Can you land an asteroid

kerbal-space-program

I did it. I "docked" with an asteroid using the "Klaw" and changed it's orbit. Now it has a non-escape trajectory. But now I'm wondering… can I de-orbit it and land it safely on Kerbin?

Asteroid

If I dock a ship with a lot of parachutes, could I land on an asteroid and bring it back to Kerbin and the chutes should be able to stop it, right?

I read here that they can burn up or de-spawn in atmosphere so I want to know if anyone has done it…

Best Answer

Yes. I haven't done this personally, but I've seen videos of people attaching parachutes to an asteroid and deorbiting it.

It's really quite simple, and the asteroids are relatively resilient. As for burning up or despawning, well that's just the same mechanic as everything else in the game. If you have a ship or piece of debris that isn't loaded and it enters the atmosphere, the game will despawn it. If you're trying to land an asteroid, then it'll be loaded, and thus won't be subject to that mechanic.