What do you do with satellites etc after contract completion?

[THX1138]

What do you with satellites etc after you've satisfied the contract? Name it and leave it there? Send it off to collect science data you need? Self-destruct?

[Dr-Drunk]

I use satellite contracts to put satellites I actually need in orbit. I'm using ScanSat so they're actually somewhat usefull then. Put them in the required orbit and once completed, move them over to a low polar orbit and leave them there.

If it does get too crowded though.... I've sent up a few lander probes to fulfill those contracts before and then sent them on their way to the other planets. Once I run out of targets I geuss de-orbit or self-destruct them.

[klgraham1013]

I play with RemoteTech.

[Reactordrone]

After I'd collected a few in orbit that had thermometers I started using them to collect in flight and surface temp observations from Minmus. More lately I've put chutes on most of them and returned them to Kerbin apart from one that I sent to Duna to complete the Duna/ike exploration missions after it had completed its mun orbits.

[RocketPilot573]

I either terminate the flight, ram it into a planet, or fly it off to fulfill a more useful purpose.

[THX1138]

So no-one feels any obligation to the organisations who paid for the contract then?

[SAI Peregrinus]

I leave them up. They're either spare relays for Remote Tech or ScanSat scanners anyway.

That said, no, no obligation to the nonexistent kerbals paying the contracts. Since, y'know, they're not real.

[LethalDose]

So no-one feels any obligation to the organisations who paid for the contract then?

Personally, no. Not after I get paid for what I did contracted to do.

[samstarman5]

So no-one feels any obligation to the organisations who paid for the contract then?

Let's not mince words. They are corporations, in it purely for the profit. Profit of what? Well, whatever comes about in the long term, as any good business goes for. Even the Records Society is in it for the money, since there is always money in book sales.

That being said alone pretty much answers the question. In the end, you are in it for the science(and explosions). Science(and explosions) needs money, and the corporations offer that. Once the job is done, the material becomes...immaterial.

As for what I look to do with satellites and such, I find other uses. The latest one I attached a hab module for emergencies. Never can tell when something may go wrong, and I set prestige penalties in my game high, with no respawns. Makes it rather important to offer multiple choices, eh?

Also, most contracts don't require a fresh craft. Never can tell when a mission in progress can take on additional duties.

[Damien_The_Unbeliever]

My self-imposed rule is that once it's reached the contractual orbit, it's got to stay there (unless perturbed by encounters, etc). If it's not going to be any use to me in that orbit then I pretend that it's been handed over to others to use/look after (which to implement, I go to the tracking centre and terminate the flight). If it's got some science bits that can be used in that orbit (e.g. Goo canisters, since I never seem to get asked to do orbits where a thermometer will work) then I will keep it around until an opportune "science from around xxx" contract comes up before terminating it.

[tygoo7]

I leave them up there. Even though they serve no purpose I like to roleplay into thinking they are Com Sats, Weather Sats, ect.

[kinnison]

I usually deorbit them. In my career game pretty much every moon or planet has both a ScanSat in Polar orbit, and a remote rover on the ground. All the "Fine Print" probes end up getting deorbited, or smashed into something.

One of my latest high orbit polar probes didn't have enough fuel to de-orbit, but it did have enough to do a polar transfer to the moon. Felt kind of bad for it, becuase it probably thought it could stay up forever since it ran out of fuel

[Rithsom]

I attempt to land them back at Kerbin when an ingame month or so passes after sending them up. Most of them have a high enough TWR to land safely (I don't equip them with parachutes).

[magnemoe]

Space around Kerbin got to filled up so I deleted most. Around Mun I tend to lower their orbit and use them for temperature readings. On minmus you can also land satellites for ground readings.

One base is currently underway from Mun to Minmus, I gave it LV-N and will use it as an crew transport and light tug.

Terminating flight can be role playes as giving control of satellite to the contractor.

[hazarada]

I focus really hard on them until they implode.

[Spatzimaus]

I use satellite contracts to put satellites I actually need in orbit. I'm using ScanSat so they're actually somewhat usefull then. Put them in the required orbit and once completed, move them over to a low polar orbit and leave them there.

Exactly. The first few (low-tech) contracts were completed with simple LFO rockets and such, but once I reached the second tier of techs I designed my ultimate satellite: two ScanSat sensors (Hi/Bio/Anomaly), a Karbonite scanner, a thermometer, an antenna, ten 1x6 solar panels, a bunch of batteries, and enough Xenon to give me ~27km/s dV. Best of all, it fits in one of the half-sized Mk2 bays (and masses 3 tons) making it really easy to lift with my small spaceplane, so it's dirt cheap to get to orbit despite a hefty 80k cost per satellite.

Once I had that designed, I could complete a given satellite contract with ease and then move it into a convenient polar orbit for mapping once that was done. The satellite contract would basically just offset the initial cost of the probe itself, but once it was up there it'd be a pure profit generator (through the thermometer and science contracts) even if you ignored the mapping ability.

[prophet_01]

I am deleting them instantly. I already have enough comsats (using RT), stations and ships under construction up there to crowd the place. Also I'm a perfectionist and get my sat networks as simple, cheap and alligned as possible. No need for additional stuff floating in somewhat weired or inclined orbits. I currently don't need comsats in kerbosynchronous orbits for my network anyway

my contract sats are labled cSat as they are usually a cheap (crappy) version of my regular comsats for RT. They are my main income so there would be a lot of them if I wouldn't "hand them over". Although I'm thinking about labeling them as debris and simply fade them out. It might be interesting to know exactly how much stuff is floating around up there, as long as it doesn't clutter my map view

Edited January 7, 2015 by prophet_01

[Scrat]

Mine have got a Science Jr and two goo containers so i can use them for gather science from space contracts.

[WanderingKid]

They fulfill another satellite contract, and another. Then another. When they run out of dV, they self-implode. Noone seems to know why, and Kerbal Control isn't answering any questions.

[DBT85]

I've not done one yet but my plan is to repurpose once complete. It would be nice if you have SCANSat/Remote Tech installed if you got contracts that made sense for those and not these other ones.

Also maybe a weather sat network or GPS.

EG. We need some basic data of the planet, put a low res SCANSat in a 75k polar orbit around Kerbin.

We need a relay network to send probes out. Put X Remote Tech sats in xyz orbit with these parts on board with y separation.

[Lukaszenko]

I rename them as "debris" and just leave them up there. Feels like an exploit to just re-purpose them immediately.

I might leave one as a probe if it has science equipment for "science around" contracts.

[Epthelyn]

If I haven't already got a permanent satellite in orbit around the target body for temperature science, I'll adjust the orbit to something suitable (if necessary) and leave it there.

If I have already got a permanent satellite I'll usually just leave the contract satellite in orbit; I like having a lot of orbits around planets. If there are too many of them I'll just deorbit them, but I haven't reached that point yet; the maximum I have around a single planet other than Kerbin is Duna, with 5.

[soulsource]

I usually gather several satellite contracts for Kerbin, Mun, Minmus, and then send up a cheap sat that has a reasonable dV (~5km/s), landing legs, a thermometer and a seismometer (I haven't unlocked the gravity scanner yet). I try to reach as many of the orbits as possible. Once all contracts for orbits are done, the sat gets recommissioned to do temperature and seismic scans of Mun or Minmus until it runs out of fuel. If possible I try to land it safely on Mun or Minmus, if not, I try to crash it. Afterwards it gets renamed to "Decoration", and is declared "Debris", so it doesn't show up in the craft list any more.

[bitbucket]

I terminate the flight and classify them as "turned over to the agency that requested them."

[Levelord]

I cheat a little by flying the satellite back down on wings and returning them to the KSC.