List of places and biomes in KSP (planetary geology & geography) - UPDATING FOR v1.0.x.

[Eric S]

137.3 is not low enough to sample the upper atmosphere of Jool.

The boundary between upper atmosphere and near space moves. I noticed that on Jool, but most of my experimentation has been with Kerbin, where I've had upper atmosphere readings as high as 68K, but near space readings as low as 30K. It should be noted that I've never received an upper atmosphere reading during an aerobrake maneuver where my apoapsis wasn't in the atmosphere, so I suspect that SMA, apoapsis, periapsis or velocity may play a role in what counts as upper atmosphere instead of just altitude.

[Smidge204]

I just confirmed that "Near Tylo" starts at 250km, as indicated by EVA reports.

=Smidge=

[Vector]

Also just found "near Vall" is about 90km (not 80), somewhere between 88 and 92.

...And Dres is 25km

Edited October 27, 2013 by Vector

[Aragosnat]

Yeah. I agree there are some glitches and here is the nice Tundra near KSC shot:

[Vector]

"Near Eeloo" is below 60k

[Godot]

The east rim of Muns East farside crater also seems to be more diverse than expected ...

I found 5 Biomes in vicinity of my Lander ...

East Farside crater

Canyons

Highland Craters

Midlands

and Northwest crater

Seen in this gallery:

http://imgur.com/a/WZnj2#0

[Spanier]

Is there an extra biome for Laythe's Ice Caps?

[magnemoe]

The boundary between upper atmosphere and near space moves. I noticed that on Jool, but most of my experimentation has been with Kerbin, where I've had upper atmosphere readings as high as 68K, but near space readings as low as 30K. It should be noted that I've never received an upper atmosphere reading during an aerobrake maneuver where my apoapsis wasn't in the atmosphere, so I suspect that SMA, apoapsis, periapsis or velocity may play a role in what counts as upper atmosphere instead of just altitude.

You can not do an atmospheric analyze during an aerobrake, you has to be on an suborbital / landing trajectory.

So if you come in fast towards Duna you might have to go down into the lower atmosphere but you still get space close to Duna.

if you on the other hand lower Pe to below zero from low orbit you get lots of time to sample.

Not sure then you go from upper atmosphere to flying, wonder if its speed dependent?

[celem]

Is there an extra biome for Laythe's Ice Caps?

No. Only Kerbin and Mun have Biomes at this point. Others just have surface, or where applicable (eve, laythe) surface/water

[mLegion]

I now put all my probes in HI/LO elliptical orbits instead of circular ones to get science from the 'near' and 'high above' zones.

It seems that the various layers are:

1. on the ground (biome specific)

2. over the planet (biome specific)

3. upper atmosphere (i think the nose-cone is still biome specific here, not sure)

4. in space near planet

5. in space high above planet

Everything above that seems to be the suns SOI, not sure if leaving the suns SOI is another biome.

Also does anyone have a list of what the 'near planet' heights are for the various planets? Currently i'm getting probes near planets with trial and error just lowering their periapsis by 5Km every orbit.

If we know the near/above values for at least a few planets can it be calculated based on their size/mass?

EDIT: checked wiki, it says EVA reports are biome specific in 'near space' but not in upper atmosphere.

Edited November 8, 2013 by mLegion

[JohnDoe]

I just tried to get to "flight" at Jool and found out that "space near Jool" goes at least down to 118km. I encountered no "upper atmosphere"

[JohnDoe]

Laythe:

Flight 0-~10 km

Upper Atmosphere ~10-~15km

space near Lythe ~15km-200km

[Jarin]

heights for Jool

-flight (250 m - 119.5 km)

-upper atmosphere (119.5 km - 130-137.3 km) (please verify)

-space near Jool (130-137.3 km - 4000 km)

-space high above Jool (4000 km - SOI limit)

Confirming that it is "space near Jool" down to at least 118km. This is, mind you, at the same time that my ship is engulfed in re-entry effects... yet my barometer insists I'm still in vaccum.

[magnemoe]

Confirming that it is "space near Jool" down to at least 118km. This is, mind you, at the same time that my ship is engulfed in re-entry effects... yet my barometer insists I'm still in vaccum.

To be able to measure the upper atmosphere you have to be on an suborbital or landing trajectory.

You can not measure the atmosphere during aerobrake for orbit.

Same is true for Kerbin

[lajoswinkler]

Laythe:

Flight 0-~10 km

Upper Atmosphere ~10-~15km

space near Lythe ~15km-200km

Thanks. This concludes the first set of data collection. Laythe was the last body to be reported here.

To be able to measure the upper atmosphere you have to be on an suborbital or landing trajectory.

You can not measure the atmosphere during aerobrake for orbit.

Same is true for Kerbin

That isn't true for Duna. I was on a suborbital trajectory numerous times and there was some glitchy stuff going on with the detection.

[magnemoe]

That isn't true for Duna. I was on a suborbital trajectory numerous times and there was some glitchy stuff going on with the detection.

Suborbital and within the 1x warp zone, no accurate data for Duna so it might be a bit lower but I knew I did multiple upper atmosphere measurements, however the upper atmosphere layer on Duna is probably pretty thin, best way to get a long time is probably to aerobrake slowly, this make it very hard to know where you land but it does not matter for an Duna science mission.

Another idea is to keep not do an normal circulate burn but keep Ap in the upper atmosphere, you get some drag, but not much, after done with science get up to the mothership.

[El wonso]

Space near Eve starts at 50km ASL.

[Martijn404]

I found there are TWO different kinds of "Kerbin's Water"!

In my science log (visible through the plugin for that) I have two listings for Kerbin's water for Mystery goo, crew report etc.

Also I have an entry for a Seismic Scan and a Gravity Scan from Kerbin's Water, which shouldnt really be possible normally. I am pretty sure this is because there is a little "lake" (found through Scansat) considered water somewhere but when you get there its just an icefield. So I landed a plane on it with all the science equipment and was able to do these tests. Its north of KSC in the big Tundra field there.

[El wonso]

Space near Eve starts at 50km ASL.

And that's not constant, I have performed upper atmo research at 80km ASL.

Squad pls fix

btw Eve's upper atmo seems to start at 22km ASL.

[lajoswinkler]

I've verified Dres's border the other day, it's correct.

Also today I've did a mission to Joolean system to verify/correct the heights or orbits only. After the probe visited every satellite, it was sent to Jool at a very shallow angle so it took three orbits to finally plunge deep inside.

I can verify that Pol's border is at 22 km, Bop's at 25 km, Tylo's at 250 km, Vaal's at 90 km, Laythe's at 200 km, and Jool's at 4000 km.

Jool's fly zone starts at 118 km, with no upper atmosphere detected, and it extends to negative 250 metres into its depth, where the probe is crushed. In fact, I think I saw the number reaching 262 or something like that, but changed to 250 m after the destruction.

None of the these bodies has detectable regions.

[Donziboy2]

I'm going to bump this cause its very handy and hopefully will get updated for 0.23

[OrtwinS]

I'd like to take the oppertunity to recommend enthusiasts to use the SCANsat plugin to make pretty biome maps.

[lajoswinkler]

Thanks, Donziboy2.

OK, v0.23 is here, so let's keep this fresh and updated. If anyone notices any different value noted in the opening post, please write it down.

Now let's explore Minmus.

[lajoswinkler]

I'm investigating Minmus at the moment with a multicore vehicle in a polar orbit. Here's what I found out so far:

- there are 9 regions: highlands, midlands, lowlands, slopes, great flats, greater flats, lesser flats, flats and poles.

While I was writing this, I was like that guy from Monty Python's Spanish inquisition when he was constantly correcting himself with those numbers. :-)

- it's not "space near" anymore, it's "space just above"

- regions are detectable even from "high above" orbits

- orbit border is the same, 30 km

I will update the OP when I finish this mission. I have three small landers on this probe. I thought it was an overkill. It seems I underestimated the number of landers needed.

Here's a map of what I currently have on Minmus.

K1 is in the highlands. K2A is at great flats.

There are really tiny regions in the middle of vast regions. For example, the bluish area is midlands (K2B on the map), and the area around it is slopes (I think).

K2C is in the lowlands, despite the fact it doesn't look low at all. The regions sometimes seem garbled and not representing the actual location.

Edited December 18, 2013 by lajoswinkler

[mdatspace]

Eve also has "possible seismic activity".

Quoting old post. One would think that eve is more geologically active based on its size. It should lose less heat than Kerbin. Those gravity variations may be a reference to mass concentrations. Many large impact basins on the moon share those.