Ice mining mission

[ravenhawk82]

With all the talk of potential life on subsurface oceans on Europa and Enceladus, I think it would be pretty cool to have an analog to the proposed Europa Ice Mining missions. I know, aliens aren't going to be a part of the game, but it would still be a great way to get more science once you've worked your way up to high in the tech tree.

Basically, you would start with a probe using a scanner of some kind to look for areas with an ocean underneath (Think similar to how Kethane detectors work). You would send probes into orbit around various ice worlds (Minmus, Eeloo, parts of Dres, maybe more if other planets and moons are added) to scan for evidence of sub-surface oceans. Once you find a suitable target, you would then build a drill to get through the ice into the ocean and collect science from the ice and water it finds.

Honestly, I don't know if the game engine would support drilling like this, but if it's possible, it could present an interesting challenge to players and a good way to make science. Thoughts?

[TimMartland]

Sounds kind of cool, and would work well as a special contract.

But why drill for ice on Vall when there are oceans on Laythe?

[ravenhawk82]

But why drill for ice on Vall when there are oceans on Laythe?

Why go to the Mun when there's plenty of land on Kerbin?

On a more serious note, despite having a liquid surface and gaseous atmosphere, Laythe is still toxic. The temeprature is below freezing, which means that it's not JUST water. I always thought of Laythe as a friendlier version of Titan, where there are surface oceans of liquid methane instead of water. There is also the element of exploration that would drive for going to icy places. We might know there aren't aliens in the Kerbol system, but the Kerbals don't