Sending science as data. Help!

[Marick73]

I've been playing KSP for a whole now but I've just decided to try my first probe fly by of a planet. What I need to know and that no other thread seems to answer exactly is: if I do science with a probe and transmit the data back home, I only get 40% of the science max. But! Of that 60% that didn't get sent, is it gone forever? Can I use a lab to reset the experiments and then re do and re send them for more science? Or can I land and return to kerbin after the transmission to get that 60%?

By sending data am I permanently sacrificing that 60%?

[Jovus]

Nope, not gone forever. It's a transmission cap, but the rest of the science is still sitting there on the planet waiting for you to come pick it up. (Albeit in 70% increments like normal.)

[Mitchz95]

You can send other probes to pick up the rest later.

[Marick73]

Ok cool. So if I had a lab on the probe to reset my experiments, could I send over and over again until I got all of the possible science?

Thanks for the fast replies. It's appreciated

Just sending multiple probes would probably be easier, and funner haha

Edited November 14, 2014 by Marick73

[Kryxal]

There are several hard and soft limits ... you can only get so much from transmitted data, though that may or may not be capped in one try. If you're running stock, though, don't worry about the losses, there's enough science to be had on the Mun and Minimus.

[Marick73]

There are several hard and soft limits ... you can only get so much from transmitted data, though that may or may not be capped in one try. If you're running stock, though, don't worry about the losses, there's enough science to be had on the Mun and Minimus.

Mostly I just want to "steal science from the future". If I can get a basic probe out to Duma or something to make it easier to get my science from mun then that's great. I'm working on my first lander now. This version hasn't exploded for no reason yet. Lol

[Streetwind]

There are two versions of "incomplete science return".

Some experiments can yield more than 100%. For example, take a goo canister, run the experiment, and recover it back home. You just got full credit for recovering the experiment, but! If you take another goo canister to the same spot and run the experiment again, you'll notice that there's still a little bit more science to get. You can spot these experiments by looking at the green "yield bar" that shows how much you get for recovering the experiment. If it's bright green all the way through, then you get one full return and that's it; but if it's bright green some of the way and then dull green for the rest, then that means you can return it more than once. Same applies for the blue bar that indicates transmission yield: if it's bright blue all the way, then one transmission will cap it out, but if there's a dull blue tail end, that means you can get bonus science from multiple transmissions.

The second version is the hard transmission yield cap. For most experiments, the transmission yield bar will never be completely full, and the transmit button shows a percentage smaller than 100%. That means you can only get that much from transmitting, and not a shred more.

Some science experiments have the first behavior, some have the second behavior... and some may even have both at the same time! It gets a bit complicated when you combine the two, but you really only need to look at the yield bar and its colors:

1.) yield bar is bright blue: you can get this much from one transmission right now.

2.) yield bar is dull blue: you can get this much from additional, future transmissions.

3.) yield bar is nonexistant: no amount of transmitting will give you extra science anymore.

Case 3 can mean that the experiment is fully completed (like a crew report that gives 100% transmission value and nothing beyond that), but it can also mean that you merely hit the hard transmission cap (like a thermometer reading that only gives you 50% when transmitted). In the latter case, you can still return later and do the experiment again, and then take it home physically and recover it in order to receive the remaining science.

[Laie]

Quoted from an old version of the wiki:

First example, Mystery Goo: The absolute length of the bars represents the total amount of Science Points that can be collected from that particular experiment, in this case that would be 13 points. The bright green line shows the fraction of points you will get for performing the experiment once; in this case, 10/13th or approx 77%. If you repeat that experiment, you will get 77% of the remaining three points, and so on. Every time you repeat that particular experiment and recover the data, you will receive ~77% of however many (or few) science points are still left. As a rule of thumb, repeatable experiments are pretty much depleted after the third time.

The blue bar indicating transmission value follows a similar pattern, but please notice how even the dark blue stops far short of the total amount. No matter how many transmissions you make, you won't receive more than 30% of the available points. Once you are above the 30% threshold (eg, because you already returned one container), further transmissions will be worthless. The Mobile Processing Lab MPL-LG-2 can boost that number a a little (more on that below), but the fact remains: transmissions alone will get you only so far.

[mideg]

As an addition to the question of the OP: If I send a probe to the Mun, transmit it's science and then return the probe, do I get the amount that was not transmitted due to some transmitting cap?

[Frank_G]

The first run will deliver some science, the next less... The third flyby will deliver something around null. And you need a kerbaled mission and bring back the results to get the remaining science.

[Laie]

As an addition to the question of the OP: If I send a probe to the Mun, transmit it's science and then return the probe, do I get the amount that was not transmitted due to some transmitting cap?

After transmission, the result is gone. You'll have to run the experiment again so you get another result, which you may return.

[cantab]

As an addition to the question of the OP: If I send a probe to the Mun, transmit it's science and then return the probe, do I get the amount that was not transmitted due to some transmitting cap?

Only if you rerun the experiment and keep the data on it. For the small instruments and also surface samples "transmit one, return one" is a good idea, getting more science than just returning a single run.