Probe or Satellite?

[JackBush]

I've managed to land on Minmus and get back home with some nice science points. I'd like to keep getting science points. Can I do that with a probe or satellite? Which would you recommend? 

[GoSlash27]

JackBush,

 Sorry, I'm not quite understanding the question. If you want to recover science from the surface of Minmus, you'd use a probe. For science in orbit, you'd use a satellite. You've really only got 2 biomes in the space around Minmus (low & high), but they're very easy to do. A lander probe will give you the flexibility to hit all the biomes, but is more difficult.

Best,

-Slashy

[Sanic]

A lander with a single FL-T 200 tank and lightweight science instruments (anything but materials bay) can visit all the biomes on Minmus.

[Chakat Firepaw]

Probes and satellites can indeed get more science, provided you haven't "mined out" the biomes in question.

However, note that they are probably going to be transmitting their results rather than returning them.  For most experiments this means a far lower cap on how much science you can get, so you probably won't get anything from Minmus orbit even if R&D says that you don't have 100% yet.

So, if you have unvisited biomes:  Go ahead and send a probe to grab some more science from where you haven't been.

Now, if you are in career mode, (as opposed to 'just' science mode), you should send a satellite to sit orbiting Minmus even though you probably won't get any science from it directly[1].  Remember that one type of contract that pops up is "we would like some science data from <location>."  Should you happen to have a satellite or probe just sitting there with a thermometer, a radio and some power, you will have a customer that will give you money and a bit of their science in exchange for data which costs only taking control of a craft and clicking three times.

 

[1] And given that you are sending a probe to land, a minimal satellite can easily tag along for the ride.

[Wanderfound]

OTOH, there's no reason why a probe can't be a return mission. It's a lot easier to pull that off with a light probe than a heavy crewed capsule, too.

 

On the other other hand, the big thing you lose in probe missions is the scientist's ability to reset experiments. For near-Kerbin missions (Mun, Minmus) you usually can't beat a scientist plus probe core. 9,000m/s ΔV should see you able to hit three or four biomes on the Mun, or pretty much all of Minmus in a single trip.