dealing with debris

[Ketatrypt]

Bringing up cargo to a spacestation has brought an issue that I didn't think of at the time.. I have a growing constellation of decouplers around the space station. every load I bring up adds another one. And because they don't have any thrust, they just end up clustering around the station. I could put up a shuttle-load of drones to de-orbit each decoupler, but, that takes a lot of time. what do you's do to keep kessler syndrome to a minimum? My biggest worry is bumping into one of them with the shuttle, then having the decoupler bounce into, and break a solar panel or something.

Edited February 11, 2016 by Ketatrypt

[Velve666]

Hi there, you could simply terminate the debris in the tracking station one by one, but for this scenario I am assuming you are looking for realism. 

My friend spent about 8 hours clearing his debris through de-orbiting them with the claw. He was new to rendezvous and I suggested it would be good practice. 

Other than that I would think prevention would be your best bet. Although I wouldn't worry too much about it as you would have to be controlling a ship nearby the debris physics bubble for anything to happen.

Unless you have any debris on a highly elliptical orbit that intercepts your station the debris would also not be traveling terribly fast relative to your stations orbit. 

 

I wouldn't worry too much about it. 

[Snark]

It only takes a small amount of dV for them to drift away, as long as it's in the orbital prograde/retrograde axis. Just send out an EVA kerbal and bump them. Doesn't even need to be 1 m/s; a little tap will do it. They'll get bored and wander away.

[SalehRam]

Also, as a small suggestion, use Sepratron and make them activate when a stage is activated, this way, when you decouple from the final stage at the space station, they will get pushed far away from the station and you won't have to worry about those any more... Sepratron don't weight a lot and are very lovely little things

[Ketatrypt]

44 minutes ago, SalehRam said:

Also, as a small suggestion, use Sepratron and make them activate when a stage is activated, this way, when you decouple from the final stage at the space station, they will get pushed far away from the station and you won't have to worry about those any more... Sepratron don't weight a lot and are very lovely little things

I don't think I could use sepratrons unless I add a second decoupler... Here is my current cargo bay config:

everything on the right of the stack seperator is payload, and the batteries, rcs tanks, and probe core is part of the shuttle. if I put sepretrons on the decoupler as is, it would just force it back into the cargo bay. or if I face them outwards it would start spinning the payload. (I use 5% force on decoupler so the load doesn't slam into the rear of the bay, and generally the decoupler will stay in the cargo bay until I add a bit of shuttle rcs)

 

I have tried using docking ports, as I think they would be optimal for the designs, but I can't seem to get them to connect like a decoupler in the hanger. Is that possible?

Thanks!

Edited February 11, 2016 by Ketatrypt

[SalehRam]

10 minutes ago, Ketatrypt said:

I have tried using docking ports, as I think they would be optimal for the designs, but I can't seem to get them to connect like a decoupler in the hanger. Is that possible?

You can use docking ports in there, just like decouplers, you just have to face them right, and having to work with SPH, it tends to be a bit annoying to place stuff in the cargo bay of a plane, but you can do it and you need few camera angle changes to be able to place them right.

 

OR

 

Hold your mod key (should be LALT), while trying to place the part in the cargo bay, and it should be placed as it is without it orients with the part orientation... (I'll try to get something more clear about this to explain it better).

EDIT: This link has some info about it:

 

Edited February 11, 2016 by SalehRam

[Ketatrypt]

13 minutes ago, SalehRam said:

13 minutes ago, SalehRam said:

You can use docking ports in there, just like decouplers, you just have to face them right, and having to work with SPH, it tends to be a bit annoying to place stuff in the cargo bay of a plane, but you can do it and you need few camera angle changes to be able to place them right.

 

OR

 

Hold your mod key (should be LALT), while trying to place the part in the cargo bay, and it should be placed as it is without it orients with the part orientation... (I'll try to get something more clear about this to explain it better).

EDIT: This link has some info about it:

 

You can use docking ports in there, just like decouplers, you just have to face them right, and having to work with SPH, it tends to be a bit annoying to place stuff in the cargo bay of a plane, but you can do it and you need few camera angle changes to be able to place them right.

 

OR

 

Hold your mod key (should be LALT), while trying to place the part in the cargo bay, and it should be placed as it is without it orients with the part orientation... (I'll try to get something more clear about this to explain it better).

EDIT: This link has some info about it:

 

Hmm guess I will have to fiddle with it a bit in the SPH. when I tried I didn't fool with it too long, but it wouldn't snap exactly and I wasn't patient enough to move it to the exact proper spot - but if it is possible I will take a second look. - I already have docking ports on the payloads, and it would definitely help to keep part counts down.

[FungusForge]

I would suggest making a ships that uses nervas or ions to scoot itself around, with a pair of opposing mainsails (one facing the rear, and one facing the front). Bind the mainsails to an action group so that when you get nice and close you can burn the decouplers with the mainsail exhaust. Before the changes to the heating system there was a nice way to send kerbals to the moon from LKO with this kind of thing, so if the decoupler isn't melted it probably won't see Kerbin for a few years.

Also, docking port have a "decouple node" option in the RCM that allows you to decouple them from the parent ship without the use of a decoupler or a second docking port. Its rather handy for shuttles both in and out of sandbox.

 

Another option, if you don't mind modding a little bit would be installing BDArmory. The guns are a rather safe and easy means of disposing of debris. In my sandbox save I actually have a gunboat keeping debris out of LKO.

[Snark]

So, from your screenshot, it looks as though your cargo is somewhat self-propelled, with its own RCS system.

That simplifies matters somewhat. For example, you could decouple the cargo when the shuttle hasn't quite matched velocity with the station. Just a little differential will do, doesn't even have to be 1 m/s. Then the cargo matches velocity and docks.

 

 

 

[Ketatrypt]

12 minutes ago, Snark said:

So, from your screenshot, it looks as though your cargo is somewhat self-propelled, with its own RCS system.

That simplifies matters somewhat. For example, you could decouple the cargo when the shuttle hasn't quite matched velocity with the station. Just a little differential will do, doesn't even have to be 1 m/s. Then the cargo matches velocity and docks.

 

 

 

that sounds like a good idea in the future. The other ones I left pretty much stationary to the station, and although they are moving away, its really slowly. Ive made 4 trips up to the station, and the furthest one is only about 800m away.

 

but I think I figured out how to use the docking clamps, so hopefully that works in testing, because that would be the best I think, seems most modules need docking ports anyways and things that don't, I don't need to  bring near a station

[Geschosskopf]

21 hours ago, Ketatrypt said:

Bringing up cargo to a spacestation has brought an issue that I didn't think of at the time.. I have a growing constellation of decouplers around the space station. every load I bring up adds another one. And because they don't have any thrust, they just end up clustering around the station. I could put up a shuttle-load of drones to de-orbit each decoupler, but, that takes a lot of time. what do you's do to keep kessler syndrome to a minimum? My biggest worry is bumping into one of them with the shuttle, then having the decoupler bounce into, and break a solar panel or something.

The most economical answer is to use the "awesome power of this FULLY OPERATIONAL battlestation" to terminate debris immediately upon creation..

For getting rid of bigger assemblies of debris from the get-go, use TAC Self-Destruct (IMHO the coolest and most useful mod ever!)

Edited February 12, 2016 by Geschosskopf

[tsotha]

You could use the explosive from KIS/KAS to blow them up.

I'm a little unclear on why you have decouplers floating around.  Don't they detach from only one side?  Do you mean separators?  If so, why not use decouplers instead?

[AlextheBodacious]

If you go to settings, on the first page, near the bottom, is a slider, "Max Persistent Debris" and if you drop this to the minimum, open your game, go back, and bring it up again, all debris will be cleared.

[Geschosskopf]

9 hours ago, tsotha said:

You could use the explosive from KIS/KAS to blow them up.

I'm a little unclear on why you have decouplers floating around.  Don't they detach from only one side?  Do you mean separators?  If so, why not use decouplers instead?

Yeah, he probably means the blue stack separators.