Mining an Asteroid

[More Boosters]

Hey, I currently have a C-class orbiting Kerbin and my mission is to take it to Jool. I'm doing my science on it and I will mine it once I unlock the parts but my question is, does mining an asteroid reduce its mass?

The thing is 95% ore so I figure if I strip mine it, I can drive it to Jool far more easily; if it will end up with just 5% of its mass. And I'm also hoping it doesn't get destroyed or shrink? Thanks.

[Feradose]

It does lose mass, and Ive never seen one shrink. You found a good (even the best?) ore/rock ratio asteroid!

I wish you success

[Umlüx]

so you CAN mine asteroids but it will get depleted? interesting..

i have yet to play around with mining and refining. planetary deposits are inexhaustible?

[More Boosters]

so you CAN mine asteroids but it will get depleted? interesting..

i have yet to play around with mining and refining. planetary deposits are inexhaustible?

Yes and I haven't personally mined any asteroids yet but I heard drills work on full efficiency (meaning you get a perfect ore deposit) on asteroids while planetary resources are inexhaustible but your drilling spot dictates your efficiency.

It does lose mass, and Ive never seen one shrink. You found a good (even the best?) ore/rock ratio asteroid!

I wish you success

Thanks! I was just afraid it would go poof if I were to deplete it. And the mass ratio is indeed great, 90% is normally a good ratio but with 95% a depleted asteroid is half the mass it would have been otherwise and 3.5t (5% of 70 something the asteroid was) to Jool is easy peasy.

Edited August 6, 2015 by More Boosters

[Xyphos]

Mining asteroids will reduce their mass, but not by a whole lot; I'd guess about a 30% reduction maximum.

Imagine if you will, that the asteroid itself is a vessel, and the ore it contains is it's fuel, your drills just transfer the ore from the asteroid to your holding tank(s), kind of like a fuel duct, if it had an active pump.

depleted asteroids stay spawned but should be considered "empty" vessels.

you can still mine them, but they will have nothing left to give.

if your mission doesn't have an ore restriction, then depleting it is your best option. use a Nerva tug with Mk1 fuel tanks if you have them available.

[More Boosters]

Mining asteroids will reduce their mass, but not by a whole lot; I'd guess about a 30% reduction maximum.

Imagine if you will, that the asteroid itself is a vessel, and the ore it contains is it's fuel, your drills just transfer the ore from the asteroid to your holding tank(s), kind of like a fuel duct, if it had an active pump.

depleted asteroids stay spawned but should be considered "empty" vessels.

you can still mine them, but they will have nothing left to give.

if your mission doesn't have an ore restriction, then depleting it is your best option. use a Nerva tug with Mk1 fuel tanks if you have them available.

Erm, what do you mean? The game explicitly states that 70.8 something out of the 74 something tons is ore, unless you're saying I can't mine all the ore in an asteroid? That would make no sense as I figure they would simply omit the un-minable ore in the UI.

[Stargate525]

...uh, why not transfer it with a nerva and a ISRU? Use the asteroid to propel itself?

[More Boosters]

...uh, why not transfer it with a nerva and a ISRU? Use the asteroid to propel itself?

Because that would be wasting the fuel. 3.8t is a very reasonable payload to Jool, a HECS core and the empty roid would be lighter than the 3 man command pod to put it in perspective. As chance would have it I have a pair of derelict Orange tanks that would take all the fuel around LKO waiting to be tugged anyway.

[Sharpy]

Because that would be wasting the fuel. 3.8t is a very reasonable payload to Jool, a HECS core and the empty roid would be lighter than the 3 man command pod to put it in perspective. As chance would have it I have a pair of derelict Orange tanks that would take all the fuel around LKO waiting to be tugged anyway.

Yes, if your goal is ONLY to transfer the asteroid.

But if you dock a whole bunch of landers to it? Give it several good engines and power sources?

Doing the Jool-5 Challenge that way would be pretty awesome.

ps. what "wasting the fuel"? All the fuel "wasted" would be coming from the asteroid. It's just a matter of deciding between depleting it in LKO or doing it on the way to Jool.

[More Boosters]

Yes, if your goal is ONLY to transfer the asteroid.

But if you dock a whole bunch of landers to it? Give it several good engines and power sources?

Doing the Jool-5 Challenge that way would be pretty awesome.

ps. what "wasting the fuel"? All the fuel "wasted" would be coming from the asteroid. It's just a matter of deciding between depleting it in LKO or doing it on the way to Jool.

Wasting the fuel as in using it to get to Jool when I could store it away for missions that actually require it. As I said once I run this dry it will be lighter than a Command Pod, so why bother with the headache of hauling 74t with slow burns and a shaky Klaw?

[Nich]

FYI

http://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/threads/128707-PSA-how-to-not-waste-ore-when-mining-asteroids

[More Boosters]

FYI

http://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/threads/128707-PSA-how-to-not-waste-ore-when-mining-asteroids

Regarding that, wouldn't a 2:1 ISRU/Drill ratio remove the problem?