What to do with asteroids

[jbdenney]

Working my way through contracts (Career mode) I have gathered a collection of asteroids. Are there any uses for these rocks in later contracts?

My inclination now is to mine them for ore to create fuel as orbiting refueling stops until they are empty husks. Is there any reason not to do this? What should I do with them after they are mined out? They are starting to clutter up my system - can/should I get rid of them (how)?

 

Thanks

Bruce

[bewing]

If you send a kerbal to them, each of them is worth quite a bit of science. But no, there is no reason not to mine them. They are much easier to deal with after they've been mined.

[jimmymcgoochie]

Mine them, science them, dump them. Or use them as an anchor for a space base, they should be pretty stable due to their high mass and are easy to connect stuff too due to their large size and thus large surface area.

[AHHans]

Make them fly:

 

[Linkageless]

Build a rockery next to KSC.  Decorate with carefully placed magic asteroids.

[Fraktal]

Wait, asteroids have finite ore capacity...?

[Cavscout74]

9 minutes ago, Fraktal said:

Wait, asteroids have finite ore capacity...?

Yep, based on their mass.  So Class A or B's are almost useless.  For any kind of serious fuel production you need a Class E

[JadeOfMaar]

15 hours ago, jbdenney said:

My inclination now is to mine them for ore to create fuel as orbiting refueling stops until they are empty husks. Is there any reason not to do this? What should I do with them after they are mined out? They are starting to clutter up my system - can/should I get rid of them (how)?

Go into the Tracking Station and (where/if possible) filter by vessel type. Tracked asteroids count as vessels and so you can press Terminate on them just like on any craft you make. Don't bother trying to budget fuel to deorbit them.

[Curveball Anders]

Well if you have the Breaking Ground DLC and have placed a Grand Slam Passive Seismometer on some surface you can use an asteroid as a massive impactor.

For Science! of course

(No one would such a thing just for fun ...)

 

[jbdenney]

makes me want to put a seismometer on Kerbin and drop a rock on the space port (Evil Grin)

[O5-7]

No, use them to try to send ike into interstellar space. 

[James M]

Wipe out any remaining life forms on any planet of your choosing?

[jbdenney]

I have wondered what would happen if I targeted Kerbin with the largest asteroid I can find.

[James M]

2 hours ago, jbdenney said:

I have wondered what would happen if I targeted Kerbin with the largest asteroid I can find.

Unfortunately the asteroid just blows up like any ol' generic rocket once it hits the surface. Pretty anti-climatic but that's actually because it happens so often xD Asteroids hilariously hit Kerbin all the time, but everything is just peachy over at the KSC. 

[Lanley Kerman]

Make an artificial Mun!

 

Requirements:

Size E Asteroid

Any ship with klaw