Building a Space Station without having debris from other ships show up on the map

[Zerro]

Greetings,

New to the game, saw some awesome station designs and I've become inspired to build one myself. Right now I mainly been trying to get satellites up in orbit. Unfortunately after every success, I've noticed the ship icon from the previous stages of the ship are still appearing on the map (M), whether they are in orbit or back on the planet. This concerns me because if I plan on launching many missions to assemble a space station, then chances are, more icons will show up on the map, making it difficult to keep track of things.

I was wondering if there are any methods for me to keep the planet and orbit clean of this debris or is that just an unrealistic goal for me?

Thanks for the assistance

[Johnno]

Go into your settings from main menu and set your 'persistant debris' counter to zero. However be sure to add a probecore (and power/battery) to anything you DO want to keep. Anything without a probecore or crew module will count as debris and be removed once outside of render range when the game saves.

Other than that, the more elaborate / hard work solution is designing all your ships in a way that the spent stages are deorbited using sepratrons when you stage your craft, or by leaving fuel in the tanks and a probecore so you can swap to them and manually deorbit them.

[zerotwo]

Zerro,

Keeping the skies clear is completely up to your design policies.

Design sections as single large stages (instead of dumping four small engines/tanks), separate them early so there is fuel remaining, use that fuel to deorbit the object oif needed.

Never use stack separators, use decouplers, they leaves the ring behind on the object that is being released (the direction of the arrow will tell you which end it will remain stuck to - the fat side stays stuck), that prevents you from leaving bits of debris from staging up there.

Always plan your stages with control computers and potentially a tiny amount of RCS for control and deceleration. Conversely, build them with docking in mind, dock all your scrap into a ball, then crash that ball into the planet (did this, pretty spectacular).

The only ship segments that should remain on the map after action should be pieces that you have not selected "end mission" on. Remember to end the mission of any vessels you are finished with.

Lastly, something like the Kerbal Attachment System mod will allow you to create things like magnetic clamps, you can build garbage ships to grab larger chunks floating up there and then decelerate it into the atmosphere. Last resort though, this is a biiiig project.

Any particular objects proving a pain? Screenshots possible?

Regards

[zanzibar196]

You could also access the command center, and use "end flight" on each and every piece of debris, but not the station itself...

[Kimberly]

I have a better idea: how about you turn off display of debris in map mode? Then it won't be a navigational problem at all. You can still keep space clear of debris if you want to, of course, but it's not necessary.

[Sathurn]

what version are you playing, as of .20, debris doesn't show up unless choose to look at the debris, unless it has a probe core or capsule. At least be default.

[lammatt]

- Lazor Missiles

just beware not to fire the cruise missile at targets that are too close

[Bandock]

Don't forget you can also delete Debris in 0.20 by simply aborting them from the Tracking Station (as long you are viewing Debris).

[el_coyoto]

For station assembly, my designs usually revolve around a tug attached (docked in fact) to the module I'd like to add to the station.

I make sure the tug has a lot of delta v once in orbit (~1000 m/s), so I can rendezvous with my station from the parking orbit, dock the module to the station, undock the tug from the module and send the tug back to Kerbin if I don't need it.

The trick to keep your orbit clear of debris is either :

• Making sure that the stage which brings the "tug+module" payload has not enough delta v to reach a full orbit, and is dropped on a suborbital trajectory (or has a PE < 20 km), then use the tug to circularize (hence the big amount of delta v for the tug)
  
• Or design a stage that brings your "tug+module" payload into orbit with some fuel left. Then you can decouple from your payload, and send back the stage to Kerbin but burning retrograde if you thought of adding a probe + electricity to your stage.
  

For KLO station assembly, I usually go for the first option because I'm a bit lazy, so that I don't have to deal with a probe and electricity source on my final stage or having to de-orbiting it manually.

Good luck on your station!

[Zerro]

Thanks for the feedback.

I did notice that the only objects showing up on the map were the ones with a command module connected to them which were the Probe and the stage that got the probe into space.

I did try to deorbit and land the launch stage but it kind of crash landed due to poor piloting skills and noobness on my part

So when the deorbit stage lands, I just select 'end flight' for it? Wouldn't that also end the flight for the probe or other stuff in orbit?

Thanks for the help

[Zerro]

Thanks for the feedback.

I did notice that the only objects showing up on the map were the ones with a command module connected to them which were the Probe and the stage that got the probe into space.

I did try to deorbit and land the launch stage but it kind of crash landed due to poor piloting skills and noobness on my part

So when the deorbit stage lands, I just select 'end flight' for it? Wouldn't that also end the flight for the probe or other stuff in orbit?

Thanks for the help

[Dashman]

Just a quick reply that I don't think anyone mentioned...

Try using docking ports as stage separators for once you are in orbit.

That way when you undock a stage you wont have debris and you will

also be left with a docking port!

Just be sure to use good strutting for lift off so your craft dosnt do the "Kerbal Wobble"