About bringing science expriments back to Kerbin on parachutes.

[Durabys]

When I got the first decoupler and sideways parachutes I came with an idea.

It is easier to stear the return manned capsule to land on correctly on the surface when there is nothing "under" or "on" it anymore..like the orbital stage and the science experiments containers and what not.

So.

Enter the atmosphere with the last orbital stage (with all the on-going experiements) and decouple it at around 10 km high. The decoupling will be in the same stage/action group like the orbital stages side-way parachutes so it can land smothly.

I tried that in game but the smooth landed and intact orbital stage with the experiments parts (and the sicence points in it) could not be recovered by the space center because it was not part of the last stage capsule with the Kerbal now due to the decoupling. It really messes up my flights aerodynmics (even without using FAR, maybe I am doing something wrong) when I have to put e.g. the experiment container on the capsule itself to get them back to the research center for research point conversion.

Would it not be possible to make all smooth and non-destroyed stages (and any possible science points they have) recoverable by the KSC?

Edited November 19, 2013 by Durabys

[Supernovy]

I'm sure that if you select "debris" in the tracking station screen, you can recover unguided parts landed on Kerbin.

If not, surely you can switch to the debris and use the recover button above the altimeter.

[Sirrobert]

It's labled debris if you decouple it. You can still find the debris by right clicking the debris icon in the tracking station (left top of the map). They are switched off by default.

In the tracking station you can already recover everything that's landed on Kerbin, even single parts that survived a crash

Note that any craft in the atmosphere that gets more than 2,5km away from the craft you design no longer stimulates grapics and gets put on rails. Items on rails are deleted if they drop below 21km hight in an atmosphere. So if the science module opens chutes much earlier than the capsule and they float to much apart, you'll lose the science module

On that note, why can't you just land it normally? That's what everyone else does

[Durabys]

I'm sure that if you select "debris" in the tracking station screen, you can recover unguided parts landed on Kerbin.

If not, surely you can switch to the debris and use the recover button above the altimeter.

I do not think science can be recovered from that.

It's labled debris if you decouple it. You can still find the debris by right clicking the debris icon in the tracking station (left top of the map). They are switched off by default.

In the tracking station you can already recover everything that's landed on Kerbin, even single parts that survived a crash

Note that any craft in the atmosphere that gets more than 2,5km away from the craft you design no longer stimulates grapics and gets put on rails. Items on rails are deleted if they drop below 21km hight in an atmosphere. So if the science module opens chutes much earlier than the capsule and they float to much apart, you'll lose the science module

On that note, why can't you just land it normally? That's what everyone else does

I "think" that is what happened.

[maltesh]

When I was still in the habit of returning instrument packages, I would typically decouple the instruments only after all the chutes had deployed and opened.

WHen the main chute opens, it's certain that the ground is less than 500m below, so unless you're coming down on a severe slope,the instrument pod will stay within the loading distance.

[Superfluous J]

I do not think science can be recovered from that.

Nope. It can. I have it on video in episode 11 of my LP series. I decouple all the science from the command pod and everything comes down on parachutes. Then I retrieve the pod for almost nothing and the debris for a ton of science. Some stuff fell off on landing even and I was able to recover it separately.

Link to right before I pop the chutes

One thing you CAN'T do is just drop off something in orbit into the atmosphere and send it on its way, hoping it will land safely. As soon as it goes more than 2.5 km away it's on rails and when it gets low enough, the game will simply delete it. I am hoping they change this in the future.

[peadar1987]

Nope. It can. I have it on video in episode 11 of my LP series. I decouple all the science from the command pod and everything comes down on parachutes. Then I retrieve the pod for almost nothing and the debris for a ton of science. Some stuff fell off on landing even and I was able to recover it separately.

Link to right before I pop the chutes

One thing you CAN'T do is just drop off something in orbit into the atmosphere and send it on its way, hoping it will land safely. As soon as it goes more than 2.5 km away it's on rails and when it gets low enough, the game will simply delete it. I am hoping they change this in the future.

Mission controller has a feature where if the chutes/mass ratio is high enough for a discarded part, it is recovered, and you get back a fraction of the capital cost. I doubt it would be too hard to implement something similar for science if an enterprising modder wanted to take on the challenge

[Durabys]

Nope. It can. I have it on video in episode 11 of my LP series. I decouple all the science from the command pod and everything comes down on parachutes. Then I retrieve the pod for almost nothing and the debris for a ton of science. Some stuff fell off on landing even and I was able to recover it separately.

Link to right before I pop the chutes

One thing you CAN'T do is just drop off something in orbit into the atmosphere and send it on its way, hoping it will land safely. As soon as it goes more than 2.5 km away it's on rails and when it gets low enough, the game will simply delete it. I am hoping they change this in the future.

I think I should have written this into the OP instead. It pretty summs up what I wanted to tell.

[HeadHunter67]

Would it not be possible to make all smooth and non-destroyed stages (and any possible science points they have) recoverable by the KSC?

It already is. If a part survives impact, even if it's no longer connected to the craft, any Science it contains can be recovered.

More likely, your concern comes from the way the game handles re-entry of non-active craft. It doesn't matter if it's a goo canister or a probe core, if you're not actively controlling it, beyond a certain distance from your active craft, and it drops below a certain altitude... it is destroyed.

The way around this is to make sure that the decoupled parts stay close to your craft as it descends. If you put parachutes on those parts, with sufficient drag to keep them descending at similar speeds, and decouple after staging the chutes, that should work.