Yep. In addition, you’re much less likely to tip over if you have some lateral velocity left–you just slide over the ice a bit.
Amusingly, you can get into Minmus orbit just by using the EVA suit. Scott Manley has a video of a super-light craft that gets to Minmus orbit–and lands/returns Jeb from the surface using just the suit.
Operation: Yoink! is now in motion.
I have delivered the recovery vehicle to Minmus. Now I just have to maneuver it over the malfunctioning rover with RCS, let the claw engage, and then lift it into Minmus orbit. From there, I will enter a transfer orbit to Kerbin and use aerobraking for at least one pass. If it dislodges the kerbonaut, I will then use the next orbit to release the rover and grab the kerbonaut instead, and establish a stable orbit from which to deliver him by capsule to the surface. If it does not dislodge him on the first pass, I will land the entire thing with him still stuck inside.
Okay, the bad news is that when the claw landed on the rover, it flung the kerbonaut off. The good news was that I was then able to drive the rover over to the kerbonaut with the claw still attached. He’s still counted as being seated on a non-existent piece of rover debris, but now he’ll be easier to work with.
Well, there’s always EVA. I decided to do a mission fairly close to Apollo 11; you can see the results here. Three Kerbonauts went to the Mun, though only one landed since the “lander can” only fits one. The LM and service module dock in orbit; they fly to the Mun joined together; the LM descends and ditches its base upon ascent; the two dock again (badly :)) and the crew transfers; the service module heads back to Kerbin; it ditches its engine and tanks before landing on 'chutes. Worked out pretty well, I think.
Whoa, I had no idea that was an option. That would have saved me some time!
More bad news: the grappler doesn’t stick to the bugged kerbonaut.
But some good news: apparently they’re currently testing the bug, so hopefully there will be a fix and I will be able to get him back to normal.
Gah. So I guess I was misunderstanding how the science lab works. I just finished a big mission where I parked a big orange tank connected to a science lab into Munar orbit with the plan of sending a lander to shuttle back and forth from the various surface biomes. I thought the idea was that it would let you reset the goo container and science jr. without losing the data, and then you could bring the data home without the experiment modules themselves. But I guess you can only reset them if you transmit the data back for only slightly more science than a normal transmission? It seems like for as heavy as the thing is, it’s of very limited usefulness, especially since you’re already having to make a return mission to get the kerbonauts inside home. Well, I guess you don’t have to, but it’s the decent thing to do.
So what’s the strategy with the thing? Is it more useful in the far-flung reaches of the Kerbolar System?
Can you not EVA and take the data from the goo containers, store in the return vehicle, and then use the lab to reset them?
Not as far as I can tell. When the lander with the goo container and science jr is docked with the science lab, the only thing it lets me do with them is reset them after the data gets transmitted back. I think I did have to shuttle the samples and EVA reports over, but I never saw any portable data from the experiment modules. I also accidentally processed the samples in the lab which bumps the transmission value up, but then the samples disappear, so you can’t change your mind and bring them home for the full 100%.
It seems like considering that the samples and reports don’t weigh anything, it’s pointless to use the science lab to increase their transmission value because you might as well just send them back to Kerbin with the kerbonauts in the lab, assuming you’re not planning on stranding them.
ETA: Ohhhhh, I didn’t try actually sending the kerbonaut to try EVAing and getting the data from the modules themselves. Maybe that’s the trick?
Yep. EVA, get your Kerbonaut directly across from the sensor in question, then right-click on the sensor and one of the options should be “get data”.
Yep you have to EVA the kerbal up to the Goo or Sci jr module and take the data then go to the capsule and enter to drop it off. I think if you have more than one type of data it used to give an error message saying you could only store one of each type of data, but just ignore that and it does store all the data.
It would be nice if someone made a mod like Kerbal crew manifest, which allows you to move kerbals between docked craft without having to EVA, to move data around without having to EVA it .
So basically the Sci lab is for longer extra planetary missions. If you are just getting sci from the Mun or Minimus it is more effective total delta V wise to take a lander with 4 Sci jr and 4 goo pods plus other sci modules and just land on minumus and then jump from one biome to another then bring all 4 biome science sets home. Then do it again for the other 6 biomes.
Sending a lab up and going up and down with one sci jr and goo pod and repeatedly cleaning and going back for more science is more delta V intensive ( in a real pain with all the EVAing)
That doesn’t hold true if you are going to another planet though .
That said I have just restarted a .23 career mode game from scratch and have got all the science from minimus (sci jr, goo and temperature, so far) and am planning on building a mobile processing lab space station and parking it around the mun to practice the process before sailing the lab off to Duna for some sci gathering there. Obviously with the limited biomes on Duna it isn’t really worth it either, but this is more of a 'can I do it ’ thing.
Either that or try for a kerbal crewed return flight from a near sun orbit.
And I really should have checked out the forums , there is a mod
http://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/threads/62270-0-23-Ship-Manifest-(Manage-Crew-Science-Resources)-v0-23-3-1-5-26-Feb-14
Ah, shoot! Well, maybe I’ll try that approach again on the Duna/Ike missions and see if I can’t get it right this time!
Well I went with the Sci station in orbit around the Mun and have a light weight lander with a Sci Jr, a couple of good pods, gravioli, seismic and temp scanner bouncing up and down cleaning up the mun biomes. I think this might be more Dv efficient then going to and from the earth every time in counter to what I previously posted.
I bring out the odd refueling flight to refuel the Sci station ( which acts as a fuel depot for the lander) and bring back the science.
The ship manifest add on linked above is a life saver for this. I’d go nuts doing all the EVAing.
Getting the hang of the suicide burn and docking is becoming a breeze.
Today in Kerbal Science, I’m trying to develop an easy to use rocket that can lift a full 14.4k tank to LKO. My first attempt had to pull about 9 tons of fuel from the tank to complete the orbit, but I know how to make my next one better. Doing so will provide me with a useful benchmark for designing ships - anything that weighs less than eighty tons does not have to worry about crashing, since it can be delivered to orbit purely by the launch engines.
If all you want to do is put something in orbit with the minimum of fuss, the new parts make it extremely easy to do so. Here is the new Goliath Station which I just launched as a single unit, complete with 36 tons of rocket fuel and 4 tons of RCS.
And, yes it is a moon.
Well, it is now.
Kerbal scientists detected a massive class E object (now known as “Booger”) on a course into the Kerbin sphere of influence that was a wee bit too close for comfort. Jebediah promptly lept into action in the newly built Talon-class asteroid interceptor and made contact with the behemoth. With skillful flying, it took a very large heap of delta-V to move that massive object, but Jebediah succeeded at simultaneously averting the danger as well as parking Booger in a permanent Kerbin orbit. Albeit an extremely elliptical, polar orbit.
Mission control at Kerbal Space Center did contemplate spending some resources to attempt to move Booger into an equatorial orbit, but one or two horrendous design flaws in the Talon I prototype lead to excessive RCS fuel wasting (with resultant shortage), thus putting a stop to any such continued foolish talk. Also, someone did some math. The numbers to move an object the size of Booger from a polar orbit to equatorial orbit simply aren’t pretty. Or small.
Kerbals of all ages can now use their telescopes and even binoculars to observe a new, wondrous addition to Kerbin’s sky. Welcome to Kerbin, our new moon, Booger.
I will add that I am disappointed that there is so little science to be earned from an asteroid. I had hoped for more, but oh well. My tech tree is almost filled anyway.
ETA: However, I am definitely enjoying the new additions, especially the asteroid encounters. The new parts don’t hurt, either! They made launching a heavy tug capable of pushing a Class E asteroid around a bit easier. Progress! Thanks, Kerbodyne!
Stats for Kerbal’s new moon, Booger:
1528.3 tons
Apoapsis: 38,605.811 km
Periapsis: 201.418 km
Inclination 97.9°
I have developed my first spaceplane that can reach orbit unaided.
It has a docking port, powered wheels for taxiing, an autopilot and a drogue parachute.
Once I’ve unlocked ion engines, I might replace the drogue parachute with a docking port for satellite delivery - putting it there also means it can double as an ion engine for the fighter itself.