A couple ideas for more science experiments.

[Sammys Stuffs]

I understand the team desire to cut down on single use science experiments but I feel like this has left the amount of experiments feeling rather barren. So I've made a small bundle of ideas for different experiments that could be done, keeping in mind the design goal of making all the experiments more involved than simple button presses.

Telescopes!

Spoiler

Telescopes!

From long to short range I think interactive and usable telescopes would go a long way, and could even be integrated into interstellar science. As a general rule of thumb all cameras would capture science purely as raw data, and that data would all need to be sent at once, as opposed to most data's ability to be paused/unpaused at will. 

Short range camera:
A durable and XS part meant to be radially attached to rover and probes. Usable on a planetary surface. A directly controllable camera (probably through some small UI element with a couple on screen buttons?) used to take  surface pictures of scattered terrain features (like the KSP 1 science arm terrain features where they're fairly common, and biome dependent). This would further encourage the use of disposable AI crew vehicles. And give you something to add to them beyond the single arm/science JR. It wouldn't be a ton of science of course. But just enough to make rovers feel even more worthwhile.

Orbital camera:
A small or medium part size camera meant for taking photographs of bodies it is orbiting (visually something similar to the HiRISE camera?) Regardless of how it's being used it must be in the high orbit of a planet/moon. And can then gain a modest sum of science per biome photographed (to encourage polar orbits, orbital captures, etc). Maybe even make a higher res orbital model of each planet used explicitly to render out the photos taken? (like full on trailer quality, used only in rendering photos to make it less graphically intensive).

Deep space and inter-planetary telescopes:
Something akin to James Webb and Hubble. medium or even large parts that can only be used near the edge of SOI for planets, not usable while in the SOI of a moon. Uniquely though this telescope doesn't actually do science on the body that it's orbiting and instead gathers science based around other planets in the same star system, or even on other stars. I'm assuming the bridge from regular KSP'ing to colonization to interstellar is going to be a while on most science saves. This would be decently early in progression by comparison and would be some of the first glimpses to the other stars and their planets. It requires a clear line of sight to whatever body it's taking an image of (maybe even require it to be aimed just like the other two? Could be fun). 

Artificial gravity wheels!

Spoiler

coming in a handful of sizes all gravity wheels would cover the exact same uses. Specifically needing to be in high orbit. It would be similar to the current science lab in the game, but take longer and require crew and electricity, and at a higher weight (but will yield more science for these increased drawbacks). A long term science experiment mostly meant to make space stations look more interesting and to have more moving parts.

Plane science!

Spoiler

Altimeter probe:

the altimeter probe would differ from the current sniffer by taking science on the basis of altitude in an atmosphere instead of current biome. Otherwise it is similarly sized and shaped. you would need to sustain your altitude at any of the three different heights that you can see right under  your altitude on the Nav-ball (sea level, close, far) for 2:00. This would be an interesting and fun challenge as especially high altitude flights on planets like Duna would be hard to pull off. a nosecone variant, as well as a probe variant just like how the sniffer has it set up would be the best way.

Accelerometer probe:
Where the sniffer uses biomes, and the altimeter uses height, the accelerometer uses current ground relative velocity in planets with atmospheres. This experiment could also double as an albeit inefficient air intake. This probe would have multiple fairly strict speeds meant to be maintained for 1:30. 95-105-m/s 190-210m/s and 350-450m/s. Functioning as an air intake alongside science would be an interesting dual purpose for this part, and it would be restricted to a medium sized nose piece.

As it stands the only dedicated science part for a plane landed on another planet is the sniffer. And I think that's a shame. It would be fun to have an excuse to send multiple winged probes to atmospheric worlds (or even a single massive plane probe). 

I hope you enjoyed reading my ramblings after having delved into the current For science! update. Thus far I'm halfway through tier two in a max difficulty ramp up save file (200% reentry heating, -50% science), and this came as a response to feeling like the current science system, while a good base, is rather lacking. I hope these are some fun ideas for you all to chew on! Have a lovely morning, evening, or night! ^w^

~Sammy