Do the Asteroids Stay static until they are tracked?

[Liowen]

Ok if I start a new save for a career mode and start playing will those pesky hunks of rocks stay where they are until I go and look at them, or do they have a predetermined paths even without searching? I know the likelihood of dodging asteroids at the launch pad is slim, but knowing my luck it would happen (I built a rocket yesterday and it fell apart every time it loaded even with stronger joints.).

[blizzy78]

They are set into a random orbit when they are spawned. They do not "stand still" in space.

[cantab]

ISTR that if they aren't tracked they don't physically exist. So if your ship just happened to be in the path of an asteroid, if you don't track the 'roid you could fly that ship in physics mode right through the time of the collision and you wouldn't even see the asteroid, let alone hit it.

[Kasuha]

As far as I understand the system, asteroids are randomly generated on trajectory bringing them to Kerbin SOI and they follow that trajectory. If they're untracked, they have a timer on them and after that time they are removed. If they're tracked, their trajectory becomes visible and they are no longer timed.

If you stop tracking an asteroid and start tracking it again before it disappears, it has still the same trajectory.

No asteroid can make it to Kerbin surface if you don't follow it - they will disappear when they get below 23 km latest. And to follow it, you need not only track the asteroid, but also visit it with your ship.

Edited April 2, 2014 by Kasuha