what is the Stayputnik for?

[GungaDin]

I LOVE this sim!

So...I've been patiently playing through a career game and accumulating science to buy more parts and I finally got me a Sputnik. I was hoping to use it to test my riskier experiments such as getting out to Mun without risking like Kerbals.

My question is - what good is it? How can I use it to gather science? I placed an antenna on one but there it doesn't seem to work.

How do you use stayputniks to gather science?

Also - the new info screen that shows yoiu the science you have done is confusing. Clearly it tells me what I have accomplished but what are 'hidden' items? Isn't there a list somwhere of all the science chores you can do?

Thanks.

[Raven.]

The Stayputnik, along with other probe cores, will not allow you to perform "crew reports." In order to generate science from unmanned craft, such as those powered by the stayputnik, you need an appropriate science part such as the materials bay. After that, you need to recover the vessel after it's landed on Kerbin, or transmit the science with an attached communication device.

What good is it? A lot of good. For one reason that you've already mentioned, you're not risking the living of your kerbonauts. Another advantage is that unmanned probes, if designed right, are incredibly light. This means you can send much farther with the same amount of fuel.

[Skorpychan]

Science is gathered with science parts, just like with kerbals. Being a probe, it can't do crew reports, or go EVA.

However, being a probe core, you can just abandon it places without worry, and it's really light.

[michaelhester07]

You can use it to launch transfer stages or to control parts of a space craft that you want to keep for later use.

I ended up trying to make a mod part which attaches to a probe and allows "crew reports". It's basically a camera like the ones we attach to every probe in real life. I didn't understand why there wasn't a stock camera I could strap to a probe to get that information. Maybe a little quip about it "They'll be wondering where the security camera in the break room went until they see the video from Duna."

Things I've used the putnik and other cores for:

* Transfer stage control

* Crew reports on my camera mod

* Markers for biomes

- This one is actually more realistic than anything else: I made a ship with 8 small identical probes which detached from it and landed on the Mun at various locations. Each probe had a science experiment and when one discovered a new biome I renamed it to match. Then I knew where to send the manned mission to pick up data. The landed probes let me track which biomes are done.

biome hunter probe recipe:

4x toroidal fuel tank

4x rocomax orange radial engine

1x Stayputnik or octo core

4x small probe lander leg

4x small solar panel

1x circular battery (the Z200 i think it is)

1x Reaction wheels

1x thermometer (or in my case the camera mod I made)

2x Clampotron Jr

1x antenna (any kind)

Put the clampotrons on the top of the stayputnik near the center. The thermometer attaches to the side. Attach the 4 solar panels to the putnik too and an antenna. Now stack below the putnik the battery,reaction wheels, and the 4 toroidal tanks. Put the legs and the rocomax thrusters on the bottom tank. This probe should come in at half a ton max with about 1500 delta-v. The clampotron head attaches to your mothership in a place where the probe can detach without hitting anything. The probe has enough fuel for a 1 way trip down to the mun without any course corrections. The mothership should do the course corrections. If you have a landing mod then the probe will come out with fuel to spare. Once the probe is landed check the thermometer to see if the location name is different from a spot you landed before. If it is, rename the probe after that spot.

[BlackBicycle]

http://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/threads/63481-Runaway-rover-Science-Lab

Post #4

[Semtex89]

As it's been pointed out, it's good for transfer stages and to launch parts for a multi-part ship or station into orbit since you don't really need a manned flight for that.

Keep in mind that it has virtually no torque, so you might want to slap on a SAS module.

[Vanamonde]

In order for any assemblage of KSP parts to work as a controllable ship, it must have either a capsule with crew in it, or a probe core. Cores do almost nothing by themselves, but they do allow you to operate a ship without crew, if the mission is too long, too dangerous, or just doesn't need a Kerbal for its objectives. Probe ships are smaller and cheaper than ships built to house Kerbals, but as others have noted, by can't plant flags, return soil samples or EVA reports, or send a Kerbal out to do anything. The Stayputnik is the first of the probe cores.

[SRV Ron]

Small, inexpensive, can carry scientific instruments, and even land on distant moons.

Even real cheap stock SSTO

[KSK]

It's also good for sticking on top of a Mark 1 capsule and turning it into a remote controlled rescue ship. Not that I've needed to do that *cough*.

[Wanderfound]

Just put a Stayputnik probe into a Munar orbit.

Spin stabilisation works.

[THX1138]

I believe the Stayputnik doesn't have SAS anymore though which makes it a lot less useful than it used to be. You're better off with the next one up but you don't have the science for that yet (I guess) so flying with the Stayputnik is going to be a bit challenging in the meantime.

[Tex_NL]

Nice necro guys. 50 weeks!

[r4pt0r]

Just put a Stayputnik probe into a Munar orbit.

Spin stabilisation works.

a 2700 post veteran falls to the dark lure of necromancy. What folly, what misfortune! Are none so high as not to fall to its grasp?

[vexx32]

No need to be melodramatic about it.

This thread is quite old, though -- Wanderfound and THX seem to have reinterpreted the question in the context of 0.90. While that's not necessarily a bad thing, it is definitely off-topic from the initial intent of the thread, so I'll be locking this for now.