Placing 3 sats in geostationary orbit, equally spaced via hyperedit. How?

[CjStaal]

What would I need to type in in order to put all my sats in geostationary with 120 degrees between each one? I"m going to fly them all up there, do it myself, and then finish off by editing each one with hyperedit. The thing is, when I tried to do that with my space station, It put them directly on top of each other and blew them up. How do I go about this?

[Geonovast]

 

You don't need them perfect.  Exact degrees of separation aren't vital, what's important is orbital period, which you can match up with very small engine burns on the satellites.

Edited September 18, 2018 by Geonovast

[NHunter]

2 hours ago, CjStaal said:

What would I need to type in in order to put all my sats in geostationary with 120 degrees between each one? I"m going to fly them all up there, do it myself, and then finish off by editing each one with hyperedit. The thing is, when I tried to do that with my space station, It put them directly on top of each other and blew them up. How do I go about this?

In orbit parameters, shift LPE by ±120 (degrees). Do note that setting e.g. +120 degrees there will set that satellite IN FRONT of that at 0 degrees orbit-wise (if order is important)

Edited September 18, 2018 by NHunter

[Vexillar]

Or you can do it longhand... it's not so difficult once you figure it out.

First, you'll need to work out the Pe and Ap for a resonant orbit (either do the maths yourself, or use the mods suggested by @Geonovast).

Once you've got your carrier ship in that orbit, wait for Pe (1 to 1 1/3 resonance) or Ap (1 to 2/3 resonance) , release the first satellite, switch to it and accelerate/brake it into the correct circular orbit.  You will need very precise thrust control (use thrust limiter at .5% if necessary).  Then repeat for the other two satellites.

Pictures in this imgur album of when I did this for the Terminus challenge: https://imgur.com/a/tNe989I (starts about halfway through).

Happy circularisations  

Edited September 18, 2018 by Vexillar

[Gargamel]

8 hours ago, NHunter said:

In orbit parameters, shift LPE by ±120 (degrees). Do note that setting e.g. +120 degrees there will set that satellite IN FRONT of that at 0 degrees orbit-wise (if order is important) 

I think this is what the OP is kinda asking for.  If you mouse over the parameter, it will give a brief description of each so you can figure out what each does.    Launch your deployment vessel to the intended orbital height, deploy the first satellite, and adjust it's position, and repeat for the rest. 

BUT...

8 hours ago, Vexillar said:

Or you can do it longhand... it's not so difficult once you figure it out.

First, you'll need to work out the Pe and Ap for a resonant orbit (either do the maths yourself, or use the mods suggested by @Geonovast).

Once you've got your carrier ship in that orbit, wait for Pe (1 to 1 1/3 resonance) or Ap (1 to 2/3 resonance) , release the first satellite, switch to it and accelerate/brake it into the correct circular orbit.  You will need very precise thrust control (use thrust limiter at .5% if necessary).  Then repeat for the other two satellites.

Pictures in this imgur album of when I did this for the Terminus challenge: https://imgur.com/a/tNe989I (starts about halfway through).

Happy circularisations  

Do this, and get your satellites close enough to where you feel a sense of accomplishment in pretty much getting the satellites about where you want them, then imagine junior engineers are in charge of fine tuning the orbits (I hate fine tuning stuff like this), and use HE to tweak the three orbits to exactly where they need to be so you don't have to manually station keep every so often, only rarely. 

 

If you want a stock option, the first mod listed up there was originally a stand alone web site: Resonant Orbit Calculator (Kerbal Space Program)

 

Edited September 19, 2018 by Gargamel

[Tacombel]

I still quite don't understand how it works, but what I do, for example for a circular equatorial orbit above  Kerbin, is:

Semi-major axis: 1600000

Argument of periapsis: Satellite A-0, Satellite B-120, Satellite C-240

The other five variables: 0

 

[Aeroboi]

@CjStaal I hope you understand that these orbits will slightly drift due to patched conics calculations errors as you play over time and that these orbits wont persists.

Only a slight change in orbital period will drift the satellites apart over a relatively short time considering that some missions can take years and then you have to reposition them again. Therefore it is much better to launch many more satellites for global coverage then to have a few in geostationary orbit.

Just my two cents.

  

[Vexillar]

12 hours ago, Gargamel said:

Do this, and get your satellites close enough to where you feel a sense of accomplishment in pretty much getting the satellites about where you want them, then imagine junior engineers are in charge of fine tuning the orbits (I hate fine tuning stuff like this), and use HE to tweak the three orbits to exactly where they need to be so you don't have to manually station keep every so often, only rarely.

You have it spot on, @Gargamel!  One of the beauties of the game is a player can choose how much of the flying to do.  If tweaking an orbit to the last meter gives you pleasure, then great.  If it's tedious (especially if you've done it a few dozen times already), then automate or edit as much as isn't fun any more.

Spoiler

And even for those who avoid mods, there's always your favourite text editor and the save files - but - as always - take a backup first.  "File safe", to mangle a well-known tag line.

2 minutes ago, Aeroboi said:

these orbits will slightly drift due to patched conics calculations ... over time

This is true also - the mechanics may not model gravitational irregularities in the planets, high atmospheric drag (above the Kerman line) or solar winds, but even a meter-perfect orbital alignment will drift eventually.  If you have fuel available in your satellites, you can adjust the orbits in-game, or again go in and edit the parameters as you please.

[Dafni]

12 hours ago, Gargamel said:

 

If you want a stock option, the first mod listed up there was originally a stand alone web site: Resonant Orbit Calculator (Kerbal Space Program)

 

That tool is super helpful, thanks for posting.