Sorta dug myself into a hole in career please help.

[Abu Hajaar]

I ventured off from the tutorials online once i got the idea of science and am now on the third tier of research and have researched everything but the aviation stuff for aircraft. I'm now out of ideas on how to get enough science to research that and the tutorials online obtained it through aircraft which I cannot build because i didnt follow their directions in the first place and research that. I gave myself two options. take my science equipment and do small rockets all over kerbal to get bits and pieces of science until i have 45. or do it in one shot by entering orbit. I manage to enter orbit and get my science but my problem is the restrictions on my rocket limiting it to 18 tons and 30 pieces won't seem to allow me enough fuel reserve to slow down my rocket upon reentry let alone re-enter. is their a rocket design that will allow me to do this or should i just go with option 1

[Abu Hajaar]

also do you enter a new science biome the longer you are in orbit or how does it work cuz i just let a day pass before trying

[blodsub]

You should grab another shovel. and dig out of it :D

[Elementus]

Originally posted by Abu Hajaar:

also do you enter a new science biome the longer you are in orbit or how does it work cuz i just let a day pass before trying

Biome are locations on the surface, you do not have the correct science equipment to get new biome in orbit. Just launch and try to land in a new biome to get science points

[El Rushbo]

Shallow re-entry angle, if you're lucky the angle will take a while but should prevent you from burning up.

[howardsheard]

also do you know that practically each building in ksp is its own seperate biome, there's about 1500 science just sitting there ready for exploration, just build a wheeled manned (scientist) rover and drive around

[internetrules]

Originally posted by Abu Hajaar:

I manage to enter orbit and get my science but my problem is the restrictions on my rocket limiting it to 18 tons and 30 pieces won't seem to allow me enough fuel reserve to slow down my rocket upon reentry

are you using engines to slow down in the atmosphere? if so thats not how you enter kerbin

you use heatsheilds to protect you from very high speeds and then activate parachutes when your at a low enough speed

[duanevp]

If you can get to orbit you can get to the mun/minmus and score all the science you could need.

[Abu Hajaar]

Originally posted by internetrules:

Originally posted by Abu Hajaar:

I manage to enter orbit and get my science but my problem is the restrictions on my rocket limiting it to 18 tons and 30 pieces won't seem to allow me enough fuel reserve to slow down my rocket upon reentry

are you using engines to slow down in the atmosphere? if so thats not how you enter kerbin

you use heatsheilds to protect you from very high speeds and then activate parachutes when your at a low enough speed

thanks i tried that and it worked the first time and then the next time i crashed super hard so i resorted to leaving reserve fuel to slow me down upon reentry

[Elementus]

Originally posted by Abu Hajaar:

Originally posted by internetrules:

are you using engines to slow down in the atmosphere? if so thats not how you enter kerbin

you use heatsheilds to protect you from very high speeds and then activate parachutes when your at a low enough speed

thanks i tried that and it worked the first time and then the next time i crashed super hard so i resorted to leaving reserve fuel to slow me down upon reentry

You don't need extra fuel to slow you down on re-entry from a LKO, for a return from Mun and minmus you might

[internetrules]

Originally posted by Abu Hajaar:

Originally posted by internetrules:

are you using engines to slow down in the atmosphere? if so thats not how you enter kerbin

you use heatsheilds to protect you from very high speeds and then activate parachutes when your at a low enough speed

thanks i tried that and it worked the first time and then the next time i crashed super hard so i resorted to leaving reserve fuel to slow me down upon reentry

could you share a picture of the craft that crashed the second time you tried it? you arent soppose to use fuel to slow you down because that is VERY inefficient

[sir_schwick]

What is you re-entry angle looking like? Also how many parachutes/drogues are you using? Even a single drogue is very useful.

[Abu Hajaar]

i was using 2. what i noticed is sometimes upon reentry i would slow down after getting hot but other times i didnt at all and now that you mention the reentry angle i think i know what you are talking about. thanks

[caesar_andy]

If your ship is not getting slower after you reach the first and second layer of more dense air, than your ship is way to heavy compared ro the surface you had turned into the direction of your descent.
This may happen if you had a MK1 pod, a fuel tank and an engine mounted as one long pillar. Such a contruction is heavy while the surface, that produced air resistance, is very small. Or your ship has the wrong orientation and you are descending with the sharp nose on front. In this case you will have have low air resistance as well. If you are forced to use aero-breaking, you need a light craft with a huge surface in compairson, that is turned against the air-pressure. A single MK1 command pod with nothing else than a mounted parachute and descending with the flat bottom at first, should made it this way. Everything else would be to heavy.

So you must left everthing else left behind in space.

[Bubba Fett]

If you're collecting science in the early game, upgrade your astronaut center as early as possible so your kerbals can EVA.
As Howardheard mentioned each of the buildings at the KSP are their own biome and you can get science for EVA reports and surface samples. Nowhere near 1500 science though. I doubt if you could get that for the entire planet, but it's doable with a Minmus landing.

Once you can EVA, next time you're in orbit, EVA and stay on the ladder. If you're in a low orbit, you'll earn science for an EVA report over each biome. You just watch the surface go by below you and every time you think you might be over a new biome do another EVA report.
If it's worth science, right click on the capsule and store your data so you're ready to collect another new EVA report.
When you go to the Mun or Minmus you'll want to do this as well. It's an easy way to collect a lot of science.

As for reentry, set your PE at about 40km and let the atmospheric friction slow you. If you use your engine to reenter and you make your PE too low you come in too steep. This means your capsule spends less time going though the atmosphere and it doesn't slow down enough for a safe landing.
Since you're in the early career you're probably using the mk1 capsule. Add a heat sheild, but use the right click menu in the VAB to get rid of about half the ablative. This will save some mass and let the capsule slow faster.
While you can manage without a heat sheild from low orbit, the mass of it will make the capsule much more stable on reentry. You can shut off SAS once you're facing retrograde at about 65km and the capsule will hold stable on retrograde all the way down.

Every time you land from orbit, do a crew report, and EVA report, and take a surface sample.
You don't get much on kerbit, but it all adds up.

When you get past the early game and you're ready to land on the Mun, don't. Go land on Minmus instead. It's much easier because of the lower gravity and will give you a lot more science. Once you've been to every biome on Minmus the Mun will seem easier and after the Mun Duna will seem more achievable.

[howardsheard]

Once fully upgraded there are 32 different biomes at the ksp centre, if you have all the science instruments and can take surface samples and Eva there is a little less than 1500 science at ksp. Obv at the start of career mode there is nowhere near that.