Is it possible to grab space debris in vanilla KSP without a docking port?

[Sardonyx]

Pretty much what my title says. Is it possible to capture space debris in some way to de-orbit it? Some of my early missions left large fuel tanks and boosters in orbit with no control mechanisms and no docking ports. Is there a way to grab these and de-orbit them? Even better would be to be able to transfer the fuel out or dock with them somehow

Any thoughts are appreciated! Thanks!

[Sapphire]

You can try using landing legs as a grabbing claw thing.

[draeath]

Nope.

If you can accept installing a mod, KAS (kerbal attachment system) has a winch with an electromagnet that will do the job for you! Alternatively there's a "detachable" connector port you can slap on your vessel, then in EVA you can take it over to the other ship and snap it on, then connect the winch cable.

[Galacticruler]

Use an orbital tug equipped with a KAS grappling hook, fire it at the debris, retract, set a decaying or re-entering orbit, release part.

and you will have a successful deorbit planned without wasting a ship.

Don't forget a fuel tanker/station.

[Basilo1146]

The landing leg thing should work quite well. It's amazing what you can use them for if you think outside the box. However, instead of using them to grab it, make a cage/cargo bay type thing out of structural panels or girder thingies and use the landing legs to close it off once the item is inside

[Tex_NL]

Nope.

If you can accept installing a mod, KAS (kerbal attachment system) has a winch with an electromagnet that will do the job for you! Alternatively there's a "detachable" connector port you can slap on your vessel, then in EVA you can take it over to the other ship and snap it on, then connect the winch cable.

Wrong! Sapphire and Basilo are correct, though it isn't easy it IS possible!

Both the landing legs and landing gear can be used to trap objects. But since this relies on physical collisions you can NOT use timewarp. As soon as you engage timewarp the two objects will clip and when you disengage warp while clipped they'll explode.

[Geschosskopf]

In vanilla, there's the Whack-a-Kerbal feature. Hit Crtl-Alt-F12, selection "Show Whack-a-Kerbal", then jack up the velocity in that menu and fire away. No more debris

[Whackjob]

In vanilla, there's the Whack-a-Kerbal feature. Hit Crtl-Alt-F12, selection "Show Whack-a-Kerbal", then jack up the velocity in that menu and fire away. No more debris

I did what to a who now?

[FITorion]

You can try using landing legs as a grabbing claw thing.

this is what people did to simulate docking before we had docking ports as well. They'd make a "slot" the space craft could fit into and then "close" the lander legs over it so it couldn't bounce back out.

[Brotoro]

Stomp Thompson did videos on retrieving debris (back in the days before we even HAD docking).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gc9rP-gV_j4

[Omicron314]

One time I stranded a spaceplane in an elliptical and inclined orbit. So I strapped Jeb to a biig rocket and set up an encounter with the spaceplane. I pointed the plane at the retrograde vector, maneuvered my rocket behind it, and burned. I can verify that method works, but only with parachutes.

[Sardonyx]

Stomp Thompson did videos on retrieving debris (back in the days before we even HAD docking).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gc9rP-gV_j4

Haha, I just watched that video on Youtube because it was recommended to me on the front page when I went to serach! (Google knows too much...) But this is exactly what I want to do! Thanks for posting that

[Sardonyx]

Nope.

If you can accept installing a mod, KAS (kerbal attachment system) has a winch with an electromagnet that will do the job for you! Alternatively there's a "detachable" connector port you can slap on your vessel, then in EVA you can take it over to the other ship and snap it on, then connect the winch cable.

Use an orbital tug equipped with a KAS grappling hook, fire it at the debris, retract, set a decaying or re-entering orbit, release part.

and you will have a successful deorbit planned without wasting a ship.

Don't forget a fuel tanker/station.

I'm not quite ready to dip my toe into mods yet, which is why I mentioned vanilla. Personally, I like the constraints of the universe (game) and finding clever ways to do things inside those constraints. I'll probably get to mods eventually (Kethane sounds cool, and I've heard good things about the B9 parts pack) but I'd like to stick with the vanilla game for now.

@everyone who suggested landing legs - that looks like the way to go. I've also considered creating missiles and blowing the stuff up but I'll try to deorbit it first. All my designs now incorporate at least one docking port so I can grab it / refuel it should it become stranded.

Just for the curious: I'm more interested in doing this "in universe" - it's fun! I'd just edit the save file if my only goal was to remove the debris

[Lexif]

I used this until .21 came along to clean up the debris from the launches before I cared about debris:

It works quite well, but the landing legs are more trouble than they are worth. Once the stage is in the bucket, I just do all maneuvering with positive acceleration so that the trash stays in the can. It's just a quick turn to retrograd anyway. Then I thrust to lower the orbit into the atmosphere, pull back so that the debris seperates, turn around and burn to get the orbit back out of the atmosphere. That way, I can also handle stuff that's longer than the bucket:

The bucket is strong enough for all tasks so far and was launched upside-down over the tug unit. The tug unit decouples and refueled one or two times so far. I would build it a bit different the next time I need one. It's quite a bit out of balance and uses far to much RCS fuel, and the nuclear engine is just not enough.

Edited July 29, 2013 by Lexif
added second image, typo

[ash73]

I built something similar back in the day to retrieve a satellite from orbit:

[Merinsan]

I had a ship in 0.19 which was basically a big bucket with landing legs to hold stuff in.

It kind of worked, except one leg broke off.

I managed to deorbit quite a bit of debris with it.

As for transfering fuel without docking ports, that can't be done.

[Sardonyx]

I used this until .21 came along to clean up the debris from the launches before I cared about debris:

Wait a sec. Is .21 deleting debris? That would be annoying as some of my craft split into multiple useful pieces on purpose...

[bigdad84]

In my experience, when trying to grab debris with the smaller landing gear, they like to snap off....

[zarakon]

Wait a sec. Is .21 deleting debris? That would be annoying as some of my craft split into multiple useful pieces on purpose...

Probably just started a new save file