[1.8.x] DMagic Orbital Science: New Science Parts [v1.4.3] [11/2/2019]

[TonyC]

I have an issue with the Long Term Magnetic Field Mission contracs : I've sent a probe there, but I don't understand why my orbit is still not yet valid : it says at least 55° of inclination and at least 0.42 of eccentricity

I have an inclination of 156° (retrograde orbit) and a 0.9 eccentricity, but the green check symbols still don't appear in front of the contract specifications..

[DMagic]

46 minutes ago, MegaUZI said:

I have an issue with the Long Term Magnetic Field Mission contracs : I've sent a probe there, but I don't understand why my orbit is still not yet valid : it says at least 55° of inclination and at least 0.42 of eccentricity

I have an inclination of 156° (retrograde orbit) and a 0.9 eccentricity, but the green check symbols still don't appear in front of the contract specifications..

Your inclination should be from 55° to 125°, since a 180° is a retrograde equatorial orbit. An inclination of at least 55° means at least that far away from equatorial.

[Kerbas_ad_astra]

The intent of the contract is to require a polar-ish orbit, to sample the magnetic field at a wide range of latitudes.  156 degrees = -24 degrees, which is a rather equatorial orbit.  You need to be greater than +55, but less than "-55" or 125 degrees.

[TonyC]

Thank you @DMagic and @Kerbas_ad_astra. I put a non retrograde orbit and everything works now.

[Kerbal01]

Any new parts in the pipeline?

[Enceos]

I have troubles using the Impact Hammer on asteroids. It doesn't detect asteroid surface no matter the position.

Originally the Hammer was attached to one of the arms as the Laser Scanner is on the picture. After a number of failed attempts I attached it to a cubic strut on the surface of the asteroid.

The Hammer sinks into the asteroid but still can't detect the surface.

[DMagic]

1 hour ago, Enceos said:

I have troubles using the Impact Hammer on asteroids. It doesn't detect asteroid surface no matter the position.

Originally the Hammer was attached to one of the arms as the Laser Scanner is on the picture. After a number of failed attempts I attached it to a cubic strut on the surface of the asteroid.

The Hammer sinks into the asteroid but still can't detect the surface.

If it's too close then it won't work, once it starts to sink into the surface then it's too close. 

What did the setup look like before? Whenever I had problems with asteroids I could usually just unlock the grappling arm joint and bend in one direction or another to get to a better angle.

On 1/24/2016 at 10:04 AM, DarthVader said:

Any new parts in the pipeline?

Yes. 

[KaoticKat]

6 hours ago, DMagic said:

8 hours ago, Enceos said:

I have troubles using the Impact Hammer on asteroids. It doesn't detect asteroid surface no matter the position.

Originally the Hammer was attached to one of the arms as the Laser Scanner is on the picture. After a number of failed attempts I attached it to a cubic strut on the surface of the asteroid.

The Hammer sinks into the asteroid but still can't detect the surface.

If it's too close then it won't work, once it starts to sink into the surface then it's too close. 

I too have this issue. I have mounted the hammer on an adjustable rail and ran many tests. I have had no luck at any range.

I have tried adjusting the terrain levels in the settings many times. Still no go.

[Enceos]

10 hours ago, KaoticKat said:

I too have this issue. I have mounted the hammer on an adjustable rail and ran many tests. I have had no luck at any range.

I have tried adjusting the terrain levels in the settings many times. Still no go.

Yeah, I'm still having this problem. Maybe it's a C type asteroid issue... I'll try running the hammer on smaller ones.

[DMagic]

Some pictures of the situation would help here.

Is this only happening with asteroids? Those can be a little tricky because the hammer is trying to point toward the center of the asteroid, not the surface, so bigger asteroids might allow for situations where what is visually "down" doesn't match what the hammer thinks is down. The same is not true of the surface of planets.

Also make sure that you aren't running into problems with the hammer not being reusable. There is a bug in the seismic hammer and sensor pod config pods that makes them require a lab reset, change the line "rerunnable" to true in those files.

And, also, there is a bit of a built in exploit where you can run the experiment from the sensor pod and it will collect data from the hammer without doing any of the actual surface contact checking. You will need to have the sensor pod on a vessel (it can't be on the same vessel as the hammer) to do something with it, or use a Kerbal to get the data, so it won't always help. The same doesn't apply for asteroids though. The sensor pod and hammer will always be on the same vessel and the experiment will always activate the hammer, regardless of which part you activate it from.

[KaoticKat]

As stated in my last post, mounted on adjustable rail and tried at different distances.

This set up is RSS at KSC . I have not tried it on an asteroid yet.

 

I just tested on a clean install without RSS and the hammer works as advertised.

I will so some more tests tomorrow.

 

Edited January 28, 2016 by KaoticKat
additional information

[DMagic]

13 hours ago, KaoticKat said:

As stated in my last post, mounted on adjustable rail and tried at different distances.

This set up is RSS at KSC . I have not tried it on an asteroid yet.

 

I just tested on a clean install without RSS and the hammer works as advertised.

I will so some more tests tomorrow.

 

If the hammer is too close it can kind-of push through the surface which messes up the distance check calculation (it it checks the distance to the other side of the planet it that case). I was aware of this problem, but for some reason didn't think of the very simple way to fix it (move the point from which the distance is checked up a bit...).

Then there is also the case where the hammer is judged to be too close to the surface and won't deploy because it risks flipping the vessel over (this will display a message about being too close onscreen). I might just drop that check and remove the collider from the hammer itself, thus removing any issues caused by the hammer striking the surface too hard.

If the hammer is simply too far away it will also fail (and also display a message onscreen, the same as in the image above).

It should otherwise work. I'm not aware of anything in RSS or Kopernicus that would affect it. All of the distance checks are dependent upon the size and position of the hammer itself. I'll check it out to see what's going on.

[Toastedbuns]

How high does the Seismic Hammer have to be placed for it to 'impact the surface from here?' I placed mine pretty low and it doesn't hit Duna's surface apparently even though it extends into it. I try hovering and then the message says that it's 'too close to the surface.' If I keep thrusting up then I can't use it! Is this a bug? 

[RocketSquid]

So, how does the anomalous signal detector work?

[DMagic]

5 hours ago, Toastedbuns said:

How high does the Seismic Hammer have to be placed for it to 'impact the surface from here?' I placed mine pretty low and it doesn't hit Duna's surface apparently even though it extends into it. I try hovering and then the message says that it's 'too close to the surface.' If I keep thrusting up then I can't use it! Is this a bug? 

Pictures?

It won't work when you are hovering because you have to be landed.

4 hours ago, RocketSquid said:

So, how does the anomalous signal detector work?

Put it on a vessel, activate it, find some anomalies, get close and collect science.

You can find anomalies however you choose; there are several contract packs (including this one) that will guide you to them, SCANsat will show you where they are, you can look them up online, or, if you really want to punish yourself you can use the magnetometer from this and watch for magnetic field spikes.

[RocketSquid]

How much science per anomaly?

[Algiark]

Just so you know, I googled 'ksp best science part pack', and this thread came up in the first page 

[AmoebaMan]

Hey, I've been working on a pretty basic ModuleManager patch for my own enjoyment, and to start to teach myself a bit about modding. It replaces the names and descriptions of your experiments with more Kerbal-sounding stuff. Would you mind if I posted it here for others' enjoyment as well?

[lajoswinkler]

Any hope on some kind of Geiger counter part? It's pretty essential.

[Delta_8930]

1 hour ago, lajoswinkler said:

Any hope on some kind of Geiger counter part? It's pretty essential.

There is a Geiger counter in Bluedog Design Bureau

[fr33soul]

The orbital telescope disappeared from the stock.. how it's possible?

[CobaltWolf]

On 2/24/2016 at 9:41 AM, Delta_8930 said:

There is a Geiger counter in Bluedog Design Bureau

There is also one in FASA, whose sciencedefs I used.  

[Brigadier]

10 hours ago, fr33soul said:

The orbital telescope disappeared from the stock.. how it's possible?

This might not be a Orbital Science problem.  In my brief experience with the game, and since my telescope is still there, I've noticed that sometimes after I install a new mod, an old one hiccups.  I delete the MM configuration files (the four in the Gamedata folder) and force it to rebuild.  This often solves my problem with parts not showing up.

Always backup your games.  A useful utility for this is S.A.V.E.

Edited February 28, 2016 by Brigadier

[fr33soul]

12 hours ago, Brigadier said:

This might not be a Orbital Science problem.  In my brief experience with the game, and since my telescope is still there, I've noticed that sometimes after I install a new mod, an old one hiccups.  I delete the MM configuration files (the four in the Gamedata folder) and force it to rebuild.  This often solves my problem with parts not showing up.

Always backup your games.  A useful utility for this is S.A.V.E.

Thanks for the answer! Well as you predicted, orbital telescope is still there, just not available cause i installed a tech tree mod so i had to unlock it further even if i saw it already unlocked at lvl2.. 

However the SAVE mod that u suggest, just backup ur save files and i never  had an issue with them, it could be good if there's a mod that autosaving sometime.

Anyway thanks a lot. liked ur answer

[DMagic]

Chapter 1: Radio and Plasma Wave Science

Chapter 2: Magnetometer

Chapter 3: Telescopes and Imaging Systems

Chapter 4: Laser Ablation

Chapter 5: Core Drill and Biological Experiments

Chapter 6: Neutron Reflections and Subsurface Water

Chapter 7: X-Ray Diffraction and Surface Composition

Yet another Curiosity rover inspired instrument is featured next in the continuing science explainer series. The Chemistry & Mineralogy X-Ray Diffraction, or CheMin, is one of Curiosity’s two analytical laboratory instruments (along with the Sample Analysis at Mars suite), mounted inside the rover’s body. CheMin is a portable, re-usable, powder X-ray diffraction laboratory which can be used to definitively identify the composition of a sample from the surface of Mars.
 

Diffraction

Before getting into the CheMin instrument and X-ray diffraction we can quickly go over diffraction in general and how is applies to visible light.

Diffraction of a wave is one of three boundary interactions that can occur when a wave encounters an obstruction.

• Reflection changes the direction of the wave by bouncing off of the object, such as a mirror.
• Refraction is the change in direction, speed, and wavelength caused by moving from one medium to another, as when light passes through the boundary between air and glass in a prism, bending the various wavelengths of visible light to different degrees.
• Diffraction is the bending of a wave around the edge of an obstruction.

The amount that the wave is bent is dependent on its wavelength and the size of the opening in the obstruction. If the opening is significantly longer than the wavelength, then there will be little change in direction; too short and the wave simply won’t pass through the opening.

 

                                      

A simple schematic example of reflection, refraction and diffraction is shown on the left. Diffraction here is shown as the deflection of an incoming ray of light when it encounters the edge of an obstruction. On the right is an animation detailing how light bends around a small opening. The subsequent constructive- and destructive-interference can be seen in how the waves impact the surface on the right.

One way to use diffraction to our advantage is through a diffraction grating (which was discussed briefly in the telescopes section). These are a type of filter created with a periodic structure that diffracts incoming light into multiple directions based on wavelength.

The back of a CD is a good example of a simple diffraction grating. Light reflected off of the CD passes through the regularly repeating pits that are formed in a spiraling pattern across the disc. The spirals in that pattern are similar in size to visible light waves and so they bend light to varying degrees, resulting in the reflection of a rainbow pattern.

 

X-Ray Diffraction

Visible light diffraction is great, and provides a convenient way to separate light by wavelengths, but what if we want to look at something considerably smaller than the wavelength of visible light? If we want to know how the atoms are arranged in a sample we need something with a much smaller wavelength, something similar in size to spacing between the atoms themselves. X-Rays are just the right size for this, encompassing the range of about 0.01 nanometers to 10 nm, or 0.1 Angstroms to 100 Å, which are the preferred unit of measurement when discussing X-Rays and atoms; a single Hydrogen atom has a diameter of about 1 Å.

While not getting too deep into the details, the basic idea is that the atoms in a molecule make up a diffraction grating for X-Rays. When the molecules are arranged as ordered, repeating crystals, they form a regular, diffraction grating that can be used to analyze the molecule itself.

 

X-Ray Crystallography

To take the idea of a repeating crystal structure all the way to its logical end, you come to the situation where you have many copies of one molecule, freed from all contaminants, and ordered in such a way that every molecule is arranged in exactly the same way within a single crystal. When this is the case you can study not only simple molecules like salt, or organic compounds, but much larger, incredibly complex things like proteins (with thousands to tens-of-thousands of atoms) or even virus particles (with potentially millions of atoms in each molecule).

First let us go over one of the main drawbacks of using X-Ray light as an analytical tool. With visible or UV light you can easily bend and focus the light after diffraction. This allows for the creation of a simple image, as in a camera, or for collecting or isolating single wavelengths of light. With X-Rays, which are of a much higher energy, it is very difficult to bend or focus the light. Very low angle mirrors can be used to some degree (as in X-Ray telescopes), but for X-Ray diffraction the general idea is to not bother with trying to focus anything.

Instead of focusing X-Rays, they are simply collected after being diffracted by a sample. This is accomplished by placing a sample within a very narrow, tightly collimated X-Ray beam. The beam strikes the sample (with most of the X-Ray photons passing right through, which are usually blocked by a thick metal beamstop), and any diffracted photons are then picked by a detector, which is placed directly behind the sample. Only X-Rays that are diffracted to a small degree can be detected, depending on the size of the detector and how far away it is from the sample.

 

A modern X-Ray source like the Advanced Photon Source at Argonne National Labs (seen on the left) uses a ring 1km in circumference to store electrons accelerated to near the speed of light. When the flight path of these electrons is bent they emit something called synchrotron radiation; photons which can be in the X-Ray range under the right conditions. The beam of X-Rays is tightly collimated and sent down into an individual hutch, shown in the middle. The X-Rays enter from the back-right of the image and travel to the sample, in the center. The goniometer on the left side of the center holds the sample in place and allows for rotation in any axis, and a nitrogen stream (coming from the silver cylinder) keeps the sample frozen. The detector is the large white CCD array on the left (for scale, the yellow gantry is about 2m high, and the detector is about 0.75 -1m from the sample table). The diagram on the right shows a simple schematic of X-Ray path through the sample and to the detector.

With a well ordered crystal, as described above, the result is a series of dots where X-Rays photons that have been diffracted by the sample constructively interfere to produce a strong signal. Through lots of complicated math, and by recording diffraction patterns with the sample rotated through many different orientations, it is possible to reconstruct an image of the sample itself. For small molecules, such as a simple salt, these images clearly show the arrangement of individual atoms. For larger molecules the resulting image is frequently less clear, usually resulting in something resembling long, bending tubes indicating the presence of electron clouds. When studying proteins or other biological samples it is possible to take advantage of the relatively small number of basic elements and components involved to gain a complete image of the sample.

 

This illustrates the progression from a single diffraction pattern, obtained from a protein crystal in one orientation, through mathematical transformation (a potentially years long process a few decades ago; now taking as little as a few minutes) to a 3D model of electron density. The diffraction pattern in the upper left is the so-called Photo 51, Rosalind Franklin's data from a DNA crystal that led to the discovery of its double helix structure. On the bottom left is a modern data set from a protein crystal; the white shadow on the diffraction pattern is from the beamstop, which prevents the full X-Ray beam from impacting and damaging the detector. Taking advantage of the relatively small number of components in a biological molecule (21 amino acids, a handful of modifications to the amino acids, DNA, RNA, and some lipids) and the tight constraints on how those components can be arranged, a model of the protein structure can be obtained. It is difficult to overstate the value that such information has provided to the life sciences over the past 100 years.

 

Powder X-Ray Diffraction

Big, well-ordered crystals are nice, but are rarely obtainable outside of laboratory conditions or isolated situations. For samples collected in the field you generally end up with ground up rocks, sand, or dirt. These samples are composed of many different compounds all mixed together. In many cases, though, the small particles are actually fairly well ordered crystals made up of individual minerals.

Remember the part about taking a single crystal and collecting images at different orientations? Taking a power X-Ray diffraction pattern is much like rotating a single crystal through all orientations while collecting a single image. There are small particles of the sample that are oriented in essentially all possible directions. This generates a diffraction pattern that accounts for all orientations at the same time. The result is that the nice, individual spots seen from a crystal diffraction give way to smeared concentric rings.

 

Results from 2 samples taken by Curiosity’s CheMin instrument. The characteristic ring pattern is a result of all possible orientations of the material being sampled at the same time. The shadow from the beamstop is visible along the bottom.

This obviously adds a kink in trying to work from the diffraction pattern to an image (and makes it basically impossible in the case of large molecules), but for the purposes of sample identification that isn’t actually necessary. Rather than trying to identify samples based on X-Ray analysis and nothing else, we can take advantage of all capabilities allowed for in a laboratory environment. Samples can be collected, purified and identified by various other means. Then we conduct powder X-Ray diffraction analysis on our purified, identified sample. This allows for a kind of fingerprinting analysis. Take a sample from the field and match its powder X-Ray diffraction pattern to the known pattern collected in the lab.

With this data in hand we can say definitively (or as definitively as possible without bringing samples into a full lab) what the surface of Mars is composed of. Minerals can be precisely identified, which tells us a lot about how the planet was formed, its history, its interior composition and activity, and about the presence of water, as many types of minerals only form, or only display certain characteristics, in the presence of water.

 

The Instrument

Now we can come back to the instrument itself; Curiosity’s Chemistry and Minerology X-Ray Diffraction. First off, the instrument needs samples to study.

The choice of what to study is based on results from many of Curiosity’s remote sensing instruments: ChemCam and its laser ablation function gives a basic idea of what a sample is composed of, the Alpha Particle X-Ray Spectrometer also provides data on elemental composition, the DAN instrument provides data about the presence of water or hydrated minerals, and Curiosity’s many cameras show us what possible samples actually look like and give an idea of what they could be.

To actually obtain a sample there are two options, use a scoop to pick up loose material, or drill into a rock. Once a sample is collected a small amount of it is sieved then delivered to a sample holder. The instrument has a sample wheel which contains a few reference standards, and 24 re-usable sample containers, each a thin cell with two X-Ray-transparent windows. For powder X-Ray diffraction the center of the beam actually targets one edge of the detector, as there is no need to collect the entire data set.

The X-Rays are generated in a vacuum tube (not that unlike that found in an old CRT TV) and focused onto the sample cell. X-Rays pass through the sample window, the photons that are diffracted by the sample strike the detector and produce diffraction patterns as seen above.

 

An exploded view of CheMin on the left. Samples are loaded from the top, sent to the sample holders in the wheel, and dumped from the bottom. X-Rays are generated in the large green cylinder in the middle. In the top right is a close-up view of a pair of sample containers. Each is composed of a small space enclosed by transparent windows on each side; two different window compositions allow for readings to be taken under different conditions. A diagram of the sample wheel is shown on the bottom-right. The red cells contain standards for calibration; the green cells are for samples and can be re-used up to 3 times.

We’ll move back to some of the orbital instruments for the next chapter in the series. There are quite a few instruments to go over: solar particles, soil moisture, radiometers, asteroid/comet sounding, and maybe a section on asteroids in general.

Edited March 3, 2016 by DMagic