How do YOU manage your debris?

[Hyomoto]

I used to let it drift, my old rockets used to put nine pieces of debris into orbit with each launch. Yikes! So after an extensive cleanup operation, I try my best to limit the amount I'm putting up with each launch. I'd prefer it to be zero but it's also a necessary evil. I'm going to burn my lift stage until it's empty to improve the efficiency of my rocket, I haven't gotten to the point where I'm willing to use it to de-orbit it so sometimes I gotta have that piece of debris up there.

[Blackstar]

How do I manage debris?

Meet the OCV-101 Kessler:

This is the prototype, and while it doesn't handle quite as well as I had hoped (if your root part and control point is a probe core near the CoM, do you still get torque from manned pods elsewhere?), it is functional. The cargo bay doors open and close thanks to hinges from the robotics pack. Of course the piece of debris I targeted for the trial run turned out to be a lot bigger than I was expecting, and didn't quite fit...

But it did the job well enough. It was able to push the debris into a sub-orbital trajectory, release it, then return to a stable orbit.

Why yes, it does have 28 nuclear engines strapped to the back. Needless to say this is designed to be a permanent orbital fixture that docks at a station regularly for refueling and crew rotation.

Edited May 22, 2013 by Blackstar

[AustralianFries]

Leave on suborbital. If there's just too much fuel to be wasted on my lift stage, I'll go ahead and circularize.

Then I'll decouple the stage.

Switch to sage stage.

Esc -> End flight.

Profit.

[cesarcurado]

I just leave it there.

or when its too clogged or lagging very badly I decrease persistent debris.

[Hyomoto]

etc...

Your method is highly perverse.

[HockeyToad28]

other. I simply go into the games settings and set max persistence debris to 0 but i might change this just because it makes things more unrealistic.

[Nullspace250]

Now using the lifter engines i deorbit, since i always have some fuel left

AND THEN...

I land it on its engine!

[Colonel_Panic]

Now using the lifter engines i deorbit, since i always have some fuel left

AND THEN...

I land it on its engine!

I see someone has discovered that with MechJeb, EVERY rocket is 100% reusable.

I've actually considered putting a parachute and probe core on every final stage and then using MJ to try and peg the landing at some random specific location on Kerbin so I can have a 'rocket graveyard' dumping grounds of orbital debris.

[Stealth2668]

"end flight" from the space center. Kinda cheap but w/e

[KevinW42]

I usually try to drop it on a suborbital trajectory or put on a probe core so I can deorbit it. When I do leave debris, I just try to make sure it's not on the same orbit as my space station so I don't have to spend 15 minutes trying to set it as a target.

[CozmikR5]

Wow, I'm the only one who just turns it off...

No you're not. I play KSP for fun, not for uber realism trying to be the next Werner Von Braun and/or Sergei Korolev. To anyone saying "booo, you're cheating!", this is a single-player game and there is no such thing as cheating in a single-player game

[mushroomman]

Ever since 0.20 I've got the persistent debris on infinity and I just let 'em float around.

[Nullspace250]

I see someone has discovered that with MechJeb, EVERY rocket is 100% reusable.

I've actually considered putting a parachute and probe core on every final stage and then using MJ to try and peg the landing at some random specific location on Kerbin so I can have a 'rocket graveyard' dumping grounds of orbital debris.

I actually land it myself,and it usually fall over.

[Flixxbeatz]

No you're not. I play KSP for fun, not for uber realism trying to be the next Werner Von Braun and/or Sergei Korolev. To anyone saying "booo, you're cheating!", this is a single-player game and there is no such thing as cheating in a single-player game

I turn mine off to prevent straining the game (due to massive number of debris orbiting), thus allowing smoother gameplay.

[JebDynamics]

I try to de-orbit stages but inevitably engine fairings and stack seperators get left in stable orbits. I leave them there and .20 does a good job of hiding them, but occasionally I like to admire my debris rings.

[Flixxbeatz]

As of 0.20, it's now entirely possible to make reusable (leave-the-rocket-stage-with-some-fuel-on-board-and-power-land-it-back-to-the-planet - TL;DR: Falcon Style) rockets without extensively redesigning your lifters, thanks to the new 1m and 2m probe cores.

[1of6Billion]

I try to keep big stuff on suborbital trajectories. Things on the ground or things within visual range of my station get deleted.

[OneWayTrip]

The chance of it being a real problem (hitting your ships) is extremely unlikely. So I just let it drift around.

[TheThing345]

I once had the sunbeam laser mod, which targets anything, locks on the target, then fires a destructive beam of hot protones.

But since I can't find that mod anymore, I try to de-orbit it if possible but mostly just leave it be.

[Sma]

A few times I have tried collecting it with a trash collector, it had mixed results. I have been thinking about putting docking ports on all boosters that would end up as debris so it'd make clearing the trash easier, that or they could become part of an orbital fuel station(maybe engines could be attached with docking ports), which would work out better if i had the kethane mod, or when resources come out. Another thought I had is to leave enough fuel or RCS in "debris" stages, fit them with a drone or remote control module then deorbit them that way.

[ammonia_ocean]

I just downloaded the sunbeam mod, so I plan on making a "debris killer" craft to go around zapping spent stages and other bits of space trash. I may also equip it with one of Romfarer's yellow lazors, so I can "harvest" fuel whatever fuel/monopropellant is left inside the debris and cut down on refueling.

[Aladran]

When I have too many, I set Max Debris to 0, clean it up, then set it back to the desired value.

[MK3424]

like the previous reply set the the persistent debris to a setting you like

[Windchild]

Leave no debris, every single stage has an RCS powered deorbiter that works easily up to 200,000m (worked at 300,000m, but too way too long and two full orbits)

[biggles1]

At what point does the line between debris and actual missions get crossed?

Pretty much every single launch brought me within a few Km of a satellite!