Does the narrow band scanner need to be in orbit?

[Sharpy]

Can I pack the narrow band scanner into a hoverpad and just fly around over the area I want to scan, or do I need to pack it on a satellite and wait until it passes over the interesting area enough times?

I have a base-on-wheels near an area that is supposedly rich in ore (the "crude" scanner says so) but I'd like to find the best points of that area instead of mapping the whole Mun.

Edited July 27, 2015 by Sharpy

[mhoram]

I believe they can be used on the ground. Easiest way to check: put one on a command pod and test it on the launchpad.

[Geschosskopf]

The NBS works on the surface and just above it no problem.

The ideal combination, in fact, is a vehicle with both the NBS and the ground scanner. The NBS's map will show you hotspots in the local resource distribution and the ground scanner will tell you when you've moved right on top of them.

To make this work, you 1st need to do the orbital scanner's survey (which is useless in itself but required to have anything show up on the NBS display). Then you need to run the ground scanner's analysis in each biome you encounter. This will allow the NBS to show hotspots instead of just flat average values.

[Zephram Kerman]

Can I pack the narrow band scanner into a hoverpad and just fly around over the area I want to scan...

Yes you can! But the NBS map needs to be refreshed manually with a click, so piloting a hover-thing at the same time would be difficult and exciting. That's a great way to cover the whole area marked by the orbital scanner.

I'm not that great a pilot, so I usually do it the slow way: mount the NBS and ground scatter to my mining crawler.

You gave me an idea! Here's what I should have done: put the NBS on a tiny scout vehicle that can dock with your mining rig. That way, you get the best of both worlds, and your scout can refuel too.

[Sharpy]

Thank you kindly!