Space Station Science?

[Lexar]

I was thinking about ways to make space stations more than just refueling stations.

Imagine if you could dock with a space station made for science, transfer all of the physical data (Mainly surface samples) to a "lab" and have them run experiments on the things you have collected. It would take HUGE amounts of power to start and run these experiments though, so you would need the large solar panels along with the large batteries.

The "Science Lab" could require 4 kerbals to do the experimenting, 8 of the largest solar panels to run the experiments, and maybe a 20,000 electrical charge (5 of the largest batteries) to start the lab.

Reasons may be for later in development though. Like you discover technology, kind of like what has been done on the International Space Station in real life, to help civilian kerbals that will give you a credit/science boost in career mode.

Fun optional part:

Of course there has to be a down side or a risk. There would be a 20% chance to damage the experiment, so you would lose most of the science that came with it. A 10% chance to lose the experiment along with all of the science that would have been made from the sample. Finally we are talking about kerbals here a 5% chance to blow up random parts of the space station, and lose the kerbals in the lab.

[KrazyKrl]

Random failures are a terrible mechanic for this game, and will never be implemented.

Now, "banking" science points on a station would be amazing. And using a module to create bonus science points would be neat. Of course, the lab would require ABSURD power to do so.

i.e. You get munrocks, transfer them to a .625m/1.25m/2.5m science capsule. It takes so many electric charge to give you some points of bonus points to the object itself.

So, you can get to the mun, land, eject to Kerbin, rendezvous with your space station, do some zero-g experiments for some bonus points, then use a deorbit capsule to return the data and/or rocks to Kerbin.

You can even extend this idea to other planets, once you are high enough in the tech tree, you unlock interplanetary science laboratory modules. Testing Munrocks on Eeloo? Yep! Taking Tylo rocks to Moho for analysis? Sure! Of course, you can use some type of bonus according to the delta-v you need between planetary bodies to calculate the bonus science you generate per item.

[Panzerbeard]

Yeah, something along those lines would be good. I was kind of disappointed that there is no real point in building a 'science station'; by the time you've got the tech to put a decent station in orbit, you've already gained all the available data from kerbin anyway.

[iLlama]

that's a very good idea i had a similar one: read the science labs thread by me, sadly i didn't see this thread when i posted mine.

Edited October 18, 2013 by iLlama

[DrHotdog]

The idea of an orbital science facility that can process samples/specimens collected by other ships is interesting but I have to say that the current situation where space stations are largely pointless except as refuelling and Kerbal accommodation facilities is probably more realistic...

Real life space stations such as Salyut, Skylab, Mir and the ISS were/are fantastic engineering achievements but scientifically they haven't done much of note that couldn't have been done more easily in unmanned satellites or sounding rockets. The main exception science wise is all the knowledge gained about the effects of long duration space flight on humans, in fact that knowledge together with the development of the technology required to keep humans healthy in space long term has been the main benefit of these things.

Edited October 18, 2013 by DrHotdog

[Capt Snuggler]

i like it. space stations are great and that would give them real purpose in the game. you could some how have a mission system where you need to deliver a science payload/package to the lab and perform experiments on it.

like deliver the "Organics research package" (seeds) to orbital lab to see if you can grow things in space.

in fact delivery of "packages" to and from locations with a science payoff should be a way of rewarding the player for successfully rendezvousing and docking.

Edited October 18, 2013 by Capt Snuggler

[Lexar]

Random failures are a terrible mechanic for this game, and will never be implemented.

Now, "banking" science points on a station would be amazing. And using a module to create bonus science points would be neat. Of course, the lab would require ABSURD power to do so.

i.e. You get munrocks, transfer them to a .625m/1.25m/2.5m science capsule. It takes so many electric charge to give you some points of bonus points to the object itself.

So, you can get to the mun, land, eject to Kerbin, rendezvous with your space station, do some zero-g experiments for some bonus points, then use a deorbit capsule to return the data and/or rocks to Kerbin.

You can even extend this idea to other planets, once you are high enough in the tech tree, you unlock interplanetary science laboratory modules. Testing Munrocks on Eeloo? Yep! Taking Tylo rocks to Moho for analysis? Sure! Of course, you can use some type of bonus according to the delta-v you need between planetary bodies to calculate the bonus science you generate per item.

Yeah, that's why I put the random failures under optional lol.

Banking science would be a cool idea too. Once you get a really good space ship into space that can travel to far planets, and refuel at stations you could then use tugs to get science points back to Kerben with a "space tug"

[Lexar]

The idea of an orbital science facility that can process samples/specimens collected by other ships is interesting but I have to say that the current situation where space stations are largely pointless except as refuelling and Kerbal accommodation facilities is probably more realistic...

Real life space stations such as Salyut, Skylab, Mir and the ISS were/are fantastic engineering achievements but scientifically they haven't done much of note that couldn't have been done more easily in unmanned satellites or sounding rockets. The main exception science wise is all the knowledge gained about the effects of long duration space flight on humans, in fact that knowledge together with the development of the technology required to keep humans healthy in space long term has been the main benefit of these things.

Maybe you could get science points based on how long you leave kerbals in space? haha it would be easily exploited if it didn't cap out or have a resource need from kerben though.

[Nobody]

I agree that science points for keeping them up there long term would be nice but as Lexar stated some sort of life support system would be needed to prevent abuse.

A science module would also be a nice way to recover more science when transmitting. Send a station to Eve or Duna orbit for moon hoping and return your craft to it before transmitting for less of a penalty