How do YOU manage your debris?

[Whatshtisthis]

I leave them there.

I've been playing around on Kerbin lately, so not much space junk.

This reminds me, I still got a ship orbiting the Mun.

[legodragonxp]

I try to deorbit as much as possible or put it in a sub orbital trajectory so that it'll crash. However every now and then I have a problem with a piece of debris and I've tried to deorbit by bumping/grasping, but it wasn't worth it. For troublesome debris I will do a close approach with another ship (usually unmanned) and hit the "]" key to switch to that debris and then 'end mission' it to make it go away.

With the hope of tabs coming, I may just stop caring about debris unless it become a performance killer. The only majot reason for me worrying about it is because if issues in targeting things in orbit.

[Spatzimaus]

I don't create it in the first place. All of my boosters have unmanned controllers and a small fuel reserve, so that I can de-orbit after delivering each payload into LKO. I also use SSTO spaceplanes for a lot of things that would be more efficient with rockets, such as launching small mapping satellites; I modified my standard Sleazy Weasel spaceplane to carry two ion-powered mapping probes on the ends of its wings, which it can either launch in orbit OR deliver itself after refueling. (I'm working on a heavier spaceplane with a cargo bay, but for now it's not necessary.) Most of my larger vehicles have onboard kethane refineries, so I have no need for extensive booster setups; they might not be SSTO in every case, but there's no need to stage once you're in orbit. In the few cases where I do use standard rockets without a reserve, I make sure to leave them on a suborbital trajectory. (Heck, my last Eve trip was with an SSTO, so I didn't even crash any boosters there.)

Most of the debris I still have in my game are the parts of rovers scattered near KSC, since the impacts that destroyed the vehicles often didn't destroy the pieces. Sooner or later I'll go pick those up with a specialized recovery vehicle, although the destroyed rover on Mun will be a bit harder to clean up. But my LKO space is nice and clean, other than the stations, spaceplanes, satellites, and so on...

[Xander3838]

I always put probes and batteries on my stages and leave a bit of fuel in there to deorbit them later. Failing that, I try to leave them in a suborbital trajectory so they crash back to Kerbin. My LEO is unfortunately quite crowded with ships and debris from before I started doing this. Some day I want to try to rendevous with the debris and deorbit it.

[sporkafife]

I used to deorbit debris and generally try to keep space clean just because of how incredibly difficult it got to select the right targets in LKO. There was many situations of "no KSP game, if I actually click directly on a ship I want to set that ship as my target. I don't want to set a target with a piece of debris that happens to have a similar orbit"

Nowadays I use the haystack mod to select targets with most of my ships that have this problem, and that means I can leave debris orbiting Kerbin, I've always kind of liked having debris. I find it kind of nice to see a piece of debris 20km away, click on it and reminisce about the past mission that created that debris... Good times

[Devo]

I just start a new game when it all gets too much

[DaveofDefeat]

I close my eyes and pretend really really hard that it isn't there.

[sadron]

There's no option for "I turn down persistent debris to zero for clean up."

[Guest trolling trains]

its simple we kill the debris

[katateochi]

Part of my goal is to not have anything in orbit that isn't a working vessel, especially round Kerbin, but I also keep the orbits of other planet/moons clear too. All ascent stages are dropped on decaying orbits. On interplanetary missions I hold onto junk until I'm approaching the target planet and while far away I adjust course to a collide with the planet, drop fairings or whatever and then move back to an approach course. I have no debris anywhere in the solar system, but I do have quite a bit on the surface of various planets. Mun's surface is a mess!

[PwnedDuck]

I don't. I just leave it there.

[Phil]

I left 4 poor Kerbals in one HAB module on the Mun for 184 days

[Spatzimaus]

There's no option for "I turn down persistent debris to zero for clean up."

You mean other than the very first option in the poll?

[Rage097]

What is this "Debris Management" you speak of?

[karolus10]

When I wanted to be "debris friendly" I was putting probe body in upper stage, So I could use fuel reserve to make the trick. In other cases I just left them in orbit and pretend that nothing happen .

[Deadpangod3]

Debris?? OH, you mean Mr.Krakens food! Yes he's a verwy nice pet and all we have to do to feed him is launch rockets into space!!! Oh look, there he is now!!! *space kraken covers half the sky*

[Nullspace250]

I just deal with, tough most of my debris end up on Interplanetary space

[KinkyFerrets]

I don't.

OCD...Taking..Control..

Otherwise, depending on the mission or challenge, I'll use KW-Rocketry Ullage motors or normal Sepatrons that fire retrograde.

[GJames]

For any interplanetary missions I normally use the Mun for a gravity assist to kick me into a higher/lower orbit around Kerbol. At the same time I detach any unneeded stages and crash them into the Mun on the way past. Using this I only have one bit of debris in interplanetary space, even after about 7 interplanetary missions.

[Rage097]

"Real men don't care about debris"

-Jebediah Kerman.

[Conarr]

I build stronger craft to survive debris impact events

[Zatie12]

I generally try to separate the bulk of debris while I'm still suborbital. Lately I've been doing larger missions further away, e.g. to Duna, and I've been carrying a load of rocket parts far beyond suborbital trajectories. I need to work on more debris-efficient rocket designs to try and minimise it. Most of it ends up in highly eccentric Kerbin orbits as it's usually dumped half way through a planetary transfer burn. In that case I try to ensure the periapse is sufficiently above my most commonly used low-kerbin orbits as not to pose any risk. Debris is always a concern but inevitably a load gets produced on large missions.

[Cipher29]

I always make sure to jettison my main lift stages before orbit. For space station components without engines I put probes on my orbital insertion stage to deorbit it.

Here it is dropping off a habitation module.

For debris on the surface I just finished the Landed Debris Removal System (LDRS)

The aerospikes are to send small debris across the ground at high speed. Could also double as a Kerbal Cannon I suppose

Edited May 21, 2013 by Cipher29

[Tanner Rawlings]

I just send a rocket to collect them all and then the rocket fires straight into minmus and blows up, i've almost hit my base there twice

[ComradeGoat]

In LKO, I try and ensure anything jettisoned reenters.

However, I tend to have staged interplanetary vessels. While it is sometimes possible to let the stages hit other bodies, sometimes it isn't practical and they get left in solar orbit.