The mobile processing lab is terrible.

[Son of Hicks]

So, yeah, I totally wasted my life. I will never use this part again; what a waste of everything! I don't know what I thought it was going to do, but I specifically brought one to Duna in campaign. I attached it to my interplanetary drive ship and everything. The idea was that It would "process" the science modules of my reusable lander, and honestly I thought that was it. Turns out "processing" a science module is a 3.5 ton albatross that adds "+15%" to the science transmitted, and the science modules are still dead weight and useless for the rest of the mission! I was going to take the interplanetary stage back to Kerbin anyway so the kerbals could go home, and now the entire mission and two days of real life are scrapped because now I'm at Duna and there is no more science to be done! Damn it, THAT WAS THE ENTIRE POINT! If there was any documentation on the part or on the WIKI I could have just passed on it, and put 5 dockable science capsules for 5 different landings for a grand total 0.475 tons LESS THAN THE MOBILE PROCESSING LAB!

It's just so.... worthless...

[boomerdog2000]

Nope it does both. I specifically used it on a Munbase with a science rover that would go out, do science, dock with the base, clean the experiments, and send it back out. It also boosts the transmission value by 15%. Of course it's not going to be very useful for Duna since there aren't any biomes there. Once we have biomes for Ike and Duna, a single interplanetary mission that explores both with a lab will be much more viable.

[Sethnizzle]

The lab allows you to clean the Mystery Goo and Materials Bay so that they can be used again.

[DMagic]

and the science modules are still dead weight and useless for the rest of the mission!

Why are they dead weight? You can use the science lab to reset used experiments.

And instead of complaining about the lack of documentation for the part maybe you should test it before beginning a long mission.

[halx]

its for farming -make a science lab with some extra fuel dock a lander to it - go to mun, minmus whatever... land, do some science, rendevous with lab drop off all experiments into lab then clean the modules - do it a few times 25-30 experiments then send it back to Kerbin.

[stupid_chris]

As the others above said, you missed the point, you can use it to clean experiments and reuse them.

[JSD]

To be honest; Sciene/Science related parts ruined a lot of thing for me. I even didn't enjoy the part. It's such a amazing, huge part, and yet is sucks because it's whole goal/piont is science. Career, tech tree, unlock new parts stuff. It means nothing. It does nothing. A mobile lab is amazing! The science behind it all.. It's pretty sad..

[AustralianFries]

First of all, you're wrong about it being useless for reasons the others have stated.

Second of all, do your research on a part before investing so much emphasis on it.

[RocketPilot573]

Cleaning experiments are it's only real use. I wish it could increase the recovery data, then it would be worth having.

[Yarrula]

The science lab is useful for every science mission. The goo and material science can be used a high altitude, low altitude Etc. and the lab can reset it. Bring two experiments. Refine and transmit one, store the other in the pod. Then, clean and reset experiments and move to the next area. It is possible to get much science this way.

[Dizzle]

Still not useful for interplanetary missions thanks to the lack of biomes, but you can edit the .cfg to make it improve the transmission rate by a higher percentage. That's what I did when I last played career mode.

[Random Tank]

No, I think he gets it, he's just saying that bringing one Mat Lab and a Science Lab to clean it is pointless as its lighter to just bring 5 Mat Labs (as that would do all the Altitudes for Duna's single Biome), which wouldn't need cleaning, extra crew or lots of power.

It would be a lot more useful for non-return probes to get more valuable transmissions; but because it's manned you kinda need to return the Lab, which makes the idea of tramitting data pointless as you could just return it and get more...

[Nemrav]

I guess it would be useful for Jool, being far away and having a half dozen moons + on Jool surface experiments are possible....... So I guess for a Joolès surface suicide mission and another in Jool orbit while a Kerbal is sent to every moon... Ish mission would be the best part of it...

[CaptRobau]

The lab's main problem is that it needs to be manned. Since most manned missions are (at least planned) to safely return to Kerbin, transmitting is less than optimal. It's somewhat useful if you leave your Kerbals behind or want to have science to use before you get your Lab crew home, but something as heavy and expensive like that should really come in handy in almost every situation. It needs to be more of a prize, instead of a semi-useful dud. Like much of the science part of the game, it just feels really rough and unfinished.

[GalaxiesFinestToday]

Agreed. I don't want to spend the extra weight on going to Duna because i have a much smaller craft and i can't go around and push this 3.5 ton lab around. The only time i ever use this is for long-term space stations for just design. The lab also needs to have an IVA view.

[MKI]

The lab allows you to clean the Mystery Goo and Materials Bay so that they can be used again.

This^

I feel the Science Lab is another part that could be better balanced right now (more useful in more situations) but it will become more useful in time. Updates to the game such as addition of costs would keep the Science lab useful as a reusable lander would be more efficient than multiple probes. Also the addition of more biomes would increase its usefulness to beyond Kerbin's moons. These together will make the Science Lab extremely useful for longer distance missions that need to be efficient in part count.

PS Is it me or does the OP seem sort of trollish, very aggressive, the bolded statement is his biggest point and flaw of his post etc. He could just be very uninformed and very upset about it though.

Edited April 17, 2014 by MKI
many grammar mistakes made i did

[Liowen]

No, I think he gets it, he's just saying that bringing one Mat Lab and a Science Lab to clean it is pointless as its lighter to just bring 5 Mat Labs (as that would do all the Altitudes for Duna's single Biome), which wouldn't need cleaning, extra crew or lots of power.

It would be a lot more useful for non-return probes to get more valuable transmissions; but because it's manned you kinda need to return the Lab, which makes the idea of tramitting data pointless as you could just return it and get more...

My thinking is if you are going to use one in interplanetary traveling make a ship capable of going to more than one planet and moon combination. For Jool I feel these would be ideal as you could get the science around Jool itself rinse and get the since from say Bop, rinse and repeat until you have hit all the moons around Jool. This would include a lander for those bodies you could land and return with even more science. However I would also make this craft be able to hit say Eve, Gilly, and Moho in a single mission (just as an example).

My other thing is that while sending back science back to Kerbin is nice, I would do the experiment twice and keep it for the return mission. This should make the bay more worthwhile I feel.

[Vanamonde]

There's no documentation because the game isn't done yet, so there's no point in making documents which will need to be revised over and over again during development. And to be fair, it's not really the part's fault that you lugged one all the way to Duna before trying it to see how it works.

People, again I must ask, am I the ONLY player who tests designs at KSC before flying them all the snot way to some remote spot where it's too late to do anything about a design flaw?

[Son of Hicks]

I was uninformed and very upset when I posted. I'm still upset, now at my own stupidity for not testing the rig on Minimus. But I hit on another thing in the OP; as long as you need to go to 5 or fewer places on you interplanetary voyage of science, take this:

Each masses 0.65t, 0.68t with six other radial instruments.

[MKI]

If you mean radial instruments as in the other smaller science parts (the temp, gravatron thingy) you don't need to spam those. They are reusable and unless your going unmanned, just have a kerbal take the science out of the thing.

[awsomejwags]

Dude really? Useless? its awesome!

[Scotius]

There's no documentation because the game isn't done yet, so there's no point in making documents which will need to be revised over and over again during development. And to be fair, it's not really the part's fault that you lugged one all the way to Duna before trying it to see how it works.

People, again I must ask, am I the ONLY player who tests designs at KSC before flying them all the snot way to some remote spot where it's too late to do anything about a design flaw?

No, you're not I put Mobile Lab on my first 23.5 space station in LKO specifically to learn how it works. Unfortunately soon my station was eaten by Kraken, and my space program was left lab-less again. Not for long though - i've sent Interplanetary Mobile Lab to Mun couple of days later (basically it's an interplanetary mothership core - nuclear engine, fuel tanks, Hitchhiker, docking ports galore ), It was joined by reuseable lander, and after couple of succesful landings a courier craft picked up gathered science to deliver it back to Kerbin. So yeah - it's tested, it works, it's useful.

[Twreed87]

I had the same problem with the mobile lab too at first. I coudn't find a clear explanation of exactly how you're supposed to properly use it. I didn't know whether I was supposed to process it first, then clean it, or if processing data before bringing it back did somethings... it was confusing. Basically, as far as I understand it, you run the experiment, get your Kerbal out, take the data, store it in the command pod, then clean the experiment. Once I figured that out, it became very useful for getting all the Mun and Minmus biomes.

Also, it's ability to process data before transmitting is definitely useless, as far as I'm concerned. I've got two Kerbals on it, at least, I'll need to return them, only makes sense to bring the science back with them instead of transmitting. I can see it being useful when other planets have more biomes, and I want to use the lab to set up a permanent colony. But the Mun and Minmus are just too close, it's much easier to send a ship to get the data and bring it back.

[Sleepy_Steve]

Dumb question, can you remove science from the science lab after processing so you don't have to ship all 3.5 tons of it back to the surface of kerbin? Like can you stash a bunch of science in the hitchhiker cans or 3 person command pods? If I actually have to return the things I'll have to do some re-designs on many of my ships / stations.....

[Seret]

The lab is less useful for Duna, but excels at the Mun, Minmus and Jool, where there are many biomes within striking distance. As we get more biomes and we have to pay for each launch then recycling science landers will get even more useful.