Early results from surface experiments

[Foxster]

Here are some science returns I've had so far from the new surface deployed experiments...

	Duna	Minmus
Mystery Goo	178 (about 50%)	114 (about 50%)
Weather	237 (about 50%)	No atmos
Seismic	0 (0%)	400 (100%)
Ion collector	Atmos	335 (about 65%)

These were deployed by a 5* scientist to maximise science returns.

It looks like the ion collector only works in a vacuum and the weather station only works if there is an atmosphere. 

The seismic sensor looks like it gives good returns but it's hard to get data. It seems you need to slam something massive and fast into the ground as close to the sensor as possible. I took along an extra little craft just for this purpose to Minmus and got lots of science. On Duna I relied on dropping some spare stuff just after lift-off and this gave zero science. 

Each experiment, the antenna and the control box all use one unit of power. Meaning you need 5 units of power for a full suite. The deployable solar panel and the RTG each produce 4 units of power when deployed by a 5* engineer, so you need two (assuming you have Comm Network turned on and so need the antenna and you deploy 3 experiments). 

I don't know how often the science gets generated and sent back. During the transfer from Duna (2 years?) I got several science return messages and these dried up by the time I got back. 

I don't know if I'll get the extra missing science from the experiments over time e.g. I only have about 50% return on the weather experiment on Duna. 

I also deployed the experiments in all the biomes on Kerbin. As you'd expect the returns were much less, typically around 12-25 science per experiment in total. Worth the effort?

Overall I'd say they have made an interesting alternative way to generate science. They don't seem OP considering the expense and time needed, not forgetting you'll also need a scientist and a engineer along, whereas you can manage with just a scientist for the older experiments. I could previously do a science game play-through in a couple of hours and this took me several hours longer but some of that was learning the new stuff and messing about deploying on Kerbin, which probably isn't worth it if you are going for speed. 

Edited June 2, 2019 by Foxster