Stuck in Minmus orbit

[Fantorngen]

Hello, i started playing 3 days ago but i know how everything works. So my current situation is that i landed on minmus, and when i did, i realised i had very little fuel left, i am playing on science mode btw. So, right now i have about 20 units of fuel left and i have a lot of science points on my vessel, i don't want it to go to waste as i have tried multiple times even getting there, So, since i don't have any docking ports whatsoever to refuel the vessel, i don't really know what to do. Currently in Minmus Orbit

Edited January 1, 2022 by Fantorngen

[James Kerman]

Welcome to the forum @Fantorngen, your question has been moved from KSP discussion to Gameplay Questions.

You can do a rescue mission which is a time honoured, regularly celebrated tradition in my space program! You need to build a vessel with a spare seat and a bit more DV than the stranded one, rendezvous, transfer crew and science and return to Kerbin. Another option would be to build a refueller with the klaw as that will allow you to dock to a vessel without a port.

[Fantorngen]

@James KermanI don't know if this is a stupid question, but do i need a docking port on the vessel that is orbiting Minmus? because in that case, i don't have one

 

[James Kerman]

Just now, Fantorngen said:

@James KermanI don't know if this is a stupid question, but do i need a docking port on the vessel that is orbiting Minmus? because in that case, i don't have one

 

There is no such thing as a stupid question, especially with a complex game like KSP. The Advanced Grabbing Unit or Klaw can be used to dock with vessels without docking ports, you just need to target a relatively flat surface and move into it at a 90 degree angle, it should 'grab' the stranded vessel and allow for fuel and crew transfer. Have you learnt how to dock yet? If not Minmus is a great place to learn because the slow orbital speeds make it a lot more forgiving than in Kerbin orbit.

[Fantorngen]

4 minutes ago, James Kerman said:

There is no such thing as a stupid question, especially with a complex game like KSP. The Advanced Grabbing Unit or Klaw can be used to dock with vessels without docking ports, you just need to target a relatively flat surface and move into it at a 90 degree angle, it should 'grab' the stranded vessel and allow for fuel and crew transfer. Have you learnt how to dock yet? If not Minmus is a great place to learn because the slow orbital speeds make it a lot more forgiving than in Kerbin orbit.

I have learnt how to dock, but first of all, i haven't gotten so far into science mode because i am struggling in getting points (obviously), and i can't find anything called "Advanced Grabbing Unit"

 

[James Kerman]

Okay so you haven't unlocked the node in the tech tree yet so it looks like a rescue mission is your only option.

[Aerodynamic Kerbal]

Do you have the science experiments storage thingy unlocked?

[OHara]

and you do not need to do that rescue right away. 

The game KSP made Kerbals perfectly happy to sit in space for long periods of time, so you can
+ rendezvous to get the 'Science' and leave the Kerbal there, or
+ repeat the mission with another Kerbal, repairing any mistakes so it succeeds, using quick-saves to re-try as many times as you like,
+ do different missions to build up Science,
until you can build a bigger craft to bring that Kerbal  home.

[DeadJohn]

2 hours ago, Fantorngen said:

... i have a lot of science points on my vessel ... do i need a docking port on the vessel that is orbiting Minmus? because in that case, i don't have one ... [snipped for brevity]

You don't have to dock to get that science. Alternatives to docking include:

1. A Kerbal on EVA can get near the part that holds science, right-click the part while controlling the Kerbal, pick "take data". That Kerbal then holds the science, and it will get stored in a capsule when your board.
2. Put spare fuel tanks on your rescue ship, use engineer EVA construction mode, move the tanks from your rescue ship to your stranded ship.

 

 

[Fantorngen]

3 hours ago, OHara said:

and you do not need to do that rescue right away. 

The game KSP made Kerbals perfectly happy to sit in space for long periods of time, so you can
+ rendezvous to get the 'Science' and leave the Kerbal there, or
+ repeat the mission with another Kerbal, repairing any mistakes so it succeeds, using quick-saves to re-try as many times as you like,
+ do different missions to build up Science,
until you can build a bigger craft to bring that Kerbal  home.

The problem is that i am struggling to find effective ways to gain science, often i get no science points at all.

[Scarecrow71]

1 hour ago, Fantorngen said:

The problem is that i am struggling to find effective ways to gain science, often i get no science points at all.

Have you farmed the KSC yet?  You can literally place a capsule with the gadgets on it on the launchpad and runway, run the experiments, and recover the vessel and get that sweet science.  Also, dont forget to fo crew reports and EVA reports; that science is just there for the taking!

[18Watt]

3 hours ago, Fantorngen said:

The problem is that i am struggling to find effective ways to gain science

I’m not sure if you realize this or not, but a rescue mission to your stranded ship can recover the science in the stranded ship.  You just need a Kerbal to EVA to transfer the science from one capsule to another.

To make that work, you’ll need to rendezvous both vessels, or get them close together.  You do not need to dock.  If there is a Kerbal in the stranded ship, have them exit the capsule.  Right-click on the capsule to bring up the Part Action Window, one of the options will be to ‘collect all science’.  Now the Kerbal has all the science from the capsule, and just needs to EVA (jet-pack) over to the rescue ship and board it.

Or, if you don’t have enough seats on the rescue craft, the Kerbal can store all the science in the rescue craft, and return to his own capsule to wait for a real rescue to happen.

 

[king of nowhere]

4 hours ago, 18Watt said:

I’m not sure if you realize this or not, but a rescue mission to your stranded ship can recover the science in the stranded ship.  You just need a Kerbal to EVA to transfer the science from one capsule to another.

To make that work, you’ll need to rendezvous both vessels, or get them close together.  You do not need to dock.  If there is a Kerbal in the stranded ship, have them exit the capsule.  Right-click on the capsule to bring up the Part Action Window, one of the options will be to ‘collect all science’.  Now the Kerbal has all the science from the capsule, and just needs to EVA (jet-pack) over to the rescue ship and board it.

Or, if you don’t have enough seats on the rescue craft, the Kerbal can store all the science in the rescue craft, and return to his own capsule to wait for a real rescue to happen.

 

Expanding on that, as you're stuck on minmus ground, you don't even need your ship: you can send your kerbal in EVA and use its own jetpack to orbit Minmus. that moonlet is small enough that you only need 180 m/s for it, a jetpack has some 500 m/s. so the rescue mission won't even need to land.

But, speaking of deltaV: you say your capsule has "20 units of fuel"; that doesn't tell us much. Depending on how big is your craft, you may even be able to return it to kerbin. What you need to look is the deltaV. How much deltaV do your ship has? it only needs 330 m/s, and it could return to kerbin on its own. If your pod is lightweight, your 200 kg of fuel may be enough for it.