My Ap and Pe are alright but the orbit is shifted to one side. How do I change this? (pictures)

[1990eam]

Hello all. I've tried several times to complete this contract but I can't get the satellite into the right orbit. I set my Ap and Pe first but even though I'm off only by a few kms, the whole orbit is shifted to one side and I can't figure out the proper way to fix it through maneuver nodes.

Also, why is inclination measured in meters in the contract objectives but in degrees in the node editor / kerbal engineer? I'm confused regarding that point as well.

Orange is the expected orbit:

 

 

Edited April 30, 2018 by 1990eam
added info

[Kryxal]

There are two easy ways to match orbits in this case:

Thrust radial-in or radial-out (mostly) when you cross the target orbit

Make your orbit larger/smaller at AP/PE till the other side just touches, then match orbits when you come to that point, using pure prograde/retrograde

Take your pick, really ... the first method's going to be faster, but the second is more economical, I think.

As for the units-of-measure issue, I'd guess it's a localization issue ... looks like Spanish.

Edited April 30, 2018 by Kryxal

[Snark]

1 hour ago, 1990eam said:

Hello all. I've tried several times to complete this contract but I can't get the satellite into the right orbit. I set my Ap and Pe first but even though I'm off only by a few kms, the whole orbit is shifted to one side and I can't figure out the proper way to fix it through maneuver nodes.

Okay, so there are different ways to go about this.  I'll describe one way, which is simple and easy to explain.  It's not the only way, there are others. 

So, there are two basic issues here:

1. Your inclination doesn't match.
2. Your argument of periapsis doesn't match.

Detailed explanation below, but the TL;DR is:  First fix problem #1 by doing a or burn in the right spot.  Then, fix problem #2 by doing a or burn in the right spot.

 

Step 1:  Match inclination

This would be easy if you were matching an orbiting spaceship, because then the game would show you An/Dn in a way that's easy to adjust and reacts to maneuver nodes.  Unfortunately, the UI is more limited when you're matching a target orbit, but you can still work with it.  Here's what you do:

1. Double-click on the planet, so that the map view is centered on the planet instead of your ship.
2. In this view, rotate the camera so that you're looking at the target orbit perfectly edge-on (i.e. so that instead of being drawn as an ellipse on the screen, it looks like a perfect straight line running right through the planet's center.
3. Next, while keeping the edge-on view of the target, keep rotating the camera until you're looking edge-on at your ship's orbit, too.  Now you're looking at the two orbits as a skinny "X" whose two lines pass through the planet's center.  That crossing of the two planes is where the AN and DN are for your orbit relative to the target orbit.

Once you get it to that state, you've got a couple of options.  One is to just timewarp until your ship is right at that spot, and then burn (if you're at the DN) or (if you're at the AN) until the two lines precisely line up.  The other method is to drop a maneuver node there, and then pull the and handles until the projected post-maneuver orbit lines up, then execute the maneuver when you get there.

Step 2:  Fix the argument of periapsis

Okay, now your orbit is perfectly coplanar with the target orbit.  Rotate the map view so you're looking down on the planet's north pole and can see the two orbits as ellipses.

See how your orbit crosses the other one's in a couple of places?

Drop a maneuver node right at one of those spots where they cross over.  Now try dragging the and handles-- you can get it to line up better.  You may also need to give it a little bit of or in the process.

By just fiddling with , , , and , you'll be able to get the orbits to precisely line up.  Then just execute the maneuver node when you get there.

 

[DoToH]

 

1 hour ago, 1990eam said:

 the whole orbit is shifted to one side and I can't figure out the proper way to fix it through maneuver nodes

As Kryxal said, put a node in the intersection point and burn radia (or antiradial). It sems that you'll need a little burn normal to match inclination. AN and DN are near intersection, so you could burn just once (at the intersection) with radial and normal corrections.

 

32 minutes ago, Kryxal said:

As for the units-of-measure issue, I'd guess it's a localization issue ... looks like Spanish.

Yes, it's spanish (I'm spanish but play KSP in english, too much english KSP since 0.17 to switch). And yes,  it's a localization bug. Orbit inclination should be degrees (grados) and not meters. Also, there are far better translations than "generar luz" for "generate power" and no, "generar potencia" is not one of them......  could continue, but, long story short, I have many reasons to play KSP in english.

 

 

[1990eam]

Thank you all for the detailed answers.