Bigger Asteroids in KSP

[The_Rebel_Flagship]

I noticed that the biggest asteroid class in the game right now, is a class E. But these are only about 18 meters big. I was thinking if maybe there could be an Armageddon sized asteroid, or a class F, that would be about 50-100 meters, but would be rare.

Of course, they would be very hard to redirect, due to size and mass. But who doesn't want massive end-of-the-world asteroids in ksp?

What are your thoughts on this idea?

[NERVAfan]

I noticed that the biggest asteroid class in the game right now, is a class E. But these are only about 18 meters big. I was thinking if maybe there could be an Armageddon sized asteroid,

That's "the size of Texas" or slightly larger than Kerbin (assuming they mean a diameter equal to the distance across Texas), even Kerbal-scaled down it would be the size of Dres... so in a sense, we already have one.

Of course, they would be very hard to redirect, due to size and mass. But who doesn't want massive end-of-the-world asteroids in ksp?

What are your thoughts on this idea?

Right now, we have celestial bodies that are "on-rails" and can't be moved no matter how much thrust you apply, and asteroids which can be moved. There would need to be a "demarcation line" size, somewhere between Gilly and a class E asteroid, where the two categories meet... presumably at whatever size it isn't practical to move them. I'd imagine that size would be wherever the acceleration applied by a couple of the biggest engines at max thrust would be small enough to fall in the game's "noise"... I don't know what that would be, though. Probably significantly less than 1km, as a wild guess.

[Vanamonde]

Have you tried to move and steer an E class? They are PLENTY big.

[MassDivide]

I'd be happy with an F size which is about 20 times the size of E class and had its own micro gravity

Imagine walking around on your own personal little "pluto". Then retrofitting it into a spacecraft using KAS LOL

[The_Rebel_Flagship]

Have you tried to move and steer an E class? They are PLENTY big.

Well I did watch a video of some guy redirecting a class E. He only used a single somewhat small craft. It did take a lot of time and delta V, but he redirected it regardless.

I just think that compared to the size of real asteroids, a class E is pathetically small. I know that there are limitations, but I think it could be possible to redirect one twice the size, or a little under twice the size, using multiple craft. Obviously it would be borderline impossible to redirect an asteroid any bigger than about 35 meters, which is exactly why class F's would have to be significantly rare, and would be no bigger than 30 meters.

[diomedea]

Given the interest with bigger asteroids, there's a trick allowing anybody to experiment what it would be like to redirect a really huge one.

What is important is not the size or class, but the mass. It appears that mass is given only after an asteroid is grappled (mass with any discovered asteroid is = 150). So, after having grappled one, save the game and exit. Edit the savegame, find your ship grappling the roid, look for a PART { } data with name =PotatoRoid, find "mass = xx" and change it to a value of your liking (in tons).

Can't tell what is the upper limit for a class E (the biggest) but probably anything greater than 10,000 tons would deserve being a class F.

By comparison, the greatest recorded asteroid event on Earth was at Tunguska, 1908; NASA estimates give a mass of 100,000 tons. Can't say if anybody can successfully redirect one asteroid of that size in KSP....

[Donterrio]

Scratch that! Major asteroids with gravity, on rail orbit like maybe an asteroid called Kesta,Kallas,ect.!

[ThesaurusRex]

Bumping because this idea already exists and I'd like to give my thoughts.

I'd really like an F (or even G or H) size for interesting asteroid bases. Obviously, not near as common as the other asteroids, and not always on a collision course like the others. 100 or 150 meters might be good enough to satisfy my needs. These aren't going to be ones that you can move around easily at all, rather asteroids to explore and set up bases on. If, literally, push came to shove, you could redirect it with a dedicated enough mission, but good luck getting it into a specific orbit.

[Megalodon 720]

I'd be happy with an F size which is about 20 times the size of E class and had its own micro gravity

Imagine walking around on your own personal little "pluto". Then retrofitting it into a spacecraft using KAS LOL

Yes, this needs to be done.

[ThesaurusRex]

Yes, this needs to be done.

But it can't. Objects with any sort of gravity can only be on rails, it can't be calculated on the fly. And an object with gravity of any sort would be so massive that even the biggest spacecraft that could be built would have a negligible effect on it. See Scott Manley's video on 'deorbiting Gilly'.

[Justin Kerbice]

Try FASA asteroids, there is gravity (hack) and they are... HUUGGGEEE (some are 100 and 200m in longest distance between two points), and the best: it's already available !

[Ristse]

The next Unity update may being a possibility for moving gravitational asteroids! this bring hopes!

[Tery215]

Big asteroids probably can't be moved, unless you're the whackjob.

Big asteroids, thus, are probably just randomly generated planetoids that are inferior to planets.

[mivanit]

is there any way to hack an asteroid to just have larger diameter + larger mass?

[nikokespprfan]

The way to move a big asteroid is to do it the kerbal way (the impractical way that is so crazy that it just works kinda way), by hitting it with another, redirectable asteroid.

The thing for gravity, (I don't know whether it's possible, or practical, but hey, we have atmospheres that can apply a force other than gravity) is to generate a force towards the asteroid when you are in the FX bubble, that you then add to the force from Kerbol, the resulting force being the gravity of the asteroid and Kerbol combined.

Edited January 13, 2016 by nikokespprfan
fixed typo's

[OmniscientQ]

The way to move a big asteroid is to do it the kerbal way (the impractical way that is so crazy that it just works kinda way), by hitting it with another, redirectable asteroid.

You, sir, win all of the Kerbals.

[clivman]

I'd like an on rails asteroid/comet system. Maybe average would be just smaller than gilly(75% of its gravity)

[Monsterlunch]

I'd be happy with an F size which is about 20 times the size of E class and had its own micro gravity

Imagine walking around on your own personal little "pluto". Then retrofitting it into a spacecraft using KAS LOL

As much as I'd like to see this, I doubt that it will make it into stock, due to some minor gravitational issues with small bodies : https://what-if.xkcd.com/68/

[Shark4558]

I really think we need to implement a large asteroid,one time i tryed to "land" on an asteroid class E, I was disappointed because of the absence of gravity, so it would have to be a bigger one, where you can appreciate the gravity, although I would give a small detail, the speed is less than the escape velocity of the planet that is orbiting, so that when the planet reaches the asteroid in question, this left orbiting in different ways on the planet, but it almost impossible to move in a conventional manner, if the player manages to put on a collision course the asteroid, somehow it is destroyed, for example, I have an asteroid class F, in collision with Dres, when the asteroid is about to reach the surface of Dres,it disintegrates because it has a core of some material that reacts with the planet, then at least, the asteroid is fragmented into many harmless pieces when it reaches the surface.

this new asteroid can be a class F maybe?.also it can be a little bigger.

[Rath]

Class F and G asteroids please, just so we have another obscenely hard thing to do. Grappling hooks would be cool to.

[DancZer]

What about asteroid belt somewhere between planets? I think it would increase the challenge to reach outer celestial bodies.

A belt where asteroids generated randomly(and store it into the save file), when you enter to the belt area.

Tracking the asteroids inside the belt? Let add some dust there and "tracking not available because the signal is too noisy" message.

[nikokespprfan]

DancZer said:

What about asteroid belt somewhere between planets? I think it would increase the challenge to reach outer celestial bodies.

A belt where asteroids generated randomly(and store it into the save file), when you enter to the belt area.

Tracking the asteroids inside the belt? Let add some dust there and "tracking not available because the signal is too noisy" message.

Good idea. Just have the big ones in asteroid belts. If you add science situations to that belt, it'd be the equivalent of adding a planet.

Edited January 13, 2016 by nikokespprfan
fixed typo's

[KerbalEssences]

I have a video on an asteroid redirection. The hermit Asteroid is not class E (class C I think) and it is allready arround 18m in size. Maybe your numbers are wrong? According to the Wiki class E asteroids range from 850 tons to 3800 tons! It's not like they are all the same size. Moving 1000 tons arround is significantly easier than almost 4000.

[Andem]

On 10/8/2015 at 2:56 AM, DancZer said:

What about asteroid belt somewhere between planets? I think it would increase the challenge to reach outer celestial bodies.

A belt where asteroids generated randomly(and store it into the save file), when you enter to the belt area.

Tracking the asteroids inside the belt? Let add some dust there and "tracking not available because the signal is too noisy" message.

But isn't Kerbin technically within an asteroid belt? I mean, the current system seems to have put kerbin right in the middle of a roid field...

[RA3236]

Has anyone assumed that Kerbol and the solar system are scaled down to approx. 10%? That means that an E class is practically 350 meters across. That's about enough to obliterate a state of the US and severely affect the sir rounding area,

In kerboler terms, an E class asteroid isn't enough to destroy a city, but since it is scaled down it could cause more than a thousandfold damage.