Can you attach parts after launch/mid-flight?

[Zo San]

Mistakes were made.

I've got a probe going to Minmus, jam-packed with science bits and designed for re-entry at Kerbin... except for the completely missing parachute of course.

Additionally, there is no docking port for the eventual orbital rendevouz with a space plane to bring it down with (I haven't messed around with space planes yet but I imagine simply fitting it into a cargo hold where it would be bouncing around on the way down without docking support doesn't sound particularly safe).

Any way out of this? Would love to be able to rendevouz with it and have an astronaut MacGuyver a parchute or even a docking port onto it but I imagine that's impossible?

Edited July 29, 2016 by Zo San

[coredumpster]

If you return the probe to LKO ( Low Kerbin Orbit ) you can rendezvous with it, and then an astronaut on EVA can remove the science from the probe and return with it back to KSC.

As an alternative, if you have the claw, you can rendezvous and attach to the probe to bring it back to KSC.  Be careful with heating on re-entry though if you do this.  This is probably harder than retrieving the science on EVA and requires more tech.

If you want to use mods, KIS/KAS does allow engineers on EVA to attach/remove parts.

 

[Coga19000]

coredumpster has hit the nail on the head on this one. I should advise you, though, that the Klaw is one or the more consistently buggy parts, and a prime target for Kraken attacks. In this particular case, you should only use it after you ensure that you don't have the Delta-V margin to return it to LKO- but if you even considered the act of a Kerbal jury-rigging a parachute onto it, I guess you are confident you do have such a margin.

Alternatively, if you are not opposed to mods, KAS  is an incredibly well-received and well-made mod that allows you to do exactly that: attach or remove parts from spaceships with Kerbals. In this particular case, stock Kerbal already allows you to transfer science, so you don't need it now, but you will find it to be a really useful mod in many parts of a game, especially anything involving extraplanetary construction. It also provides tools to facilitate moving parts around, connecting them structurally, and transferring fuel and resources without docking. If your PC can handle it, there's no reason not to have it.

[Zo San]

25 minutes ago, coredumpster said:

If you return the probe to LKO ( Low Kerbin Orbit ) you can rendezvous with it, and then an astronaut on EVA can remove the science from the probe and return with it back to KSC.

As an alternative, if you have the claw, you can rendezvous and attach to the probe to bring it back to KSC.  Be careful with heating on re-entry though if you do this.  This is probably harder than retrieving the science on EVA and requires more tech.

If you want to use mods, KIS/KAS does allow engineers on EVA to attach/remove parts.

 

I've occasionally thought about the EVA science grab and have another question regarding that for anyone that knows: if you have a probe with some science parts and experiments on board and you end up in a situation like this (brought probe back to LKO, have an astronaut grab the science and get into a re-entry craft and bring the experiment info down with them to Kerbin), will you still get the multipliers for 'recovering a vessel' that has been to XYZ places? While you are physically bringing the experiments back 'in person' as opposed to transmitting, you also are not bringing the physical vessel/equipment that was at the actual location, so the answer doesn't seem clear cut to me.

I don't think I have the claw yet but I will look into it, sounds like a very cool solution. Does its grip strength resemble that of say a docking port? I.e. if the heat can be managed, would the grip strength be good enough to keep everything physically attached well?

I will look into KIS/KAS, although I'm not keen on installing loads of mods that functionality sounds fantastic.

Many thanks for the help!

[coredumpster]

The science multiplier is based on where the science was gathered ( the Situation and Biome ).

http://wiki.kerbalspaceprogram.com/wiki/Science

There is additional science you get the first time you recover a craft that went to X, but that doesn't modify the science you gain from any experiments that you run.

So if you don't recover the craft, you will get 100% of the science from the experiments.  You will only not get the money for craft recovery.

The klaw (to use proper kerbalese) is the Advanced Grabbing Unit.  It works like a universal docking port, allowing you to attach to any vessel or debris ( or asteroid ).  You can do the same things as with a docking port, such as fuel transfer, etc.

http://wiki.kerbalspaceprogram.com/wiki/Advanced_Grabbing_Unit

[Zo San]

1 hour ago, Coga19000 said:

coredumpster has hit the nail on the head on this one. I should advise you, though, that the Klaw is one or the more consistently buggy parts, and a prime target for Kraken attacks. In this particular case, you should only use it after you ensure that you don't have the Delta-V margin to return it to LKO- but if you even considered the act of a Kerbal jury-rigging a parachute onto it, I guess you are confident you do have such a margin.

Alternatively, if you are not opposed to mods, KAS  is an incredibly well-received and well-made mod that allows you to do exactly that: attach or remove parts from spaceships with Kerbals. In this particular case, stock Kerbal already allows you to transfer science, so you don't need it now, but you will find it to be a really useful mod in many parts of a game, especially anything involving extraplanetary construction. It also provides tools to facilitate moving parts around, connecting them structurally, and transferring fuel and resources without docking. If your PC can handle it, there's no reason not to have it.

Sounds very cool, I am going to look at adding it right now. Feels like it might make engineers a bit more pertinent too depending on how it works. I like the idea of bringing the actual probe that's been there with all its equipment back to ground so I'm going to try to add a parachute via KAS and if that doesn't work for some reason I might try to add a docking port and eventually get a shuttle to it.

Edited July 29, 2016 by Zo San

[bewing]

2 hours ago, Coga19000 said:

 I should advise you, though, that the Klaw is one or the more consistently buggy parts, and a prime target for Kraken attacks.

This is actually out-dated info. With version 1.1, the Klaw is now bug-free. I use it constantly. To make the part nicely balanced, Squad made it so that it is very finicky about attaching to target vessels, though. So you have to be very good at docking maneuvers before you really want to mess with it. Otherwise you will be very frustrated.

You can, in fact, just use a detachable klaw to attach a couple parachutes to your vessel. Then you will get credit for recovering a vehicle that has been to Minmus.

[Snark]

2 hours ago, Zo San said:

I've occasionally thought about the EVA science grab and have another question regarding that for anyone that knows: if you have a probe with some science parts and experiments on board and you end up in a situation like this (brought probe back to LKO, have an astronaut grab the science and get into a re-entry craft and bring the experiment info down with them to Kerbin), will you still get the multipliers for 'recovering a vessel' that has been to XYZ places? While you are physically bringing the experiments back 'in person' as opposed to transmitting, you also are not bringing the physical vessel/equipment that was at the actual location, so the answer doesn't seem clear cut to me.

The answer is no, you don't get the credit.  Science data doesn't count as a "ship" or as part of one.

"Recovery of a vessel that has been to <place>" only applies to actual physical vessel parts, not science.

[Loren Pechtel]

9 hours ago, Zo San said:

I've occasionally thought about the EVA science grab and have another question regarding that for anyone that knows: if you have a probe with some science parts and experiments on board and you end up in a situation like this (brought probe back to LKO, have an astronaut grab the science and get into a re-entry craft and bring the experiment info down with them to Kerbin), will you still get the multipliers for 'recovering a vessel' that has been to XYZ places? While you are physically bringing the experiments back 'in person' as opposed to transmitting, you also are not bringing the physical vessel/equipment that was at the actual location, so the answer doesn't seem clear cut to me.

The vessel isn't recovered so you don't get the science for the recovery.  I found that just recently--I had gathered science from every biome on Minmus and brought it home.  After doing this a tourist bus touched down on Minmus and I got the bonus for recovering a vessel that had been to Minmus.  The thing is the science hopper was a one-way mission, the scientist brought his knowledge home on a tourist bus but his craft is still out there picking up distressed Kerbals.