A different Way to Science!

[horndgmium]

Hey so I was thinking that our mobile processing lab is cool and all for resetting experiments and increasing transmission value, but I have some suggestions I think would add some much needed depth pretty easily! These are not entirely dependent on each other, so please don't write them off if you see one you don't like.

1. Make analysis of samples (goo/materials bay/surface samples) have very minimal value if not returned to Kerbin (or analyzed in a lab on the surface of that body). The only information that can be gained by "analyzing" a sample abroad is seeing what it looks like, which can be done from a telescope on Kerbin anyway. Especially if these samples are obtained with a rover/probe rather than a live being to mess with it.

2. Have a multitude of experiments that can be run on a sample if you return it to Kerbin. Each of these should yield science (some more than others). Examples of experiments: Mass Spec, Chromatography, Reactive analysis, etc. This could be done it a new building called the 'Science Labs' or something along those lines. Thous would add some more depth to hanging around the Space Center as well.

3. There should be two types of mobile processing labs. The first - one that you bring down to a surface to a rover/base and that can do a minimal analysis (the same way that would happen on Kerbin but somewhat less value). If the same sample is analyzed on a different body, the science gained by doing a secondary analysis on Kerbin should not be lessened (much). Reason for this: the environments in which analyses are conducted are different. You need to do both to fully "science" some sample/area.

**My Main Idea** The second - an orbital processing lab. Continuing with the above notion that doing science on a sample in different environments should yield different scientific data, analyses carried out in free fall should yield more data than analyzing a sample on a body with gravity. This is similar to the idea of our Space Station - we can already do tons of science on Earth, so we started sending things to space to see how they handle a stint of weightlessness. Including people.

4. You should be able to send samples up from Kerbin into orbit as well, and carry out experiments on them there. This will, of course, yield more scientific data. So Science on Kerbin is more complex than go send a Kerbal to a spot and recover him after clicking some buttons. Once you recover a Kerbal with experiments, they should go into a repository. When you're launching a research mission, you should then have the option to take missions up with you, and then when you get to where you want to experiment, you can in the orbital/surface lab.

5. Extending the former point, you should be able to conduct experiments on samples from one celestial body on any other celestial body, as well as in low and high orbits of the same/other bodies. Why shouldn't you be able to analyze a Duna sample on a Mun base or in Kerbin orbit? Those are different experiments!

5. (A Maybe) The area in which you do research should reflect the scientific advancements you make. Ex.: sending a probe to the surface of the moon and landing will let you upgrade parts that reflect rovers. So if you never do missions intended to gain certain advancements, you might send a colony ship to Duna without even having simple rover tech. Another example: More missions around Kerbin will improve your plane parts (although that's another discussion - I still think you should be able to fly planes to start and get science that allows you to reach further and further into the atmosphere, until you reach the scientific level that has discovered the technology to fly manned missions into space).

6. Why do you always have to click a button for science? Some of it should be automatic. Like crew reports. Anytime anything happens, the crew reports it if they're in radio contact IRL. Thus, by extension, you are gaining science by simply conducting a mission, and it should be that way. And if a ship returns to Kerbin, you can gain more science by recovering it and analyzing what happened to it in space.

Side no. 7. Make it so that multiple reports can be stored in a command pod. Like really? Do they only have the memory space to record one sentence before they have to transmit it?

TL;DR: more places/ways to do science