinel between any two planets you want and it will map asteroids along the orbit of the outer planet.

[LittleBlueGaming]

It works in high, and presumably low(haven't tested) Kerbol orbit.

When it's on, it detects asteroids facing away from Kerbol in a cone-shape. While it's scanning, you'll see asteroids coming into and falling out of detection.

[Parkaboy]

I haven't played it either, but my guess would be that you activate it, it drains electric charge, and after a while asteroids pop up near kerbin as discovered.

Bear in mind that is a guess though. Can someone confirm/deny ?

l imagine that's the case... But does it generate science too? And does it work in Kerbin's orbit? We can find asteroids near Kerbin without a telescope, but the science would be useful.

[LittleBlueGaming]

l imagine that's the case... But does it generate science too? And does it work in Kerbin's orbit? We can find asteroids near Kerbin without a telescope, but the science would be useful.

Something like 40/25 science in high Kerbol orbit, it's not a great science generator and you can't use it in planetary orbits.

It is really good for passive income though.

[Col_Jessep]

I like the new parts and missions. Great addition to the game, thanks Squad!

[AlexinTokyo]

You place the sentinel between any two planets you want and it will map asteroids along the orbit of the outer planet.

So we can have asteroids around Duna now? Awesome

Or put it between Duna and Dres to turn Dres' orbit into a real asteroid belt, and then recreate the Dawn mission

[Geschosskopf]

Something like 40/25 science in high Kerbol orbit, it's not a great science generator and you can't use it in planetary orbits.

It is really good for passive income though.

Well, the actual IR telescope part is in the Science Tech node, same as the Ore survey and surface scanners, the one that looks like a telescope in the 550-point tier. So you can't get it until you're reasonably far along in a career game. So small amounts of science as 1-shot things aren't too valuable by this point, but having a steady income is very helpful.

As to the other parts, the OX-STAT-XL is in Advanced Electrics with the unshielded folding solar panels (130-point tier, bottom node) and the HECS-2 is in Advanced Unmanned (last full column, 3rd from bottom). I haven't yet found where the high-gain antenna is hiding. But in any case, it will take you a while to collect the full set .

So we can have asteroids around Duna now? Awesome

Or put it between Duna and Dres to turn Dres' orbit into a real asteroid belt, and then recreate the Dawn mission

Or have an easier time towing 'roids to outer planets to use as fuel. If you can wave your wand to make roids appear in the orbit you want, then you don't need to drag them on interplanetary transfers from Kerbin's neighborhood .

All in all, I really like this little pack of parts. All the parts look useful in the regular course of business, besides their contract gig. Now we just need for RT2 and AR to incorporate the new antenna .

[regex]

A bit disappointed about the attach node sizes for the HECS-2 and the telescope, they should be a size larger.

[klesh]

I havent had a real chance to play with it yet other than to click around and have a look, but I can't say that i like the gold colour on the HECS. I understand it was to distinguish it from the other HECS in the parts list, but surely its position at the top due to being in a mod that begins with the letter A would differentiate it. I dunno, it doesnt look wrapped in gold foil, it just looks gold.

[Sharpy]

What is the size of the cone? Angle, range? Would a constellation of a few of these below Moho orbit give the full system view of asteroids?

A larger static solar panel seems like a very nice idea. At last something for probes larger than cubesats that need to land.

[luizopiloto]

If I use this mod parts... will crafts be considered stock yet?

[Palec]

Can someone please post screenshots and stats of the parts? Plssss. Thx

[KerbMav]

Does this replace the usual asteroid generation around Kerbin and Dres?

[Cuky]

Can someone please post screenshots and stats of the parts? Plssss. Thx

here are stats for probe (screenshot by klesh)

Those are all parts from this mod (screenshots by Yakuzi)

[DevoidLight]

Why not just put it into the game?

[Kuu Lightwing]

Why not just put it into the game?

I hope they'll add it into stock later.

[Zwolff]

Anyone know the tolerances for placing a Sentinel telescope and having it monitor asteroids? Are there any limits on inclination, apoapsis and periapsis in relation to the planet whose orbit I want to find asteroids near?

I have now placed 2 telescopes in to different orbits, but both get the message "misaligned with Eve" when I activate them. One is just inside Eves orbit, and the other one is close to Mohos orbit.

[Signo]

I did not try it personally yet but as far as I understand the telescope must be orbiting Eve and must be pointed away from Kerbol. The mod description did not mention anything about a polar or specific orbital set up.

[Zwolff]

The telescopes should orbit Kerbol, and they detect asteroids close to themselves near the orbit of the planet outside the telescopes orbit.

Before I did the Eve ones, I placed a sentinel just outside Eves orbit to monitor Kerbin (Just like the real Sentinel just outside Venus) and one just outside Kerbin to monitor Duna. Both works fine, so I am not sure what is different about Eve.