The fragility of the science pod

[Requiem762]

Ik I'm not the only one who has lost one during a incredibally soft landing after bring it back

So will it be stronger?

[LtHeckard]

I don't really know if the devs will improve the structural strength of the Science pod. However, you can use struts and landing legs. Struts will keep your Science pod from wobbling around, and the landing legs will absorb the landing shock. You should be just fine using Struts and Landing legs.

[zynar]

I haven't been having issues. Can you post a pic of you craft and see where the issue might be?

[Killerdude8]

I've hit the ground at like 35 M/sec and that thing survives, not sure what your problem is.

[Requiem762]

I don't really know if the devs will improve the structural strength of the Science pod. However, you can use struts and landing legs. Struts will keep your Science pod from wobbling around, and the landing legs will absorb the landing shock. You should be just fine using Struts and Landing legs.

Still will sometimes come in 1m/s to quickly for it and sometimes the craft will fall over and it will explode.

Every time I have landing legs or a lv909+ fuel tank to protect it sometimes it works sometimes it doesn't its fragility has been somthing that has factored into my mission plans

[Eric S]

I can't speak for anyone else, but I've never had a problem with that. Then again, you can't have the the science jr. without having radial parachutes, and I usually put a pair of those on any craft that's returning with a science jr.

[Vanamonde]

They can be fragile, so just put some little landing legs on them.

[phunk]

I've landed several times with the science pod attached to the bottom of the crew capsule (and no landing legs), without it ever exploding.

[Aragosnat]

Part of it sounds like the craft he is using is to top heavy. Weight crushing what is under it and very possable the PC in question is suffering from lag do to to many parts, the terran setting is set to low (heard that physics take a nap at lower settings when terrain detail is set to low). Yeah. KSP is not optimised properly. Hopefully the next patch will help out.

[Sirrobert]

It SHOULD be fraggile. It's an experiment. Land with legs if you want your things to survive

[Requiem762]

I can't speak for anyone else, but I've never had a problem with that. Then again, you can't have the the science jr. without having radial parachutes, and I usually put a pair of those on any craft that's returning with a science jr.

When I take the science junior I have at least 3 parachutes sometimes 5

[User Unrelated]

is there any particular reason for this science Jr. parachute nonsense?... I'd care to know before I go launching them everywhere haha. (I just recently unlocked it)

[thiosk]

I have had them fall off of structures before. I had a severe problem with putting one on top a lander and sticking parachutes on that-- when the lander came down PHWOOMP went the science jr.

As with all things kerbal, MOAR STRUTS

[SyberSmoke]

Really it does not take much to land them safely. Parachutes and legs, they are not heavy so you should not need much. My Science Jr tends to be above a fuel tank with a 48-7S and some legs. That way there is something of a buffer. But also if I think I am coming in to fast I can use the engine to slow things down. By the time you to your Science Jr and pod, you should not have allot of mass to deal with.

[Tarmenius]

Parachutes and landing legs are great when you're landing on terrain, but my main problem is making sure the Science Jr pod survives splashdown. Anything more than 2-3 m/s and it's "Goodbye science!" At this point, I almost don't need parachutes at all, with all the practice I've had performing powered landings.

[SyberSmoke]

Parachutes and landing legs are great when you're landing on terrain, but my main problem is making sure the Science Jr pod survives splashdown. Anything more than 2-3 m/s and it's "Goodbye science!" At this point, I almost don't need parachutes at all, with all the practice I've had performing powered landings.

You can get away with landing in water if you have a less fragile object under the science Jr. It could be a fuel tank or a modular girder segment on it's side so the girder hits the water instead of the Science Jr. As long as something else hits the water first, typically your Science Jr will survive.

[Tripod27]

I land mine with one small top chute and two radials, and that's with the weight of a small rectangle strut, two goo containers, a small capsule, 6 small batteries and an SAS module on top of it, and it hasn't broken once. Landings were at a speed of 6m/s, no landing legs

maybe you alt-tabbed out during loading? that generally breaks the game slightly. Not enough to notice right away sometimes, but every once in a while something will break off or explode for no reason or you'll start spinning uncontrollably

[NASI Director]

The only time when this has ever happened to me was when I broke the parachute off at 4x Warp. Had to power land but I came in to fast and it broke off.

[Tarmenius]

You can get away with landing in water if you have a less fragile object under the science Jr.

That was my first thought as well, but even a stack of fuel tanks and an engine weren't enough. As I sank into the water, the parts just disappeared. And in that example, I splashed down at under 10 m/s, which is normally safe for just about anything. After that, I didn't do any extensive testing or anything, I just modified my approach and splashed down as slowly as I could manage with rocket assistance.

[Godot]

Only had a science pod exploding once ...

and that was when my return module was woefully underequipped with parachutes

(well, actually it was well equipped with parachutes before entry into Kerbins atmosphere ...

but then, reentry heat (as I am playing with the Deadly Reentry Mod) let 3 of my 4 chutes explode)

Actually the destruction of the Science pods saved my capsule at this time,

slowing it down enough so it would survive

[Landwalker]

My first attempt at a splashdown with a Science Jr. went predictably awry, as I was coming in with a Mk I Command Capsule and a single Mk16 Parachute sitting on top of the Science Jr. and two Goo canisters. They went blazing into the ocean at around 8 m/s, the Science Jr. was lost, but fortunately the destruction didn't spread to the command pod or the goo containers.

Since then, I've had success with splashdowns with only one alteration: Slapping a radial Mk2-R parachute on the side of the Science Jr. That seems to both give it enough drag to reach a reasonably slow landing speed, and also causes the landing assembly to tilt slightly, taking some of the vertical weight off the Science Jr. upon impact.

[Requiem762]

is there any particular reason for this science Jr. parachute nonsense?... I'd care to know before I go launching them everywhere haha. (I just recently unlocked it)

It's very fragile and having a pod with one come down can crush it if your not going slow enough.

Edited November 14, 2013 by Requiem762

[VirtualCLD]

Do you have any pictures of the craft? To-date, I have never lost a Science Jr (unless I'm doing something stupid like suicide burns back to Kerbin), even with Mk3 command pods or landing pods mounted above them. I do you plenty of chutes, but I don't always attach them to the science pods themselves.

[Aragosnat]

My first attempt at a splashdown with a Science Jr. went predictably awry, as I was coming in with a Mk I Command Capsule and a single Mk16 Parachute sitting on top of the Science Jr. and two Goo canisters. They went blazing into the ocean at around 8 m/s, the Science Jr. was lost, but fortunately the destruction didn't spread to the command pod or the goo containers.

Since then, I've had success with splashdowns with only one alteration: Slapping a radial Mk2-R parachute on the side of the Science Jr. That seems to both give it enough drag to reach a reasonably slow landing speed, and also causes the landing assembly to tilt slightly, taking some of the vertical weight off the Science Jr. upon impact.

Water landings I would go with 6 m/s or less as well as making sure either the design was wide enough or it was a very stubby. As long ones when landing in water have a tendancy to splash hard even after entering the water.

[Landwalker]

Water landings I would go with 6 m/s or less [snip]

Which raises a question I had when I was cruising the KSP Wiki: Parts have a listed "impact tolerance" (for Science Jr., it's 6 meters per second). However, what exactly does that represent? Based on some of the posts here, it obviously isn't "Will explode if it hits something going faster than this speed"...