Fix the barometer.

[arise257]

Currently, if you take a barometric reading from a body with no atmosphere, the game tells you "A pressure scan can't be done right now". That's broken and dumb. Discovering that a body has no atmosphere IS scientifically valuable. The reading should work, give a value of "0" or "N/A" and reward the same science as a reading from an atmospheric body. I'm pretty irritated by earning enough science to get the part, then finding out the part is useless for over half the places I could visit.

[travis575757]

Yeah, this does need to be fixed. Not to mention that most large bodies do have an atmosphere, they are just completely unnoticeable. Mercury has a atmosphere that is at extremely low pressure basically low enough to say it has no atmosphere but it does have one. Maybe moho would have something too at a ridiculously low pressure. Also the large moons of jool.

[Tex]

But also remember that you don't have to take barometric readings on such worlds. Sure, maybe discovering that it has no detectable atmosphere should yield some science, but there's always the wiki to find out which planets have a readable atmosphere so you don't waste time on bringing a barometer there.

Basically, I'm indifferent on the matter. Yeah, it'd be cool to have a 0 reading from the barometer give science, but I could live with it just the way it is.

[coolitic]

Because it would be the same thing as taking the reading in space. You don't need a barometer to realize a planet has no atmosphere.

[Joonatan1998]

Actually you do, if some planet had an atmosphere much thinner than duna it would be very hard to detect. (At least for the kerbals, they don't seem to have any method of researching something from long range)

[lajoswinkler]

Yeah, this does need to be fixed. Not to mention that most large bodies do have an atmosphere, they are just completely unnoticeable. Mercury has a atmosphere that is at extremely low pressure basically low enough to say it has no atmosphere but it does have one. Maybe moho would have something too at a ridiculously low pressure. Also the large moons of jool.

Mercury doesn't have an atmosphere. It has outgassing. Atmospheres are stable systems, and the particles on Mercury are just spilling into the universe as soon as they're released.

A freshly painted bus spinning in solar orbit outgasses, too. That doesn't mean it has an atmosphere.

[goldenpeach]

Basically, I'm indifferent on the matter. Yeah, it'd be cool to have a 0 reading from the barometer give science, but I could live with it just the way it is.

Maybe it could be like the crew report(and the EVA report and other experiments of the same sort): it only give science once, then it "give" 0 science(because you wouldn't need multiple reading in the same place to say that there is no atmosphere).

Edited March 24, 2014 by goldenpeach
fixed the quote(1st edit) and forgot to say why I edited my post in the first place(I had to "edit" my post again).

[Superfluous J]

I agree, a one-time small science bonus for confirming the lack of atmosphere with an on-site reading seems totally reasonable to me.

But I hope before they give us even more science points they give us more to spend them on.

[jwenting]

you can't take a pressure reading if your pitot is not giving any reading (or your water column is frozen solid), which is what you'd see in vacuum.

No bug, correct behaviour.

[Alchemist]

Funniest part: both barometer and atmo-scanner have text for at least some bodies without atmosphere in the science config, but you can't get it ingame.

[frizzank]

thermometer also does not let you take readings at some places

[NWM]

Simply let it work everywhere. 0 is also a result of an experience.

[allmappedout]

I'm with the OP. The absence of a result is still a result and is as scientifically useful as discovering something is there. The moon has a trace atmosphere (or outgassing, if we're being very precise), but it's still scientifically interesting to find out what those gasses are!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atmosphere_of_the_Moon

[Anton P. Nym]

No fix, in my opinion. Beyond a certain lower bound of pressure, a barometer is useless. Also, it's not like the game's stingy with science points right now.

-- Steve

[kurja]

you can't take a pressure reading if your pitot is not giving any reading (or your water column is frozen solid), which is what you'd see in vacuum.

No bug, correct behaviour.

A barometer does not necessarily contain liquid. A barometer is an instrument that measures pressure, and measuring pressure of vacuum is certainly not impossible as I have done just that many times.

Zero reading is still a reading.

[Hurry- Starfish!]

Yes, please.

[Tex]

I agree, a one-time small science bonus for confirming the lack of atmosphere with an on-site reading seems totally reasonable to me.

I think this is probably the best idea. A not-insignificant amount of science, perhaps just once per planet.

[arise257]

I think this is probably the best idea. A not-insignificant amount of science, perhaps just once per planet.

Yeah, that's pretty much all I want.

[Amaroq]

Yeah, agreed -- one of my favorite parts of BTSM was the Kerbin Low Orbit barometer reading, which confirmed that there was no atmosphere beyond the stratosphere.

Careful configuration could ensure that only a single reading, transmitted, would suffice for a given planet