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Part recovery from orbit.


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I'm playing 1.7

 

Some time ago I got a contract to recover a part from orbit. It was a side mount engine. I built a shuttle and tryed to use this Arm from a mod I think it was for a Hermes shuttle or some thing. I tried but couldn't get it to work. Gave up on the arm. Finally I resorted to just bumping it into the cargo bay. And the thing just magically stuck. I was amazed I didn't know that the cargo bays would do that. Cool. I flew home with no problem. 

 

Now I have another contract. This time it's a mark 1 command pod. I tried to do the same thing. It just wont stick to the inside of the cargo bay. It floats around inside and then just floated out through the closed doors when I tried to reenter. What am I doing wrong. What are the rules for using the cargo bay to retrieve parts from orbit? How does it work? What am I doing wrong?

 

Lee

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The only time I know that a free floating part will slide through closed doors is during time warp.  That's odd that you're experiencing that.

Do you have access to the Advanced Grabbing Unit?  It's the best way to get a part thats floating around like that and secure it.

 

115px-Advanced_Grabbing_Unit_(opened).pn

 

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When I say stick I mean it adhered to the cargo bay. It stuck in place and I could move all around with RCS or the engine with out it moving even with the door open. And time warp did not affect it. It became part of the ship and I recovered it with no problem. It was a revelation. So that's how that part works. I'm now wondering if the mere presents of the arm is what made it stick. I had extended the arm and moved all around trying to get it to grab the part. Failed. I'd stowed the arm when I discovered that the part would "stick".

 

It's refusing to do it this time.

 

So as I understand your answer it should work even lose in side the bay if I don't time warp? Is that how the bay is normally intended to be used.

 

Lee

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I've not used that mod, so I don't know anything about how you were able to get it to stick to the bay.  Usually, parts dont stick together like that unless its docking ports or by radially attaching them in the VAB/SPH.

While you can sort of trap a recovery part inside a cargo bay by closing the doors and letting it bounce around, its not the ideal solution as your ship and the recovery target will be 2 separate crafts.  The cockpit could blow up if it bangs against your cargo bay at a speed greater than it's impact tolerance.  Its a dicey, last resort kind of solution, but it certainly can work if done carefully.

The standard use of a cargo bay is on launch when you want to bring some detachable cargo to space, like perhaps a satellite or probe you're sending out.  The payload is attached to the cargo bay internally, you open the doors once you reach the vacuum of space, detach the payload and now you've got 2 separate crafts:

T1j7G36.png

 

The advanced grabbing unit I mentioned above is a part that lets you grab another craft, be it a one-part recovery contract craft or a larger ship, and when a proper connection is made, the two crafts become one.  Often times, you can send a small craft with propulsion, the advanced grabbing unit, some batteries, and a bunch of parachutes which will attach itself to the contact target and deorbit it, landing safely on parachutes.  Here is Scott Manley doing exactly this:

 

Further, you can put that advanced grabbing unit inside a cargo bay, maneuver such that it grabs the contract target, and then close the bay doors and the contract target part then becomes part of your ship and wont be rattling around inside the cargo bay.  

Like almost everything in KSP there are a few ways to tackle the problem you're trying to solve.  Have fun trying all the methods.  

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On 10/21/2019 at 4:21 AM, RiggerLee said:

I'm playing 1.7

Now I have another contract. This time it's a mark 1 command pod. I tried to do the same thing. It just wont stick to the inside of the cargo bay. It floats around inside and then just floated out through the closed doors when I tried to reenter. What am I doing wrong. What are the rules for using the cargo bay to retrieve parts from orbit? How does it work? What am I doing wrong?

Had a similar thing happen to me 2 or 3 years ago, but for me it was a command seat, which was on the surface of the Mun.

I spent far too long trying to pick the thing up with the AGU, as I raised and lowered the landing legs of my little trash grabber of a lander, that I'd parked on top of the thing. Finally I gave up on it and marked the contact as complete in the F12 menu.

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On 10/20/2019 at 10:21 PM, RiggerLee said:

What am I doing wrong. What are the rules for using the cargo bay to retrieve parts from orbit? How does it work? What am I doing wrong?

You found a helpful glitch.  They're rare but they do occur.  The rule is that cargo bays do not normally work that way, though I concede that your mod may have played a role.

Cargo bays are useful to shield parts from aerodynamic forces and reentry heat.  Tie-down straps for the actual cargo are not normally included; you normally need either the claw or docking ports on both parts to recover something in a cargo bay.

On 10/20/2019 at 10:46 PM, RiggerLee said:

So as I understand your answer it should work even lose in side the bay if I don't time warp? Is that how the bay is normally intended to be used.

If you do not time warp, then the bay should contain the part.  However, the part and the bay are then both subject to collision forces, and that may cause one or both to explode should you jostle the vessel too much (when you open parachutes or land, for example).  I also do not know how the game treats detached parts in bays for purposes of shielding from reentry heat; it may not understand that the part is inside a bay at all, which will make things interesting.

In almost all cases, parts in a cargo bay are meant to be attached to that bay.  The exceptions are for when you're in the process of launching or recovering something (such as releasing a fuel tank from it or driving a rover into it), and even then, the intent is that there be some means of attachment (or detachment) involved.

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