Biomes & Satellites.

[Miro Beero]

There should be a way to map the biomes on a planet or a moon with satellites.

1. A use for satellites

2. Kerbals would have a place to land.

Example Mission:

Bring back a surface sample from BiomeA on Planet B.

Meaning you need to first map out the PlanetB, before you send out a manned missions to get what you need.

Just a thought.

[PlonioFludrasco]

There should be a way to map the biomes on a planet or a moon with satellites.

Actually, there's a mod for this, It's the SCANsat mod.

[Mister Kerman]

Yeah, I agree about satellites being fairly useless. There's mods and stuff, but it'd be nice to have a way to send a "crew report" or something equivalent like a diagnostics report using an unmanned probe. I refuse to waste science on transmitting data instead of physically bringing it back to Kerbin.

Now as for using them to find a decent place to land, Jeb would tell you to be a man and just do it the Kerbal way!

Edited July 26, 2014 by Mister Kerman

[Thomas988]

Actually, there's a mod for this, It's the SCANsat mod.

But I think it really should be stock.

[Sirrobert]

Actually satelites do have a use now, though not a big one.

If you keep one in orbit around planets, with a repeatable science tool, you can use that to fulfill 'transmit science from planet' contracts

[hawk_za]

+ 1 love the idea and also think sat mapping should be stock

[r4pt0r]

+1 for stock implementation. also hoping for biomes on more planets/moons

[nmd]

I support this idea

Being able to fully map out an entire planet (and the entire system) could bring a new level of challenge to the game. And a lot of new contracts.

you could even be able to find your position on the planet, which could lead to "go to this location on planet x" type contracts

I know SCANstat provides this, but having this stock can provide for tight integration with career mode

[r4pt0r]

i just want more stock purposes for satellites

[BudgetHedgehog]

This has been suggested before and every single time, there's been agreement it'd be a good idea. That's not to say it isn't, because it is, I'm just saying you're not the first person to suggest this.

[Mister Kerman]

I agree lol.

[Sasuga]

I was just attempting to find how to do it, and found this forum thread stating that it isn't in (except in mods) and such. I think it should totally be stock, after all... Isn't sending pictures back to Earth what probes do for us in the real world? Probes would be so much more useful if they could take pictures/map out planets, and help us plan missions.

This would be extra useful if each the planets and moons in Kerbal had different surfaces each time we played... But I'd settle for satellites being more useful.

I'm going to look for that SCAN mod.

[thereaverofdarkness]

I don't think there should be any hard requirement for mapping terrain before you land, but it could save a lot of money and granite being able to map out the surface to check for good landing areas. I'd like to eventually see satellites able to scan for a variety of natural resources as well as make topographical, pictoral, temperature, and biome maps of the surface. It would be neat if you would get research for mapping a body, and you could select a scan angle anywhere from very high-res to very wide, determining how fast you finish as well as the quality of the data and the resulting fraction of the total available science you get.

You could do a quick wide-angle scan with basic equipment in your command module to find a generally flat area that is more likely to be good for landing, or you could send a satellite out with specialized equipment to take a lot of time scanning very carefully so that you KNOW you have a good landing spot.

Finally, I think you should be able to toggle the maps on and off in map view as an overlay, or view at KSC.

[Heimdall5008]

I can think of three features for satellites:

1. Communication: You have to establish a communications network before you can send any data without line of sight (at least from other bodies than Kerbin) or if your distance is to high (relais stations).

2. Mapping: biome maps, height maps, maybe ressource maps (if they incorporate extrakerbin ressources) with satellites should be in the vanilla game

3. Navigation: You could install GPS networks on the different bodies and then get an autopilot for precision landing or at least a navball target or something like this. Maybe also autopilot and/or course plotting for rovers (get navpoints to navigate around obstacles if you have mapped the planet or so).

[jaddbo]

But I think it really should be stock.

I agree with you on that

[weeble]

I'm pretty sure it'll be implemented eventually. I think they're more concerned with bigger game play improvements, especially as scansat does this exact thing and is one of the more stable mods. So I'm guessing they're not too concerned with adding it right now...

[hawk_za]

+1 for scan-sat type mapping integration