Cost of recovering debris left in orbit

[Pointy End]

I suppose the ideal solution is to build rockets that don't leave debris in orbit, but suppose that's not an option...

Has anyone worked out the cost efficiency of recovering staging debris left in orbit? It seems to me the added cost would come from having to add a command ring, plus some chutes and possibly some landing gear. Maybe even an electrical source. Can all that cost be offset by the amount received from recovering the part?

OR

Screw it, the junk is in orbit and that's the cost of doing business, just kill it from the tracking station.

[EdFred]

I have my persistent debris set to 0. I don't recover garbage. Also, all my debris never makes it to orbit anyway.

[zarakon]

All those things you would have to add would essentially be free if you can recover them at KSC

[AlexinTokyo]

I suspect that there is no way that launching a mission to recover debris from orbit is going to make economic sense. You're going to spend more in fuel launching the clean-up vehicle than you're going to get from recovering the debris, unless you've got a hideously expensive piece of equipment floating around and you're able to land it on the pad.

Sticking a probe core and 'chutes on orbital insertion stages to allow them to deorbit themselves might make sense, but, from an economic standpoint, it's probably a wash at best.

Cleaning out LKO is a good thing, and you may be able to combine it with a few good contracts, but in general I wouldn't do it for the money.

[EdFred]

Sticking a probe core and 'chutes on orbital insertion stages to allow them to deorbit themselves might make sense, but, from an economic standpoint, it's probably a wash at best.

The problem with that, is you have to finish your orbit before the jettisoned stages drop below 22km. My designs don't allow for that since my first jettisoned stage usually drops around 10km.

[Renegrade]

Cleaning out LKO is a good thing, and you may be able to combine it with a few good contracts, but in general I wouldn't do it for the money.

I was hoping that "Clean Out LKO" had been implemented as a contract. :/

Something like, "adjust the orbits of these X pieces of debris in LKO so that the PE is below 20km". Or if stock had cargo bays, "PE is below 20km OR collect and return to Kerbin' or whatever.

[NecroBones]

It's a complex question. What kind of debris are we talking about? I'd say if it's just a stack-separator, it's not worth it.

If you have large booster sections with multiple engines, probe cores, batteries, and so on, it might be worth it. But that's assuming that the recovery vehicle and its booster stages are also recoverable, and that your total cost comes down mostly to fuel. But even then, I haven't looked to see what the fuel costs would look like for such a mission.

[Grover]

It's a complex question. What kind of debris are we talking about? I'd say if it's just a stack-separator, it's not worth it.

If you have large booster sections with multiple engines, probe cores, batteries, and so on, it might be worth it. But that's assuming that the recovery vehicle and its booster stages are also recoverable, and that your total cost comes down mostly to fuel. But even then, I haven't looked to see what the fuel costs would look like for such a mission.

Yo dawg, i heard you like cleaning up orbital debris, so i designed a ship that dumps debris in orbit as it cleans up, so now you can clean up after your clean up of a clean up mission!

[AlexinTokyo]

The problem with that, is you have to finish your orbit before the jettisoned stages drop below 22km. My designs don't allow for that since my first jettisoned stage usually drops around 10km.

Yes. I don't even bother to think about recovering first and booster stages.

I do try to give my second (orbital insert) stages a little more fuel than needed for orbit, and whack a probe core on to deorbit. I have always done this, even when there were no funds; it's 'responsible' design. I did crash the stages into the ground, though.

From 0.24 on, I have started throwing 'chutes on to recover the second stage. Since it doesn't get decoupled until after orbit is achieved, I don't have to worry about the timing, except that it's now better if I can drop it near KSC.

[MisterFister]

No one speaks of Scott Manley when discussing this?

Specifically on-point:

Secondary, somewhat dated, but same theme:

[Pointy End]

Thanks for the replies.

I wasn't talking about launching missions with the intent of cleaning up debris. I was essentially talking about adding the parts needed so that a a booster left in orbit could de-orbit itself. I've built jumbo fuel tanks that basically drive themselves to dock with an orbiting gas station, so I thought why not add the parts so that a booster can de-orbit itself.

[NecroBones]

Thanks for the replies.

I wasn't talking about launching missions with the intent of cleaning up debris. I was essentially talking about adding the parts needed so that a a booster left in orbit could de-orbit itself. I've built jumbo fuel tanks that basically drive themselves to dock with an orbiting gas station, so I thought why not add the parts so that a booster can de-orbit itself.

Oh, I totally misunderstood. Yes, that's completely worth it, especially in the new career mode. If you add parachutes, a probe core, and a little bit of extra fuel, you can de-orbit and try to land it next to KSC, and get quite a chunk of change back, depending on the value of the parts involved. Some of the engines can be quite expensive.

[Russoft]

Yeah, All my upper stages have a probe body, solar panel, battery, and sometimes landing legs. The added parts are way cheaper than the cost of the entire booster, even if I screw up the de-orbit and drop it far from KSC.

[Mr Shifty]

I have my persistent debris set to 0. I don't recover garbage. Also, all my debris never makes it to orbit anyway.

This could cause problems. If, for instance, you want to leave a fuel depot in orbit without a probe core attached, the game will treat it as debris.