Resetting 'One Time' Experiments Remotely

[Keramane]

So, I've found that it's far easier to land a science lander (lab, goos, juniors, all that) seperately of my Kerbals. I perform the repeatable experiments, transmit as best I can, then store the data. Then, I launch a much lighter craft with 2-3 Kerbals to land nearby (at which I've gotten incredibly good, for playing stock) and just hop my little guys over to collect data, reset experiments and just data-jack all the science I can.

However, this poses a problem in multi-biome enviromnents like the Mun and Minmus as the lab is too heavy and - by this point - too low on fuel to make the hops to new biome locations, and any extra science I have on my second ship (or the rovers I send) can't be reset due to the fact that there's no lab attached to that construction.

Is there a way to park up next to a lab that isn't attached to your ship in any way and remotely clean your experiments for a second go?

If you dock to a ship that has a lab unit, can you scrub your experiments?

[Rioka]

Originally posted by Keramane:

Is there a way to park up next to a lab that isn't attached to your ship in any way and remotely clean your experiments for a second go?

You could use the Kerbal Attachment System mod to connect the ships if they are within 50 meters. that should allow you to reset the experiments(I think. I haven't actual done it myself.)
You can get it HERE[kerbalspaceport.com].

Originally posted by Keramane:

If you dock to a ship that has a lab unit, can you scrub your experiments?

Yes. I am curently planning on putting a station with a research lab around the Mun and Minmus. Once you dock the the two ships are treated as a single vessel.

[Ottomic]

I recommend you put the lab in orbit, detach a small lander, get data, get back to the lab. Send a refueling ship, rinse and repeat.

So far it's the most efficient way I've found to gather science.

[Rioka]

Ok, just tested KAS in conjunction with the mobile lab. It seems to work fine in my launchpad test. The hardest part would likely be making sure your science lander doesn't drift into the lab station/ship and break things. Proper docking may still be easier, but that's a decision I'll leave to the reader.

Horray !!SCIENCE!!
(Anyone who gets the reference is encouraged the stay dorfy.)

[Keramane]

Something I've cooked up just now is a multi-pod crew lander. I'm still hashing out the design (so no ugly screenies yet) but basically I slap a MK1 pod on 2 MK1 landing cans. I can carry 3 kerbals with this and it's 3 locations to store data, meaning that if I run an experiment at a lab, ferry the data over to one pod, rerun the experiment, deposit in pod 2 and rerun to deposit in pod 3, I finish that experiment utterly, no more return trips.

So my current plan is to drop fully kitted lab landers to the biomes of the Mun and Minmus and then - using a pondjumper ferry ship - collect all the data in one place, then send in the retrieval ship to land nearby, claim it all, and fly back to Kerbin.

Obviously in the interim I'll transmit (at full lab boost) all the data I can so as to use the science as soon as possible, but this should milk the biomes dry quickly.

I plan to start with the Mun, since its biomes are easier to find (it's not a blot test like Minmus' biome map is) to test the plausibility of it. I'd hoped to use a rover, but the low-G environment makes that utterly implausible.

Edit: And while I appreciate the idea of using the linking mod there, I'm trying to do everything Stock for now. About the only mod I consider is Deadly Reentry so as to make the game more realistic :3

[Ottomic]

Originally posted by Keramane:

Obviously in the interim I'll transmit (at full lab boost) all the data I can so as to use the science as soon as possible, but this should milk the biomes dry quickly.

You only get data for the first transmission. You can't grind the biomes dry this time, and there's a huge chunk of those points that you actually need to get to Kerbin for them to count. Keep that in mind.

[Keramane]

Oh I'm aware, however, I have the repeatables that I can send, and the eva and crew are 100%'s for transmissions, so there's that. Additionally, there are some that you can send 2-3 times before you get 0.0 science (siesmic comes to mind) though that's really squeezing every drop of science out.

Anywho, I tried my little Pond-Jumper ship, used the wrong kind of engines/fuel tank apparently (Rockomax 55's were too fuel hungry for that tiny tank). While I'm aware that nukes are the most fuel efficient, they're also so bloody long... I've yet to think up a way to mitigate their length without adding a bunch of mass to make for a wide landing base. Oh well, worse case I have to send multiple pondjumpers too >_> At this rate, might as well just send one lander with 3-4 of every science thing to each biome and just return like that, ignoring the lab alltogether.