"Gravity" in KSP

[Spyritdragon]

What is this magic that allows specific people to defy the normal laws of single-threaded processor clocking and make ships that go around 5x the normal part limit for lag?

[earth]

processor speed! I can have 2000 part ships with no lag since i OCed to 4,2 GHz. I did not try 7000 parts but the slideshow wouldnt be too bad. Also, setting a higher detaT limit can make the flight longer, but smoother.

[rosenkranz]

I'm a little confused. If something blew up in the same orbit as the station, then how does the debris pose a threat to anything is the same orbit?

I did the kessler bomb thing once before just to see if I could do that. However after having about 5000 bit of debris the game just became a slide show. That much stuff on rails is just not good. On the other hand it was cool. Time warping, you could see the initial clouds of debris slowly turn into a solid ring of debris over time.

[MrCoolx10]

Better than me I told my teacher about George Clooney and what spoiler happens to him (on accident)

[MrCoolx10]

Can somebody give me a download link to the kessler ball

[CrazedGunman502]

I thought that the wave of debris thing is impossible, since everything around that orbit would be moving at the same speed? Can someone confirm?

[SunJumper]

A retrograde low orbit would probably create the highest collision risk.

[merlinux]

I thought that the wave of debris thing is impossible, since everything around that orbit would be moving at the same speed? Can someone confirm?

Orbits can cross other orbits. There are both prograde and retrograde orbits too. So high speed collision do/can happen. Check up wikipedia on kessler bombs. And from memory there was a collision between 2 satellites a few years ago at incredibly high velocities and I think the shuttle had to change orbit to avoid collision with the massive cloud of debris. It is a real problem.

EDIT: after checking the collision I was thinking about was in 2009 and it didnt cause any threats to either the ISS and the shuttle . However a chinese satellite was deemed to be in threat of being destroyed by the debris. Debris have since decayed.

Edited November 3, 2013 by merlinux

[Bacterius]

I thought that the wave of debris thing is impossible, since everything around that orbit would be moving at the same speed? Can someone confirm?

Yes. The way it's depicted in the movie is not plausible. That said the debris could have been thrown into an elliptical orbit in some resonance with your orbit which would cause you to intercept them every so often. But certainly not once every 90 minutes (the time it takes to complete one orbit in LEO). And the debris "wave" would not be coherent - it would disperse after a few minutes into close but different orbits.

Nobody said movies had to be 100% accurate, though. Let's say it's close enough

[CrazedGunman502]

Yes. The way it's depicted in the movie is not plausible. That said the debris could have been thrown into an elliptical orbit in some resonance with your orbit which would cause you to intercept them every so often. But certainly not once every 90 minutes (the time it takes to complete one orbit in LEO). And the debris "wave" would not be coherent - it would disperse after a few minutes into close but different orbits.

Nobody said movies had to be 100% accurate, though. Let's say it's close enough

Yeep. That really bothered me. But the concept is cool.

[merlinux]

Yes. The way it's depicted in the movie is not plausible. That said the debris could have been thrown into an elliptical orbit in some resonance with your orbit which would cause you to intercept them every so often. But certainly not once every 90 minutes (the time it takes to complete one orbit in LEO). And the debris "wave" would not be coherent - it would disperse after a few minutes into close but different orbits.

Nobody said movies had to be 100% accurate, though. Let's say it's close enough

Oh well in that case I agree that collision every 90 min is not possible. But I havent seen the movie yet and had no idea the debris kept coming on regular occasions. Thanks for the spoiler

[Bacterius]

Oh well in that case I agree that collision every 90 min is not possible. But I havent seen the movie yet and had no idea the debris kept coming on regular occasions. Thanks for the spoiler

Damn it!

[WalrusPilot]

Made this sometime ago, had to post

[merlinux]

Made this sometime ago, had to post

Pretty cool just missing a cloud of debris to look better. But who am I to criticize, I am rubbish at editing videos.

[pluto101]

I was actually pretty impressed with how accurate the movie was overall. They really only made one error, and it was an intentional one for integral story purposes - namely, that everything in LEO seems to be on the same orbit and within 100km of everything else. That debris cloud would be very possible in a retrograde orbit (side note: while the relative speed would be so large you couldn't see the debris coming, you can't blame the creators for fudging that).

I went into the movie wondering if they'd have audible explosions in space. Given that low bar, I was blown away at Gravity's realism.