Recommendations regarding online resources for studying the physics behind KSB?

[LuxVenture]

Howdy everyone.

I fell in love with KSB last summer and have since developed a yearning the deeply understand the physics behind this grand game of rocket science. The trouble is, I'm not sure where best to begin learning. The internet is like a vast ocean, and a good learning resource a particularly rare fish--one can reel in catches while still coming up empty-handed. A good education is key to becoming proficient in a field, but without outside advice, a layman's eyes cannot easily differentiate between quality learning tools and sub-adequate ones. I know many people who frequent these forums are well-versed on the subject, and it is my hope that you might share with me and others the best resources you know of for learning the concepts and math behind physics and its sub-fields.

Many thanks!

[Bill Phil]

What's KSB? :|

Or, do you mean KSP?

It uses patched conics for orbital projections. And only the gravity of one body is acting on you at any given moment. Look up orbital mechanics resources. Shou help a bit...

[Flixxbeatz]

What's KSB? :|

Kerbal Space BROgram.

[UmbralRaptor]

Besides wikipedia?

http://www.braeunig.us/space/orbmech.htm

http://www.amazon.com/Fundamentals-Astrodynamics-Dover-Aeronautical-Engineering/dp/0486600610/

[Mesons]

I'm a graduate student in physics, and I can honestly say that I have learned more from doing in KSP than I have from studying orbital mechanics in several classes at several levels. The last time I had a class that covered orbital mechanics (a grad-level one), I had already been playing KSP for a few months and the material came much easier to me than ever before. I recall struggling with the concepts in previous classes.

My recommendation is to follow some tutorials to get off the ground (if you're struggling with that part). Next, fiddle around with orbits. See what changing your speed in different directions does with maneuver nodes. Do a lot of it. Send some interplanetary missions (relying on more tutorials if need be). Getting a feel for how changing your speed in different directions affects your orbits will really help you get off the ground running if you want to understand the underlying physics.

Unfortunately, I don't know of any great online resources, though my partner (also a physics grad student) has found some Khan Academy videos to be pretty helpful on a variety of topics on YouTube. There might be a relevant video on that channel.

See also:

(From xkcd.com, click the image to go to the page.)

[helaeon]

http://ocw.mit.edu/index.htm

You know if you want the notes, power-points, and often times lecture videos from MIT's courses on the subjects.

Though that XKCD comic is absolutely true. I've taken high end college level physics courses, my degree is in biochemistry, I've been interested in space flight all my life... and I've learned way more playing KSP than I ever did in school. Though I do think my background has helped me quite a bit.

[Bill Phil]

I'm a graduate student in physics, and I can honestly say that I have learned more from doing in KSP than I have from studying orbital mechanics in several classes at several levels. The last time I had a class that covered orbital mechanics (a grad-level one), I had already been playing KSP for a few months and the material came much easier to me than ever before. I recall struggling with the concepts in previous classes.

My recommendation is to follow some tutorials to get off the ground (if you're struggling with that part). Next, fiddle around with orbits. See what changing your speed in different directions does with maneuver nodes. Do a lot of it. Send some interplanetary missions (relying on more tutorials if need be). Getting a feel for how changing your speed in different directions affects your orbits will really help you get off the ground running if you want to understand the underlying physics.

Unfortunately, I don't know of any great online resources, though my partner (also a physics grad student) has found some Khan Academy videos to be pretty helpful on a variety of topics on YouTube. There might be a relevant video on that channel.

See also:

http://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/orbital_mechanics.png

(From xkcd.com, click the image to go to the page.)

Yeah, getting a feel and a visual of what happens when you do "x" to an orbit is better than the calculations right off the bat. When you know doing "x" causes "y" you know the final product, or what the final product is going to be similar too, is.

[thadisjones]

I've said this before, but if you want a good read about the chemical engineering and physics behind what makes the rockets actually move, and how much, you could do a lot worse than John Clark's 1972 book Ignition, which may easily be found for free as a pdf. It doesn't cover orbital mechanics, but if you've ever wanted to know exactly where the specific impulse numbers come from, how a liquid rocket responds to your throttle commands faster than a jet engine, why monopropellent doesn't need oxidizer, or what an Eastman Kodak rep does when you tell him you need a hundred pounds* of god damn dimethyl mercury to fire as reaction mass- then read this book.

*This was, for me, as an organic chemist and chemical safety officer, the most ...??!! moment in the whole book- but the scary thing is, there are so many incidents mentioned that come very nearly as close.

[r_rolo1]

http://ocw.mit.edu/index.htm

You know if you want the notes, power-points, and often times lecture videos from MIT's courses on the subjects.

Though that XKCD comic is absolutely true. I've taken high end college level physics courses, my degree is in biochemistry, I've been interested in space flight all my life... and I've learned way more playing KSP than I ever did in school. Though I do think my background has helped me quite a bit.

And here was I thinking I was the only biochemist in the house TBH i could do your words mine: it is not that I couldn't had known all that stuff earlier ( I definitely have the background to get there if i wanted to ), but having to apply stuff by yourself is always a good incentive to learn anything

That said , on topic, there is a lot of online stuff. I strongly recommend you to any kind of introductory orbital mechanics page, but it surely depends of your background ... if you aren't familiarized with basic Newtonian physics, you might need to get a look there earlier