The Class-Z Asteroid Moon Challenge!

[NASAHireMe]

"That's no moon... It's a Class Z asteroid station!"

After eons of gazing wistfully at the Mun and Minmus, the Kerbals stuck on Kerbin are getting bored of seeing the same two rocks in their skies. They long for something more. Something that proudly reflects their vast interplanetary reach and the can-do spirit of the great Jebediah.

In other words, Emperor Kerbaltine wants a new moon. An artificial moon, crafted from Kerbal steel and as many asteroids stuck together into one continuous station as possible.

Rules:

• The asteroid station must be in Kerbin orbit, with a Pe > 70km and an Ap < 500km
  
• Mods and parts packs are allowed and even encouraged. MJ, Kerbal Alarm Clock, KER, FAR, bring it on! Exceptions:
  
  • Hyperedit. You must perform the asteroid rendezvous and retrieval like any other asteroid mission.
    
  • Exotic propulsion or exotic parts packs.
    
  • Mods and parts that physically ease orbital construction
    
    • Representative examples: Quantum Struts, Kerbal Attachment System, Lazor System, Infernal Robotics, tractor beams
      
    • Mods like Docking Port Alignment Indicator and Kerbal Joint Reinforcement are allowed if they’re not abused.
      

  [*]Reasonable part clipping. Read the “Eve Rocks Challenge†section on part clipping to understand what I mean.

  [*]No infinite fuel or debug console.

  [*]No exploitation of glitches, or anything else that a reasonable person would consider ‘cheaty’.

  [*]As many launches, vehicles, funds, and Kerbals as you want

  [*]Any version of KSP

  [*]Any configuration of the station is permitted, as long as every asteroid and part is physically connected to each other. Stations that are aesthetically pleasing (e.g. uniform sphere of asteroids like the Death Star) are preferred, but not required by any means. It could be one straight line of connected asteroids, for all I care.

I ain’t gonna answer every single question about whether something is permissible. I (and the Kerbals) are more interested in getting as big a moon as possible in their skies. But if you push the boundaries beyond what a reasonable person would expect, you will be met with a moderate slap on the wrist and some shaming.

Scoring:

Two scoreboards for total station mass and total # of asteroids docked. You can aim for either objective or both. All entrants must provide:

• Screenshot of the total station massâ€â€asteroids AND parts
  
• Screenshot(s) of the entire station in orbit, with enough viewpoints that I can verify how many asteroids are docked together
  

According to the Wiki, the formula for asteroid classes is:

Mass in tons = e

(1.5x)

, where x=1=A, x=2=B ...

This means that an E-class weighs between 1,808t and 8,103t, an F-class between 8,103t and 36,315t, and G-class beyond 36,315t. By the way, according to that formula Gilly is considered a U-class asteroid, at 1.37E14t.

Every successful constructor of an F-class, G-class, or beyond; OR a station with more than five docked asteroids, will receive a special banner (like the Jool-5 banner; currently being designed) appropriate to their achievement.

Before you ask, yes, I have tried this challenge myself. I will post pictures of my attempt after I repair my broken laptop fan. But this challenge is really a continuation of other challenges asking for asteroid orbital assembly, so it can be done.

Leaderboards:

Total Asteroid Moon Mass:

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

Total # of Asteroids Docked:

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

Happy asteroid hunting, and happy holidays.

[Zipmafia]

so just to clarify, we aren't allowed to use KAS or Quantum Struts or anything else that will help with orbital construction?

~Edit~

Kind of feel the clipping rules are out of date especially given that 0.90 the dev tweeted that they allow clipping by default and that now we have the offset tool.

I agree. I was building a ship with the offset tool without even thinking twice about it.

Edited December 24, 2014 by Zipmafia

[bitslizer]

Kind of feel the clipping rules are out of date especially given that 0.90 the dev tweeted that they allow clipping by default and that now we have the offset tool.

Just my 2 cents

Edited December 24, 2014 by bitslizer

[Treldon]

As far as I know roids can only be connected via Klaws. Which are prone to bugs (or has that changed in 0.90?)

So basically this challenge is a giant russian roulette/Kraken bait, right?

[CalMacDa]

I feel like this challenge is a bunch of busywork, rendezvousing and attaching. How long would it take, repeating steps 1 through 4, just to get a small piece for this "moon" done?

[Teirusu]

This is similar to what I was trying to setup in my .25 career game for.. the fun of it. I wanted an asteroid base in high Kerbin orbit (Above the Mun) to be some kind of fuel dump, for the heck of it. Obviously this wouldn't qualify since its faaaar to high up but it might give people some ideas.

This A and two Bs weren't too difficult (For me, once I figured it out.) to get all docked together with minimal hardware. The Kraken did attack at the beginning, but this was because of some Fine Print bugs that have since been fixed in .90 Once I figured out the issue with it, I was able to dock them all together with no further issues. I haven't had any time to continue the project, particularly with .90 having since came out and the holidays.

[Cmdr. Arn1e]

You also have to remember that you could hit the 2.5km (vanilla) physics range doing this... which would be interesting to see, but not necessarily 'good'!

[ihtoit]

...remembering also to turn off ALL your attached A/SAS and RCS systems, otherwise you'll start seeing oscillations even in your wonderful new uberstrutted-to-snottery Worldship way before you hit the physics limit...

[mckamx]

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As of 1/20/15: 7 Asteroids in cluster: 2 A's, 3 C's, and 2 D's. Total mass = 946t. In ~1000 km orbit of Kerbin. Used MechJeb (not very useful in this context, since it doesn't do docking with the grabber, and is poor at manuvering high mass objects) and Docking Port Aligner (more useful at getting the attachment link attached to the asteroid at 180 degrees opposit the pusher ship).

This is a WIP, as I have been accepting all contracts for asteroid recovery to Kerbin/Mun/Minmus, and attaching them once the contract is complete.