Recording Temps at > 18km at the North Pole

[Morning Star Industries]

Anyone have tips for measuring temps at the Kerbal north pole at an altitude of ~ 18,000m? I'm having a bit of a challenge using a rocket due to the distance of the north pole from the space center, i end up either:

• Too high and unable to measure temps accurately according to the contract,
• Too fast trying to maintain altitude, destroying my thermometers (attached right below my Mk16 parachute),
• Too slow and falling back to the surface before reaching my target at > 18,000m.

I'm using a simple rocket (pod + chute + thermometers) with 1~3 RT-10 booster/s to get some altitude and 6 FL-T200 Fuel Tanks to get me the distance. My planes can't reach altitudes of > 8,000m.

Career mode. Day 1.

Edited April 9, 2020 by Morning Star Industries
added relevant info

[Geonovast]

Welcome to the forum, @Morning Star Industries!  I've moved your question about playing the game to our Gameplay Questions subforum.  Good luck with you issue!

[steuben]

Blend the two together. You are not constrained by the chains of conventional design. If it'll launch and fly it's fair game.

Strap few Junos around some rocket fuel tanks and a good old fashioned Reliant. Fill up Jeb's travel mug with something that resembles coffee when you're desperate/ Fly the plane to the location, point it straight up and light the Reliant.

It will then be your choice land it there for extra Science!, or fly it home for Max! recovery value.

I thought I had a blueprint of my Hopper posted, but I guess not.

[fourfa]

Check the contract carefully. If it says “measure the temperature above X meters” guess what, in orbit in outer space counts as “above.”  That’s often an easier way to do it. Put a simple probe in a polar orbit, and you can knock out “above” contracts all day long for profit and no new cost (just a lot of timewarping).
 

Unfortunately it’s often worthwhile to check these contracts in the Tracking Station to see how far away they are if you’re looking for things near to the runway. Would be nice if mission control had a map, or you could see contracts from the tracking station (but there are maps mods for that)

Edited April 13, 2020 by fourfa
fixed autocorrect

[TheFlyingKerman]

8 hours ago, fourfa said:

If it says “measure the temperature above X meters” guess what, in orbit in outer space counts as “above.”

But you must be flying, meaning within the atmosphere, even at 69999m.

[jimmymcgoochie]

Plane with a rocket engine on the back is probably your best bet. Either that or just alt+f12 then force complete the contract, then remember to always look at the locations in the tracking station BEFORE you accept them! You can also leave the contract for a while until you unlock better parts and make a plane that can fly that high- make it light and remember that flying high uses much less fuel than flying low.

[Corax]

1 hour ago, jimmymcgoochie said:

or just alt+f12 then force complete

Chacun à sa façon, but what happened to "concede failure and count your losses"? Am I just too old fashioned?