Kessler Syndrome

[RealityVeil]

Hello gents.

As I continue to experiment with different spacecraft and generally having fun with derping around in orbit, I\'m noticing that my susal pre-flight parking orbit of 100,000m is getting a bit crowded.

Has anyone run into a 'Kessler Syndrome' scenario, where you\'re actually in danger of running tin debris?

[Monkthespy]

I remember someone talking about a kessler like cloud.

It was dangerous if you even launched when it was near. Kessler syndrome is pretty hilarious.

But I have actually been hit by some debris in orbit.

[RealityVeil]

I can\'t imagine. Everything is going well then..suddenly BAM.

[silent_prtoagonist]

A lot of people tried this when 0.14 first came out. The basic consensus is that the chances of actually being hit are pretty low (but not zero) unless your actively trying to. That said, it can still be pretty harrowing to launch a Mun mission through a cloud of counter-orbiting debris whizzing past within a few kilometers moving at ~5,000 m/s

[ultrasquid]

Sounds like an excuse to send up a rocket with lasers mounted for a debris clearing mission.

[socket7]

I sent up 10 rockets in a 100KM orbit using a mechjeb. half prograde, half retrograde.

I let it run for a few hours and the nearest I ever got was about 5KM away.

I\'m sure if I spent some time trimming my orbits down I could make them intercept but it\'s highly unlikely to happen unless you\'re dropping huge amounts of debris in a single orbit, or are actively trying to get a collision.

[RealityVeil]

Also, I was thinking about it more carefully, and 'Kessler Syndrome' really can\'t happen. IR, spent rocket states colliding causes more debris, but in KSP if something collides is just explodes and gets deleted.

Kessler Syndrome would just solve itself, really.

[avan]

Well, I\'ve had massive sub-orbital debris plumes from rockets that are so part-overloaded they kill my workstation when flown... fortunately I could just fast-foward until the debris cloud cleared, though launching a few more of those rockets in succession resulted in 2 of 3 colliding with the debris from the prior attempts (first exploded due to autopilot causing all the boosters to go flying off and rip the rocket to shreds; next three were all manually controlled, but two were hit by debris and suffered cascading failures)

[Kreuzung]

I\'Ve read that someone lost a lot of parts and aborted the mission then. Later, he crashed in the debris field multiple times when returning from the Mun, causing more parts to fall away and making the cloud grow. He also said that the Periapsis of the cloud is above the KSC, and that he can\'t launch through the cloud.

[Thiel]

I\'ve had a few impacts. They vary from loosing a winglet (Annoying but non-critical) to loosing an entire stage (The descent stage, they\'re still up there)

[samstarman5]

Right now I only have three missions in current Kerbin orbit, all within 10 km radius. Two are currently in detection proximity. As I was experimenting with fuel lines on prototype rockets, I had brought one past the parking orbits of the three. Without even thinking I had sped up the timewarp to bring the experimental mission back down, and as it was descending, I witnessed something block my view for just the smallest of moments. After recovering from my WTF emotion, I brought up the tracking view and found I had managed to zip past my largest rocket sitting in orbit. Considering it blocked my view, it came within single digits of meters of my experimental craft.

Frankly I am sorry I didn\'t see the pass happen in normal time.