New to KSP - Is it Possible to Rescue a Dead Satellite?

[CodingSkater]

Hello everybody,

I'm a new space recruit and am loving the game so far. I downloaded the demo for KSP, played about 30 hours and decided it was time to purchase the full version!

Anyway, I've put myself in a predicament with an unmanned satellite orbiting Kerbin. I equipped it with two battery packs and a few solar panels but it ran out of electric charge when I tried to transmit some data. Now it's stuck in orbit and the solar panels don't seem to be charging the batteries fast enough for me to re-gain control of the ship. Is there any way for me to bring it back from orbit? It's served its purpose, so descrutive methods are fine. I'd just rather not leave space junk around.

Thanks!

[technicalfool]

Sending a Claw-equipped probe up to grab the ex-probe and de-orbit is one approach. Though, if you have a LOT of data to transmit, that can take some time, especially if there's only a couple of the small static panels and they aren't aligned to face the sun. Just time warping until data transmission is complete may help you.

Interesting long-standing "bug": Data transmission rate isn't affected by time warp, but power generation is. I only say "bug" in quotes because it ultimately doesn't give you any net gain and doesn't really impact gameplay, but it's an option.

If you have no Claw yet, just building some craft with a blunt or concave/cup-shaped arrangement of scaffold to grab the ex-probe and push it retrograde will also work.

Or there's the "cheaty" approach of going into the tracking station and terminating the flight. That'll also work for manned flights and will kill the kerbals on board, so be careful with it!

[CodingSkater]

Thanks!

I haven't unlocked any claw equipment yet, so I might try the bulldozer approach with some structural parts. I hadn't realized that terminating a flight also destroys it. I figured it just removed it from the space center and left it to float in space. Good to know.

[Sharpy]

waaait. The transmission still progresses even if at snail pace. Give it a week.

[Whirligig Girl]

Reload the probe. It might not even be transmitting anymore. If it is still transmitting, then just wait in the background on 4x timewarp until it does stop.

[ouion]

Hi, you can and if you wish to put more solar panels or batteries, download the KIS and KAS mod.

[Greenfire32]

I'd just wait for the transmission to finish. The reason why the batteries aren't charging (even on the dayside of the planet) is because as soon as enough charge for a data-burst is built up, the transmission progresses a tiny bit. Once the transmission is finished, the batteries will charge as normal again.

[CodingSkater]

Thanks everybody! Waiting a little while for the transmission to finish turned out to be the answer.