An inclined plane wrapped helically around an axis

[kerblamo]

Ok first time post, in a bit of a jam.

Accidentally managed to get a pod into orbit with no means of getting home (has a chute, no rockets, power, etc.) and wondering if its possible to retrieve it or if its doomed to float around for ever. Also in early stages of career (2 unlocked science things).

Any help would be appreciated. Ta

Edited October 28, 2013 by kerblamo

[Yargnit]

Depending on how much you'd need to adjust your orbit to re-enter Kerbin's atmosphere you can actually get out and use your Kerbal's jetpack to push your pod's orbit lower. Your jetpack refuels when you re-enter the pod, so it's really just a matter of patience if you're a long ways out.

& Welcome btw

[Mr.Rocket]

If you have a kerbal you can get out and push with eva fuel and just get your periapsis under 69 km so the atmosphere catches it, i had to do it before. If its unmanned, just go to the tracking station and end it.

[TechnicalK3rbal]

Depending on how much you'd need to adjust your orbit to re-enter Kerbin's atmosphere you can actually get out and use your Kerbal's jetpack to push your pod's orbit lower. Your jetpack refuels when you re-enter the pod, so it's really just a matter of patience if you're a long ways out.

& Welcome btw

You can do what yargnnit said,

Or, you can make a "cage" of trusses/beams (i don't remember which they're called), then rendezvous with the lost ship and get it in the cage and deorbit the whole thing. Or, you can use the pods reaction wheels, spin it, then using the centripetal force, "fling" it with a decoupler in either the retrograde or anti radial directions.

Sorry about the run on sentence.

[kerblamo]

You can do what yargnnit said,

Or, you can make a "cage" of trusses/beams (i don't remember which they're called), then rendezvous with the lost ship and get it in the cage and deorbit the whole thing. Or, you can use the pods reaction wheels, spin it, then using the centripetal force, "fling" it with a decoupler in either the retrograde or anti radial directions.

Sorry about the run on sentence.

Whilst this sounds more interesting, what I've been taught so far during my engineering studies is K.I.S.S.(keep it simple stupid). Jet packs seem the way forwards.

P.S. Its a highly elliptical orbit, for what its worth. Not that it makes to much difference.

[Oddible]

He said he doesn't have parachutes, so no jetpack will leave his kerbal dead. Trusses are the way to go sadly.

[ScottyDoesKnow]

I'd go with the cage rescue ship. Can use landing legs to close the end of the cage, and it's good rendezvous practice. Plus the infinite jetpack fuel feels a bit cheaty.

[DisarmingBaton5]

I got myself into a similar situation with Jeb.

Wait until you get a stayputnik core, then mount that on the top of a 1-man pod, (LEAVE THE POD UNMANNED FOR LAUNCH) and rendezvous with target. Load crew onto the unmanned pod+stayputnik craft, and deorbit! Remember to mark the old craft as debris before the crew transfer.

Or you could do what TechnicalK3rbal said and go with trusses. That seems unsafe IMO.

[nhnifong]

What does your title have to do with this?

[Dichotomy]

What does your title have to do with this?

Think about it.

Imagine the title ended with an 'd , does that make it more easily deciphered ?

[Sirrobert]

He said he doesn't have parachutes, so no jetpack will leave his kerbal dead. Trusses are the way to go sadly.

(has a chute, no rockets, power, etc.)

He said he DOES have a chute

When your pod is at apoaps, push the pod (with the kerbals jetpack) in retrograde direction, until the periaps is below 70km. Than drag will slow it down and (depending on how low the periaps actually is) it'll deorbit in a few orbits, or right away

[TechnicalK3rbal]

Whilst this sounds more interesting, what I've been taught so far during my engineering studies is K.I.S.S.(keep it simple stupid). Jet packs seem the way forwards.

P.S. Its a highly elliptical orbit, for what its worth. Not that it makes to much difference.

If it's highly elliptical, this will be even easier, just do it at the apoapsis.

Plus, this will save you like 5 minutes of pushing....

[boomerdog2000]

A 3rd option would be send up a ship with a second pod and EVA the kerbal over. It would leave the pod but rescue the kerbal. You just might want to rename the pod debris before leaving.

[nhnifong]

Think about it.

Imagine the title ended with an 'd , does that make it more easily deciphered ?

No. that doesn't make any sense either. His title is "An inclined plane wrapped helically around an axis"

It implies he was going to ask some wierd question about orbital inclination, but he's asking how to save a stranded pod.

[HeadHunter67]

If imagination or mechanical comprehension does not reveal the intended answer, he means he is SCREWED.

[Taki117]

Here is my rescue ship I designed for the capture and safe return of one of my many Mun scienc vessels when I was just starting out.

And another, with labels:

The only reason I don't have landing legs as a door is because I couldn't figure out how to get them to open/close properly. With this design you must be extremely careful while rotating lest you fling your captured ship into an unrecoverable orbit. (I am assuming you want to recover the entire ship for the science.)

[monophonic]

If imagination or mechanical comprehension does not reveal the intended answer, he means he is SCREWED.

:-D I didn't get it either until you spelled it out. Now it's funny though. :-)

[capi3101]

No. that doesn't make any sense either. His title is "An inclined plane wrapped helically around an axis"

It implies he was going to ask some wierd question about orbital inclination, but he's asking how to save a stranded pod.

nhnifong, an inclined plane wrapped helically around an axis is called a "screw". Tis a joke, man. One I hate to spoil for everyone else, but...

Ninja'd. No, not really; just didn't read some of the later posts...

[Lheim]

The 'inclined plane wrapped helically' thing is a line from 'Big Bang Theory'

Leonard: What would you be if you were fastened by an inclined plane wrapped helically around an axis?

Sheldon: I'd be.. screwed!

Leonard: Exactly.

[Wijbrandus]

I got myself into a similar situation with Jeb.

Wait until you get a stayputnik core, then mount that on the top of a 1-man pod, (LEAVE THE POD UNMANNED FOR LAUNCH) and rendezvous with target. Load crew onto the unmanned pod+stayputnik craft, and deorbit! Remember to mark the old craft as debris before the crew transfer.

This is what I had to do after running out of fuel bringing Jeb back from Minmus. I had a highly elliptical orbit that only came just within 1500 km of Kerbin (and millions of miles out into space on the other end - a 4 day orbital period).

I sent up a probe-manned lander can, set up an extremely tricky rendezvous, and then jet-packed Jeb from the dead spacecraft to the rescue pod. Once he was safely back on Kerbin, I sent the self-destruct order to the dead spacecraft. I lost some science, but I had not yet researched any sort of docking tech and so there was no way for me to refuel it.

[nhnifong]

Baka! It went right over my head.