Request Scenario with realistic inclinations and positions of LEO objects

[JWise]

Perhaps I'm doing something wrong, but when I go to scenario editor and add in the ISS for example, it places it in a seemingly random place in orbit then any other object I add such as the Hubble space telescope, I find it places it in the exact same location and inclination as the first thing I added.

This makes me think that most scenarios I'm playing going to ISS for example are not actually in the same place as they would be in real life. Not that it really matters as I haven't looked up where they really should be but I'm wondering if anyone has made a scenario with up-to-date realistic locations and inclinations for the ISS, HST and, if possible, government/private satellites in LEO.

Thanks for any replies, even the "use the search button" replies.

 

[icedown]

You can find the current TLE data for the iss and most satellites here

http://www.celestrak.com/NORAD/elements/

You can use this addon to update the station/satellite with the current TLE.

[ame="http://orbithangar.com/searchid.php?ID=2617"]http://orbithangar.com/searchid.php?ID=2617[/ame]

There is also a command line converter for them floating around somewhere also. Just load a basic scenario, modify it and save it with the scenario editor.

 

[JWise]

Thanks for reply. I actually tried that ScnEditorTLE addon but due to lack of documentation or something I'm doing wrong, I've noticed it puts the ISS on a different inclination than what I was expecting. The TLE text file I loaded was like this:

ISS
1 25544U 98067A 12223.60725887 .00016717 00000-0 10270-3 0 9145
2 25544 51.6382 210.5538 0001835 21.6018 338.5212 15.54921318 34624

The number in bold I believe is supposed to be the inclination but when I load the file and look at the new inclination it shows 54.22

I can't see where it's getting that number so I was hoping somebody has already made a scenario set up properly and ready to go as I'm obviously doing something wrong.

 

[asbjos]

Are you sure that the inclination shown in OrbitMFD is the equator inclination, and not the ecliptic inclination? You can toggle between equatorial and ecliptic information of the orbit elements by clicking FRM

 

[Quick_Nick]

Are you sure that the inclination shown in OrbitMFD is the equator inclination, and not the ecliptic inclination? You can toggle between equatorial and ecliptic information of the orbit elements by clicking FRM

I was thinking that but the difference would be far greater than 3 degrees.


I would wonder the date in the simulation you're running. If it's far from the TLE epoch, there's no guarentee what you'll get.

 

[edjohnbus]

when i move space stations into orbit around the earth, something i do to space them apart is launch a DGIV using the pro903spec90 program from the equator base (a downloadable base from the hangermod site). then when in orbit, i adjust the plane and radius of the DGIV to get an orbit I want the station I'm adding. after I have that set, I go into the scenario editor, add new item (lunar wheel as an example), go into the state vector setting, copy from DGIV and apply. after I apply the state setting, i delete the DGIV, save the scenario...
I'm a noobie to the game, but this is the simplest way I found to get more options to practice docking besides MIR and ISS.

 

[JWise]

Thanks for replies. I'm still unsure whats going wrong with the inclinations but I'm thinking it has something to do with my timezone settings. I'm currently at GMT+8 but when I change my timezone it changes the inclinations very slightly. It's not the ecliptic/equatoral plane thing as that was my first idea and as Quick_Nick said, it should've been a higher difference than 3 degrees.

I know with one program I used (called OrbiterRTS) was very nice as it downloaded the latest TLE data for nearly a hundred satellites in LEO including ISS and HST and then it creates a .SCN file for it. It was perfect except that my Orbiter kept reading the values badly and the inclinations etc would differ in-game from the .SCN file.

Anyone else notice if your computer timezone adjusts the orbital elements in-game?

 

[edjohnbus]

My time zone is EDT in the US and I notice that the sunrise doesn't happen until 10 am while sunset is almost midnight...haven't figured out how to correct that.

Thanks for replies. I'm still unsure whats going wrong with the inclinations but I'm thinking it has something to do with my timezone settings. I'm currently at GMT+8 but when I change my timezone it changes the inclinations very slightly. It's not the ecliptic/equatoral plane thing as that was my first idea and as Quick_Nick said, it should've been a higher difference than 3 degrees.

I know with one program I used (called OrbiterRTS) was very nice as it downloaded the latest TLE data for nearly a hundred satellites in LEO including ISS and HST and then it creates a .SCN file for it. It was perfect except that my Orbiter kept reading the values badly and the inclinations etc would differ in-game from the .SCN file.

Anyone else notice if your computer timezone adjusts the orbital elements in-game?

 

[DaveS]

My time zone is EDT in the US and I notice that the sunrise doesn't happen until 10 am while sunset is almost midnight...haven't figured out how to correct that.

Orbiter uses UTC as the timezone, not local time. And EDT is UTC-4.

 

[David413]

Orbiter uses UTC as the timezone, not local time. And EDT is UTC+4.

UTC -4.

 

[edjohnbus]

i got the time right now, i didn't know that there was a file i had to go to to make my sunrise and sunset correct

 

[DaveS]

UTC -4.

This is correct. That will teach me for posting at 2:36am!

 

[Quick_Nick]

Odd. Again, what date/time is your scenario? You should use a current time ("real-time") scenario with recent elements.
Have you disabled nonspherical gravity?

 

[JWise]

Quick_Nick: Disabing non-spherical gravity solved everything. It's now loading everything on the correct inclinations and positions.

I had non-spherical gravity sources enabled because I was hoping to learn things on the most realistic settings I could, but it seemed to have an adverse effect by making real-time scenarios have odd orbits for all the satellites.

The timezone thing I now think was just my misinterpretation of what was causing my problem.

Thanks for sorting me out!