Lander for Atmospheric Science (LATS)

The LATS probe is designed to collect and store useful atmospheric data on planets, for its use to assist other missions to those planets and to help in aerobraking maneuvers in their atmospheres.

It has a simple symmetrical design with a large sturdy base to eliminate the need of landing legs, promoting stability of the probe while landing on surfaces. The base is equipped with a heat shield to minimize damage to the probe. It is also equipped with a parachute, a deployable solar panel array and a comms dish.

Inside is where the most interesting feature of the probe lies.

The vizzy program aims to plot the Air density-versus-Altitude graph of an atmosphere on a MFD screen, which can be interacted with to know various air densities at different altitudes. Default calculation interval is 1km, but this can be easily changed. It also shows some additional useful info like height of the atmosphere, surface air density, surface air pressure, surface gravity and drag coefficient in the top right side of the screen. And if you like you can switch to see only the raw data of your descent through the atmosphere. The linearity of the plot at both ends of the graph, along with the drag coefficient, can be used to perform aerobraking maneuvers more precisely.

Here are some things to keep in mind...
• You must set the target planet to which the probe is going, you will be prompted at launch to do the same. The vizzy starts when the probe is in the SOI of the target planet.
• It is advised to land the probe on ground, and not in water/liquid bodies.
• The drag coefficient calculator kicks in at 1km altitude and works for less than 1 second. But you are advised to let it run for some time, say from 1km to 500m altitude to secure the calculation. Do not use parachute in between these altitudes(can use it any other time). You must also lock heading to retrograde.
• Click on the option on the screen to plot the graph only when the probe has landed.
• If you want to use my vizzy program in your craft, then you should make a square shaped MFD screen and load custom program (bigger the screen, the better).
• MOST IMPORTANTLY, enjoy my creation and the game ofcourse :)