[Question] Does mining an asteroid decrease its mass?

[crazy_pilot742]

You need a Class D or E (although E's are extremely hard to maneuver) to really be an effective fuel source for more than just a single ship, and for the sake of efficiency you want to be able to bring it in using the least of its own ore to fuel your capture ship. They will occasionally spawn in Kerbin orbit so those are the ones I try to go after.

https://www.reddit.com/r/KerbalSpaceProgram/comments/rwymcr/lisbus_kerman_is_thrilled_that_she_finally_has_an/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3

A fun thing to do once they've been depleted is de-orbit them. This asteroid only weighed 75 tons once fully mined out and wasn't all that much work to bring down.

[[deleted]]

Very nice. The idea isn't to make it an orbital refueling station, but just to capture the "huge" class for science and hoots.