Radar images?

[TonyDE]

Hello everyone, 

 

 would it be possible to create a mod that allows the user to take radar images or something similar of a certain point on a planet? I think this would be really useful to scout out possible landing sites!

 

 

[technicalfool]

Are you on about something like ScanSat?

 

 

[kiwi1960]

I was thinking of this ages ago, scan sat is nice, but a radar terrain mapping device so you could suss out the flat areas to land on....

 

 

[SpannerMonkey(smce)]

2 hours ago, kiwi1960 said:

I was thinking of this ages ago, scan sat is nice, but a radar terrain mapping device so you could suss out the flat areas to land on....

 

 

Scansat does that with the Altimetry scanner, what it doesn't do is put a big arrow saying land here, you need to do that bit yourself

How much more detail could you want ( yeah i know , cross sectional 3d view, rofl)

[kiwi1960]

I meant a detailed map... not the whole face of the Mun... but a 10k by 10 section of it so you can viable landing spots... even with that map of ScanSat... its still hit and miss...

 

[h0yer]

You can zoom in.

The SAR resolution is basically the same, that the celestial object is saved in.

The standard radar altimetry is insufficient for pinpoint ground-relative landing tasks, but it can give one a nice overwiew over peaks that reach into very low orbits/suborbitals intended for early not-so-on-the-spot-landings.

Or just a neat truckload of science points

You can as well skip mapping the entire surface and just do a fly-by, scanning only a narrow wad, but this needs somewhat precise maneuvering before coming into the soi of the target.

[TonyDE]

i was thinking about something like SAR-Lupe

[h0yer]

3 hours ago, TonyDE said:

i was thinking about something like SAR-Lupe

SCANsat has a synthetic aperture radar, though it's application is rather simplified, you don't really have to pan it around its scan area like Lupe or any other SAR based system, or even point the antenna into the correct orientation, it just 'works'.

Turning it on and off just for a second will result in one neat square portion of map, if in range.