Docking Asteroids Together.

[katateochi]

So after much difficulty I finally managed to dock two asteroids together using a linking module with two claws on either end.

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It was much harder than expected to get them lined up (burnt a lot of RCS!) and some weird bugs happened when I docked them, but finally (after several orbits) I managed it. Now I have the foundation for an unnecessarily large station!

Anyone else done this yet? If so did you get any glitches when you docked?

I had odd camera focus issues. The camera rapidly panned far away from them, as if the COM had been shifted. It was fixed with a quicksave/reload, although that was in itself odd as I found myself focused on a random asteroid in a solar orbit when I reloaded, but when I switched back to the docked 'roids everything was normal.

I was going to make a bug report but I couldn't reproduce this camera panning glitch, the second time I attempted it (from an earlier save) it just worked fine. So I was wondering if anyone else has tried this and found issues?

[Tank Buddy]

Wow! I was just thinking this today when I caught my first asteroid.

[Kerbart]

So who's the first to pick up a dozen and put them in a spinning ring?

[Hans Dorn]

That would be a double D then, right?

[The Yellow Dart]

So when you have two ships docked on different sides of an asteroid, does it let you control and interact with both like they are docked? i.e. if one ship has rcs motors and one ship has monopropellant, but they both only touch the asteroid and not each other, does it treat them as one ship, letting the one use fuel from the other?

[cantab]

From what I've heard, yes. The claw behaves like any docking port, the asteroid behaves like any part, once docked it's all one ship.

Indeed, some have said that's invaluable when wrangling big asteroids. Claw a whole bunch of SAS+RCS probes to different points and it will become somewhat more controllable.

[katateochi]

So who's the first to pick up a dozen and put them in a spinning ring?

I'm not running with mods atm, but once I mod up and get IR installed then I'd like to try putting several class A's on some kind of ridiculous (and completely pointless) ferris-wheel bolted to a class C or larger.

But from what I'm now finding with this setup it will probably be quite unstable.

So when you have two ships docked on different sides of an asteroid, does it let you control and interact with both like they are docked? i.e. if one ship has rcs motors and one ship has monopropellant, but they both only touch the asteroid and not each other, does it treat them as one ship, letting the one use fuel from the other?

From what I've heard, yes. The claw behaves like any docking port, the asteroid behaves like any part, once docked it's all one ship.

Indeed, some have said that's invaluable when wrangling big asteroids. Claw a whole bunch of SAS+RCS probes to different points and it will become somewhat more controllable.

Yes, I can confirm that asteroids are made of a curious porous material which enables fuel to be transferred through it and due to its other unusual properties different fuel types can be passed through it without mixing! Actually this makes asteroids the ultimate refueling station base, able to support as many ships as you can dock to it!

The problem that I'm finding now is that these two joined asteroids are about as stable as a two-legged stool! It wobbles and flexes quite violently, at least so far it hasn't ripped apart. Jumping into timewarp for a second or two does help, but oscillations gradually return.

It might go better if I add a third leg to the stool and put another 'roid so it forms a triangle. Also I think my linking module could be better designed. I brought it up in two bits so it looked a bit more sensible on the launch pad, but that means it has a docking port link in the middle. I'll try it with a link that's not assembled in space. Some struts from the KAS mod placed in EVA between the asteroids might also help.

[Vanamonde]

It might go better if I add a third leg to the stool and put another 'roid so it forms a triangle.

Once a ship's claw has attached to a roid, another claw on the same ship will not attach to something it now considers to be part of the same ship.

There's a claw on the other side of that ship attached to the roid, and as you can see, the claw in the foreground is actually passing through the surface instead of grabbing. In other words, just like KSP docking and construction, it's not possible to construct a (full-strength) closed loop.

[r4pt0r]

Once a ship's claw has attached to a roid, another claw on the same ship will not attach to something it now considers to be part of the same ship.

http://i.imgur.com/60DvrUr.png

There's a claw on the other side of that ship attached to the roid, and as you can see, the claw in the foreground is actually passing through the surface instead of grabbing. In other words, just like KSP docking and construction, it's not possible to construct a (full-strength) closed loop.

so a claw trident would not work? when will this get fixed? or is it one of the hundred of things we cant do due to unity?

Edited April 6, 2014 by r4pt0r

[syfyguy64]

I want to make a dyson sphere.

If I am to be the first to do it, I best hurry, right?

[Xaiier]

Once a ship's claw has attached to a roid, another claw on the same ship will not attach to something it now considers to be part of the same ship.

http://i.imgur.com/60DvrUr.png

There's a claw on the other side of that ship attached to the roid, and as you can see, the claw in the foreground is actually passing through the surface instead of grabbing. In other words, just like KSP docking and construction, it's not possible to construct a (full-strength) closed loop.

so a claw trident would not work? when will this get fixed? or is it one of the hundred of things we cant do due to unity?

I beg to differ, I attached trident claws to an asteroid and all of them connected just fine. I got one, unlocked it, got the second and unlocked it, and then rotated to get the third. All three gave a release option.

Granted it will still be like docking as in its not a real connection and thus only one of them will be the "real" connection through which the part tree goes, but it definitely works.

EDIT: trident isn't perhaps the best word...3x symmetry

[Vanamonde]

I apologize. I shouldn't have posted while I was in such a cranky mood. Let me just say instead that I don't think this makes for stable constructions, even though it may be possible.

Edited April 6, 2014 by Vanamonde

[Xaiier]

Yes, true. I honestly haven't done significant testing on them under stress.

I would think that the new joint updates might have an effect on the strength of the connection though, so unless you've tried it and found it to not work it may be more plausible now to use it.

[Felsmak]

I see you found some of Jeb's gym equipment.

[Nano606]

I used a double array of claws to redirect the E class, both connected fine without me having to do anything special except hit a flat bit of the Asteroid. Getting it to line up to the centre was very hard and abandoned but found to not really be required with the double claws. I tried the two after cracking it trying to move a D class for nearly an hour at 10% throttle (about 240 units of thrust) on a single claw and having it wobble all over the place. But with the double i could put the whole 2000 units without worrying. I recommend it, much easier to move them that way.

[Markhoz]

Has science gone too far? Lol

[electronicfox]

I've used some triple-claw systems a few times with no issues, all 3 claws would grab the potatoroid just fine.

[Werwolf]

I'm not running with mods atm, but once I mod up and get IR installed then I'd like to try putting several class A's on some kind of ridiculous (and completely pointless) ferris-wheel bolted to a class C or larger.

But from what I'm now finding with this setup it will probably be quite unstable.

Yes, I can confirm that asteroids are made of a curious porous material which enables fuel to be transferred through it and due to its other unusual properties different fuel types can be passed through it without mixing! Actually this makes asteroids the ultimate refueling station base, able to support as many ships as you can dock to it!

http://i.imgur.com/Uyr8yQwh.jpg

The problem that I'm finding now is that these two joined asteroids are about as stable as a two-legged stool! It wobbles and flexes quite violently, at least so far it hasn't ripped apart. Jumping into timewarp for a second or two does help, but oscillations gradually return.

It might go better if I add a third leg to the stool and put another 'roid so it forms a triangle. Also I think my linking module could be better designed. I brought it up in two bits so it looked a bit more sensible on the launch pad, but that means it has a docking port link in the middle. I'll try it with a link that's not assembled in space. Some struts from the KAS mod placed in EVA between the asteroids might also help.

Turn off SAS on all of your docked craft. it shoudlnt wobble anymore.

[ScrapIron]

On 4/5/2014 at 9:11 PM, Kerbart said:

On 4/6/2014 at 1:19 AM, katateochi said:

I'm not running with mods atm, but once I mod up and get IR installed then I'd like to try putting several class A's on some kind of ridiculous (and completely pointless) ferris-wheel bolted to a class C or larger.

But from what I'm now finding with this setup it will probably be quite unstable.

Yes, I can confirm that asteroids are made of a curious porous material which enables fuel to be transferred through it and due to its other unusual properties different fuel types can be passed through it without mixing! Actually this makes asteroids the ultimate refueling station base, able to support as many ships as you can dock to it!

The problem that I'm finding now is that these two joined asteroids are about as stable as a two-legged stool! It wobbles and flexes quite violently, at least so far it hasn't ripped apart. Jumping into timewarp for a second or two does help, but oscillations gradually return.

It might go better if I add a third leg to the stool and put another 'roid so it forms a triangle. Also I think my linking module could be better designed. I brought it up in two bits so it looked a bit more sensible on the launch pad, but that means it has a docking port link in the middle. I'll try it with a link that's not assembled in space. Some struts from the KAS mod placed in EVA between the asteroids might also help.

 

I think this is a great idea. Or an asteroid chain. I tried this with a simple linking mechanism with claws at both ends, too. The thought was to link several asteroids and then mine them all at once. However, after the third asteroid linked, the "wobbles" appeared, and the arrangement violently resonantes until it rips itself apart. And since we can't attach more than one claw from the same craft, there was no way to make it stable.

The physics engine (Unity) and/or how KSP interacts with Unity limits some of the design possibilities. With that said, it works great for simpler designs, or forces us to develop creative solutions. 

Edited January 6, 2020 by Gargamel
Fixed Buried Post

[Zeiss Ikon]

On 12/28/2019 at 9:06 AM, ScrapIron said:

And since we can't attach more than one claw from the same craft, there was no way to make it stable.

I beg to differ.  My stock career, which ran from 1.3.1 to 1.6.1 (abandoned when I installed Realism Overhaul) had an experiment with asteroid ISRU that was stabilized to the rock with three KLAW attachments on the same craft.  Took me several attempts to get all three to catch, but once I got the third one on, everything was absolutely stable.

This doesn't work very well for pushing the rock, mind you -- any engines on the three-point attached craft will have only their gimbal range to compensate for misalignment with the composite CoM -- but if you want to ensure that your drill stays in position to actually extract ore from the rock, it works quite well -- or did in, IIRC, 1.4.1, anyway.

[AHHans]

15 hours ago, Zeiss Ikon said:

This doesn't work very well for pushing the rock, mind you

If you have the Breaking Ground DLC, then you can use robotics parts to adjust the alignment of your craft to the asteroid. See also the discussion in: https://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/index.php?/topic/190359-can-landing-legs-or-robot-parts-be-used-to-help-stabilize-an-asteroid/

[Gargamel]

@ScrapIron, to avoid confusion, I have fixed your post so your text is not buried inside another user's quoted post.