Help with flying the Delta-Glider IV

[PhantomCruiser]

"Good" launch heading is dependent on a skill-set. Once you are in orbit, you can do an off-plane transfer to the moon regardless of what your takeoff heading happened to be.

"Go Play In Space" explains the way I managed to do it the first time, basically make your heading close to 90 after take-off. Or, watch the playback video... But keep in mind that the pilot is very, very good with the stock DG.

Also, there is Lunar Transfer MFD. It's based on IMFD and is really good, plus there is a checklist/walkthrough that you can either print out of write down the high points that will get you to the moon as well.

http://www.amcsorley.dsl.pipex.com/play_in_space.htm
http://koti.mbnet.fi/jarmonik/Orbiter.html

[BruceJohnJennerLawso]

Quote:

Originally Posted by PhantomCruiser

 "Good" launch heading is dependent on a skill-set. Once you are in orbit, you can do an off-plane transfer to the moon regardless of what your takeoff heading happened to be.

"Go Play In Space" explains the way I managed to do it the first time, basically make your heading close to 90 after take-off. Or, watch the playback video... But keep in mind that the pilot is very, very good with the stock DG.

Also, there is Lunar Transfer MFD. It's based on IMFD and is really good, plus there is a checklist/walkthrough that you can either print out of write down the high points that will get you to the moon as well.

http://www.amcsorley.dsl.pipex.com/play_in_space.htm
http://koti.mbnet.fi/jarmonik/Orbiter.html

Well, bearing in mind that some orbits are pretty much hopeless for TLI's, unless you have about 2 weeks to a month on your hands, may not be that much life support in the DGIV. If youre more of a visual learner than a manual reader, you might find it helpfull to use this orbit drawing tool for Orbiter

http://www.orbithangar.com/searchid.php?ID=4864

http://www.orbithangar.com/searchid.php?ID=4864

Not the most stable thing Ive ever seen, but still very usefull. A bit nicer looking, more stable version of this would be a terrific addition to Planetarium mode in the next Orbiter Version, IMO

[Rtyh-12]

There's a playback tutorial that comes with Orbiter, a full trip to the Moon. It explains the issue of launch heading. You don't have to watch it all, you can exit after the pilot launches. But do read the annotations.

[Ripley]

Quote:

Originally Posted by VincentMcConnell

 ...And Grover's guide didn't work. I did everything he showed and I overshot Wideawake...

Quote:

Originally Posted by VincentMcConnell

 Oh. I didn't dump fuel. I'll give that a shot.

I don't want to nitpick, but these two statements you made just don't match together, IF you really "did everything Grover showed".

He explains perfectly how and why one should dump fuel before reentry, and that the DGIV-2 needs to be under 19 tons.
There is the reentry checklist (press d65 on your keyboard) which alerts you with beeps and tells you what still needs to be done...

In the beginning Orbiter and some of its add-ons are indeed overwhelming, and one can easily oversee/forget/misunderstand something and be overloaded with new infos.
It's a (for me it was, and still is) slow read/apply/rinse/repeat process, where every single time you always learn and understand something new, and the "big picture" slowly takes shape.

There's a lot to read.

[Ripley]

Quote:

Originally Posted by BruceJohnJennerLawso

 ...If youre more of a visual learner than a manual reader, you might find it helpfull to use this orbit drawing tool for Orbiter...

The amazing Videnie add-on only works in DirectX7 (with inline graphics, that is).

If you use the D3D9 engine instead, try this one...

Map 3D MFD v0.7a

Map 3D MFD v0.7a

[VincentMcConnell]

Just docked the DG-IV to the ISS tonight. I am never...doing...that...again...

It took about two hours and I ended up 27km from the target for some reason. I found myself burning my main engine like a mad man just to have any hope of fixing the relative velocity. So after successful docking, I have decided not to do that anymore.

Now I really need to start learning how to land. Is it easier with a joystick?

---------- Post added at 09:18 AM ---------- Previous post was at 09:17 AM ----------

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ripley

 I don't want to nitpick, but these two statements you made just don't match together, IF you really "did everything Grover showed".

He explains perfectly how and why one should dump fuel before reentry, and that the DGIV-2 needs to be under 19 tons.
There is the reentry checklist (press d65 on your keyboard) which alerts you with beeps and tells you what still needs to be done...

In the beginning Orbiter and some of its add-ons are indeed overwhelming, and one can easily oversee/forget/misunderstand something and be overloaded with new infos.
It's a (for me it was, and still is) slow read/apply/rinse/repeat process, where every single time you always learn and understand something new, and the "big picture" slowly takes shape.

There's a lot to read.

By dump fuel, I meant "ALL OF IT".
I wanted to drop my weight down as low as possible. But I found that it helps to have an engine during landing because sometimes I start to stall and need to add velocity. The weight is still kind of a problem. My gear sometimes breaks off and I'm never on target.

[Ripley]

Quote:

Originally Posted by VincentMcConnell

 Just docked the DG-IV to the ISS tonight. I am never...doing...that...again...So after successful docking, I have decided not to do that anymore...

Pity.
If you found it difficult, try to understand your mistakes, and keep on improving your docking technique.
If it was SO terrible, you made a BIG mistake somewhere: by removing it, dockings could become easier.

Quote:

Originally Posted by VincentMcConnell

 ...But I found that it helps to have an engine during landing...

Yes, there is an incredible amount of pilots (real-life, as well as virtual ones) that, surprisingly enough, think exactly the same as you!!

[PhantomCruiser]

http://www.orbiter-forum.com/showthread.php?t=2055

This is a most-excellent video by Tex about how to get from KSC to the ISS. It's something I found helpful myself, even after knowing how to do it.

[Wrangler]

Quote:

Originally Posted by VincentMcConnell

 Just docked the DG-IV to the ISS tonight. I am never...doing...that...again...

It took about two hours and I ended up 27km from the target for some reason. I found myself burning my main engine like a mad man just to have any hope of fixing the relative velocity. So after successful docking, I have decided not to do that anymore.

Actually, what you just explained was not a 'successful' docking. Personally for me, rendezvous and docking is a fairly simple exercise. So I am curious as to what you actually did. My guess is that the difference between the DGIV's orbit and the ISS's orbit was too high. So you had a very high RVel at the intersection point. You were probably trying to do this one quickly. I suggest that you take a couple of sim days to manage your approach and work with a smaller orbital difference.

I found Jared Smith's orbital operations guide to be the most helpful in learning the dynamics ( http://smithplanet.com/stuff/orbiter...operations.htm ). Also, after a couple of manual dockings, start using the AttitudeMFD (

Attitude MFD V3.2

Attitude MFD V3.2

). That should ease the approach and docking maneuver.

[sitha241]

for a moon mission you must take of in such an orbit with least inclination..I think heading close to 90 will be good, and once in orbit use align planes mdf to align your self with moon and then use transfer mdf to do injection burn..or use trasx if you are custom with it..

[sorindafabico]

There are non-vanilla MFDs to help you: try Rendezvous MFD and Attitude MFD.

IMFD helps a lot if you have to cancel a big delta-v (Orbital => Sync Tgt Speed, or something like that).

[Tommy]

Quote:

Originally Posted by sorindafabico

 There are non-vanilla MFDs to help you: try Rendezvous MFD and Attitude MFD.

IMFD helps a lot if you have to cancel a big delta-v (Orbital => Sync Tgt Speed, or something like that).

It's Orbital Ops => Vel Match if I remember correctly. This also comes in handy when trying to land on one of Mars' moons (which is more like docking than de-orbiting).