Help me return my science from the Mun

[Callmedave]

So i have just finished a long-ass mission, i had a science lab in orbit around the mun, and a small lander, i basically visited each biome, docked with 'space lab1' stored experiments in lab, fe-fuelled, and repeated.

Now im at a stage where every biome has been visited, my science lab is ready to return home with ~120 experiments on stored. However, the lab is not surviving re-entry. it has chutes, but still breaks on touchdown (even in the ocean)

I want to return the experiments for max gain, but how can i do this? I cant store the experiments in another capsule as some as repeat experiments. Is my only option to design a better science lab lander, transfer the experiments and land that?

Any help guys?!

Edited October 13, 2014 by Callmedave

[Taki117]

Ok, I'm assuming you can dock to at least one end of your space lab. I would send up another parachute module Basically it's little more than a bunch of parachutes attached to a docking port with some method of control. Also, I would undock everything you can during reentry (I would try this method first) that way your science lab is as light as possible when the Chutes deploy. Something else you can do is stagger chute deployment (if they are getting ripped off this might be an option)

[Callmedave]

Yes, there is a docking port on the 'top' and i like the idea, however, it descends at around 6m/s and sits on the ground fine, but its tall design means it topples over, at this point the probe comes away from the main body and therefore the game thinks the lab has been destroyed.

[r_rolo1]

You can always use another ship with a klaw/ docking port and engines to give a powered assist to your parachutes or to provide a wider landing base ( to avoid topple downs ).

[AlexinTokyo]

If the lab isn't actually blowing up (it's just separated from the probe and classed as 'debris') then you can still recover it for full value.

Go to the tracking station, at the top of the screen click on the 'debris' icon. You should see '{Name of your science ship} Debris' in the list at the left. Click on the ship, click recover at the bottom of the screen.

If the lab is blowing up then you can either dock something to it to help it land better, or you can use an orbital shuttle to ferry the science down. As you know, standard capsules can't hold duplicate experiments, so you'll have to make multiple trips.

[Yakky]

Yes, there is a docking port on the 'top' and i like the idea, however, it descends at around 6m/s and sits on the ground fine, but its tall design means it topples over, at this point the probe comes away from the main body and therefore the game thinks the lab has been destroyed.

If the module is merely getting separated at touchdown, but not actually destroyed, you might be able to quickly use the bracket keys [ or ] to switch focus to it after touchdown. (You can still switch the focus to pieces of debris as long as they are nearby your active craft.) Then you can recover it normally.

Or, depending on the design (hard to tell without pics), you could attach the probe core immediately after the clamp-o-tron docking port, then put a stack separator between it and all the parachutes, engines, and other stuff. Once it touches down, fire the stack separator to release all the rest of the mass except the probe core, which might be lightweight enough to not get knocked off when the lab falls over.

Hope these help.

Edited October 12, 2014 by Yakky

[Fendleton]

As stated above, you should still be able to recover the lab, but if you can't there's still a far simpler solution than trying to augment the ship in orbit: Send up a spacecraft where the final "capsule" consists of 2 or 3 Mk.1 pods joined by a bi/tricoupler, each with their own parachute. Load one copy of each experiment into each pod (the number of replicates dictates how many pods you need). Then send that lot back to Kerbin and retrieve your science once it lands.

[Starman4308]

As stated above, you should still be able to recover the lab, but if you can't there's still a far simpler solution than trying to augment the ship in orbit: Send up a spacecraft where the final "capsule" consists of 2 or 3 Mk.1 pods joined by a bi/tricoupler, each with their own parachute. Load one copy of each experiment into each pod (the number of replicates dictates how many pods you need). Then send that lot back to Kerbin and retrieve your science once it lands.

A variant thereof would be to send up another lab, this one with a ton of parachutes and lander legs, dock it, and either transfer manually or use a mod like Ship Manifest to shuttle over all the science to the second, much-better-prepared-for-landing lab module.

[Reactordrone]

Yes, there is a docking port on the 'top' and i like the idea, however, it descends at around 6m/s and sits on the ground fine, but its tall design means it topples over, at this point the probe comes away from the main body and therefore the game thinks the lab has been destroyed.

You may be able to hit the recover button after it lands but before it tips over. It's a bit of a cheat but it works.

[tater]

You can also EVA kerbals, and take the science from the pod, then land them, serially if need be How much can each transfer? Way easier that trying to retrofit chutes, etc.

[Geschosskopf]

Now im at a stage where every biome has been visited, my science lab is ready to return home with ~120 experiments on stored. However, the lab is not surviving re-entry. it has chutes, but still breaks on touchdown (even in the ocean)

I want to return the experiments for max gain, but how can i do this? I cant store the experiments in another capsule as some as repeat experiments. Is my only option to design a better science lab lander, transfer the experiments and land that?

A Mobile Lab requires 4 of the big blue-tip chutes (or the equivalent, which is 8 white-tipe chutes or 16 radial chutes) to land safely. It also needs a probe core to be able to deploy the chutes, and power to run said probe core. So if your lab lacks that, it's hosed.

However, this is a fairly easy fix. Put the existing lab in LKO, launch another lab meeting the above requirements, rendezvous the 2nd with the 1st, and have a Kerbal from the 1st EVA over to the 2nd carrying all the data from the 1st. Then land the 2nd lab.

[vat21s]

Try this out, It's basically a Parachute module with a Landing base, You need something to get it to the Lab and Dock it on to the station.

http://www.speedyshare.com/DhHmu/Emergancy-Lander-X.craft

[Callmedave]

Thanks for all the comments Guys, managed it last night, I had four side tanks on, that i was jettisoning before landing, by keeping these on, it kept it upright and i was able to recover it in one piece. Got over 8000 Science for the mission! thanks for all the comments guys.

[tsotha]

I suspect if the lab module isn't actually destroyed you'll be able to recover it and get all the science. I had a rough landing where the only thing that survived was my capsule and two goo containers which had been attached to a fuel tank. When I recovered the capsule I didn't get the science, but when I recovered the goo containers (now labeled debris) I got the results of my experiments.