Holding a stead altitude

[Jazza11]

I just finished my first sucessful flight i reached orbit but i could not hold a stead altitude and i wanted to reach the ISS but i find it hard to keep a steady altitude does anyone have any ideas how i can keep a stead altitude??? Also this is in the delta 4

 

[Urwumpe]

Do you mean your periapsis is below the apoapsis?

 

[unussapiens]

Isn't your periapsis always going to be below your apoapsis? Perhaps you mean "Is your periapsis below the surface of the earth?"

 

[Jazza11]

To be honest im not sure what u mean in simple terms i just want to keep the spacecraft stable so it does not lose to much high or go out to far i know it changes in the orbit but how do u keep a generaly stable orbit if that makes sense?

 

[Fizyk]

You need to circularize your orbit. If your orbit is circular, you don't lose nor gain altitude. To do this, you need to either do a prograde burn at apoapsis, or retrograde burn at periapsis. Usually, you would want to do the first one. Here is how you do that (I assume you are already in some kind of orbit):
1. Start Orbit MFD.
2. Wait until ApT is close to 0 (it is the time that is left to reach apoapsis). When it's around 100, start the prograde autopilot, it needs some time to set your attitude correctly.
3. When ApT is about 10 (you need to start the burn a bit before reaching the apoapsis to make the orbit perfectly circular, the exact time depends on your current orbit parameters and I don't know how to calculate it, but 10 usually should be about right), start burning and burn until Ecc is close to 0. Ecc = 0 means that your orbit is circular.

 

[atuhalpa]

You would probably get a more complete answer to your question if you used proper spelling and grammatical punctuation marks. I for one have no desire to answer a post that displays such utter disregard for proper grammer and punctuation rules.

 

[MJR]

I suggest looking up tutorials or reference to find the terms they are talking about.

 

[ar81]

I just finished my first sucessful flight i reached orbit but i could not hold a stead altitude and i wanted to reach the ISS but i find it hard to keep a steady altitude does anyone have any ideas how i can keep a stead altitude??? Also this is in the delta 4

Your question does not make sense.
I figure out you are thinking about Star Wars physics.
What I would do is to kill any space station rotation to prevent docking port to move.

Read these concepts
[ame="http://www.orbithangar.com/searchid.php?ID=3074"]Tutorial: DG to ISS[/ame]
or watch this video

 

[garyw]

You would probably get a more complete answer to your question if you used proper spelling and grammatical punctuation marks. I for one have no desire to answer a post that displays such utter disregard for proper grammer and punctuation rules.

I also have to add that if someone cannot take care in forming the question then the answer would be lost on them.

 

[Urwumpe]

Regardless of manners and showing some interest: It is also hard to write a good answer, if you can't understand the question...

 

[RSWingman]

Once you learn to manipulate your orbit & get circular, you need to realize that your orbital speed is not under your direct control. If you speed up, the opposite side (180 degrees from you) will raise in altitude. If you slow down, the opposite side will drop. If you are at the exact same altitude as your target (ISS, etc), and perfectly circular, you will neither gain nor lose ground (or space). Eg, there is a "natural" orbital speed for whatever your altitude.

Scenario: Start from a circular orbit slightly below your target. First, you need to make sure you're on the same orbital "Plane" as your target. I won't go into detail on this, but it involves the "Align Planes" MFD and using the "Orbit + -" Autopilots. It's made easiest when you learn to take off at the best time and angle in the first place.

From your lower orbit, your natural speed will be faster than your target and you will gain position on it. When the time seems right, do a prograde burn to raise the opposite side of your orbit to that of your target. If you timed it right, your paths will intersect just as you meet it.

Inside is faster and outside is slower. If you outran your target, raise the opposite side (with prograde) slightly to slow down and try again. Play with it 'til you get it right.

Yeah, it's counterintuitive and definitely NOT Star Wars physics (which is basically a necessary ignorance of physics).

 

[dbeachy1]

to the forum!

An excellent tutorial is Bruce Irving's Go Play In Space, available here: http://www.aovi93.dsl.pipex.com/play_in_space.htm. It explains all these terms and walks you through how orbits work as well as how to dock.

 

[Roy Batty]

I'm all for nit-picking and being precise but unless we're talking about Frasier it's grammar not grammer.

 

[MJR]

I'm all for nit-picking and being precise but unless we're talking about Frasier it's grammar not grammer.

Want to be precise? Add a comma before but. :lol:

 

[Roy Batty]

I was fibbing ..
I couldn't give a monkey's about nit-picking and i'm virtually never precise .:lol:

 

[MJR]

I was just joking.