Does the claw grab ships?

[TarkinLarson]

I had a little play around with the claw last night. I was only playing briefly, but I launched a standard ship into circular orbit in preparation for an incoming asteroid and to do some tests. I had plenty of fuel left, so decided to decouple the high altitude stage and then turn around and grab it with the claw. I deployed it so the little grabby hand came out and then proceeded to try and grab the fuel tanks. It was essentially one of the new 2x enginge NASA booster and a big orange tank. I tried at multiple points on it. The discarded tanks were classed as debris, so I thought it could be an interesting tool to deorbit anything that I leave in space after a launch and tidy up.

It appeared that the claw didn't grab onto it or act anything like a docking port. I aimed for several parts, but got the same results.

Aside from deploying it, is there any other action required?

Should it just engage on an object by just touching it with a deployed arm?

Does it just grab Kerbals and Asteroids?

Edited April 3, 2014 by TarkinLarson
Spelling Error

[Kasuha]

Yes you can grab another ship (or even part of your own ship) with it. It requires accuracy - if you dip the claw too deep into the part, it will not stick. So you need to approach the object slowly.

[TarkinLarson]

Cheers... so it does work? I was perhaps being a bit rough with it, but I'm sure I should've got some activity from it. I will try again with a gentler touch later with a more planned rendezvous rather than reattaching to a decoupled part hurling away from me. If it works I'll post screenshots and a response.

Can you confirm that all you need to do is 'touch' the claw onto a surface for it to engage/dock, as long as the claw is deployed? There is no further action required, except gentleness? I assume because there is no magnetic attraction, like docking ports it acts differently and doesn't 'suck' you in if you're slightly off.

[Skorpychan]

This has merit. Maybe I don't need to waste mass by putting docking ports on my lower stages, and can instead just use a tug to toss them into a holding orbit for later use as storage.

[Kasuha]

Can you confirm that all you need to do is 'touch' the claw onto a surface for it to engage/dock, as long as the claw is deployed? There is no further action required, except gentleness?

Yes I can confirm that.

[TarkinLarson]

This has merit. Maybe I don't need to waste mass by putting docking ports on my lower stages, and can instead just use a tug to toss them into a holding orbit for later use as storage.

This was part of my idea too. I could either deorbit them, or use them again later perhaps. I usually deorbit jetissoned lower stages with probes or Mechjeb (radially attached as a probe controller), however there are times this is undesirable, difficult or impossible. At later times I may wish to tidy up the space at 100km or so above Kerbin so a tug to do some cleaning would be great. As you've said as well you could put them in a cluster together, and being as (I've read, but not yet been able to test) we can transfer fuel through the claw that would be a in space refuelling site perhaps.

Yes I can confirm that.

Cheers again. I still haven't had a chance to test it properly, but thanks again!

[Lohan2008]

YES, read the forum !!!