Challenge 3 craft Mars solution?

flytandem

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Here's a fun navigation challenge for a trip to Mars and back. In this scenario we have 3 ships sitting ready for launch. Imagine the first one is unmanned and filled with enough supplies for 3 humans for 7 months. The second ship on the runway is a Mars landing and launch craft. It has no supplies but during the trip humans will be able to dock with it and if systems are a go, they will be able to land on Mars and launch again. The third ship on the runway has 3 crew and enough supplies for 18 months as well as an Earth reentry capsule.

Here's what happens... the first ship launches shortly after scenario start and ejects to Venus with sling to Mars and then sling to Earth. TransX plan is all set up. It is a supply ship and Earth reentry vehicle. It is only needed if the crew decide to land on Mars. Note that even though it goes before the other two ships, it actually arrives at Mars 10 days after they do.

A day later ship 2 departs Earth. It also slings Venus and heads to Mars. This is the Mars landing and launch craft. A bit like a combination of Earth reentry vehicle and Apollo style LM. It will have to do small MCCs on the way to Venus so that it rendezvous with ship 3 leaving a day later and on a similar trajectory. Plan the rendezvous to happen a week or 2 before the sling at Venus.

One the third day ship 3 leaves. It has the crew for the trip to Mars. It only goes after the first two have had successful launches and are on course. It also carries enough supplies for 18 months in event a landing is aborted. On the way to Venus probably about 10 days before arriving at Venus ship 2 and 3 are converging and they rendezvous. They stay together for the sling around Venus and the trip to Mars.

A few days before arriving at Mars the crew in ship 3 transfer supplies for 3 weeks and themselves into ship 2 and undock. Ship 3 is left to pass Mars and drift in space while the crew make the landing on Mars.

10 days after the crew lands on Mars they launch into low Mars orbit. This is because the first ship to leave Earth (ship 1) is arriving to sling Mars 10 days after the crew got there. So the launch from Mars needs to be set up to allow an eject from Mars in heading and speed to match the arriving supply ship. Within a couple of days after the eject burn they rendezvous with ship 1 for the journey home.

The scenario has the TransX plan all set up for ship 1. You will need to get this ship into orbit, then enter manually the TransX data for ship 2 and 3 and launch them according to their respective plans.

First the data for ship 2 and 3...

Ship 2:
Eject from Earth
Pro= -4.975 Km/s Date=60193.1894 Out=-27.03 PlCh=-84.59
Note: Plan to do MCCs to rendezvous with ship 3 a week or 2 before the arrival at Venus.

Ship 3:
Eject from Earth
Pro= -4.963 Km/s Date=60194.1869 Out=-200.0 PlCh=-82.47
Arrive Venus at 60356.0352
Sling to Mars with Out=71.8989 Inc=-6.8528
Arrive Mars 60483.0792
If landing is aborted be on heading for sling of Mars to Earth with
Out=139.9045 Inc=5.9536 Arrive Earth 6094.5822

Code:
BEGIN_DESC

END_DESC

BEGIN_ENVIRONMENT
  System Sol
  Date MJD 60191.5200525831
END_ENVIRONMENT

BEGIN_FOCUS
  Ship 1
END_FOCUS

BEGIN_CAMERA
  TARGET 1
  MODE Cockpit
  FOV 40.00
END_CAMERA

BEGIN_HUD
  TYPE Surface
END_HUD

BEGIN_MFD Left
  TYPE User
  MODE TransX
  Ship  1
  FNumber 7
  Int 1
  Orbit True
  Vector  265442.867859 -49305.5151195 6365289.48417
  Vector  -427.292328881 -6.63372561572 17.7673964739
  Double  3.98600439969e+014
  Double  60191.5200515
  Handle Earth
  Handle NULL
  Handle NULL
Select Target
 0 Escape
Autoplan
0 0
Plan type
0 0
Plan
0 1
Plan
0 0
Plan
0 0
Select Minor
 0 None
Manoeuvre mode
0 0
Base Orbit
0 0
Prograde vel.
 0  0
Man. date
 0  60191.5200515
Outward vel.
 0  0
Ch. plane vel.
 0  0
Intercept with
0 0
Orbits to Icept
0 0
Graph projection
0 3
Scale to view
0 0
Advanced
0 0
Pe Distance
 2  6570965.36646
Ej Orientation
 0  0.125663706144
Equatorial view
0 0
Finvars
  Finish BaseFunction
  Int 2
  Orbit False
  Handle Sun
  Handle Earth
  Handle Venus
Select Target
 0 Venus
Autoplan
0 0
Plan type
0 2
Plan
0 0
Plan
0 0
Plan
0 1
Select Minor
 0 None
Manoeuvre mode
0 0
Base Orbit
0 1
Prograde vel.
 0  0
Man. date
 0  60191.5199393
Outward vel.
 0  0
Ch. plane vel.
 0  0
Intercept with
0 0
Orbits to Icept
0 0
Graph projection
0 0
Scale to view
0 0
Advanced
0 0
Prograde vel.
 2  -5070.95580317
Eject date
 5  60192.1860068
Outward vel.
 3  514.5
Ch. plane vel.
 3  -160.84
Finvars
  Finish BaseFunction
  Int 4
  Orbit True
  Vector  1201234548.45 -1099887460.34 5974892247.54
  Vector  -2227.318973 2022.64375043 -10957.0014635
  Double  3.2485863e+014
  Double  60351.6343706
  Handle Venus
  Handle NULL
  Handle NULL
Select Target
 0 Escape
Autoplan
0 0
Plan type
0 1
Plan
0 0
Plan
0 1
Plan
0 0
Select Minor
 0 None
Manoeuvre mode
0 0
Base Orbit
0 0
Prograde vel.
 0  0
Man. date
 0  60191.5199269
Outward vel.
 0  0
Ch. plane vel.
 0  0
Intercept with
0 0
Orbits to Icept
0 0
Graph projection
0 0
Scale to view
0 0
Advanced
0 0
View Orbit
0 0
Finvars
  Finish BaseFunction
  Int 3
  Orbit True
  Vector  -13637415869.4 -684142408.059 -107853089043
  Vector  36399.974969 -951.981960633 -15663.1647829
  Double  1.32712764814e+020
  Double  60357.9301704
  Handle Sun
  Handle Venus
  Handle Mars
Select Target
 0 Mars
Autoplan
0 0
Plan type
0 2
Plan
0 0
Plan
0 0
Plan
0 2
Select Minor
 0 None
Manoeuvre mode
0 0
Base Orbit
0 0
Prograde vel.
 0  0
Man. date
 0  60191.5199201
Outward vel.
 0  0
Ch. plane vel.
 0  0
Intercept with
0 0
Orbits to Icept
0 0
Graph projection
0 0
Scale to view
0 0
Advanced
0 0
Velocity.
 0  0
Outward angle
 4  1.27763023074
Inc. angle
 4  -0.119824881664
Inherit Vel.
0 0
Eject date
 0  60357.9301704
Finvars
  Finish BaseFunction
  Int 4
  Orbit True
  Vector  -2158950562.34 399085993.621 5735692783.93
  Vector  2267.45692619 -418.955785176 -6038.24903514
  Double  4.28282991638e+013
  Double  60482.2592579
  Handle Mars
  Handle NULL
  Handle NULL
Select Target
 0 Escape
Autoplan
0 0
Plan type
0 1
Plan
0 0
Plan
0 1
Plan
0 0
Select Minor
 0 None
Manoeuvre mode
0 0
Base Orbit
0 0
Prograde vel.
 0  0
Man. date
 0  60191.5199091
Outward vel.
 0  0
Ch. plane vel.
 0  0
Intercept with
0 0
Orbits to Icept
0 0
Graph projection
0 0
Scale to view
0 0
Advanced
0 0
View Orbit
0 0
Finvars
  Finish BaseFunction
  Int 3
  Orbit True
  Vector  206167231961 -4245347466.62 38646227589
  Vector  906.070242757 -286.956908368 21281.2392576
  Double  1.32712482783e+020
  Double  60493.2460657
  Handle Sun
  Handle Mars
  Handle Earth
Select Target
 0 Earth
Autoplan
0 0
Plan type
0 2
Plan
0 0
Plan
0 0
Plan
0 2
Select Minor
 0 None
Manoeuvre mode
0 0
Base Orbit
0 0
Prograde vel.
 0  0
Man. date
 0  60191.5199023
Outward vel.
 0  0
Ch. plane vel.
 0  0
Intercept with
0 0
Orbits to Icept
0 0
Graph projection
0 0
Scale to view
0 0
Advanced
0 0
Velocity.
 0  0
Outward angle
 3  2.50872474764
Inc. angle
 4  0.106550605505
Inherit Vel.
0 0
Eject date
 0  60493.2460657
Finvars
  Finish BaseFunction
  Int 5
  Orbit True
  Vector  -5448962290.34 -544952610.647 7548445613.6
  Vector  6428.73487287 644.182074659 -8924.80726293
  Double  3.98600439969e+014
  Double  60687.4670176
  Handle Earth
  Handle NULL
  Handle NULL
Select Target
 0 None
Autoplan
0 0
Plan type
0 1
Plan
0 0
Plan
0 2
Plan
0 0
Select Minor
 0 None
Manoeuvre mode
0 0
Base Orbit
0 0
Prograde vel.
 0  0
Man. date
 0  60191.5200515
Outward vel.
 0  0
Ch. plane vel.
 0  0
Intercept with
0 0
Orbits to Icept
0 0
Graph projection
0 0
Scale to view
0 0
Advanced
0 0
Draw Base
0 0
Finvars
  Finish BaseFunction
END_MFD

BEGIN_MFD Right
  TYPE User
  MODE TransX
END_MFD

BEGIN_SHIPS
1:DeltaGlider
  STATUS Landed Earth
  POS -82.4252320 22.9799160
  HEADING 59.75
  RCSMODE 0
  AFCMODE 7
  PRPLEVEL 0:0.997853 1:1.000000
  NAVFREQ 562 162 50 0
  XPDR 0
  GEAR 1 1.0000
  TRIM 1.000000
  AAP 0:0 0:0 0:0
END
2:DeltaGlider
  STATUS Landed Earth
  POS -82.4260542 22.9794773
  HEADING 60.08
  RCSMODE 0
  AFCMODE 7
  PRPLEVEL 0:0.997846 1:1.000000
  NAVFREQ 562 162 50 0
  XPDR 0
  GEAR 1 1.0000
  TRIM 1.000000
  AAP 0:0 0:0 0:0
END
3:DeltaGlider
  STATUS Landed Earth
  POS -82.4267122 22.9791315
  HEADING 60.04
  RCSMODE 0
  AFCMODE 7
  PRPLEVEL 0:0.998678 1:1.000000
  NAVFREQ 562 162 50 0
  XPDR 0
  GEAR 1 1.0000
  PSNGR 2 3
  TRIM 1.000000
  AAP 0:0 0:0 0:0
END
END_SHIPS
 

Grover

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thats some pretty heavy thinking, how long did it take you to get all that sorted?
 

dgatsoulis

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Thanks for the scenario!

I just finished watching the playback of an Earth-Venus-Earth-Mars-Earth (EVEME) flight, i made today, with Artlav's "videnie" addon.
If a three body slingshot, with a (partially successful) "aerosling" on the fourth, looks that cool, then, this scenario will be epic!

The playback of this mission will definitely be one of the best Orbiter videos.
 

flytandem

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There will be some tough parts.

The rendezvous of ship 2 and 3 will be tough if being done with minimal MCC. I'm not sure yet how it will be done but I have it set up with ship 2 departing a day before 3 but 3 arriving about an hour before 2 at Venus so I assume they will be crossing paths the majority of the way to Venus, maybe 8 days before??

And the ship 2 sitting on Mars waiting on Mars for 10 days for ship 1 to get there... I think maybe a way is to use the back button all the way to stage zero, then it says "inherit from" and click the "+" to toggle to ship 1 and then click EXE and the plan from 1 will be transferred to the ship on Mars. Maybe one can then launch 4 or 5 hours ahead and when at the Pe of the plan, do a partial burn so as to expand the orbit just the right amount so that the orbit period as shown in Orbit MFD matches exactly the time to Pe as shown in ship 1. Do that orbit and with luck you will come around the next time and be alongside ship 1 with just the remaining part of the burn left to match speeds with 1. Just a thought. I suspect though that eject orientation will be not matching ship 1 so even though one leaves the right direction and the right speed with identical plans, they could be separated by up to one Mars diameter at the Pe and need to slide slowly into place for the rendezvous over the course of the subsequent couple or 3 days as they travel. The arrival speed of ship 1 will allow 100 Mars diameters past Mars in about 33 hours so maybe that's a reasonable target rate of closure. Interesting challenge.

---------- Post added 12-13-10 at 09:58 AM ---------- Previous post was 12-12-10 at 06:12 PM ----------

I did a couple of practice rendezvous flights where a ship passing close by Mars is in the start of scenario and a ship on the ground is supposed to launch and get a parking orbit to synch up to eject alongside the passing ship. The trick is using a surrogate created with scenario editor. I use TransX to get the Pe, Inclination and LAN of the ship doing the sling. I place a surrogate in a circular orbit according to the sling numbers and the surrogate is then an easy target for the ship on the surface to match orbits with. Not for a rendezvous, but just the correct parking orbit to be ready for the ship soon to come by on its sling. Then expand the Ap to arrive at the Pe (eject burn location) at the same time as the sling ship, use TransX to set up a maneuver to rendezvous with the sling ship, and the docking HUD and MFD come in handy during the eject burn. TransX usually shows an error in trying to calculate the closest approach in this case (wish Steve were back from safari) so it's just for the visual of the location and direction of the burn. I found it possible to average a rendezvous within 30 minutes after the eject burn. I also noticed that if a recording is being done, it won't record any creation or information on a surrogate.

---------- Post added at 04:42 PM ---------- Previous post was at 09:58 AM ----------

I flew the entire flight with record on. It appears to have worked. I spent a marathon nearly 5 hours on it.
It has the Mars landing a dead stick rolling up to the hangars at Olympus. And since all ships were heading back to Earth after Mars, I went ahead and landed all of them back at Habana.
The timed eject from Mars to match and catch the arriving ship turned out well.
It's not a very usable playback in current config due to length but perhaps it could be used to make those cool videos like I saw Tex make.
Any who wants it just ask either PM or [email protected] and I'll email it to you.
 
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