89 days

[Stilgar2300]

So i just fixed my computer and loaded up KSP. My first asteroid i tracked is a Class E that will ram into Kerbin in 89 days. Now my question is will i have enough time to unlock the nessessary parts down the tech tree to stop it from Colliding and maybe even capturing it? It's a fresh save.

[sal_vager]

Sounds like a nice challenge Stilgar, can you do it?

Post your mission report with success or failure

[Corw]

Yes.

The message you have entered is too short. Please lengthen your message to at least 10 characters.

[Superfluous J]

So long as you can get to the Claw and get a ship out to where it is when it enters Kerbin's SOI, then yes. You don't even need a ton of dV to divert it out there.

Though with an E Class, you'll need more than you probably think.

[ferram4]

Yes you can, however you have to optimize the amount of science you can get at once.

So the first thing you want to do is to just drop Jeb on the pad in nothing but a Mk1 pod, collect the crew report from the pad, the EVA report + sample from the pad, the EVA + sample from the grass beside the pad, and then recover all of that so you can get to the next node. Then throw a bunch of Goos on the pod and a small rocket so that you can get Goo on the pad, Goo in the air and Goo on the KSC grass. Then expand down the science path so you can start getting more experiments. Do your initial launches to orbit, but don't go into equatorial orbits, so that you can come down at different latitudes so you can easily collect as much Kerbin science as possible once you land.

Then for your Mun and Minmus missions you're going to want to manage many missions all at once so that you can have as much science coming in as quickly as possible from each "biome." Make sure to keep track of which biome you're heading towards, and remember that if you send Kerbals you can have them pull the experiment out of the Goos and Matbays so that you don't have to return those things. You'll probably want to send a craft to just out of Kerbin SOI to get some quick science that way. Through all of that, you will certainly have enough science to max the tree, and can probably get most of what you need in a few launches to the Mun / Minmus. If you really push it as quickly as you can you should be able to get all the rocketry, docking and grappling nodes in ~10 days of game time, which will give you plenty of time to figure out a game plan for that asteroid.

[sporkafife]

Sounds like a challenge to me I did try an Impactor method once, but it didn't really change the orbit at all. If I got there early enough it would probably make a difference, but the best option for class E is the claw. It's unlocked pretty early on in the tech tree, before you even get to most of the large rocket parts, so it's more than possible

[sal_vager]

Hmm, if you can't get the claw in time you could try either a pusher plate or using your engine thrust to alter the asteroids trajectory, if you have equal forwards thrust you can remain in place.

You could at least buy time this way.

[Stilgar2300]

OK. Its been about one day in game. Here's my progress: 10 missions all around kerbin using short orbital hops with too and sci Jr. I have one mun flyby enrout and a minnmus lander. I also wentin and changed the names of all my kerbins to the characters/cast of Armageddon.

[MKI]

OK. Its been about one day in game. Here's my progress: 10 missions all around kerbin using short orbital hops with too and sci Jr. I have one mun flyby enrout and a minnmus lander. I also wentin and changed the names of all my kerbins to the characters/cast of Armageddon.

LOVED that last part! XD

Farm minimus once you get docking/ science lab. Ive gotten through half the tech tree in 4-5 kerbin days utilizing its biomes. Make a science station en orbit around minimus, and make mini science vessels to land everywhere and bring the science back to the home station. Very effective, and "quick" sinces its minimal flight time.

You can do the same with the Mun but you need more fuel and better landers .

[problemecium]

You have the time several times over. You don't need the whole entire tree unlocked to redirect a 'roid. In fact you don't technically even need the Klaw, although it presumably helps a lot.

[Stilgar2300]

Day 4:

Disaster struck Munar flyby ship. All Science devices were destroyed on landing. Here hoping that the Minmus ship survives it's landing. It have 4 probes leaving Kerbin's SOI but they are 5 days out. I'll keep you posted

[merendel]

Day 4:

Disaster struck Munar flyby ship. All Science devices were destroyed on landing. Here hoping that the Minmus ship survives it's landing. It have 4 probes leaving Kerbin's SOI but they are 5 days out. I'll keep you posted

If you want to be extra safe move all science from the modules into the command pod. If you sent an unmaned mission out there instead of haveing it land have it capture in a low kerbin orbit and send a kerbal up to grab the science and return in his pod. As long as you dont forget parachutes those pods survive landings much more easily than science parts.

Also you could probably skip the claw if you really wanted to although it would be harder. Send a ship out to intercept it outside kerbins SOI with a pusher head made out of girders or something. just place the head agianst the asteroid roughly in line with the COM and give it a push. you may slip off a time or two but if you can intercept a week or two out you only need to add a meter per second or so in any direction to make it miss cleanly. May as well send out an unmaned low tech probe(once you have solar pannles) to make the attempt ASAP. keep working on teching up to the claw in case the attempt fails. Just launch the probe on an intercept corse and continue doing science while it travles.

[Stilgar2300]

day 25: It's been a race. Due to some poor mistakes two probes failed in their mission (I left SAS on). I now have the ARM Tech. I have constructed a probe to hopefully give me a little more time to design a proper ship. I'll post a picture after this nightmare of a launch

Edited April 13, 2014 by Stilgar2300

[Stilgar2300]

I'll attempt the first capture tomorrow. Bellow is the first ship i've built like this. I've got 5 days till it enters Kerbin SOI. Now i'm not sure how to do it. any suggestions?

[Ruinsage]

You should get the alarmclock mod, and then manage several flights at once, so you dont finish a flight to the mun before you send the next one up.

[sal_vager]

Keep us updated Stilgar, and may the Kraken smile on your Kerbals

Edited April 13, 2014 by sal_vager
Spelling

[yaur]

On a collision course? How many chutes do you need to attach to a class E before it glides gently to the surface?

[78stonewobble]

I suggest packing leather pants and Bruce Willis...

Good luck stilgar

PS: Also recommending the alarmclock mod for multiple flights.

[ArmchairGravy]

"Good luck, we're all counting on you."

You should easily have enough time to unlock oil barrels, Sippers and nukes. You may need a couple of craft, but they'll divert that class E.

[Kurtvw]

My suggestion is to always do your asteroid rendezvous in the sun's SOI. It costs a LOT less DeltaV to manage them in solar orbit. Waiting till they are already in Kerbin SOI makes everything more expensive.

In my best solution yet, I did a burn with an asteroid that was about 60 days from Kerbin. It cost me only 34 deltaV to get it where I wanted it initially, and another 70 (thanks to a little help from Mun) to capture an elliptical orbit in Kerbins SOI.

[Superfluous J]

I've found that even an E-type can be redirected from Kerbin's side of the Sun/Kerbin SOI boundary, so long as you meet the asteroid right at the edge.

I launched a ship with about 11k of dV and was able to get an E-Class asteroid to hit Kerbin (My goals were opposite yours). Nudging it less than 400km to one side should be easy as pie.

Here's a tutorial, and it's basically the ship that did E-Class redirect. In this tutorial I just rendezvous with the asteroid, though the rest should be at least a little obvious

Note: You're lacking the one thing this tutorial expects: Time. You may have to do this whole thing in a single orbit or at most 2 short orbits, but it should still work so long as you pay attention to how close your subsequent apoapses are from the asteroid's SOI change.

Edited April 13, 2014 by 5thHorseman