Asteroid Landing-Where to go?

[Nephf]

I want to build the replica of an Asteroid landing. Where should I go?

-Minmus

-Gilly

-Dres

Please vote!

Edited October 6, 2013 by Nephf

[Sirine]

I voted Gilly... because...below are direct copy for wiki.

Gilly is a tiny asteroid and the only natural satellite of Eve. Gilly is the smallest celestial body in the Kerbol system. Landing on Gilly is challenging due to its very low mass, steep slopes, and highly eccentric orbit, making it very easy to overthrust engines or send a spacecraft tumbling. Escaping Gilly, however, is very easy  the EVA jetpack can easily put a lone Kerbal into orbit or set him on an escape trajectory.

Gilly has the least gravity of all bodies in the Kerbol system, with half of Jool's moon Pol due to its extremely small mass and size. A Kerbal can jump over 1000 meters on this moon. Gilly's gravity makes it ideal for very low fuel interplanetary missions. Gilly also has an irregular orbit, so catching the moon is a bit harder.

[boomerdog2000]

Gilly for asteroid like conditions.

Dres for orbital postition similar to asteroid belt.

Take your pick.

[Starwaster]

Gilly definitely and its weak gravity and uneven surface can definitely be a challenge.

If you use the KW Rocketry mod then I'd definitely recommend those big RCS pods. The thing about Gilly is that you'll be sitting there waiting for minutes for it to drift down those last few meters or so. If you try to use big landing engines to slow yourself you'll end up shooting back off into the sky. RCS can land even large craft on Gilly. If you use MechJeb, go into utilities and put the throttle at 2%-3% but by no means should you allow the autopilot to try landing unless you like watching rocket parts strewn about the landscape.

If only using stock parts, put those linear RCS pod things fore and aft. Fore so that you can push yourself down to the surface if you're tired of waiting.

Seriously, I once went to the kitchen for snacks when I was 10 meters from the surface confident I wouldn't be crashing when I got back

[Geschosskopf]

Replicating a real-life asteroid mission requires something tiny all by itself, to accurately reflect the challenge of reaching and getting captured by such a thing. Dres therefore is the only thing in KSP that fits the bill. It's also the only thing in KSP in the correct position between Duna and Jool, and the Wiki says it's based on Ceres, the biggest asteroid.

With Dres, you can replicate the ongoing NASA Dawn mission, plus add a lander if you want.

http://dawn.jpl.nasa.gov/

Your other choices (and I think Bop would be a better candidate than Minmus) aren't asteroids, they're moons. It's postulated that Gilly and Bop are "captured asteroids" but this is obviously nonsense because there's indisputable evidence that they were created in situ by the Devgods . Besides, with any moon, you first go to the parent planet and use its gravity to get you to the moon. This is a much simpler task than trying to hit something small all by itself.

[lajoswinkler]

Ceres is not an asteroid, it's a dwarf planet. Even before the newest classification it was called a planetoid. It's round and HUGE. Asteroids are irregular boulders and very tiny. Dres therefore has no resemblance to asteroids.

[Geschosskopf]

Ceres is not an asteroid, it's a dwarf planet. Even before the newest classification it was called a planetoid. It's round and HUGE. Asteroids are irregular boulders and very tiny. Dres therefore has no resemblance to asteroids.

Ceres is definitely an asteroid--it was the 1st asteroid discovered . Can't change that, even if you want to call it something else these days.

Now, if you want to be really pedantic and say that an asteroid has to be irregularly shaped instead of round, then there is nothing at all resembling an "asteroid" in KSP. Even Bop and Gilly are round and therefore "planetoids" by your definition. So, of the available things, Dres is the only candidate that provides a realistic asteroid mission.

[Kasuha]

Dres is the most asteroid-ish object in the Kerbal system. Second best is IMO Bop and third is Pol.

[Specialist290]

Ceres is not an asteroid, it's a dwarf planet.

Ceres is definitely an asteroid--it was the 1st asteroid discovered . Can't change that, even if you want to call it something else these days.

If you want to be technical about it, it's both. Traditionally, the terms "minor planet," "planetoid," and "asteroid" were more or less interchangeable, but the former was the only official term and has since been deprecated. It's still quite right to call Ceres an asteroid by the traditional understanding of the term, though (" small bodies of the inner Solar System out to the orbit of Jupiter").

[Starwaster]

omg look, the SWACC (Starwaster Asteroid Classification Committee) hereby decrees that Dres is a planet Case closed. (STAMP!)

[TheIncredibleDalek]

Now, if you want to be really pedantic and say that an asteroid has to be irregularly shaped instead of round, then there is nothing at all resembling an "asteroid" in KSP.

What about the magic boulder?