Scenario TransX sling plan - Earth, Venus, Earth, Mars (Aug 2010)

[Tex]

This is a 7 stage TransX sling plan I came up with last night leaving Earth in August 2010 heading for a sling around Venus, then back to Earth for a final sling out to Mars. Try to use as little fuel as possible and report your results. A Delta Glider is sitting on the departure runway at Wideawake fully fueled and ready for departure.

The eject date is about 20 hours away from the starting time of this scenario.


EDIT - I fixed the last stage to Mars with the help of flytandem, thanks Rob!

EDIT 2 - I've attached a .zip with all the scenarios from my flight, starting from the ground at Wideawake to Mars encounter.

BEGIN_DESC
7 stage sling plan Earth, Venus, Earth, Mars. A delta glider is at Wideawake ready for take-off. Earth eject about 20 hours from now.
END_DESC

BEGIN_ENVIRONMENT
  System Sol
  Date MJD 55431.8214653226
END_ENVIRONMENT

BEGIN_FOCUS
  Ship GL-01
END_FOCUS

BEGIN_CAMERA
  TARGET GL-01
  MODE Cockpit
  FOV 50.00
END_CAMERA

BEGIN_HUD
  TYPE Surface
END_HUD

BEGIN_MFD Left
  TYPE User
  MODE TransX
  Ship  GL-01
  FNumber 7
  Int 1
  Orbit True
  Vector  -1867102.64021 1588545.5414 -5880497.59467
  Vector  439.505512012 53.7150651277 -125.035860114
  Double  3.98600439969e+014
  Double  55431.821465
  Handle Earth
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Ej Orientation
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  Finish BaseFunction
  Int 2
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  Handle Sun
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  Orbit True
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  Handle Earth
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END_MFD

BEGIN_MFD Right
  TYPE User
  MODE TransX
END_MFD

BEGIN_SHIPS
GL-01:DeltaGlider
  STATUS Landed Earth
  POS -14.4310100 -7.9719500
  HEADING 118.16
  AFCMODE 7
  PRPLEVEL 0:1.000000 1:1.000000
  NAVFREQ 0 0 0 0
  XPDR 0
  GEAR 1 1.0000
  AAP 0:0 0:0 0:0
END
END_SHIPS

 

[Tex]

Thanks to Artlav's amazing Videnie addon, I was able to make a video showing this scenario starting from an Earth parking orbit. Note, it doesn't show TransX or anything, so it's not a tutorial per say. It is however an example of orbital mechanics and a fine example of how handy Artlav's new addon is by helping you visualize the sling plan I posted above.

I didn't spend much time on this, it's not intended to be a real polished film. I think I might have been better off recording at lower resolution, I know the MFD's are not legible. Hope you like it anyway! :thumbup:

*You can watch in HD on Vimeo, click the video title link above the player.​

[ame="http://www.vimeo.com/17507318"]Orbiter Flight Log - Earth, Venus, Earth, Mars on Vimeo[/ame]

 

[n122vu]

Thanks for the video. I've never actually seen or tried an aerocapture before. I need to improve my transx skills so I can start doing these types of flights.

Very cool! :thumbup:

 

[Tex]

Thanks mate!


FYI: I've attached a .zip to the first post with all the scenarios from my flight, starting from the ground at Wideawake to Mars encounter.

 

[flytandem]

Fun video Tex. This is the type of visual that I have always wanted to have to show friends about the fun of orbiter.
I went ahead and flew your plan yesterday morning. It was another great session of Orbiter. I opted to land at Olympus instead of leaving the aerobrake at LMO (low martian orbit). It allowed a sunset deadstick to wheelstop just a few meters from the fuel pad. I know it's not very realistic to glide power off and roll like a glider landing but it is possible and not very difficult to do even with damage simulation on so why not. I have found that in the slower stages of final approach, I turn the RCS in ROT back on to help raise the nose to delay the touchdown to as slow as about 310 or 320 m/s and with very little braking requires a roll of about 35 Km distance. Good thing the surface is smooth on Mars, LOL. Oh and I use Reentry.mfd for the deceleration rate both while aerobraking and during the surface roll. I like the aerobrake to get the required deceleration rate nudge toward about 1.3 m/s/s and in the last minute or two before rolling let it climb to about 2 to 4 m/s/s and then brake as needed to keep it at 3 to 6 m/s/s with the final braking by visual as to the arrival rate of the fuel pads.
rob

 

[dgatsoulis]

I tweaked the transX plan a little bit and ended up with a cheaper one.
You launch at the same date, use less dV and arrive on Mars 300 days earlier.

BEGIN_DESC
Contains the latest simulation state.
END_DESC

BEGIN_ENVIRONMENT
  System Sol
  Date MJD 55431.8314238102
END_ENVIRONMENT

BEGIN_FOCUS
  Ship GL-01
END_FOCUS

BEGIN_CAMERA
  TARGET GL-01
  MODE Cockpit
  FOV 50.00
END_CAMERA

BEGIN_HUD
  TYPE Surface
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GL-01:DeltaGlider
  STATUS Landed Earth
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END

I haven't flown it yet, i hope i can give it a try sometime tonight.
Also, if you add the line "Script challenges/challenge1" (without the quotes), right under the Date, in the BEGIN_ENVIRONMENT section of the scenario, you get to see how much fuel you've spent.

 

[Tex]

Very cool, thanks mate! It was my first sling plan I found on my own, so I was just excited to have a working plan for once. I'm still improving my skills in finding better fuel usage and trip times.

 

[dgatsoulis]

My apologies for my previous post on this thread. The first time i saw the video, i was at work, the sound was off.
I just watched the vid, with my dolby surround ON! (6 times! And I DID wake up the neighbours!)
All i can say is this... OMG! (And i consider myself an atheist...lol!)
"Not polished"!? I still have hair standing in the back of my neck, after seeing the perfect timing you did with your trajectory and Ennio Morricone's music.

Thank you very much, for this vid Tex!


P.S. Artlav is a genius!

 

[Grover]

how are you getting such good visuals on that video? is it post-game rendering or is it orbiter. if thats in orbiter i need to find those visual settings

and that was a nice aerocapture, you lost a lot of velocity there, and it raised a point to me: that is by far the most efficient way to be captured by a planet's gravity, and once youve changed from a parabolic approach to an elliptical orbit, you can afford to bounce back into space for orbital stuff rather than going straight down to the ground. but:
how is it possibe to aim your approach for an aerocapture so that you have a specific orbit afterwards, if i were to try this now, id be stuck, because id have to land then launch again because i couldnt get a specific orbit (EG a martian ISS), and probably wouldnt have the fuel to align an orbit, unless by miraculous coincidence i had the INC and LAN almost right by chance.

i guess its done by offsetting the target, so that you approach at the right side of the planet, coming from the right direction, then making sure you dont change your direction during the aerocapture hmm: tricky)

nice work though, and some expert flying

 

[dgatsoulis]

nice work though, and some expert flying
The vid was a masterpiece! As Tex's vids usually are... As for the sling? If you come up with a better one, and post the playback...

 

[Rtyh-12]

Sorry for bumping, but I have a little question: after you plan the trip, how do you get into the "green cross mode" so you can know where to point while burning?

P.S.:I really enjoyed your video Tex, you're a genius!:thumbup:

 

[Tex]

My apologies for my previous post on this thread. The first time i saw the video, i was at work, the sound was off.
I just watched the vid, with my dolby surround ON! (6 times! And I DID wake up the neighbours!)
All i can say is this... OMG! (And i consider myself an atheist...lol!)
"Not polished"!? I still have hair standing in the back of my neck, after seeing the perfect timing you did with your trajectory and Ennio Morricone's music.

Thank you very much, for this vid Tex!


P.S. Artlav is a genius!

No worries here mate, I appreciate your contributions to the scenario. Thank you for the kind words on my video as well.

Also, agreed Artlav is a genius!

Sorry for bumping, but I have a little question: after you plan the trip, how do you get into the "green cross mode" so you can know where to point while burning?

P.S.:I really enjoyed your video Tex, you're a genius!:thumbup:

Thank you for watching. In order to get that green x, you have to setup a maneuver by first turning maneuver mode ON. Stage 1 from the plan will tell you how much DeltaV is needed, so you add that amount of prograde velocity to the maneuver, then set the maneuver eject date to match your plan. You can now press view to see the target view with the green x and a time to burn count down. :thumbup: