Magnetic boots

[marcello639]

I think that magnetic boots could be cool addition to game.

• Usable only in orbit.
  
• Uses electric charge. Same like monopropelant. Which being restored when returning to pod.
  

[nikokespprfan]

You mean, to stick to the craft?

If so, I fully support this, but it should only become available in mid to late game with a astronaut complex upgrade, just like all other EVA tricks.

[marcello639]

Yes i meant walking on surface of the craft.

[RidingTheFlow]

They don't really have to be "usable only in orbit", just that sticking force should be realistically weak so they will only be usable in zero or very low gravity - still could be quite a help on low gravity moons like Gilly or Minmus.

[CaptainTurbomuffin]

They don't really have to be "usable only in orbit", just that sticking force should be realistically weak so they will only be usable in zero or very low gravity - still could be quite a help on low gravity moons like Gilly or Minmus.

Are those made of iron? Or something magnetable? I tought Minmus seas are made of ice.

[marcello639]

Are those made of iron? Or something magnetable? I tought Minmus seas are made of ice.

He meant use them to stick to craft while landed on low gravity moons, not to stick moon it self.

Still i think better only in orbit to avoid gravity weirdness, or some silly glitches.

[CaptainTurbomuffin]

He meant use them to stick to craft while landed on low gravity moons, not to stick moon it self.

Still i think better only in orbit to avoid gravity weirdness, or some silly glitches.

Aham. Anyway, when trying to land on gilly, I use thrusters facing downwards to land

[Farex]

Yes, for walking in the ships and stations. If you jump, you are gone and need RCS to get back. I quite like the idea.

+1 from me.

[FungusForge]

It'd be nice not to try and use an extra thirty parts to ladder your way around stations.

[pandaman]

Okay. Nice idea, will need to find a different technology or a way to bend the laws of physics though, unless you plan to make all your ships out of steel

[nikokespprfan]

Okay. Nice idea, will need to find a different technology or a way to bend the laws of physics though, unless you plan to make all your ships out of steel

you could make the shoes be an electromagnet, which stick to any metal if an electric curren runs through them. This is also very logical as they use electriccharge when they are activating (see first post for reference)

[sumghai]

Not to rain on anyone's parade, but there are some good reasons why magnetic boots have never been used in real spaceflight.

- Modern spacecraft are generally fabricated using lightweight but strong aluminium alloys, which are non-ferrous (i.e. lacks iron). Magnetic attraction requires surfaces made of ferrous alloys (i.e. contains iron), which are much heavier, and would require more fuel (and thus be more expensive) to put into orbit.

- Any magnet strong enough to hold a human or a Kerbal onto a ferrous surface would, by definition, make it extremely difficult, if not impossible, to move their feet. Either Jeb would exhaust himself very quickly, or shuffle awkwardly along the surface of the spacecraft hull. Pure electromagnetic boots would require bulky power supplies or a powered tether, severely limiting the astronaut/Kerbalnaut's range.

- Any magnet strong enough to hold a human or a Kerbal onto a ferrous surface would also interfere the avionics of a spacecraft.

- NASA did develop a special kind of magnetic boot (pic 1, pic 2) that used a combination of permanent and electromagnets to toggle magnetic attraction on and off, via magnetic flux switching. While definitely more compact and energy-saving compared to purely electromagnetic boots, astronauts still found them too bulky, cumbersome and impractical, and so the project was abandoned.

- Floating and free-flying on EVA is still much faster than clunking around awkwardly on a metal surface, and time is of the essence in emergencies.

- Most importantly, magnetic boots are not a substitute for gravity. On Earth/Kerbin, gravity is a body force (i.e. applies equally to all parts of the human/Kerbal body), and if the astronaut/Kerbalnaut is wearing magnetic boots, only their feet will feel the pull towards the ferrous surface. Imagine how hard it is to move when your feet are fixed to a surface while the rest of your body is floating willy-nilly.

[FungusForge]

*Great big fact storm*

Yeah. However I believe its been said more than a few times the things in KSP are a bit denser than they should be.

[sumghai]

Yeah. However I believe its been said more than a few times the things in KSP are a bit denser than they should be.

Assuming that the increase in density is applied uniformly to all matter in the Kerbal universe, KerbAluminium would still be much lighter and cheaper to put into orbit than KerbSteel, greatly reducing (if not outright negating) any benefits of having a magnetic boot-compatible surface. Of course, one could argue in favour of retconning the in-game lore / universe to make KerbSteel less dense than KerbAluminium, but at that point, that's just contrived rule-bending to make an unrealistic feature viable.

While KSP's game physics are simplified, at least it is still (and should remain) internally consistent and parallel real life.

[KrazyKrl]

Assuming that the increase in density is applied uniformly to all matter in the Kerbal universe, KerbAluminium would still be much lighter and cheaper to put into orbit than KerbSteel, greatly reducing (if not outright negating) any benefits of having a magnetic boot-compatible surface. Of course, one could argue in favour of retconning the in-game lore / universe to make KerbSteel less dense than KerbAluminium, but at that point, that's just contrived rule-bending to make an unrealistic feature viable.

While KSP's game physics are simplified, at least it is still (and should remain) internally consistent and parallel real life.

Well, real spacecraft do have features to hold on to in space, not necessarily literal "magboots". With the high-level abstraction of fuel lines, power lines, and crew transfer. I'd be willing to allow some type of "grab and crawl anywhere" feature for the outside surfaces of spacecraft below an <arbitrary upper limit of g's of shear force, or wind shear>.

Edited September 15, 2015 by KrazyKrl

[sumghai]

Well, real spacecraft do have features to hold on to in space, not necessarily literal "magboots". With the high-level abstraction of fuel lines, power lines, and crew transfer. I'd be willing to allow some type of "grab and crawl anywhere" feature for the outside surfaces of spacecraft below an <arbitrary upper limit of g's of shear force, or wind shear>.

I believe the answer to that is simply more ladders - no additional power requirements, and easy to transition to/from free-flying EVA.

Manual ladder placement by players is definitely tedious, so what Squad could do instead is to have more handholds directly integrated to more parts - an intern familiar with Blender and KSP PartTools could spend a couple of weeks adding grippable surfaces to most fuselages and parts, without the need for any modification to the game code.

As an example, my FusTek Station Parts have handgrips running down the entire length of various modules, and I plan to add more in the future.