How to satisfy this : "Build the facility into a newly discovered class E asteroid" ???

[kyyscv]

Right now I'm doing some Mun Station building contract.

And among the contract objectives, I find this : "Build the facility into a newly discovered class E asteroid"

What the hell does that mean?

Edited February 6, 2015 by kyyscv

[wibou]

Is it requesting a _space station_ or a _land station_?

In any case, it means you need to build your station AROUND an asteroid. So you need to dock your stuff using ships with Klaw (AGU) that would grab onto the asteroid.

A class E asteroid is VERY massive. This would be a very challenging contract, especially if you need to land it on the Mun. (But orbit would be challenging as well!).

And keep in mind the Klaw is very buggy at the moment... expect ANYTHING. Save often.

[cantab]

My understanding is you need to

* Accept the contract.

* Start tracking an E class asteroid. I don't know if it needs to be newly spawned or just newly tracked.

* Get that asteroid connected to the rest of your station and the whole thing in the appropriate location.

Now, putting an E class around the Mun won't be easy. They range from 800 to 3000 tons. As always I recommend meeting one in solar orbit, then you can arrange an aerocapture at Kerbin, or potentially a helpful gravity assist off the Mun. Once you've wrangled it into the desired orbit, I strongly recommend having only *one* claw linking the asteroid to the rest of the station, multiple claws are infamous for attracting game bugs.

The contract probably won't be profitable, but it will certainly be AWESOME.

[kyyscv]

"Grab an E-class asteroid, Move it to the Mun's orbit, and Build the Station"

OMG

Well, it does sound possible.. But I've never done that kind of MASSIVE project.

It's gonna take a whole weekend I guess...

Anyway, thanks a lot !!

[Axelord FTW]

"Grab an E-class asteroid, Move it to the Mun's orbit, and Build the Station"

OMG

Well, it does sound possible.. But I've never done that kind of MASSIVE project.

It's gonna take a whole weekend I guess...

Anyway, thanks a lot !!

When you start getting that sort of contract, then the fun start.

I currently have a C class in orbit around Minmus (highly eccentric due to EUFS (Explosive Undocking Failure Syndrome) which peppered the surface with junk and got even more junk into various orbits). The asteroid itself is fine and dandy but I can't say the same for the poor kerbal that had been sitting near the docking port in that chair.

Doing that sort of contracts with stock part might be a (bit) too difficult and/or tedious. Near Future mods help me a lot.

[tsotha]

Class Es aren't that hard to capture into Kerbin's orbit, but I've never put one into Mun's orbit. Seems like it wouldn't be that bad once you capture it - you have plenty of time, anyway. As cantab says, you might be able to use the Mun and/or Kerbin for gravity assists or even aerobraking to save some dV.

The key with these kinds of contracts is to realize an orbit is an orbit is an orbit. People get hung up on the idea a Munar (or whatever body) orbit has to be, you know, circular at minimum altitude, which would take ridiculous amounts of fuel in this case. You can certainly do that, but it's not required by the contract. Once you get something that stays in the Mun's SOI it's Miller Time.

[Sirrobert]

Class Es aren't that hard to capture into Kerbin's orbit, but I've never put one into Mun's orbit. Seems like it wouldn't be that bad once you capture it - you have plenty of time, anyway. As cantab says, you might be able to use the Mun and/or Kerbin for gravity assists or even aerobraking to save some dV.

The key with these kinds of contracts is to realize an orbit is an orbit is an orbit. People get hung up on the idea a Munar (or whatever body) orbit has to be, you know, circular at minimum altitude, which would take ridiculous amounts of fuel in this case. You can certainly do that, but it's not required by the contract. Once you get something that stays in the Mun's SOI it's Miller Time.

Sure, but if you're going to build this station, it has to be a proper station. There's no way you'll get enough money out of it for it to be worth it, so you better go all out and make a real station, in an easy to reach equatorial orbit

[cantab]

Round Kerbin an equatorial orbit is easy to reach since you'll almost always be launching from an equatorial site. Round other planets, though, you might want to land at or launch from anywhere. An orbit passes over the range of latitudes equal to its inclination, so an equatorial orbit is only ever over the equator whereas a 30 degree inclined orbit passes over latitudes from 30° S to 30° N, which covers about half the area of the planet/moon.

[WuphonsReach]

Some tricks for making the contract more profitable...

- Double-up with other contracts such as "put a station in Kerbin orbit". You might have to decline a lot of contracts before you get station contracts that are equal in terms of part requirements. You can often double-dip by getting a Kerbin + Mun or Minmus contract that can be fulfilled with a station station launch.

- Install ImprovedStrategies, then setup a 50% rep -> funds strategy in the admin building. And maybe 50% science -> funds strategy as well.

[Warduk]

I just recieved this kind of contract, plus "facility for at least 18 kerbals".

I'm crying in a corner.

[Starwhip]

I just recieved this kind of contract, plus "facility for at least 18 kerbals".

I'm crying in a corner.

I find the requirements for Kerbal numbers extremely large. Who can put something on Minmus in early game with room for 12 Kerbals?! *AND* have the Kerbals there?

(Yeah, not only does it need the room, it needs the Kerbals. Who's got 12 Kerbals to spare?)

[AlexinTokyo]

(Yeah, not only does it need the room, it needs the Kerbals. Who's got 12 Kerbals to spare?)

Are you using a mod to change the contract behaviour? Because the stock contracts don't require that orbital stations or surface outposts be manned. Only the capacity is required.

[tsotha]

Alex is right. I only actually send Kerbals if I'm trying to level them up.

[DarkStarTX]

I know this is old but aren't all KSP topics now?  Anyway,  had some tips...

Alt-period (.) will increase the rate of time while also running physics, this allows you to do longer burns in about 1/4 of the real time (even faster if you install the BetterTimeWarpContinued or similar mod). But also it can blow up your ship, so save often.

Some specific tips if you are struggling:

Spoiler

If you are going to need a lot of delta-V (for example, to move a class E into orbit around Mun) consider to go with Nerv engines + drills + ISRU + radiators, helps so you can harvest fuel on the way and not need megatons of fuel.  May not work as well on small asteroids (they can run out of resource pretty quickly) but is great for class E.

Don't forget that burn stabilization is very difficult, plan ahead. Nerv's cannot steer. Vernor engines can help (but you'll need some liquid fuel also).

Asteroid often equals Shadow, think about your electricity needs.  Nerv's do generate some electricity.

The station doesn't have to be full of Kerbals, you only need the specific Kerbals mentioned in the contract (3 scientists or whatever it says).

The EAS-1 External Command Seat at 0.05t per slot is a cheap & light way to support larger numbers of Kerbals on a "station".  By all means, build huge fancy stations if you like!

Gravity assists can help reduce your dV budget for orbital plane changes and to raise or lower your orbit.