Stock probes

[Warzouz]

I use non landing probes for eliptic polar orbits. They have a thermometer and a gravity detector. I use them to get low space temperature and low and high space gravity per biome. Having that before landing max science. I gathered 2500science from 6 joolian probes before my landers got 37500 more

What do you use probes for ?

[Speeding Mullet]

I use probes for, well probes. But also for a variety of other applications including, but not limited to:

Micro landers

Directional control (i.e. when you have a horizontal rover but would find a vertical control input useful)

As part of a larger unmanned vehicle. SSTO cargo delivery for example.

In satellites

Structural use

Hope that helps

SM

[Warzouz]

Well, I forgot to tell that I use probe core in most of my Tugs, but it's only to not beeing converted to debris while waiting for the carried ship to return. Also, I used a lot of probe core on various mission to ship payload to space station. But again, it's not "really" a probe/artifical satellite.

[Superfluous J]

I like using a probe to scout out where my bases are going to go. Probes, being very small, can go VERY far on a little fuel. Also, because they're light, cheap, and unmanned it doesn't hurt to lose one. You can bounce around a half dozen times around Mun until you find a nice flat spot and then when you're landing your base, you can go right for the probe and be sure that if you land near it, you'll have a flat area for your base.

[el_coyoto]

I tend to use probe cores everywhere, even on my manned vehicles. If anything goes wrong, it frees up one seat for a rescue mission...

Even if nothing goes wrong (lol), I like the operational freedom of having a vehicle that doesn't require a crew to be piloted, especially when launching exploration armadas where the bases, rovers and other auxiliary systems can fly on their own.

[Warzouz]

Yes yes. The topic wasn't about using probes core in our designs, but about lauching a probe/satellite to orbit. What for, except to gather gravity and temperature data ?

[Starhawk]

An excellent use that I read about recently is as an interplanetary launch window finder. Put a probe/satellite in a solar orbit with the same parameters as Kerbin, only just ahead of it.

You can then create maneuver nodes on the probe's orbit to see when you have a launch window to another body.

Happy landings!

[Warzouz]

Yes, great idea. Do you have a link ?

[Starhawk]

Not at the moment. There wasn't much more to it than what I wrote.

The idea seems pretty straightforward. Say you want to go to Duna and assume the probe is already in place. You create a maneuver node on the probe's orbit. Add prograde until the probe's orbit touches Duna's orbit. Then grab the maneuver node and slide it along the orbit line until you get an encounter. If you don't get one, right-click the maneuver node and use the little button underneath to advance the maneuver node one or more full orbit(s), and then slide it around until you have an encounter.

You then know when to launch to have an encounter with Duna. You can then remove the maneuver node.

I would imagine you might want to add a small amount of time to the time shown by the maneuver node, because Kerbin will be slightly behind the probe. Of course, you still have to make sure you get the ejection angle right as well as the timing, but that is just about patience and fine-tuning the maneuver node that you actually use for your burn.

Happy landings!

Edited April 13, 2015 by Starhawk
clarity

[el_coyoto]

Yes yes. The topic wasn't about using probes core in our designs, but about lauching a probe/satellite to orbit. What for, except to gather gravity and temperature data ?

Wooops

Apart from keeping a probe in orbit to complete the "gather science around ..." contracts, I use probes to unlock quick science with the reusable science experiments as a vanguard to manned exploration, or "science heavy" probes for targets where returning kerballed flights is too expensive/too dangerous. (eve landing, jool atmo, etc.)

My most stereotypical use is sending a light probe rover to scout for an anomaly or an interesting future base location and then use the rover as landing target for the manned landings. I love trying to land on top of that poor little rover...

[stibbons]

I send probes to scout out landing sites. In a career game I'll drop three or four probes in different parts of a body. It might be a little cheaty, but once a probe is on the surface you can zoom in and out and get a good idea of the terrain for several kilometres around it, looking for good flat landing sites for a crewed mission. For bonus points, a robotic rover can drive around to find the perfect landing site, and then sit on the surface acting as a beacon to home in on during descent.

For a modded game they become much more important. First, I send one or two big Remotetech relay satellites, that sit in a high orbit and have the big antennas to communicate back to Kerbin. Then the smaller Scansat probes, that maneuvre in to polar orbits and scan for resources and map data. Then the robotic landers for initial surface science and landing site investigation. Only then do I think about sending actual Kerbals.

[Bev7787]

I use my standard probes (Probodyne OKTO, Thermometer, 2 mystery goo, Gravioli detector, Material bay, LV-909, fuel tank, solar panels and antenna) for contract completion while managing to squeeze science in as well. I place some in polar orbit for good photographs