Retrieving science from Mun mission?

[spaceboi]

Hi! I'm pretty new to KSP and just made my first Mun landing. I'm afraid, however, that I may have made a bit of a mistake here. I'm playing career mode and have been really starved for science points. My lander module was equipped with a lot of instruments and I took readings when I landed. I have a good deal of science stored however transmitting it only offers me 25-30% of its potential value. 

The lander itself is not designed for reentry to Kerbin. I sent it to the moon and am taking it back on a payload, which is just a large engine with a lot of fuel tanks with which I dock. This is not designed for reentry either. However the payload does have additional docking ports, and I planned to launch an escape pod module to dock with the payload and bring my crew back home. From what I've read, however, I won't be able to transmit all this scientific data to the escape pod.  

So I have ~200 science worth of points sitting on the lander module and no way to get anything from it without transmitting and surrendering 150 of those points. 

Is there a way for me to retrieve these science points? I looked into the mobile processing lab but I'm not 100% sure if it will do what I'd like here. I can however launch one and dock with the lander/payload module if that would help.

[Temstar]

Do you have kerbal space EVA capability? If you do then it's easy - just EVA your kerbal close to the scientific instruments and you will get a "Collect Data" option where he/she takes the data out of the instrument and on their person. You can collect all the data from different instruments in one go and return to your capsule and all the experiment data will then be stored in your (heat shielded) capsule. You don't even need to dock the two vessels to do this, Just park them in close range next to each other in orbit and perform your EVA.

[Plusck]

I second the EVA solution - and if you have the means (maybe a difficult contract?) to upgrade the astronaut complex then it opens up huge possibilities for getting more science per mission.

If that is still out of the question, could you design an oversized heatshield + docking port (with a little fuel + probe core underneath it, maybe simply docked one-way to the underside of the heatshield) just to give your lander something to dock with and therefore a way back home?

Spoiler

No idea if this will be stable enough on re-entry. I reduced ablator because you don't need much, but not too much to try to keep some weight down below. MOD-F5 would be a must if ever you try such a contraption.

FWIW, I built a larger version of this once because my Duna ship, sitting in LKO, needed more parachutes. The docking port held fine for a Duna landing, but I honestly couldn't say whether it will hold under the higher Kerbin g-forces when the parachutes open.

 

edit: the mobile processing lab will let you convert the science data (i.e. reports) into data points which then give you science points which you can send home - after a wait and plenty of electricity. It doesn't destroy the original science data / report at all. However your 200 points-worth-of-science-reports will still be sitting in the lander pod that you connected to the MPL to start with.

So yes, if you have a scientist free then putting an MPL in orbit (without forgetting power generation, plenty of batteries, antenna and RCS) is a good way to help a science-starved career, IMO. Other more veteranish people might disagree and tell you that spending the same money sending the same scientist on expeditions will get you science much more quickly.

Edited January 4, 2016 by Plusck

[Snark]

+1 to the EVA-kerbal-takes-the-science solution.

Just to be clear, the way you do this is to get your EVA kerbal right next to the instrument that has science, and then right-click the instrument.  That will bring up a little menu that includes a "take result" button; clicking that button will remove the science and store it on the kerbal.  When the kerbal then enters a command pod, the science will be stored in the command pod.

Note that the Science Jr. and mystery goo canisters will give you a scary warning "this will disable the instrument" when you try to take the data out of it.  Ignore the warning, just go ahead and do it.  Yes, it will render the instrument inoperable (unless you have a scientist to reset it), but that's fine-- you're done with the instrument anyway, you just need the science it contains.

[spaceboi]

Perfect, thank you!

As a followup, what would then be the point of the mobile processing lab? Missions where there is no return capability planned?

[MagicFireCaster]

Also next time you can use a cargo bay to protect you instruments during a re-entry to kerbin, or just put them in a place where they're not going to be affected by the atmospheric friction, like the upper part of your pod, also sometimes you collect so much data you just can't store it in a single pod (around 5 experiments max), so bringing back the experiments is the best option in those cases. 

[Plusck]

Just now, spaceboi said:

Perfect, thank you!

As a followup, what would then be the point of the mobile processing lab? Missions where there is no return capability planned?

Well, you get good contracts for putting mobile labs in orbit around or down on the Mun and Minmus. Once they're there, you can use them as the basis for a space station with a lander, so that rather than sending a whole lander assembly from Kerbin, you just send a shuttle and leave it in orbit while you use a lander to pick up science.

Since a Mun lander with science stuff on it cannot really be designed any better than to be capable of doing < down from orbit - short suborbital hop - up to orbit > (unless you use the LV-N) then to get all the science from all the biomes you will need several trips. Rather than grind it all at once, you can do a few biomes, bring the reports back up to orbit, then leave the scientist in the MPL churning out science points while you send the reports back home.

Edited January 4, 2016 by Plusck

[Temstar]

2 hours ago, MagicFireCaster said:

you collect so much data you just can't store it in a single pod (around 5 experiments max)

No it's not true, your pod can hold an infinite amount of data, as long as each piece of data is unique. Eg no two surface samples from the same biome.

[Snark]

4 hours ago, spaceboi said:

As a followup, what would then be the point of the mobile processing lab? Missions where there is no return capability planned?

Advantages of MPL:

• Generates a lot more science points from the same amount of experimental input.  Done properly, you can get essentially unlimited science for free.
• Provides the science without the need to return data physically.

Disadvantages of MPL:

• Big and clunky; you need to have a major mission to use one
• Have to have it staffed with high-level scientists, or it takes for-frickin'-ever
• Takes a super long time even if you do have high-level scientists

Personally, I never bother with it myself.  In a career game, I can max out the tech tree by stripping the Mun and Minmus of science, and get that done before an MPL would even barely be getting started.