Asteroid going to Kerbin!

[krstecd]

Hello, i just see in tracking station and i see asteroid going to the kerbin, so what can i do?

-Can i move it so it can't hit Kerbin or my space station?

I don't want to destroy asteroid cuz i want to set some drils on.

 

[bewing]

Welcome to the forums.

Theoretically, you can move it. However, the reality is that you have very little time to get to it. It looks to me like it is going to be destroyed in about 20 days. It will take maybe two days to get to it. Do you have the klaw unlocked in your tech tree? Do you have nulcear rocket engines? How big is that asteroid? Are you good at doing rendezvous maneuvers, and matching orbits?

 

 

 

[HvP]

As bewing said, you'll need to already have the klaw unlocked, also known as the Advanced Grabbing Unit, which will allow you to grab the asteroid as if you are docking with it.

Depending on the asteroid's size you will probably need to pack a lot more fuel than you're used to in order to change its orbit significantly. The good news is that it's almost in Kerbin orbit already, so it won't take too much to push it into a captured orbit and then you can come back to it later with a bigger ship and move it into a more equatorial orbit and then bring the mining equipment if that's what you want.

I'd say your best strategy is to try to launch from Kerbin into the plane of the asteroid's orbit, matching its inclination at launch, and being careful that you are going in the same direction as the asteroid's orbit. Once you get into a low circular orbit around Kerbin you should fine tune your angle of inclination at your ascending or descending nodes. It will use up more fuel to do it this way, but it will make finding a close approach encounter much easier when you plan your transfer burn maneuver. Finding that rendezvous may be tricky though if you don't have practice getting a close approach intercept from an elliptical orbit.

Don't forget to bring plenty of RCS control, Vernor engines and/or large reaction wheels. Because even after you lock on to a big asteroid it takes a lot of force to turn one around to point towards your maneuver nodes.

The other good news is that the asteroids don't do any damage to Kerbin, and the chances of it hitting your station are almost exactly zero.

Good luck and have fun!

Edited June 7, 2017 by HvP

[The Aziz]

The possibility of hitting something is really low (come on, Gravity movie is a lie) but as above, you can do something about it. You just need some brain to plan your mission.

[Spricigo]

Now I'm curious. If let alone it will not just disapear like an uncontrolled vessel in similar trajectory?

Anyway, as @The Aziz said the chances to hit anything are pretty low. Centainly it will not hit KSC if there is any noticeable inclination and in the slim chance it actualy crosses orbit with anything a brief manuever eliminate any risk.

[egoego]

5 hours ago, HvP said:

almost exactly

[krstecd]

9 hours ago, bewing said:

Thanks, i have unlocked the klaw but i'm still learning to do good maneuvers, i made to land on moon and minimus but in Sandbox gamemode. I learned from watching youtube videos how to land on moon and minimus.

Thanks for all replies.

 

 

 

[Reactordrone]

Given that it's on a collision course I would suggest a rendezvous on a reverse orbit (same orbital plane but opposite direction). If you meet it beyond the Mun's orbit the cost of stopping and reversing direction to capture it with the klaw won't be that high, then it's just a matter of raising the periapsis, riding it down and capturing into orbit.

Edited June 7, 2017 by Reactordrone

[Kryxal]

If you're looking to mine this, I'd suggest taking the ISRU gear with you to start with.  Once you grab it, you can generate fuel in place and and you'll have LOTS of delta-v to work with.  If you do this, it's worth making something with an easy docking target (and probably use a large port).