Sample Return Capsules: Good idea or not?

[Sanix25]

I've been putting a lot of thought into making a system for KSP that provides an as realistic as possible Sample Return Capsule system exactly like the ones on the Hayabusa, OSIRIS-REx, Stardust, and Genesis missions, and I need some suggestions about how I'm going to organize the parts, and possibly some help from more experienced modders on how I'm going to get the end result just right. Also, if this is just a bad idea, I need to know before I put in the hours modeling these things.

SRC's, if you didn't know, are tiny, flying-saucer shaped devices which are meant to collect a small sample of asteroid rock or solar wind and reenter into the Earth's atmosphere. They contain their own avionics and parachutes, so it will need to be its own probe core.

Right now the plan is to have 4 different SRC's, each except one modeled after a real life sample return mission.

The first is the SRC from the Genesis mission, which had circular discs called collection wafers inside of it that were meant to be exposed to the solar wind to collect samples and return them to Earth for further study. These collection wafers look a lot like DMagic's solar collector instrument, because that's what DMagic modeled them after.

The second is the SRC from the Stardust mission, which is similar to the Genesis SRC except it uses a grid containing aerogel instead of collection wafers. The aerogel was meant to minimize the impact of particles which are traveling faster than high-speed bullets in order to preserve them as much as possible, so this SRC will probably be more expensive, more efficient, and researched later than the collection wafer SRC.

The third is an SRC that uses the TAGSAM device on the OSIRIS-REx mission (touch-and-go sample acquisition device). It's a small, short cylinder that's open at one end,and it's meant to blast pieces of rock off of the surface of an asteroid using a jet of pressurized nitrogen gas. The original design has a separate arm that is not inside the SRC itself, which then deposits the head of the TAGSAM inside of the SRC.

The fourth is a cheaper, less efficient method to the one above that uses a shorter arm with a smaller drill bit which is contained entirely within the SRC. This does not have a real-life version but I feel like it'd be much less confusing to create an SRC that has the arm already inside of it.

So do you guys think it's a good idea? Do you have any suggestions?

[MK3424]

Yes, it certainly is a good idea since the Soviet did it with the Luna program.

But it's gonna be a hassle to get the surface sample in the the return capsule.

[Drew Kerman]

Past discussion on the topic. I like it

[_Augustus_]

Definitely sounds cool, always wanted to do useful Luna and Duna Sample Return missions.

[hieywiey]

Yes, it certainly is a good idea since the Soviet did it with the Luna program.

But it's gonna be a hassle to get the surface sample in the the return capsule.

Ship Manifest allows you to move science results. So problem solved!

[MK3424]

Ship Manifest allows you to move science results. So problem solved!

Yeah, but not all probes can store many science results as they want to.

[jonrd463]

This would be great to have. As it is now, I have to make a probe with a core, heat shield, science container, power source, and parachute to pull off this kind of mission. An all-in-one part would be great for part reduction.

[hieywiey]

I haven't tried modeling before, but since this is a part that I REALLY want, I will give it a go. I probably won't be able to do the Unity stuff though, just blender.

[X10Z]

Could there also be an inline or radial sample collecting part I could attach to my probes?

[TrainEngie]

"SRC's, if you didn't know, are tiny, flying-saucer shaped devices which are meant to collect a small sample of asteroid rock or solar wind and reenter into the Earth's atmosphere. They contain their own avionics and parachutes, so it will need to be its own probe core."

Oh, I thought this was an idea for probe science containers...