Tutorial AMSO Scenario creating

[NASA1024]

Can anyone show me how to create my own Apollo scenarios for my AMSO on my Orbiter Directory. Thanks

 

[clive bradbury]

I don't really understand what you are asking here. Creating scenarios for AMSO is no different than for any other scenario in orbiter. What do you have in mind?

 

[NASA1024]

maybe something like the apollo missions that were canceled like apollo 18, 19, 20 or my own missions

 

[clive bradbury]

Well, 18, 19, and 20 would be essentially the same as 17, so just run that scenario and pretend that the mission number is different.

'my own missions' is still not exactly specific, I'm afraid, so it is difficult to help you.

 

[NASA1024]

By "my own missions" I mean Apollo missions that I create; with my own flight plan, objectives, landing sites, trajectories, etc. For example: I can launch on March 27, 1973 during the night, land in the Tycho crater on the Moon, perform 4 EVA's on the surface and maybe some EVA's in Lunar orbit. Then return to earth on April 11 near the San Clemente Islands. Sorry I was not so specific does this help? Thanks a lot

---------- Post added at 09:42 PM ---------- Previous post was at 09:40 PM ----------

I just need to know how to create the scenarios. I haven't figured out how to do that yet

 

[clive bradbury]

Well, you could still do that with pretty much any existing AMSO scenario. Open a scenario in notepad, then change the date and time of launch to whatever you want.

If you want to land at a new lunar site, you would have to add it as a base in the 'Config - Moon - base - AMSO' folder. Take a look at an existing base file in there, and you can see how the structure works. All you would really have to do is copy an existing file, rename it 'tycho' or whatever, and enter the correct co-ordinates for your new base into that file. Then this base will show up in the sim and you can select it as a target.

To create a new splashdown zone on earth is pretty much the same procedure. Take a look in my AMSO IMFD 5 tutorial download on OH, as adding splashdown sites is exactly what I have done there.

The best way to create new scenarios is to copy an existing one and amend it. Have a go, and you will see that it is fairly straightforward. If you run into trouble I will try to help.

 

[NASA1024]

Thank You very much for that info. I'll give it a shot and get back to you

---------- Post added 08-21-2009 at 12:20 AM ---------- Previous post was 08-20-2009 at 11:51 PM ----------

GOOD NEWS - I just create my first rough draft version of the scenario file I created. I just edited the Apollo 17 file a little bit; I changed the AS-512 to AS-513 for Apollo 18 and changed the date to March 27, 1973 5:33 AM UTC. Again this is just a rough draft. The date and time will mostly likely change, as soon as I can find out a good launch time for the mission to the moon. (could you help me with that as well?) Also the landing site scenery (Could you help me with that too?), and coordinates and Earth return coordinates as well will need to be installed. Thank You so much for your help. Reply back soon!!

 

[Saturn V]

IIRC, just changing the date and time of the launch scenario will result in the Saturn V appearing to tumble out of control well before it reaches orbit (attempting to find the correct trajectory for TLI). Unless you diable IMFD, you'd have to change your targeted settings prior to launch, and again IIRC, unless you launch in an acceptable window, you'll have obvious control issues from the mismatched guidance info.

Just a heads up from what I recall....

 

[NASA1024]

Well that's why I wanted to find out how I can find the appropriate time to launch so that doesn't happen. If you know how I can do that, please reply back to me ASAP. Thank You for the heads up.

P.S. Also do you know how I can create and install landing site sceneries just so it will look more realistic? Thank You

 

[kino_astroboy]

I searched Apollo 18, 19, and 20 on Astronautix and came up with these dates (month and year):

Apollo 18 - July 1973

Apollo 19 - December 1973

Apollo 20 - July 1974

 

[NASA1024]

This information will be really resourceful. But what I really meant was how I can determine the correct launch date for the Apollo missions that I will be creating (Apollo 21-25). How can I find out a good launch date for the Apollo missions that I create?

 

[NukeET]

How can I find out a good launch date for the Apollo missions that I create?

Trial and error.

 

[ACSoft]

Hi NASA1024 !

Like say NukeET, by "Trial and error" !!!

Obviously, a scientific method should exist. But it is probably not available on the Net and I guess only very few persons, on this planet, should know how to compute launch window for a specific landing spot on the Moon and with all favorable conditions of enlightment, Earth position into Lunar sky, etc... I searched the Net for that purpose, when I developed the fictitious mission "Tribute to LazyD" (the re-visit of Taurus Littrow in December 2007, see scenario "AMSO\Miscellaneous\Tribute to LazyD"), but finished with a tedious trial session.

Here after, a part of the documentation chapter "TECHNICAL INFORMATIONS" who might be interesting for you:

AMSO supports missions "AS-503" (Apollo 8) to "AS-512" (Apollo 17). AMSO also allows flying two fictitious missions; the "AS-513" will use the Moon landing base "Marius Hills" and "AS-514" uses the "Copernicus" base. In fact, AMSO is able to fly any "AS-XXX" missions. Missions under "AS-503" will simply be configured like "AS-503" and over "AS-514", like "AS-514". "AS-999" is reserved (used for the Tribute to LazyD). If you want to create a fictitious mission launch scenario for a specific landing base or flight configuration which is inside AMSO mission range, you must simply use the same mission designation and set the launch date and time as you wish. Any scenario you might create yourself MUST use a valid designation. This is "AS", followed by a minus sign, then a three digits number. For example "AS-000" is a valid designation, "AS-01" not. This will be the name of the main Apollo vessel. All other vessels names will be prefixed with this name, followed by an underscore character and then, the vessel name itself, like for example "AM-512_LM_vessel".

Good luck for your scenario creation !!!

ACS

 

[NASA1024]

Thank You very much for that useful info ACSoft. I will do my best. And thanks' to everyone else who have given me nothing but support!

 

[Submariner]

I am also interested in running the Marius Hills and Copernicus scenarios.

I have been running Orbiter for about a year now and of all the many addons I have downloaded and run, AMSO is still my favorite. I've successfully completed, from liftoff to splashdown, missions 11, 12, 14, 15, and 16. I'm putting together a flight plan for 17 now, and have yet to give 13 a try. On 8 I always seem to screw up my LOI.

Anyway, in the AMSO manual, (what was quoted above), it says that you can fly the AS-513 and AS-514 missions, but I'm still not sure how to do it. Do I copy the 17 launch scenario, rename all of the AS-512's to AS-513, and change the dates? Is that it? I'm willing to do the trial and error work of finding the right launch window and the offsets for the IMFD TLI, but I just need help getting started. Has anyone ever flown these missions? Any scenarios or tips to share?

The AMSO manual also says that the Marius Hills and Copernicus missions may be included in a future upgrade? Is this in the works? Will there be a new version of AMSO for Orbiter 2006, or just 2010, or none at all. AMSO is awesome, I'd love to see a newer version, but its near perfect as it is!

 

[ACSoft]

Location of base "Marius Hills" (AS-513) and "Copernicus" (AS-514) are defined in AMSO, but actually just use a generic flat scenery. A realistic scenery was planed for both locations, but still not produced now.

Yes, to build a new scenario, you should use a copy of "Apollo 17" launch scenario you will find into the AMSO scenario directory "All missions lift off". First, you must rename ALL text occurence "AS-512" into "AS-513" or "AS-514" (depending on the location you want). Then, you must delete the following parameters section:

AZIMUTCOR 1.503
MJDLOI 41661.824560
MJDLDG 41662.829838
MJDSPL 41670.809016
SPLLON -166.11
SPLLAT -17.88

Finally, you must specify your desired Launch date & time (parameter "Date MJD").

This is the most basic launch configuration.

But as you should know, not any date & time are suitable for the launch of an Apollo mission and as say NukeET, "Trial & Errors" is probably the best method.

For your information, no AZIMUTCOR parameter will mean a default "full East" launch azimut. No MJDLOI parameter will mean a default pattern for the launch autopilot (no Moon plane alignment attempt). Other parameters are in relation with IMFD. For more informations on these parameters, see chapter "Technical information" into the AMSO User Manual.

 

[Submariner]

Thanks so much, that's great! Now its off to work on Apollo 18!