Is it possible??

[Yuval ofer]

To assemble a giant ring that goes around kerbin?

[lammatt]

except you cant really make a loop in KSP.

[Pursuedtank]

It is not possible to make a craft bigger than around 2.5 km across, as this would go outside the current physics range. It would be difficult in real life as well, as it would be unstable in any gravity fluctuations.

[bigdad84]

No, KSP only renders physics and ships within 2.5KM

You could make a giant ring kilometers across though... But impossible around the whole planet.

[Scotius]

No, KSP only renders physics and ships within 2.5KM

You could make a giant ring kilometers across though... But impossible around the whole planet.

...If you have an access to NORAD supercomputer or something

[stupid_chris]

I just want to see someone dock parts piece after piece and see if we can get it to be aring around the planet. Just to see if someone has the patience to do it.

[FEichinger]

I'd recommend posting that as a Challenge. Let's try and find the longest ring segment in a reasonably stable orbit around Kerbin, how about that?

[bogpad]

I wonder if there was ever an attemp to make a ship that was bigger than the 2.5km... what would happen to it? would certain parts just stop existing on the one end, while you are focusing on the other?

[Ralathon]

I just want to see someone dock parts piece after piece and see if we can get it to be aring around the planet. Just to see if someone has the patience to do it.

The closest stable orbit you can have around Kerbin would be 4200km in circumference. Assuming you launch segments of 60ish meter you're looking at 70000 launches to complete the thing.

I don't think anyone'll bother with that

[AntonioAJC]

Just give the PC a decade or more and the game can render the whole thing.

[FEichinger]

The closest stable orbit you can have around Kerbin would be 4200km in circumference. Assuming you launch segments of 60ish meter you're looking at 70000 launches to complete the thing.

I don't think anyone'll bother with that

Well, there's also the point that it may not even survive that long, before turning or collapsing into Kerbin. It's a really interesting fringe case to see what a) the physics do with this and how far we can go.

[Mephane]

Even if the game engine could handle it (theoretically possible on modern hardware if you simulate fewer huge parts instead), it would never be stable and need constant adjustment not to collide with the planet. The same is true in reality, a ring around a gravitational mass is in a highly unstable positon (as is any solid Dyson Sphere, hence nowadays the more common notion is that of a huge swarm of individual satellites mostly enclosing a star, but orbiting each on their own).

[Apollo1391]

I have seen people make rings out of random debris, crafts, and satelites

[SRV Ron]

A Dyson Ring, like the one around the Moon in Starship Troopers, would be physically impossible due to the sheer amount of materials needed to build it with sufficient strength to keep it together in an orbit. The tidal force of the Earth and Sun would keep pulling it apart. In KSP, assuming your computer could render so many parts, the material limitation and physic forces would shake it apart.

[hyperformer]

Vanilla ksp only loads 2.5km away, but you can mods it so it ender the whole kerbin/mün system

[Tw1]

I remember that Nova replied to another thread like this, and explained that as the object gets bigger, its center of mass gets closer to the surface of Kerbin, it eventually thinks "I must have collided with the planet" and destroys itself.

Also, my experiments with KAS showed you can make craft larger than 2.5Km, but it seemed other things more than 2.5 Km away from the center of mass didn't load.

[Captain Sierra]

IF, and only IF you ahd a computer that could handle this without melting down (keep in mind the lack of multi-threading; since most supercomps are multi CPU, this is virtually nonexistent), it would have to render physics on every craft in LKO.

Also, the gravity of the planet would be constantly acting on it on all sides and no ammount of rotational velocity would counter this. WHat would happen is it would collapse around the planet and cause major havoc.

[Flixxbeatz]

This is KSP. There's no such thing as impossible. If you know how to do it...

[daemonCaptrix]

Even a ring around Gilly should be impoosible with the current physics restraints.

[Yuval ofer]

Heres an idea that I had I mind- Lets say that we have assmbled a ring in a perfectly equatorial kerbin orbit (or any other celestial body for that matter) and it had four engines all pointing towards the North Pole. What would happen to the ring if all the engines fired at once?

[CheftonUTD]

Sorry if I'm a bit OT here but this covers a lot of what I was thinking of trying, but will probably be even more stupidly impossible than I thought if my ship can only extend 2.5km.

I was planning on seeing if I could change the KAS winch length from 50m to 36,000km (yes I know haha), getting into a geostationary orbit, and pretty much winching everything out of atmo.

[bogpad]

Sorry if I'm a bit OT here but this covers a lot of what I was thinking of trying, but will probably be even more stupidly impossible than I thought if my ship can only extend 2.5km.

I was planning on seeing if I could change the KAS winch length from 50m to 36,000km (yes I know haha), getting into a geostationary orbit, and pretty much winching everything out of atmo.

I am not entirely sure, but I think the maximum was 500 meterish.

[ouion]

How about around Gilly or Bop as a starter.

[GDJ]

Well, making a Dyson Sphere around the Kerbal sun would be cool.....

[Kimberly]

Heres an idea that I had I mind- Lets say that we have assmbled a ring in a perfectly equatorial kerbin orbit (or any other celestial body for that matter) and it had four engines all pointing towards the North Pole. What would happen to the ring if all the engines fired at once?

It would tear the ring apart.

But assuming the ring held up, it would be a lot like standing on the north pole and jumping. That is, you'd move upwards away from the planet, then fall back towards your equatorial orbit--in your equatorial orbit, your center of mass was in the same place as that of Kerbin. Once you move the ring up, that's no longer the case, and gravity pulls the craft downwards. I think.