Arkalius
New member
So I've started playing around with Orbiter again lately. I got into this sim a number of years ago... probably 2003 or 2004? Anyway, I stopped playing with it a little while after 2006 patch 1 came out and haven't touched it since. Now I'm back and I remember how cool it is.
I just started playing with the XR2 and that is a really freakin cool ship. Normally when flying the DG4, I launch directly into a circular 300km or so orbit without shutting engines down once. I'd use the ascent profile graph to help me do it. But, I'm learning the new and interesting way of launching into orbit using the SCRAM engines to gain a large portion of the speed. That took some learning but thanks to the tutorial in the manual I've gotten the hang of it.
I decided to fly the XR2 to Mars. With it's 15 day supply of oxygen I knew I needed to either update the config to add a lot more, or bring an extra oxygen tank along in the cargo bay. I decided to go realistic. I loaded the extra LOX (about 3/4ths full since I don't need the full tank), and some extra main fuel. Turns out that extra main fuel is pretty much used up in the extra thrust needed to push the heavy LOX tank! I should consider maybe collecting the LOX while in orbit... anyway, I fly out to Mars and after struggling to figure out how to use the AerobrakeMFD, I aerocapture into Martian orbit (Something I'd done fairly easily with the DG4).
I tried using the BaseSyncMFD to sync with Olympus base but it seems glitchy. For one thing the Tn (time to node) is always negative, telling me how long it was since I passed the last node which is kind of useless. Also, even after supposedly syncing, the closest approach constantly changes... as if it doesn't understand the rotation of the planet?
Anyway, using the AerobrakeMFD I am able to set up a nice gentle gliding re-entry to land at Olympus. It took forever but the temps never got above freezing on the hull. My first attempt had me slightly overshooting and then barely crash landing about 60km away after running out of fuel.
I tried again and managed to stick a perfect landing on pad 1 at Olympus with about 2% fuel remaining.
I want to try this misison again but I think I may try it without trying to lift 8000 kg of LOX into orbit with me, and maybe pick it up on orbit. I think that would likely save me a good bit of fuel, as that is a lot of wieght for the XR2.
I also did this mission with the DG4 before I discovered the XR2, and brought the little telescope satellite thingy that comes in the DG4 package with me. I inserted into a polar martian orbit (with aerocapture of course), and used the UMMU's to deploy the satellite. Then I boosted up my apoapsis at a node, and then at apoapsis I did a plane change to get a more sane inclination to land at Olympus. I didn't actually do the reentry because it was shortly after this that I discovered the XR2 and the Aerobrake MFD. At first I couldn't figure out how to use the MFD right but now that I've seen how it works I can't imagine how I lived without it before. I'm going to have to try an Earth-based reentry with it.
Anyway, I love the XR2... such a cool looking craft, and being able to launch from Earth and land at Mars without modifying any craft parameters to cheat is very fulfilling, especially coming in with just 2% fuel left. Time to practice some more!
I just started playing with the XR2 and that is a really freakin cool ship. Normally when flying the DG4, I launch directly into a circular 300km or so orbit without shutting engines down once. I'd use the ascent profile graph to help me do it. But, I'm learning the new and interesting way of launching into orbit using the SCRAM engines to gain a large portion of the speed. That took some learning but thanks to the tutorial in the manual I've gotten the hang of it.
I decided to fly the XR2 to Mars. With it's 15 day supply of oxygen I knew I needed to either update the config to add a lot more, or bring an extra oxygen tank along in the cargo bay. I decided to go realistic. I loaded the extra LOX (about 3/4ths full since I don't need the full tank), and some extra main fuel. Turns out that extra main fuel is pretty much used up in the extra thrust needed to push the heavy LOX tank! I should consider maybe collecting the LOX while in orbit... anyway, I fly out to Mars and after struggling to figure out how to use the AerobrakeMFD, I aerocapture into Martian orbit (Something I'd done fairly easily with the DG4).
I tried using the BaseSyncMFD to sync with Olympus base but it seems glitchy. For one thing the Tn (time to node) is always negative, telling me how long it was since I passed the last node which is kind of useless. Also, even after supposedly syncing, the closest approach constantly changes... as if it doesn't understand the rotation of the planet?
Anyway, using the AerobrakeMFD I am able to set up a nice gentle gliding re-entry to land at Olympus. It took forever but the temps never got above freezing on the hull. My first attempt had me slightly overshooting and then barely crash landing about 60km away after running out of fuel.
I tried again and managed to stick a perfect landing on pad 1 at Olympus with about 2% fuel remaining.
I want to try this misison again but I think I may try it without trying to lift 8000 kg of LOX into orbit with me, and maybe pick it up on orbit. I think that would likely save me a good bit of fuel, as that is a lot of wieght for the XR2.
I also did this mission with the DG4 before I discovered the XR2, and brought the little telescope satellite thingy that comes in the DG4 package with me. I inserted into a polar martian orbit (with aerocapture of course), and used the UMMU's to deploy the satellite. Then I boosted up my apoapsis at a node, and then at apoapsis I did a plane change to get a more sane inclination to land at Olympus. I didn't actually do the reentry because it was shortly after this that I discovered the XR2 and the Aerobrake MFD. At first I couldn't figure out how to use the MFD right but now that I've seen how it works I can't imagine how I lived without it before. I'm going to have to try an Earth-based reentry with it.
Anyway, I love the XR2... such a cool looking craft, and being able to launch from Earth and land at Mars without modifying any craft parameters to cheat is very fulfilling, especially coming in with just 2% fuel left. Time to practice some more!
