PhanThom

So a higher number for throughput is better? that would mean that the older antennas are better in terms of throughput, seems kinda illogical to me

So then a higher number <i>is</i> better. Kind of weird then that the older tier antenna has better throughput

I never get that glitch, every antenna seems to work fine for me so far. Do you know what throughput is and if it even has any effect in the game?

ok, but what does throughput mean then?

I tried exactly the same thing and it seems that the probes despawn if you fly too far away from them. So you would have to stick around for them to land or something but that is obviously not an option when you're flying a jet. I don't see this idea working unless you use mods or Squad finds a way to fix this. I was thinking I was all smart with this idea so then I was pretty bummed out it didn't work

Not sure what you meant with the first question but concerning getting back to kerbin from the mun I suggest to lift off in the opposite direction in which the mun is orbiting kerbin

You don't need either RCS or solar panels for going to the mun or minmus. Solar panels are only needed for unmanned flights and I usually don't use RCS unless I need to dock with something. So I suggest to invest in fuel and engine related things (if available) instead of solar panels and rcs so that you will be able to fly longer and such, making it easier to get to and back from the mun. And yes, your craft needs to be back on kerban soil (or water) to be able to recover it.

I've never had that before. Perhaps it's just a glitch. You should send a message to Squad. https://kerbalspaceprogram.com/contact.php

So everything seems relatively straightforward, I'm not noticing much significant difference between the antennas I have now except the amount of power they cost when transmitting. The newer (more recently unlocked in the tech tree) antennas use more power and the transmission interval is shorter which I think is good (?) but there's also something called total throughput. That decreases with every tier of antenna. Isn't more throughput positive or is having a smaller number for throughput better? And what does this even do? I thought it meant that an antenna with higher throughput would be able to send more complete data packets so that you get the most possible science points but no matter what antenna I put on my ship, it always gives the same percentages in that little popup window you get after doing science. Could someone explain all this to me?