stuck in space

[spartankicker]

i made a rocket which is my VERY First kerbal space program rocket which actually looks cool and can get to space,so i went to space (i'm a total newbie at this game)

and i have no idea how to get back (out of fuel),so i tried to send another ship(same design,exact replica) and now both of them are gone.out of fuel,in space,orbiting the sun.

i want to land on a planet even though i don't have the fuel to land safely,but i think the gravity and the crashing parts can save me.so,how the hell do i get out of "orbit"

[Streetwind]

You get out of orbit by doing the reverse of going into orbit. That means, you burn retrograde until your periapsis (lowest point of your orbit) gets so low that it disappears into the surface of the thing you are currently orbiting. Congratulations, you are now landing!

...well, crash-landing. In order to land safely, you must also make sure that your speed upon encountering the surface is low enough for your ship to survive the impact - usually below 12m/s if you have landing legs, or 6m/s if you don't (exceptions apply).

If your target planet has an atmosphere (for example Kerbin), you have it easy: the atmosphere will slow you more and more as you approach the surface, and when you are close to touchdown, you can also use parachutes. On airless bodies, like the Mun, you need to rely on engine power alone. Therefore you need to bring extra fuel.

(If what I mean is not clear, you could try doing the orbital maneuvering tutorial in KSP.)

Edited August 19, 2014 by Streetwind

[GoatRider]

You can try "get out and push"- EVA the Kerbal and use the jet pack to push the vehicle retrograde. Make sure he gets back in and refills before his propellant runs out.

EDIT: Oops, I didn't read that you're in sun orbit. Doh!

[diomedea]

You need fuel to perform maneuvers, or your ships are stuck in the orbit they are in at the moment (unless, by chance, that orbit intersects the sphere of influence of another body, but even then it almost never can bring to a landing without making a maneuver). I would advise to use your current situation as an example of how not to go into space, and rather learn form this experience to plan for the maneuvers you need to perform until the end of a mission, therefore to keep fuel for those. I understand both your ships are orbiting Sun, so you spent quite a large amount of Delta-V to exit Kerbin's sphere of Influence: with the same amount of Delta-V, you could certainly go around Mun and back to Kerbin, and such a mission would be very useful to make clear what is required to get back. If you had not yet, start following the training missions provided with the stock KSP game, those should give a better understanding of some basic principles required to go around in this game.

[Jimbimbibble]

Congrats on making it to orbit! Unfortunately, if you have guys orbiting the sun, they're pretty much screwed. It's possible to rescue them by intercepting them with another ship, but it's one of the more difficult things to do in ksp. Start with smaller things like landing on minimus or mun (there are a lot of great tutorials). When you can land on Duna and return, then you might be ready to rescue that guy. Ksp has a pretty steep learning curve so just keep having fun and eventually you will get good enough to do the hard things.

[Kasuha]

how the hell do i get out of "orbit"

There are only two places in space - either you are landed, or you are in orbit. As soon as you leave the ground, you're in orbit but that orbit initially crosses the land very soon again, returning you to the "landed" state. You can change your orbit by running your engines. So there you are: the only way to get out of orbit is to change your orbit so it crosses land somewhere and then wait till your ship meets that land. Then you may of course want to take care that it does not meet that land too violently.

My guess is, you built a powerful rocket and then flew straight up, eventually reaching escape velocity (the speed at which the planet can't pull you back again). It's hard to change such orbit to meet the planet again as the planet is very small compared to the empty space in the system.

There are other ways to reach space - by turning east and starting to circle around the planet. That puts you to orbit that can be changed easily (by burning against your motion) to meet the ground again. It's called gravity turn and it is even more effective way of getting to space than flying straight up.

After you learn making gravity turn, reaching orbit, and returning back on the ground, performing hohmann transfers (i.e. changing orbits into different orbits) and meeting two ships in orbit around the planet, you can start planning rescue mission for your two ships lost in space.

There's plenty of educative videos about KSP on YouTube. By all means, I recommend you to watch them and learn the basics.

[Poynting]

My six simple steps to saving your kerbals

1) Launch more rockets (You'll figure out orbital mechanics as you go, maybe try some probes...)

2) Look up RCS on wikipedia

3) Play around until you get a manuver node that has a closest approach of less than 5km with your target

4) Kill relative velocity with target, then burn straight towards it.

5) Repeat step 4 until you are close enough to use RCS to kill all relavtive velocity whilst being close to the ship.

6) EVA! Transfer the kerbal across and fly home.

Good luck!

[Cat Biscuits]

This is one game where I cannot recommend playing the tutorials enough.

[Pecan]

The Drawing Board has a list of tutorials other players have written or filmed.

Including mine (link in signature) :-)

[Greenfire32]

As soon as you leave the ground, you're in orbit but that orbit initially crosses the land very soon again, returning you to the "landed" state.

While I get the general sense of what you're saying here, I have to point out that if your trajectory crosses into the surface of any given body, you are not in orbit. Likewise, you are not in orbit the second you leave the ground.

To the OP:

If your craft is out of fuel (in orbit around the sun!) you're only option is to send a rescue craft capable of rendezvous and return. Otherwise, your crew is pretty screwed. You can try the "get out and push" method, but since you're orbiting the sun that method is no longer practical.

Your rescue craft needs to have more fuel and more power than the derelict one. Otherwise, you end of up with two crafts in need of rescue like you mentioned earlier.

Edited August 19, 2014 by Greenfire32

[Streetwind]

While I get the general sense of what you're saying here, I have to point out that if your trajectory crosses into the surface of any given body, you are not in orbit. Likewise, you are not in orbit the second you leave the ground.

For KSP purposes, you are. The game even shows you the full orbit around the body's center of gravity in some situations even if you're flying suborbital. All the gravity originates from a point with no dimensions; it's just that the mesh of the planet is quite literally in your way of orbiting that point.

[Greenfire32]

For KSP purposes, you are. The game even shows you the full orbit around the body's center of gravity in some situations even if you're flying suborbital. All the gravity originates from a point with no dimensions; it's just that the mesh of the planet is quite literally in your way of orbiting that point.

While yes, the KSP Engine technically classifies all moving objects above surface level as "in-orbit," that doesn't actually mean that once you leave the surface you're "in orbit."

Just because "if movement=true, then orbit=true" is in the code somewhere, does not automatically mean that all movement is orbit. The game has to simplify it like that because it's not a full-blown NASA-Style simulator. It's just a game. So, yes, it takes shortcuts where it can.

Orbit is not orbit, unless you're in orbit

[/off topic]

[Kasuha]

While I get the general sense of what you're saying here, I have to point out that if your trajectory crosses into the surface of any given body, you are not in orbit. Likewise, you are not in orbit the second you leave the ground.

That depends on what sort of definition of orbit you use. Of course we can argue that you're in fact on a suborbital trajectory, but that's actually nothing more than a part of an orbit intersecting a solid surface. And from the mechanical point of view, anything you do on such suborbital trajectory has exactly the same effect as if the body below you was infinitesimally small and you were in actual orbit around it.

When you are landed, your speed and position are governed by gravity and electromagnetic forces preventing said gravity to pull you through the surface of the body on which you are landed. You can 'feel' the gravity (or rather that battle between it and electromagnetism) as pressure on your feet or whatever your part is in contact with the surface.

When you are in orbit, that electromagnetic force is removed and your position and speed are governed by laws of orbital mechanics. You can't 'feel' the gravity anymore as there is nothing pressing you against something else.

Edited August 19, 2014 by Kasuha

[sedativechunk]

Oh my, I remember the first Kerbal I got stuck around the Sun/Kerbol (it was Jeb). You're kerbals are doomed if you are out of fuel in an orbit around the sun! EVA pack is not enough to get back to Kerbin, and you would also need a very lucky/chance occurrence of the rocket entering Kerbin's orbit. That can take hundreds if not thousands of years of in game time to happen.

[1of6Billion]

If you don't want to cheat

ALT-F12, enable infinite fuel

, I suggest you forget about them for a while. They'll live. Brush up on your rocket building and flying skills and try again in a few weeks.

[Taki117]

i made a rocket which is my VERY First kerbal space program rocket which actually looks cool and can get to space,so i went to space (i'm a total newbie at this game)

and i have no idea how to get back (out of fuel),so i tried to send another ship(same design,exact replica) and now both of them are gone.out of fuel,in space,orbiting the sun.

i want to land on a planet even though i don't have the fuel to land safely,but i think the gravity and the crashing parts can save me.so,how the hell do i get out of "orbit"

Since you are orbiting the Sun (aka Kerbol) they are more or less lost forever. I suggest preparing a speech honoring your lost kerbals,

and instead of trying to go interplanetary on your first flight, focus on getting into a stable orbit first, then try to get to the Mun, then go to Minmus, and then focus on doing those things reliably (without too much variation in your orbit) then you have all the tools you need to go interplanetary.