Autopilot launch to polar orbit?

[Usonian]

I am playing with some shuttle launches from Vandenberg into polar orbit, but this seems beyond the capabilities of the SSU autopilot.

Has anyone made this work, or do I need to launch to polar orbit manually?

 

[SiameseCat]

You should be able to enter ~180 for the inclination value. Having said that, the current version of the autopilot will always launch in a northerly direction; if you want to lauch towards the south, you'll have to fly manually.

 

[Urwumpe]

You should be able to enter ~180 for the inclination value. Having said that, the current version of the autopilot will always launch in a northerly direction; if you want to lauch towards the south, you'll have to fly manually.

Wouldn't it be smarter to aim for southerly directions?

The shuttle would have only flown to polar directions from Vandenberg and that with southern azimuth.

KSC is limited to the azimuths 35° to 120°. Vandenberg uses 164° to 287°. There is no overlap, which might be important for the implementation. You can't launch from KSC into the same orbit as from Vandenberg.

Flying north should be considering this, be the manual case and southern should be supported.

 

[Matte]

KSC is limited to the azimuths 35° to 120°. Vandenberg uses 164° to 287°.

is it a matter of pad orientation? i cannot understand why it is not possible to launch in every direction.
previously thanks for explanation

 

[T.Neo]

is it a matter of pad orientation? i cannot understand why it is not possible to launch in every direction.
previously thanks for explanation

I have a feeling it has to do with not overflying populated areas and/or populated areas not being downrange of SRBs, ETs, etc.

 

[Urwumpe]

is it a matter of pad orientation? i cannot understand why it is not possible to launch in every direction.
previously thanks for explanation

The reasons are: Populated areas to the North (the whole US East Coast, up until Newfoundland), Cuban Airspace and similar populated areas to the South.

The US rocket sites are limited such, that their initial 1500 km downrange takes them mostly over ocean.

The pad orientation has nothing to do with it, the Shuttle has to roll between 35° and 120° anyway as the Shuttle is oriented towards the north on the pads. And the orientation on the pad comes from the reusing of the Apollo pad structures.

 

[Andy44]

is it a matter of pad orientation? i cannot understand why it is not possible to launch in every direction.
previously thanks for explanation

It's a range safety regulation to protect populated areas. There is no technical reason preventing a launch in any direction, only a legal one.

 

[Zatnikitelman]

Just to add a little to that, from what I understand, the Soyuz launcher is actually physically rotated WITH the pad instead of engaging a "roll program" during launch to reach a different inclination. It'd certainly be interesting to watch LC-39 swing around with the shuttle stack on it!

 

[Urwumpe]

Just to add a little to that, from what I understand, the Soyuz launcher is actually physically rotated WITH the pad instead of engaging a "roll program" during launch to reach a different inclination. It'd certainly be interesting to watch LC-39 swing around with the shuttle stack on it!

Only works for small rockets, for large ones the weight you would have to rotate would becomes too large.