Ability to transfer surface samples/EVA reports/etc. between docked ships.

[DrHotdog]

I've been enjoying 0.22 so far but while playing last night it struck me that I'd really like some way to transfer surface samples, EVA reports and the like from one docked ship to another. I'd got to the point in career mode where I'd unlocked docking ports and was excited about the prospect of starting to use the more fuel efficient, elegant and realistic feeling 'lander + command module + service module' (a.k.a. Apollo-like) approach for missions to the Mun and beyond but realised that without a way to transfer the science gathered on the surface from the lander to the command module for return to Kerbin I'd be missing out on some of the science return if I did. Currently if you want maximum science all your landers, or at least their pods, need to be capable of return, re-entry and soft landing on Kerbin which pushes you into using ship and mission designs that just look and feel wrong, at least to me, e.g. Mun landers with parachutes, flimsy lander pods being used for re-entry, etc, etc.

One of the reasons that I like KSP so much is that it manages to combine being fun and accessible with enough realism to be engaging and satisfying. Generally speaking the approaches that work well in real life work well in KSP (and vice versa) because much the same underlying principles are at work, and for me that contributes significantly to the immersivity of the game. Here though is an example of the game mechanics (or rather the absence of a particular mechanism) pushing the player away from works best in real life and that does irk me a little.

This all relates to the more general issue of the side effects of the perfectly logical science bonus you get for returning samples and specimens to Kerbin instead of just transmitting results. With an incentive to bring lander pods, goo containers and science bays back to the surface of Kerbin it pushes players into hitting the atmosphere with increasingly bulky, lumpy and implausible looking return vehicles instead of the traditional and far more believable command pod + parachute(s). Aesthetics and realism issues aside (which I accept don't matter to everyone, and should take second priority to gameplay considerations) if this becomes standard practice it's going to be even more difficult for Squad to introduce either re-entry heating or more realistic aerodynamics without massive upheavals to game balance, and I think both are still official Planned Features.

[Lexar]

YES! I agree, this would be amazing.

[iLlama]

yes, that would be extremely useful for apollo style landers (most of the science is stored into the lander and not in the coomand module) and for space stations (science modules don't need to be comm modules as well) and i think that is an essential feature that can lead to the possibility to store data in a different way than it's stored now and this means it could be keeped stored until you decide to transmit it, pass it to a docked vessel or simply retrieve the capsule, this may also lead to a science storage unit and science tugs.

[iLlama]

i was thinking that it cuold be stored in specific parts (like the capsule or science storage units) and with right click you can open a list of all the experiments performed and stored, then there would be a button for transmitting the data or transfer it into another storage unit (same way fuel transfer works) and when you retrieve the vessel the science counts as retrieved

[SofusRud]

I am in total agreement with everyone here. My first Apollo-style mission was a massive disappointment science-wise because of a distinct lack of sample transferability.

[DrHotdog]

iLlama, you can already review the crew report, surface samples and EVA reports stored in a pod via the right click menu and decide whether to continue storing, discard or transmit each one. The idea of implementing transfer of this stored material to other pods or dedicated storage components in the same vessel via a mod-right click the same as fuel transfer is a good one though, that would be a nice way of doing it.

Edited October 18, 2013 by DrHotdog

[Godot]

I agree ... if a transfer between docked capsules isn´t possible at the moment, Apollo style landings (which I used predominately during the past few versions) don´t make any sense (at least not if you want to get the full amount of science for your samples/reports instead of doing multiple EVAs and transmitting the finding at a loss)

[RoboRay]

A method to transfer stored EVA reports and samples from one pod to another is very much needed.

I guess you can design around the other science parts, for now. For an Apollo-style lander, put the experiment parts on top of the lander as a detachable unit, and put the docking port on the experiment module. So, after the surface expedition, you'd dock the lander to the orbiter, detach the rest of the lander from the experiment module, and bring the orbiter home with the experiment module still on the docking port.

Edited October 18, 2013 by RoboRay

[DrHotdog]

I guess you can design around the other science parts, for now. For an Apollo-style lander, put the experiment parts on top of the lander as a detachable unit, and put the docking port on the experiment module. So, after the surface expedition, you'd dock the lander to the orbiter, detach the rest of the lander from the experiment module, and bring the orbiter home with the experiment module still on the docking port.

This is what I've been doing but the parts that store surface science results (i.e. lander cans, goo units and Science Jr.) are pretty big. Even if you limit yourself to, say, just a Mk1 lander can with two goo units the 'experiment module' still ends up roughly the same size as the Mk1-2 command pod that it's docked to. You do get to be a bit more efficient by not taking all your return trip fuel and engines down to the surface and back, and by ditching the rest of the lander before return, but the resulting re-entry vehicle just doesn't seem right. Imagine the vessel below after decoupling the lander base and service module:

[RoboRay]

Yeah. In Apollo terms, it would seem a lot more reasonable to leave just your SM in munar orbit and make the CM part of the LM ascent stage.

Edited October 18, 2013 by RoboRay

[LostElement]

One of the best ideas I have ever heard. I would love this feature.

[dlrk]

Sounds like a very good and necessary idea.

[Pulsar]

I'm wholeheartedly support this. this will be useful in my interplanetary mission too.

[possum]

Agreed. This needs to happen in 0.22.1.

[BFGfreak]

I would also like ways to transfer science between capsules. It would certainly help my Jool mothership missions for sure as I can have speciallized landers for each moon and transfer them all back to the mothership in orbit.

[CressAlbane]

I agree. This could also make space stations more practical, since experiments from repeated "scout" missions could be stored, then brought down all at once with another mission.

[CrazyCanadian]

+1 , however this can be designed around. I went to tylo with a 1500 Ton ship (starting mass) and returned with the same shuttle (although I gapped on chutes so had to pick em up in orbit on return instead of landing same pod) ship looked pretty stylish.

http://imgur.com/a/ktKka#0

But.......... +1+1+1+1+1 .. cause I already told myself, I bet I cant transfer experiments, then found this.

[ThesaurusRex]

No question about it. This must be added.

[L.J. Silver]

Encountered same problem yesterday so :

> came to forum > no solution found > Mod solution into game > SHARE SOLUTION

it's crude, but it works. Hope to work more on it until other modders or Squad make it better.

Edited October 24, 2013 by L.J. Silver

[codiak]

Encountered same problem yesterday so :

> came to forum > no solution found > Mod solution into game > SHARE SOLUTION

it's crude, but it works. Hope to work more on it until other modders or Squad make it better.

Woho! Thanks for the Link! You saved my current mission

I also strongly suggest this feature to become stock!

[chyungspice]

Woho! Thanks for the Link! You saved my current mission

I also strongly suggest this feature to become stock!

Yeah I had this whole complicated system where I sent two bases to the mun and 5 rovers. The rovers were supposed to gather science in all the different biomes and then transfer it to the bases. That science would gat transferred to kerbin with spaceplanes. I got all the stuff there and realized I couldn't transfer science.... That mod was so helpful!

[Horn Brain]

Supposedly now you can just use a Kerbal on EVA to collect the data.

[Sokar408]

Did this ever become a thing?

[Eric S]

If you mean using a Kerbal on EVA to move the data, yes it did, it was part of the 0.23 update. There's also a mod or two that I think can do this without EVA'ing, but I haven't used them so I can't comment on them beyond their existence.