Where is Science "Kept"? If Science Jr. Abandoned in Space - is Science Lost?

[JoeSchmuckatelli]

I'm trying to stack missions and ferry passengers as well as conduct science - but my reentry vehicle looks dangerously long with the two passenger attachment and a Science Jr. below the capsule.  If I put the Science Jr. on below my heat shield, do the science then drop it before reentry... do I lose the value of the science?

[swjr-swis]

Yes, without any other action you would lose the science.

The workaround would be to have a Kerbal in EVA move up to the Science Jr and right-click to 'Collect Data', then board the capsule again. The science will then be automatically stored in the capsule. You can see this once boarded in the rightclick menu of the capsule.

When you collect the data, you may get a message saying that it will render the module inoperable. That's ok, you are taking the data which is what you want, and the module is going to be detached and presumably burn up anyway.

You can test how this works, if you have reverting a launch enabled, by launching and doing these actions on the launchpad. Then when comfortable with it, launch and do it the same way in orbit.

Edited December 8, 2015 by swjr-swis
checked the rightclick menu

[Rocket In My Pocket]

If you put a probe core and some parachutes on it, you should be able to recover it once it lands, assuming it lands safely. Without a probe core or a Command module the game will consider it "debris" and it'll be worthless.

On a side note if it seems dangerously long, perhaps consider placing the parachutes along the back/landing gear along it's belly in such a way that it lands horizontally instead of vertically?

Failing either of those you could put an antenna on it and transmit the science back to Kerbin before jettisoning the Science Junior, of course this will mean doing more flights overall to gain the same amount of science.

Best of luck!

[mrclucks]

Any kerbal can collect science and store it in a capsule(where it stays untill recovered or taken by kerbals).  There are some expirements which are one time use only ,like the science jr, which will become inoperable after taking the data.  Scientists of a certain level will be able to reset one time use expirements so you can use them again.  

Please note that kerbals and pods can only carry one type of expirement per biome per situation at a time

[Geschosskopf]

5 hours ago, JoeSchmuckatelli said:

I'm trying to stack missions and ferry passengers as well as conduct science - but my reentry vehicle looks dangerously long with the two passenger attachment and a Science Jr. below the capsule.  If I put the Science Jr. on below my heat shield, do the science then drop it before reentry... do I lose the value of the science?

When you run an experiment, the data for it is now inside the experiment part itself.  There it will remain until removed somehow.  Transmitting the data converts it into science points and removes the data itself from the game.  You can also have a Kerbal on EVA move next to the experiment part, right-click on the part, and take the data (sometimes called downloading, depends on the experiment part).  The data is now in the Kerbal.  When the Kerbal goes back inside the rocket, the data is moved into whatever part of the rocket had the hatch he entered (capsule, passenger module, etc.).  It is therefore possible to move all the data from the individual experiment parts into 1 capsule, the only restriction being that each capsule can only hold 1 copy of the same data (ex., if you have 2 Goo and fire them both in the same place, you can only put 1 result in the capsule).  Data can also be moved from capsule to capsule.  EVA a Kerbal, right-click on the capsule, and take the data.  Now ALL the data is in the Kerbal.  Have the Kerbal enter another capsule, passenger module, etc., and the data will be stored in that part now.

So basically, there is no need to return the actual experiment parts.  Just put all the data in the capsule then jettison the experiment parts.

[fourfa]

1 hour ago, Geschosskopf said:

the only restriction being that each capsule can only hold 1 copy of the same data

The only exception is the science lab (Mobile Processing Lab) which can hold multiple copies of the same data.