Science question: Recover all or part of vehicle for "landed and returned" science

[zerotwo]

Good day!

I am curious if anyone has tested this:

1. A lander has landed on the mun and returned to orbit.

2. A recovery ship comes out and removes half of the orbiting lander, docking that half with the recovery ship.

3. The recovery ship returns to Kerbin.

While the primary vessel itself did not land and return, a portion of it did. Will I receive the land & return science?

If so, this means I only need recover a tiny portion of a lander to secure this science on return?

Thanks for your response!

Regards,

02

Edited April 26, 2014 by zerotwo

[RexKramer]

I'm not sure how docking and returning will affect your science- I'm curious as well.

However, I can relate that even if the rest of the ship is destroyed after returning from somewhere, you still get the science credit if the probe core remains intact. I brought an ion-powered probe back from a tour of the solar system, including landings on two moons. I forgot to install parachutes. Impacted Kerbin, all that was left was two Xenon tanks and....the probe core. I received the science credit for the 'successful' return of a vessel from the two moons I landed on.

I'm guessing the game treats each core separately, and you would still get the credit. But again, not sure, and am curious myself.

[Mitchz95]

As long as you return the lander's command module, you will get the credit. This counts even if you dock it to another ship for transport back home.

The other day, I landed a Kerbal on Dres but found I didn't have enough fuel left to get home. I sent another ship to dock with it and carry its command module the rest of the way, and it still counted once I landed it on Kerbin.

[Taki117]

You only need to recover the command capsule, HOWEVER! you need to have your science in that capsule (You can use a Kerbal on EVA to transfer the science) otherwise you get nothing.

[daniu]

1. A lander has landed on the mun and returned to orbit.

2. A recovery ship comes out and removes half of the orbiting lander, docking that half with the recovery ship.

3. The recovery ship returns to Kerbin.

While the primary vessel itself did not land and return, a portion of it did. Will I receive the land & return science?

If so, this means I only need recover a tiny portion of a lander to secure this science on return?

Yes, this works.

I have a Space Station with an MPL in Mun orbit and a bunch of tiny unmanned crafts carrying Science Storage Containers.

The lander docks with the station to refuel, and do an EVA to transfer the science to one of the drones which I'll then send home. MPL can then clean experiments.

Returning the drone gives full retrieval science.

Here is my station (lander on the right, the drones attached to the arm on the left, MPL and fuel container center)

(Don't know why Steam screenshots turn so dark )

[KerbMav]

Yes, this works.

I have a Space Station with an MPL in Mun orbit and a bunch of tiny unmanned crafts carrying

The lander docks with the station to refuel, and do an EVA to transfer the science to one of the drones which I'll then send home. MPL can then clean experiments.

Returning the drone gives full retrieval science.

You return the science from the cockpit of your ship to one of your science drones and they return science points for being where your ship was, am I getting this right?

(Don't know why Steam screenshots turn so dark )

They all do if you do not rotate to have the sun behind your camera.

[daniu]

You return the science from the cockpit of your ship to one of your science drones and they return science points for being where your ship was, am I getting this right?

Yes.

(Well I keep most of the science in the instruments before transfer, like the Goo Canister, instead of in the cockpit, and move it to the drones from there, but that wasn't the point IIUC)

They all do if you do not rotate to have the sun behind your camera.

Yes but this was fine in game.

[KerbMav]

IYU that I meant the little probe that waited for months in Kerbin's orbit gets a "returned from Duna's surface" science point bonus, than YUC.

[tjsnh]

I could be incomplete on this, but based on some observations and with the disclaimer that I don't "transmit" anything except EVA reports:

You have to return the crew-pod containing surface samples (which can be moved from pod to pod by kerbals) to get the science.

You have to return the instrument that did the experiment to get the science.

The instruments need to be attached to a crewed command pod, or a probe core of some kind, to get the science.

So, as far as I can tell, so long as you don't just dump .. say, a materials bay .. off into the ground on it's own, then you should be able to collect the goodies.

[Skorpychan]

So, what if the materials bay falls off the capsule when it lands on Kerbin?

[arise257]

So, what if the materials bay falls off the capsule when it lands on Kerbin?

Depends on how you have your debris configured. If it's set to 0 or exceeds the maximum debris count, the moment you switch to the tracking station, it will vanish and you'll lose everything with it. If not, then yes, you can recover it and get all your science.

[Superfluous J]

So it'd be better in an "Apollo" style mission with an orbiter and a lander, to bring the lander (or at least the capsule part of it) home and then after landing detach it and recover each piece separately so you get the recovery science both from a craft that orbited Mun and a craft that landed on Mun? Because otherwise you'd get the "landed on Mun" recovery science but not the "orbited Mun" science?

[pincushionman]

My understanding is the science "packets" themselves contain all the relevant data, e.g. [temperature scan] from [Laythe] after [splashdown there]. These data packets can be retrieved from the relevant instruments by kerbals on EVA and placed into a capsule for transport back to Kerbin. One capsule can thus carry data from several different missions to wildly different locations without ever leaving Kerbin orbit, if a kerbal can get to the science data packets.

[Claw]

I could be incomplete on this, but based on some observations and with the disclaimer that I don't "transmit" anything except EVA reports:

You have to return the crew-pod containing surface samples (which can be moved from pod to pod by kerbals) to get the science.

You have to return the instrument that did the experiment to get the science.

The instruments need to be attached to a crewed command pod, or a probe core of some kind, to get the science.

So, as far as I can tell, so long as you don't just dump .. say, a materials bay .. off into the ground on it's own, then you should be able to collect the goodies.

Yes, a crew pod can return any science stored in it.

No, you don't have to return the instrument to get the science from that instrument. You can also have a kerbal collect it via EVA and store it in a pod. Then that instrument can be immediately used again, except for Goo and Sci Jr, which would need to be cleaned by a lab first.

The instruments don't need to be attached to a pod or probe core to get science, but they do need to be attached to one to do the experiment itself. If the instrument itself is subsequently detached from the craft, it can be retrieved and returned for science.

You can, in fact, dump a materials bay off on it's own after it has done the experiment. So long as it lands on Kerbin, you can then "recover" and get the science.

[Superfluous J]

My understanding is the science "packets" themselves contain all the relevant data, e.g. [temperature scan] from [Laythe] after [splashdown there]. These data packets can be retrieved from the relevant instruments by kerbals on EVA and placed into a capsule for transport back to Kerbin. One capsule can thus carry data from several different missions to wildly different locations without ever leaving Kerbin orbit, if a kerbal can get to the science data packets.

Yes, but you ALSO get a bonus from the CAPSULE. If you just start a new career, launch something straight up until the engine dies, then fall back down (probably with a parachute and land it you'll get some science for a vessel that "survived a flight." it's a one-time (or extremely diminishing returns) thing but you get those bonuses for everywhere you can go, and they seem to be per capsule.

EDIT: Oh wait, I thought you were replying to me but it seems you were replying to the OP. Carry on

[That guy who builds stuff]

As long as you return the lander's command module, you will get the credit.

has this been tested to differentiate between the command capsule and the root part?

[zerotwo]

It looks like testing is going to be needed.

I haven't had much time to play KSP lately, so I was hoping someone would have some experience with it.

The science I am referring to is the bonus after completing a mission that says "XXX landed on the Mun and returned", not a particular science module output.

I imagine that yes, the only way to return science from a probe is to remove the science with a kerbal and stuff it in a command pod, but, what I want to know is if grabbing a chunk of the ship that landed will give you that landed science.

I will let you know tonight!

[MarvinKitFox]

Good day!

I

While the primary vessel itself did not land and return, a portion of it did. Will I receive the land & return science?

If so, this means I only need recover a tiny portion of a lander to secure this science on return?

Im my experience (i may be wrong, not explicitly tested), the science experiments results act like stored physical objects in the command pod. They can be transmitted, picked up by a Kerbal & moved, deposited in another command pod.

The science reward from "retrieving a vessel afetr Mun landing", etc, is not like this, it is attached to Whatever was the root node of your ship at the time it landed.

I believe this because for a while I was building my Mun lander as a 2-stage unit, leaving lander stage on the ground. And also designing my ship in the VAB starting with an octo pod in the lander base as first node. Looking at the logs, i rather often failed to get my expected bit of science for landing, suborbital, etc....

[KerbMav]

This should be changed to

"Returned a kerbonaut (Jebediah Kerman) from Mun's orbit."

"Returned a kerbonaut (Jebediah Kerman) who landed on Mun."

Kerbal stat tracking 2.0 is needed, gentleman.

[zerotwo]

The science reward from "retrieving a vessel afetr Mun landing", etc, is not like this, it is attached to Whatever was the root node of your ship ... designing my ship in the VAB starting with an octo pod in the lander base as first node. Looking at the logs, i rather often failed to get my expected bit of science for landing, suborbital, etc....

That is an intriguing idea.

Thank you for your reply, that will make for an interesting test.

[KerbMav]

How did the cat call it? Relevant stuff is relevant:

http://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/threads/62657-Understanding-Science-Points?p=985370&viewfull=1#post985370

[zerotwo]

Thank you KerbMav!

That verifies the testing I had just completed. All I needed to bring home was the probe core, regardless of whether or not it was the "primary part" as was hypothesized earlier.

e.g. the first part of the craft you are building is a fuel tank, that doesn't seem to matter.

So the answer is: Bring the probe core home: get "Recovery of a vessel returned from the surface of X".