Project Trajectory "Pork-Chop Plot" Generator

[Zachstar]

Now THIS! Is a badly needed tool that will have me wondering how I traveled from LEO without.

Slingshots would be awesome!

 

[Piper]

Here's a little updated preview. I've added in the ability for the program to find "peak-points" which will find the most optimal trajectories so you don't have to click around on the screen to find them (although you still can). I've also put in the option for how you want to graph it (either by flight time, or arrival date).

 

[EliNaut]

Now if only we had a way (do we? o_o)
of exporting the data from your program into TransX in orbiter...?
Maybe, export the data in a text format which you could place into some sort of configuration file in Orbiter's directory that TransX could read from when it starts up...?

 

[Quick_Nick]

Now if only we had a way (do we? o_o)
of exporting the data from your program into TransX in orbiter...?
Maybe, export the data in a text format which you could place into some sort of configuration file in Orbiter's directory that TransX could read from when it starts up...?

IIRC, TransX can write/read to/from scenario files.

 

[tblaxland]

IIRC, TransX can write/read to/from scenario files.

It can, so the Pork-chop Plot Generator would need to produce a block of text that looks like a TransX scenario save. Past it into your scenario file and voila!

 

[n72.75]

It can, so the Pork-chop Plot Generator would need to produce a block of text that looks like a TransX scenario save. Past it into your scenario file and voila!

As easy as pie, or in this case pork.

The pork chop plot has been one thing that has always been missiog from my interplanitery flights.

Thanks Piper.

 

[Andy44]

Editing the scenario file is potentially troublesome. If you've already got two blocks of MFD parameter text, it has to choose one and replace it. Plus every scenario file is different, so it would need some fancy logic to pick it's way throught he text and not overwrite the wrong thing. There would have to be some sort of file backup to protect against bugs.

 

[Quick_Nick]

Editing the scenario file is potentially troublesome. If you've already got two blocks of MFD parameter text, it has to choose one and replace it. Plus every scenario file is different, so it would need some fancy logic to pick it's way throught he text and not overwrite the wrong thing. There would have to be some sort of file backup to protect against bugs.

tblaxland's suggestion of copy+pasting a block of scn code sounds good.

 

[tblaxland]

Editing the scenario file is potentially troublesome. If you've already got two blocks of MFD parameter text, it has to choose one and replace it. Plus every scenario file is different, so it would need some fancy logic to pick it's way throught he text and not overwrite the wrong thing. There would have to be some sort of file backup to protect against bugs.

I agree. What I was suggesting is that the generator just produce the text so it could be manually copied into the scenario file using Notepad or similar. The dialog that produces the text could decorated with an appropriate "use at risk of death", or similar, warning notice

 

[EliNaut]

I agree. What I was suggesting is that the generator just produce the text so it could be manually copied into the scenario file using Notepad or similar. The dialog that produces the text could decorated with an appropriate "use at risk of death", or similar, warning notice

Yes thats what I was thinking of.
Hopefully this will really open up TransX for me - I'm more of an IMFD person for several reasons. Don't get me wrong though, they're both amazing tools.


-----Post Added-----

There would have to be some sort of file backup to protect against bugs.

Maybe, instead of overwriting, it could create a whole new scenario. Then have like an auto-open after its done so that way you can check it for errors. Then you could make a nice little scenarios folder with all your plans in it.

Cute. Efficient. Juicy.

This whole thing is really cool, I always was quite interested in that AstroJava one (How wonderful that it doesn't do moons, eh?). Thing is, I'm not always internet accessible so it doesn't help when orbiting on the go. Plus I don't believe it has the peak point finder, which is probably the most useful thing there, as far as features go.

 

[garyw]

This looks amazing..................

 

[Piper]

Yes, I do plan to create an option for creating a scenario file with a transX flight plan (and maybe IMFD). As for how it is down, editing a scenario file should actually be pretty easy. If there is MFD data already present, it shouldn't be a problem letting the user choose which to overwrite. With that said, I'd probably still have it outputted as a new scenario, so you still had the original to work with.

By the way, I just got home from work, and have been working on it most of the night. VSOP87 support is proving even easier then I thought (thanks to these modules), and I already have Earth put in as a departure option.

I also figured out why NASA seems to like doing all their pork-chop plots displayed "Departure date by Arrival date." When done that way, you only have to calculate the positions/velocities of the departure and arrival points for axis (ie. rows + columns). Done the other way, the arrival points have to be calculated for everything point (ie. rows x columns) which is exponentially higher, and slows calculation down tremendously (especially if you are using VSOP87 on the arrival point).

I have to say, I'm surprised how quickly this program is coming together, once I got through the trajectory calculations (which I did before the first preview), everything else has been coming together really smoothly (keeping fingers crossed ). Hopefully I should have a beta for people to play with within the next couple of weeks.

 

[CaptnDave]

This looks like a great program. I've looked at using some of those other ones mentioned, but I yours looks way better. This should be useful for planning flights for the Grand Flag Challenge.

Keep it up!

 

[Zachstar]

Hate to bump this but I am really looking forward to this.. Is there perhaps any news?

 

[Piper]

Hey everybody. While I've been away from Orbiter, I've had a lot of people email/pm me about this project, and if I am continuing it. Yes I am. A while ago, I had yet another crash of my laptop, and lost the current version of the program I was working on. Luckily, I learned from the last time my laptop took "the big dive" and I had been regularly backing up the contents of my laptop, so I don't have to restart from scratch (although I do have to do about half a month's work to redo).

Hopefully I won't actually have to rewrite anything, as I'm going to be bringing in my laptop to a proper data-recovery specialist (I REALLY hate rewriting code, lol). Hopefully I can get this done in the next couple of weeks, but it will at least have to wait until next payday, so don't expect anything for a little bit. I also want to get back to working on the Chapman Challenges again, but that will also have to wait until my laptop is fixed (again, lol).

 

[James.Denholm]

Sad to hear about the laptop, Piper, I know what that's like. I'm glad to hear that you're still working on this, and I'm sure that there are others who will agree with me when I say that this program could well become an essential part of any Orbiter's installation.

*Does cheesy double thumbs-up to Piper*

 

[Piper]

Ok, I just got back from dropping off my laptop, and I have good news. They say they can recover ALL the data on it, so I don't have to rewrite a ton of code, including some really good stuff:

-Gives all the data needed to punch into transX
-Display things other then just deltaV, including inclination, eccentricity, and a few others (makes for some interesting graphs)
-The ability to combine up to three different types of information into one image (ie. red would display arrival, green for departure, and blue for inclination, or whatever combination you would like).

Also, they said everything should be ready by tomorrow, so hopefully I'll have something to put up that people can play with in the next few days. In fact, here's a little something now:

http://www.ioss.ca/Zips/TrajectoryPlanner.zip

This is the current one on my computer (the old backup), so it has quite a few limitations on it. Namely, it doesn't give you anything useful for transX (although you could use it with IMFD), and you can only put in custom orbits, it lacks the VSOP87 data for the planets that the current one has. Oh, and it's slow as molasses (but so is the current one, there's nothing that can be done about that), so be patient if it seems to take a while. If it is too slow for your liking, increase the size of the "Steps" in the launch and arrival options.

 

[dc3dreamer]

I ran it with the default parameters, and when it finished, it displayed a giant icon with the label output.bmp in the center area. I right clicked and selected "activate contents" and it put a file output.bmp in the same folder as the exe. It looks like the plot, very nice!

I'm looking forward to your current version once you get your disk back from the recoverers. BTW, look into Acronis TrueImage Home 2009 )

 

[Piper]

Alright, they were able to recover all of my data from my laptop, but the hard-drive on it has seen it's last command prompt. So for the time being, until I can get back to it full time (right now I'm concentrating on my Titan Orbiter), here is the new current version:

http://www.ioss.ca/Zips/TrajectoryPlanner.zip

 

[dc3dreamer]

Still having this problem. See attached image.