KSP Weekly: The Alien Discovery

[SQUAD]

Welcome to KSP Weekly everyone. In 1990 an experiment conceived by Carl Sagan was performed by the Galileo Spacecraft with the purpose of detecting life on a planet, based on measurements by a space probe. This experiment was successful, and abundance of life on that planet was confirmed. That Planet was the Earth. The aim of the experiment was to test if such a probe could positively detect life on a world using only data taken from space and with as few prior assumptions as possible. The probe measured the spectrum of Earth atmosphere, took pictures and looked for radio emissions during the brief flyby window of its first gravity assist maneuver. Life has an effect on the chemical content of a planet’s atmosphere, so when Galileo measured the Earth’s atmosphere spectrum with its near-infrared spectrometer, the data showed deep dips in what otherwise would be the smooth heat glow of the atmosphere. These dips result from molecules absorbing specific wavelengths and they are undeniable signatures of certain molecules, like in Earth’s case, Water (H2O), Carbon Dioxide (CO2), Nitrous Oxide (N2O), Methane(CH4), Ozone (O3) and Oxygen (O2). Nevertheless, the presence of such molecules in an atmosphere isn’t enough to confirm life on another planet. For that, an important and necessary condition must be met: a clear departure from thermodynamic equilibrium, or in other words, the natural chemical balance that an atmosphere should fall into without something unusual, like life, happening. But non biotic reactions can also create some of these molecules, so a set of non equilibrium chemical abundances must be observed that can’t possibly be explained without life. For example, methane in the presence of oxygen is a big indicator, given how quickly methane oxidizes into water and carbon dioxide, there should barely be a single methane molecule in an oxygen-rich atmosphere. In Earth, half of that methane comes from natural biological systems like bacteria and the other half from burning fossil fuels and other biological processes. Nitrous Oxide, which is quickly destroyed by solar ultraviolet light, also needs to be continuously produced in order to be seen. Though lightning can produce Nitrous Oxide, these aren’t nearly enough to account for the amount observed. On Earth we know it comes from nitrogen-fixing bacteria and algae. Alien life might have very different chemistry and so result in other disequilibria. However, with an understanding of chemistry geophysics and exo-meteorology, we can be pretty sure when something we detect is out of the ordinary. Liquid water is also a molecule we would want to find in high abundance regardless of alien chemistry or even equilibrium values, since it’s incredibly important for evolutionary chemistry, as it is by far the best substance in the universe for  brewing up and supporting life, due to its high dielectric constant, which means it’s good at storing electrical energy, which allows it to easily break apart ionic bonds such as those found in salts. This makes it a powerful solvent, so it’s great at facilitating chemical reactions. It also has a high heat capacity, which grants a temperature stability for the delicate organisms living in it or made of it. So if you see water in an atmosphere and the temperature is right, it potentially exists as a liquid on the surface.

The experiment was a major success, it “proved” the existence of life on Earth and it gave us a roadmap of what to look for in other star systems, decades before it was even possible to do so. And although we are still far from sending probes to other star systems, we have succeeded in taking spectra of exoplanets’ atmospheres without leaving Earth. This is possible through analysing the light of a distant star as it passes through the atmosphere of one of its planets. Only a tiny fraction of the star’s light passes through the planet’s atmosphere when this happens, but by carefully subtracting most of the star’s light, we’re left with a set of absorption features from the planetary atmosphere itself. However, we do not have the technology to detect Earth-like planets, yet, since these planets are just too small and their atmospheres too thin for any current telescope, but that will all change next year. In 2018 the James Webb Space Telescope will launch its gigantic 6.5 meter diameter mirror. An incredibly sensitive infrared spectrograph, coupled with the clarity by being in space, will enable us for the first time to perform Sagan’s 1990 experiment on an earth-like alien world, like the seven exoplanets around Trappist-1, assuming they actually have decent atmospheres. This is facilitated by the fact that these planets orbit a Red Dwarf, whose light is very dim, making the subtraction of its light easier. Besides, three of the planets orbit around the star’s habitable zone. Imagine the consequences of confirming the existence of life outside of our own planet. It would answer one of the oldest questions in philosophy and science: Are we alone in the Universe? But after this lengthy introduction*, let’s move on to what you came here for: KSP development news.

[Development news start here]

It’s been a week since the Pre-release of Update 1.3.1 and both the QA and Development Teams have already started to dig into the bugtracker to gather the feedback the community has provided until now, and they’ve started with the process of confirmation and subsequent fixing of bugs. The team has also been watching Twitch streamers and Youtubers getting their teeth into the pre-release. And invariably ending up finding ‘something’ we didn’t spot. Between that and forum users reporting what they find, the prerelease is coming along nicely as a final bug-finding measure before the full release.

Work on the updated version of KSP for consoles continues and each passing week translates into more resolved issues, polishing and overall improvements in its performance. For instance, some of the issues resolved this week include a bug that was triggered when trying to overwrite a save file with the same name while in flight, the ‘Quicksave As..’ window would become then indefinitely stuck on screen. But don’t you worry, the issue was fixed and now you’ll be able to use the “Quicksave As…” feature under those circumstances without worrying about this issue. Another fixed issue involved the Crew Management controls remaining active when the Pause menu was opened and it would clear/fill all the vessel’s seats when trying to close the Pause menu. The PS4 build also had a bug that involved the launchpad appearing as destroyed/damaged after repairing it several times. Repairing it and heading to the VAB to launch a vessel would prompt the 'out of service’ message every time. While on the KSC and after repairing the building, trying to launch a vessel would put it on a destroyed launchpad. But bug fixing wasn’t the only tasks in the table for the console versions. As we have mentioned in previous KSP Weeklies, the team has been working on improving the controls for these new versions and we can now confirm controller mapping presets for KSP on consoles. We will give more details soon, but basically, players will be able to choose between different controller presets, including a Legacy Mapping.

In other news the Making History Expansion’s development is moving forward and looking better each passing day. This week the team standardized and documented the second half of of our asset bundling process for UI components. We now have a full build pipeline documented for all the components we plan to bundle in this expansion. We’ve also spent time checking various distribution types and ensuring that the expansion detection works as it should. Additionally, the feature that allows mission creators to set multiple vessels at the start of the mission or during the mission in various situations, such as Landed, LaunchSite, Orbit, etc, has been fully implemented. The mission creator will be able to define for each vessel a craft file or if the vessel is to be mission player built. All vessels will spawn into a mission while playing either at the start or at the appropriate time where the creator has defined a vessel craft. For player created vessels the player is taken to the VAB or SPH to create their vessels at the appropriate time during the mission. The instantiation should also include the ability to spawn asteroids and the mission creator will be able to choose the class of asteroid to spawned and the trajectory it will follow.

Furthermore, the team is working on a feature that will allow Mission Players to see their target orbit during their mission when an orbit test is active and then by adding the target orbit drawer into the mapview, similar to how it is done now for satellite contracts. The team has also been refining the Part Failure System to make it suit multiple effects and be as mod friendly as it can possibly be.

The artists have been very busy, as well. Last week we showed you the Voskhod 1-inspired IVA and now  we finished the Voskhod 2-inspired IVA and of course, we want to show you how it looks. But that’s not all, the team has been working on the geometry for several parts, such as a Gemini-inspired Service Module, and they also were able to wrap up work on our LR-87 analogue.  Both a 1.875m tank butt version and an open version suitable for clustering will be available via mesh switching. You can see both versions here.  It’s also a nice 'Goldilocks’ first stage engine, filling the large gap between the 1.25m Reliant and 2.5m Skipper engines.  Here’s a size comparison to help put things in perspective.

Finally, we encourage you to participate in our latest KSP Challenge - Eve Speed Challenge. This time around, the challenge consists of travelling to Eve and back to Kerbin Sphere of Influence as fast as possible. We will be handing out special badges to the best times. Are you up to the challenge? Check it out and share your creations!

That’s it for this week. Be sure to join us on our official forums, and don’t forget to follow us on Twitter and Facebook. Stay tuned for more exciting and upcoming news and development updates!

Happy launchings!

*Source

 

[linuxgurugamer]

Nice roundup.

Is there any sort of beta group for the Making History expansion?

[Frank_G]

Always a good read these days. Thank you. Looking forward to Making Histroy

 

[JK_Kerbineer]

3rd Also, could you give me the estimated price of the History Expansion

 

[klgraham1013]

I look forward to the 1.3.1 full release.

[Wallygator]

1 hour ago, SQUAD said:

[Development news start here]

Helpful!

Wait!  Is this a dev note in which localisation has not been mentioned? Whoa!!! 

Seriously, Keep up the good work.

Edited September 1, 2017 by Wallygator

[nascarlaser1]

Cool!

 

Also, anyone remember the old Carl Sagan easter egg on the Mun Tylo? I wish it was still there .

Edited September 1, 2017 by nascarlaser1

[tater]

Surprisingly large inside. Whoda thunk?

It would be nice if all the engines got this treatment:

 

[sh1pman]

I got a strong feeling of deja vu from this post. Are you sure you didn't just copy the entire script of this recent video called "First detection of life" by PBS Space Time for the history section? 

I mean, Carl Sagan, life on Earth, IR spectrum of the atmosphere, deviations from the equilibrium,  sources of methane, properties of water, studying exoplanets, James Webb telescope, and Trappist-1 - all of these points are discussed in exactly the same order as in the video. Coincidence?

 

Edited September 1, 2017 by sh1pman

[Wallygator]

3 minutes ago, sh1pman said:

I got a strong feeling of deja vu from this post. Are you sure you didn't just copy the entire script of this recent video called "First detection of life" by PBS Space Time for the history section? 

 

Whoa, that's weird. Just watched that bit. What a strange coincidence - especially in the first couple of sentences. It would have been nice for the dev note to have posted a direct link if the PBS bit was an inspiration video.

[Just Jim]

2 hours ago, SQUAD said:

The artists have been very busy, as well. Last week we showed you the Voskhod 1-inspired IVA and now we finished the Voskhod 2 IVA and of course, we want to show you how it looks.

OK..... one of those containers in the cabin says: Pets...

Pets??? So kerbals officially now have pets??? I wonder what they are???

Do you realize what a fun can of worms this opens for us fan fiction writers???  

[klgraham1013]

23 minutes ago, tater said:

It would be nice if all the engines got this treatment:

That would require an overhaul of some sort.

[Bottle Rocketeer 500]

5 minutes ago, klgraham1013 said:

That would require an overhaul of some sort.

Yes, a parts overhaul would be a DLC worth getting.

[CoreI]

24 minutes ago, Bottle Rocketeer 500 said:

Yes, a parts overhaul would be a DLC worth getting.

Actually, there was going to be an art overhaul for the 1.25 meter parts in 1.2(?). Then it was scrapped. Someone else can fill you in on the details, but the art files for the overhauled engines were released (and the engines receive upgrades throughout the tech tree), and can be downloaded. Someone can probably link it for you.

http://imgur.com/a/Ct6HA

That engine on the back is a swivel.

 

That IVA and engine looks super cool! I can't wait for this DLC to be released.

[qzgy]

1 hour ago, sh1pman said:

I got a strong feeling of deja vu from this post. Are you sure you didn't just copy the entire script of this recent video called "First detection of life" by PBS Space Time for the history section? 

I mean, Carl Sagan, life on Earth, IR spectrum of the atmosphere, deviations from the equilibrium,  sources of methane, properties of water, studying exoplanets, James Webb telescope, and Trappist-1 - all of these points are discussed in exactly the same order as in the video. Coincidence?

 

I've also heard and seen that the entry dev-note thing for the one during the week of the most recent solar eclipse had many elements very similar to a Vox video covering the solar eclipse. Almost word for word.

It's kinda cool that we do get this history from the devs, but it would be a bit nice if they added a credit to the original authors, assuming they do copy it almost word for word (I'm not accusing), or extra sources, if the writing was based on original research.

[sh1pman]

12 minutes ago, qzgy said:

I've also heard and seen that the entry dev-note thing for the one during the week of the most recent solar eclipse had many elements very similar to a Vox video covering the solar eclipse. Almost word for word.

It's kinda cool that we do get this history from the devs, but it would be a bit nice if they added a credit to the original authors, assuming they do copy it almost word for word (I'm not accusing), or extra sources, if the writing was based on original research.

Yeah, a reference to the source material is something I'd like to see if the text is taken from (or closely based on) someone else's original content.

In my line of work this sort of thing is called "plagiarism", but hey, this is not an academic journal, so a simple link to source would be fine, in my opinion.

[Red Shirt]

1 hour ago, Just Jim said:

OK..... one of those containers in the cabin says: Pets...

Pets??? So kerbals officially now have pets??? I wonder what they are???

Do you realize what a fun can of worms this opens for us fan fiction writers???  

My eyes were immediately drawn to the pets container. Can of worms might be a bit literal. Just be careful, they are conspicuously close to the snacks... emergency rations?  

[stibbons]

33 minutes ago, sh1pman said:

Yeah, a reference to the source material is something I'd like to see

Then you should read to the end of the article.

[sh1pman]

1 minute ago, stibbons said:

Then you should read to the end of the article.

Pretty sure I did. Good to see they added the link now.

 

[Aerospacer]

8 hours ago, CoreI said:

8 hours ago, Bottle Rocketeer 500 said:

Yes, a parts overhaul would be a DLC worth getting.

Actually, there was going to be an art overhaul for the 1.25 meter parts in 1.2(?). Then it was scrapped. Someone else can fill you in on the details, but the art files for the overhauled engines were released (and the engines receive upgrades throughout the tech tree), and can be downloaded. Someone can probably link it for you.

http://imgur.com/a/Ct6HA

Yes, here is all you want:

And it's really great and awesome work

I'm still hope to see this in stock game...

[Bottle Rocketeer 500]

12 hours ago, CoreI said:

Actually, there was going to be an art overhaul for the 1.25 meter parts in 1.2(?). Then it was scrapped. Someone else can fill you in on the details, but the art files for the overhauled engines were released (and the engines receive upgrades throughout the tech tree), and can be downloaded. Someone can probably link it for you.

I know about the planned Porkjet overhaul, but if it wasn't scrapped, I guess we would have completely overhauled parts by now! I guess that you can use his PBR shaders for the stock game, as they can load without any extra plugins.

Edited September 2, 2017 by Bottle Rocketeer 500

[Scotius]

Only one compartment for snacks in Voskhod?!? Bozhe moi... My poor Kerbals - they will surely riot.

[Lightzy]

Will the expansion also allow the makings of "campaigns"?
Meaning, one mission that when successful leads to another, or when failed leads to a different one etc.


Will it be very mod friendly?
(meaning lasers and alien invasion missions stringed as a campaign)

[Benjamin Kerman]

Heck yeah, that interior looks sexy!  

[Natokerbal]

Alright Can't wait for the Expansion