Are asteroids hyperaerodynamic or something? Because they hardly slow down in atmosphere.

[smjjames]

This 'captured' asteroid that I've been following seems almost impervious to drag, in fact the speed there in the screenshot is just about it's peak speed. The apoapsis is actually increasing slowly a little....

The periapsis is decreasing though and it'll sooner or later smack into a mountain.

Anybody now what's going on with the wierd asteroid behavior?

Edited May 29, 2015 by smjjames

[DuoDex]

I don't know how asteroid drag cubes are calculated, although going by what you have there it is probably something really screwy.

There's not much of a solution for this besides "Don't land asteroids on Kerbin"

squad pls fix

[smjjames]

I think theres something screwy with this asteroid anyway because theres this wierd dark spot that moves around.

This has gotten low enough to smash into a mountain, it just needs to roll a 1 on 'mountain avoidance'

[Starwhip]

How much does an asteroid in real life slow down before impacting the sea?

I get the feeling it shouldn't be going quite​ so fast, but still. It's an asteroid.

[smjjames]

How much does an asteroid in real life slow down before impacting the sea?

I get the feeling it shouldn't be going quite​ so fast, but still. It's an asteroid.

The difference is that those asteroids aren't orbiting the Earth, this one is orbiting Kerbin.

Edit: I should mention that the asteroid in the screenshot is a C size asteroid.

Edited May 29, 2015 by smjjames

[Kaos]

Asteroids have a very small surface, compared to their volume. Hence they generate much less drag per mass than other objects. So this behaviour is totaly correct.

Prior to version 1, the drag was proportional to the mass, which is absurd, but slowed down the asteroids very fast.

[quietghost]

Asteroids have a very small surface, compared to their volume. Hence they generate much less drag per mass than other objects. So this behaviour is totaly correct.

Prior to version 1, the drag was proportional to the mass, which is absurd, but slowed down the asteroids very fast.

Kaos is completely correct. A real asteroid entering towards earth does not ever slow down before hitting the surface. Either 1. It burns up before ever reaching the ground OR 2. It hits the ground at several km/s, causing an incredible crater and the sonic boom created is far past enough to shatter windows from 10-20 miles away. An asteroid in the game would behave no differently, other than the fact that they don't ablate on reentry. Hence even the shallowest reentry is likely to have the asteroid hit the ground at a minimum of 500 m/s, especially the larger ones.

[smjjames]

You forgot a third, they can explode in midair, like Tunguska for example.

But yeah anyway, okay.

Would be cool if the asteroids did ablate away on reentry though.

[basic.syntax]

According to last week's Devnotes, they are being rewritten for U5 in v1.1; ablation sounds like a neat idea. But their first priority will be recreating existing/expected behavior, adding new behavior has to come second, after all the other features are rewritten and working.

Edit:

If we're asking for new stuff, how about a SMALL chance to split?

(Reason not to: would ruin someone's day, if they were attempting to land one of them.)

Class = randomly selected split classes

A = A

B = A+A

C = A+A+A OR A+B

D = A+A+A+A OR B+A+A OR C+A OR B+B

Edited May 29, 2015 by basic.syntax

[Claw]

Edit:

If we're asking for new stuff, how about a SMALL chance to split?

That would be awesome. A huge "kerblam!" and the asteroid splits into smaller ones.

The way I read in the dev notes is that they are being rewritten because of the way collisions are detected in U5. Hopefully having that many overlapping collision meshes doesn't ruin any performance boost gained from U5.

Cheers,

~Claw

[Dman979]

Heh heh, Rapid Unplanned Asteroid Disassembly. Very kerbal. I like.

[n0xiety]

So i have another question. I was trying to aerobreak while connected to a 3500t E class asteroid trying to use it as heat shield yet everything on my ship got overheated nontheless and i could see the reentry effects on the ship when i zommed in while it was behind the asteroid... My ship wasn't small but the asteroid was atleast 10 times wider then the ship and should have protected it no?

[basic.syntax]

...Hopefully having that many overlapping collision meshes doesn't ruin any performance boost gained from U5.

Multiple meshes? I hope not. My interpretation was a single mesh.

... procedurally generate solid collision geometry, and all it does is make asteroids behave no differently from before. [...] it was a lot of fun to code, in a geeky, procedural-mesh-enthusiast kind of way.

I'm expecting visual bugs with saved games: I'm sure the general sizes will be kept the same, but any craft attached to asteroids might be above or below surface geometry, due to the new procedural code.

[Eric S]

So i have another question. I was trying to aerobreak while connected to a 3500t E class asteroid trying to use it as heat shield yet everything on my ship got overheated nontheless and i could see the reentry effects on the ship when i zommed in while it was behind the asteroid... My ship wasn't small but the asteroid was atleast 10 times wider then the ship and should have protected it no?

post-1.0 FAR should act that way, but the current stock really only occludes the portion of parts that actually connect to what is above it in the stack. So if the rocket isn't pointed exactly prograde, no matter how bit the lead part is, the sides of the craft behind that part will get some airflow and therefore heat, and radially mounted parts will get the airflow regardless.