Splitting a rocket into two controllable sections (orbital debris)

[giddonah]

I'd like to eliminate debris. One solution is to put a remotely controlled module on the rocket, and separate it and turn it around and do a retrograde burn and let it crash while the main capsule continues. How do you guys deal with debris on stages that are separated in orbit?

[mcirish3]

I'd like to eliminate debris. One solution is to put a remotely controlled module on the rocket, and separate it and turn it around and do a retrograde burn and let it crash while the main capsule continues. How do you guys deal with debris on stages that are separated in orbit?

Well in game setting you can always just turn off debris or set it low to like 25 parts if you want to make sure you don't accidentally lose your most recent stuff.

[Deejay2000]

Before I finish my orbit (periapsis is 68 to 69km) I decouple the stage (which is always on the bottom) in prograde which makes me go forward and finish the 70km orbit, and the empty stage falls into the atmosphere and burns up.

So I basically just let the debris fall into Kerbin and I continue on.

-Deejay

[Arkalius]

How do you guys deal with debris on stages that are separated in orbit?

I try to design my rockets so that I don't expend stages unless they will directly encounter a celestial body to clean them up. If I can't avoid it, then I try to make sure they can direct themselves into the aforementioned scenario.

[bobcook]

I try to design my rockets so that I don't expend stages unless they will directly encounter a celestial body to clean them up. If I can't avoid it, then I try to make sure they can direct themselves into the aforementioned scenario.

This. My initial stage gets jettisoned no later than when periapsis is 30km, and (in general) everything else comes back to Kerbin with the Kerbals, to get dropped into the nearest ocean. I have designed parts from my station construction to be detachable, with docking ports, picked up by return ships at a future time.

Edited July 29, 2013 by bobcook

[CalculusWarrior]

I just leave the debris in orbit. What can I say, I'm lazy; plus you can't see it on the map view and I enjoy seeing the little grey markers speed across the sky--it reminds me of watching satellites back here on Earth.

One downside is if you're ever in a retrograde orbit relative to the debris, you will see those little grey markers speed towards you at ~4.5 km/s, which is extremely nerve-wracking.

[dave4002000]

Another quick way to de-orbit spent stages is to put a couple sepratrons that burn retro in the same stage as the decoupler. That way it will de-orbit itself without the need for a probe-core. Just make sure your ship is pointed in the correct direction before staging or that spent stage might smash itself right into the back of your rocket

[Jenteb07]

Another quick way to de-orbit spent stages is to put a couple sepratrons that burn retro in the same stage as the decoupler. That way it will de-orbit itself without the need for a probe-core. Just make sure your ship is pointed in the correct direction before staging or that spent stage might smash itself right into the back of your rocket

This is ofcourse only valid when the thrust delivered by these sepatrons is enough to decay the orbit...

That's why I often use the conbination of sepatrons and probe core, just to be sure

[dave4002000]

Yea, you wouldn't be able to do that from a geostat orbit..haha. But i've never had it fail from LKO.

[balu0]

Or build a derbies cleaning ship with KAS (attachment system mod, use the electromagnet to grab things) and de-orbit them manually it is a lot of fun

I use a chemical / ion propulsion cleanup probe, I use the Ion to navigate and do a retro burn to get the derbies Pa below 30k then release it and burn the chemical to get back to my 100k parking orbit.

[Somerled]

Tosh Sunbeam, LV-N's, and Netflix (Twitch as substitute).

[strongest_2hu]

Before I finish my orbit (periapsis is 68 to 69km) I decouple the stage (which is always on the bottom) in prograde which makes me go forward and finish the 70km orbit, and the empty stage falls into the atmosphere and burns up.

So I basically just let the debris fall into Kerbin and I continue on.

-Deejay

Debris has to get below ~23 km before it gets removed in Kerbin's atmosphere, anything higher is not affected by the atmosphere and will therefore orbit forever. Check your map some time, you'll probably see lots of debris with periapses around 65 km if you've been using your technique.

[Kanddak]

I put docking ports on my final upper stages. I have a scavenger ship that finds those stages and sucks the last bits of fuel from them. Alternately, if I launch a payload that doesn't carry its own engines and needs to be moved by a tug, after the rendezvous the tug refuels from the upper stage.

Since I started playing with Kethane I'm considering tugging these stages into Munar orbit and refilling them.

[Armchair Rocket Scientist]

The lazy method is to select debris from the tracking station and hit "terminate."

As mentioned, you can also ditch your final stage with a periapse that intersects Kerbin, then get into your final orbit using your payload.

I normally use reusable launch vehicles. The first stage (and any boosters) are suborbital; the second stage has a probe core, batteries, solar panels, parachutes, and Mechjeb (optional). For a vehicle which can land on its parachutes alone, a reserve dV of 500 m/s should be plenty provided you're in an orbit with a low periapse, but you should test you much you need for a safe recovery.

[Skorpychan]

Leave it there; it's a problem for when I can figure out orbital rendezvous-es. I'm working on a space tug design to punt things out of orbits, though.

I don't think I currently leave much debris around, though. My current lifters leave everything in kerbal orbit suborbital, and anything else tends to smack into the body being orbited, or ends up out of the way.

[giddonah]

This is ofcourse only valid when the thrust delivered by these sepatrons is enough to decay the orbit...

That's why I often use the conbination of sepatrons and probe core, just to be sure

This solution is also just a curiosity about launching two craft at once. When you separate, do you end up with two independently controlled craft?

I also see no problem with the lazy solution though

[Anton P. Nym]

I try to aerobrake/lithobrake my debris as much as possible.

On ascent from Kerbin I'll use the booster to get into an eccentric orbit (something like 150km x 30km), then separate so that the booster will hit the upper atmosphere and reenter. I then use an upper stage to burn at apopasis into a circular orbit. This is easier/less-painful now that I have a refuelling station in a 150km circular orbit to top up that upper stage for use later in the mission.

When off to other worlds I try to aim separated stages at the target world, though I'll admit to missing more than once. For missions to Jool (and, later, beyond) I don't think I'll take too many measures... out there space is big enough it'll be a looooong time before debris becomes a hazard.

And then there's that one case with the nuclear pulse engine mod that, er, failed when attempting a retro burn; that mission was supposed to reach Duna in less than a week so the wreckage is moving at solar escape velocity and won't be coming back. Not an option available to all mission plans, I admit, but a very permanent one.

-- Steve

[Frederf]

I've always wondered what the most efficient orbit is that is atmo-crossing that takes the least dV to make into my desired orbit. If I wanted to get 200x200km it's probably best to boost into some 22x800km monstrosity and use less dV to circularize by a non-pro-retro burn to shuffle my eccentricity.