Orbit

[Cpt Birdseye]

Hi guys.

I downloaded Orbiter a couple of days ago and have been enjoying the graphics. At the moment all I know how to do is full thrust and point upwards to go into space.


It seems a bit overwhelming at the moment but I would love to be able to fly this beautiful sim.
Can I get some help on how to get the Delta Glider into orbit around the earth?

Any help will be greatly appreciated.

Thank you.

PS: I have learning difficulties which means I learn slower than some folks might, please don't get angry with me if I don't pick it up straight away.

 

[Kaito]

Go Play in space

 

[MJR]

I reccomend Go play in Space for the DG.

http://www.orbiter.migman.com/orbiter.htm

If you want to learn with the shuttle, here is one also.

[ame="http://www.orbithangar.com/searchid.php?ID=3972"]Flying the shuttle from launch to landing.[/ame]

 

[ar81]

[ame="http://www.orbithangar.com/searchid.php?ID=3074"]Tutorial: DG to ISS[/ame]

 

[Cpt Birdseye]

Thanks for that guys Going to try the first tutorial on go play in space. Then hopefully start to take things a little further.

 

[Kelpie]

Go play in space is the place to start then try here

And welcome to the forum

 

[joey1405]

I would mess around a bit. Once you hit a good altitude, switch to the Orbit MFD and then accelerate at the peak which is represented by an open circle. That is called the apogee when you are on earth. Face the way you are moving by hitting the prograde button. When you accelerate there(in prograde), you increase the perigee. The perigee is the lowest point in your orbit. When you accelerate in prograde at the perigee it increases the height of the apogee. If you face Retrograde, the opposite of prograde and accelerate at either of those positions, it will decrease the altitude of the opposite position, e.g. Increasing Retrograde at Apogee lowers Perigee altitude.

The goal in any orbit is to get the Eccentricity (labeled "Ecc" in the Orbit MFD) to 0. This is some college level math, also known to us as Algebra 2. An ellipse (an oval) has an eccentricity that is less than 1 but more than 0. This is found by taking the square root of the sum distances of the semimajor axis (the variable "a") and semiminor axis (the variable "b") and dividing that by the distance to the focal point ("c") The orbital version of this is slightly different, but to save time, I'll give you a link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orbital_eccentricity

A circle has an eccentricity of 0. To achieve this, you have to get the apogee and the perigee the same height. Its not too hard, but you will have to change the MFD refresh rate to 10 times a second: Thats the slowest the time warp goes.

This will help you learn this stuff, I recommend bookmarking the following site, it explains what I said, but without Orbiter.

http://www2.jpl.nasa.gov/basics/bsf3-4.php

 

[Cpt Birdseye]

Thank you for the link So basically, orbits can be altered and maintained by applying thrust at the apoapsis? The rest I leave to gravity?

Seems this won't be so hard I gues. However, i'd ideally like to be able to in the future be able to dock to the ISS, and fly to the moon with the space shuttle.

What other steps will I need to follow? Is it all in the Go Fly In Space book?

 

[MJR]

You cannot go to the Moon with the shuttle. The OMS are way to weak and it cannot maneuver very well out of LEO. What he means is basically if you burn at your apoapsis you will raise your periapsis. At retrograde it will lower it. Prograde will raise it.

 

[joey1405]

Thank you for the link So basically, orbits can be altered and maintained by applying thrust at the apoapsis? The rest I leave to gravity?

Seems this won't be so hard I gues. However, i'd ideally like to be able to in the future be able to dock to the ISS, and fly to the moon with the space shuttle.

What other steps will I need to follow? Is it all in the Go Fly In Space book?

Not just the apoapsis, but the periapsis as well. Docking with the ISS is hard for me. I've never been able to do it because I'm always too far away from it. Its also impossible to go to the moon with the space shuttle because of its thrust capabilities. I would go to the tutorials in the scenarios menu.

 

[Cpt Birdseye]

Thank you guys.
I didn't know that about the Space Shuttle. What sort of missions does it carry out? As far as i've read, it docks with the ISS sometimes to do upgrades and also releases some new satellites. Have I missed anything? What would I need to do on Orbiter to recreate a real flight? Just go in to orbit and release a satellite?

Secondly, is there any mod that will put all the current satellites orbiting the earth on my orbiter? I'm really interested in getting all the real "space furniture" in place.

 

[MJR]

Satellites, Probes, Modules, and etc. It can't do interplanetary or things like that.

 

[Cpt Birdseye]

Thank you MJR. I'm just trying to find downloads for all the satellites around the planet

 

[ar81]

Go play in space tutorial covers a wide variety of things and is great for beginners.
But also DG to ISS tutorial might provide graphical awareness of some concepts that beginners need. This tutorial is based on the great tutorial by Jared Smith, but more visual.