Comets and science

[MrSystems]

I just intercepted my first comet, with a craft fitted with all the stock and DMagic Orbital science parts that can do science on asteroids. Not a single one of them would do science on the comet.

I get that DMagic might not have been updated yet, but I was surprised that none of the stock science parts were comet-aware.

Aside sending a crewed vessel to take a surface sample, is there any way to get science from a comet?

[James M]

Pretty sure that's the only way. Same as asteroids.

[Streetwind]

The amount of science from each individual comet/asteroid is limited, to account for the fact that you can science an infinite number of them.

[MrSystems]

9 hours ago, Streetwind said:

The amount of science from each individual comet/asteroid is limited, to account for the fact that you can science an infinite number of them.

Limited to 0, though?

And the science in the stock game is infinite thanks to contracts and the Mobile Processing Lab. In fact, with the MPL (or a bunch of them on separate craft, rather) you could unlock the entire tech tree without ever leaving Kerbin's SOI.

[Zhetaan]

19 minutes ago, MrSystems said:

Limited to 0, though?

And the science in the stock game is infinite thanks to contracts and the Mobile Processing Lab. In fact, with the MPL (or a bunch of them on separate craft, rather) you could unlock the entire tech tree without ever leaving Kerbin's SOI.

In fairness, you can do that without the MPL or contracts if you're willing to grind a bit.

Edited July 15, 2020 by Zhetaan

[Streetwind]

3 hours ago, MrSystems said:

Limited to 0, though?

No, limited to the surface sample.

[HansAcker]

18 hours ago, MrSystems said:

I get that DMagic might not have been updated yet

Yeah, the ASERT experiment is hardcoded to look for ModuleAsteroid and its companions, not for ModuleComet, yet.

18 hours ago, MrSystems said:

Aside sending a crewed vessel to take a surface sample

Comets produce distinct surface sample results for each of the 4 types (short, intermediate, long, interstellar) where asteroids are all the same. I seem to remember a mod that allowed probes to return surface samples but can't find it right now.

 

Edited July 15, 2020 by HansAcker

[MrSystems]

5 hours ago, HansAcker said:

I seem to remember a mod that allowed probes to return surface samples but can't find it right now.

 

Thanks for that idea! I couldn't find any mods that do it for a KSP version newer than 0.25, but I did find this thread that has the config needed to add it to a part myself.

The only question is, what part should I add it to? The klaw? I'll have to think about it.

[Daniel Carolan]

This is my first post, but I'm truly addicted to this game.  I've been content to just read old posts, because it seems like every question I would have to ask is archived at this point.  However, I'm kind of stuck here. 

I have a mission to get a surface sample from a comet.  A tricky mission, since I did it all stock with only the Alarm Clock mod and official DLM's. 

Long story short, I'm attached to the comet, my ISRU is refueling the ship for the trip home and my scientist (2 stars) is jetpacking all over the comet and I can't figure out how to get the surface sample.  I'm expecting "collect surface sample" to be on the list of things he can do on his little pop-up menu, but it's not showing up.

Is there a trick to this?  Please don't tell me there's a required part that I didn't bring along...

 

Edit:  In case anyone as dumb as myself finds themselves facing the same issue, while in EVA mode with your Kerbal, [Right Click] on the comet itself and and surface sample option is there.  Mission objective met, my Kerbals are now on their long flight back home.

Edited August 6, 2020 by Daniel Carolan
Figured out my problem

[Vony]

On 8/5/2020 at 11:27 AM, Daniel Carolan said:

This is my first post, but I'm truly addicted to this game.  I've been content to just read old posts, because it seems like every question I would have to ask is archived at this point.  However, I'm kind of stuck here. 

I have a mission to get a surface sample from a comet.  A tricky mission, since I did it all stock with only the Alarm Clock mod and official DLM's. 

Long story short, I'm attached to the comet, my ISRU is refueling the ship for the trip home and my scientist (2 stars) is jetpacking all over the comet and I can't figure out how to get the surface sample.  I'm expecting "collect surface sample" to be on the list of things he can do on his little pop-up menu, but it's not showing up.

Is there a trick to this?  Please don't tell me there's a required part that I didn't bring along...

 

Edit:  In case anyone as dumb as myself finds themselves facing the same issue, while in EVA mode with your Kerbal, [Right Click] on the comet itself and and surface sample option is there.  Mission objective met, my Kerbals are now on their long flight back home.

the problem I met was that I could take a sample, but it is not classified as surface sample for some reason and I am not able to complete that mission