Radiation!

[Jerjare]

Something we take for granted on Earth/Kerbal is that our planet's magnetic field protects us from dangerous radiation from space. However, poor Kerbals making EVAs or deep space probes will not have the benefit of this protection. Radiation could be modeled in terms of making your Kerbals ill (slowing them down, making them eventually paralyzed by it) and damaging delicate electronic components (reducing their effectiveness or outright destroying them over time).

To counteract this threat, special shielding for vulnerable parts would need to be added. This shielding would of course add cost and weight to a craft, making journeys more challenging to make. In addition, special EVA suits hardened against radiation would be needed if you have your Kerbals EVA in vulnerable places.

To take it even further, Radiation could be integrated in Science suites- measuring radiation, and having planets/locations that are particularly radioactive.

[Beeman]

While I like the idea of added design challenges, I feel like parts and modules would have radiation shielding built into them. But I do like the idea of doing science in all the radiation out there.

[jaredkzr]

I could see the radiation shielding being in the tech tree. That way you would have a barrier to interplanetary travel until you researched the shielding.

[OdinYggd]

I recall in a discussion about Laythe before that the devs were hinting at Laythe experiencing a rather extreme amount of radiation due to the effects of its orbit. Such a thing probably wouldn't be implemented any time soon, but could be a possible realism feature for later on.

As far as vessel effects go, having any kind of radiation-induced faults in the hardware would probably become an annoyance when planning a mission for the same reason straight up random failures will not be added. Random faults aside, for the most part only integrated circuit based electronics are likely to experience significant damage in the timeframe of a typical mission. I wouldn't expect the control systems being used by the kerbals to be advanced enough to have that kind of vulnerability, as they appear to aim more for simple and rugged than elegance and sophistication. For all we know the command pods might be using vacuum tube and relay based computing.

Kerbals themselves, while realistically they should have radiation phenomena, in practice it would again only relevant on extremely long-duration missions or if you are operating a whole bunch of NERVA engines very close to the manned portions of the vessels. Might make a good feature in a life support mod, but would be almost trivial as a stock feature for a lot of flights.

[boomerdog2000]

If you put the radiation shielding tech in the tech tree how are you going to keep people from leaving Kerbin's SOI anyway? You can't self-destruct it that wouldn't make any sense. You can't have the random failures only occur if you didn't have the radiation shielding because that would go against the no random rule.

[KrazyKrl]

I wouldn't suggest a binary fail/nofail from radiation. I'd suggest a metric that decreases the effectiveness of some devices, and with poor radiation shielding/radiation hardening; they would be less and less effective over time. They would never fail completely, but they would become less effective over time for each unit of radiation.

Think of it like the overheating system for engines, just that instead of exploding when they overheat; they become minimally effective. Say, 25% of what the part is rated for. Of course, you could research improved radiation shielding, and later, the lighter radiation hardening.

[boomerdog2000]

That might work, especially with the new science parts coming in .22 those would be especially hard hit from solar radiation. I don't think it should effect engines though, that doesn't really make sense.

[peadar1987]

Give your Kerbals a radiation dose meter that increments when you're in a high radiation area. It should increment more slowly inside more expensive and heavier shielded capsules, or if you have a moon or planet between you and the source of radiation. If it goes too high, the Kerbal dies.

[NeilC]

I agree with the idea of a radiation dosimeter, and yes in extreme cases it should kill Kerbals - but this would only be in cases like taking a Kerbal EVA in low solar orbit, or leaving one EVA for 6 months on Duna.

I also think there should also be a career limit on radiation dosage, beyond which Kerbals are not allowed to fly any more missions. You could set this limit, and it would have an effect on the popularity of your space program - I've heard there will be a "popular support" mechanic or some such. Low limits make the public think your program is safe, high limits unsafe.

Not sure if this mechanic would be worth implementing in the core game.... but it would be cool! Definitely something a mod could tackle.

[boomerdog2000]

I don't know. A career limit might make players not want to use their favorite kerbonaughts for anything, or it could encourage training new ones once crew training is implemented. You have to keep training new guys since your old ones will reach their radiation limit.