ColKlonk

Try looking at Aeronautical (Mechanical) Engineering, Orbital mechanics is covered in Applied Maths/Maths courses, which would be done if you're doing Physics(Astronomy) or a Mechanical Engineering. Aeronautics would place you better in the Space industry. Get hold of any Uni Engineering/Physics Dept. Prospectus ( a guide to their courses and requirements). You should be able to choose/adapt your courses to the specialisation you want. If not do a course covering the main subjects and do the outstanding courses as extras - (hard study work but worth it).

The mind boggles :-)

Ja.. Brad would have to polish up his act !!

To me this sounds like the all to familiar 'management'/'expert' conflict. i suspect a developer coming into the company is shocked that the game actually works, and management don't care about this.. as usual. All they see is the bottom line.. which is OK, else the company would go under. The poor developer is now under enormous pressure to try sort out the mess, being paid minimal wages.. the dev is soon not a happy chappy. Management still don't care about this.. ok maybe a little, but they've made promises like a politician and the public are waiting, with cash in hand. High staff turnover... resulting in no real cohesive, contiguous development plan.. and the wheels start falling off. Besides.. no-one at the office knows what going on.. but hey we show happy faces in the window... har har!! Squad will have to re-assess their strategy. If they don't get off level-1 soon, after so many bug infested re-iterations , someone will push a better working product onto the market, as mentioned !! The key feature about this whole scenario .. is the inability to recognise that it's near impossible to make multiplatform software bug-free. This was proven decades ago, but naivety reigns supreme here and it's about a history lesson ignored to squads own peril. What seemed to promise multi-platform utopia, has resulted in the code-devil in disguise - learn the hard way, neh!!

Sounds like they've learn't from NASA wrt to the moon story...

No ways..!! a one way trip would be better... one less scam artist to deal with

He fought from Abyssinia, through North Africa to Northern Italy.. all 6 years of it. Foot soldier, tank gunner, ended up as tank commander (field commission). Closest call was when a sniper got his friend sitting next to him. Never talked about the war, but you'll see him reliving it, year after year, as he spent hours, sitting in dead silence, on the front porch of the house. RIP

Backyard this morning.. like every morning..

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=THNPmhBl-8I

You can get those rollers with spikes (maybe hire it). Compacting it might create a 'clay' layer which will 'drown' the lawn My lawn is a wierd one.. For 2-3 years it's perfect.. then it just dies within 3 months ??. The only solution to this is the humble little mole.. they come in and churn up the garden = aerating it. I then just redistribute the 'mountains' of soil... and viola the grass is back so thick and green. It does get a bit lumpy.. but rather that than beach sand.

Wait to you see MSoft's superior girl... she's a real character.

Argument of Pe, is the angle from the Ascending node (the point where the ship rises above the equatorial plane - Earth/Kerbin or any round object in space ) to the Periapsis point. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Argument_of_periapsis It helps identify the rotation angle of the orbit. Apoapsis will be on the opposite side

Ah.. Steam... Yes..how I'd like to give that setup an Ice Age. Not one of my fav networks !!

Thanks.. I just found it..

Tried a search but I seem to be going around in circles... Is there a City Lights main.dds file for RSS lying around. I noticed that on the main.dds alpha channel the cities are of Kerbin... Which explains why there were cities in the North Atlantic

Added notes: Besides RCS thrusters, the ship has all those 'generic' thrusters dotted around on the frame. Each thruster has an Action Group assigned to it, enabling better control of the thrust forces - We're shunting 50 tons of metal around !!. One doesn't see it much in the above video but these thrusters are switching on/off to keep the ship aligned on prograde, when doing LAN/INC alignments. It's a primitive version of the Throttle Controlled Avionic mod (IIRC), as it has to perform under KOS.. but it works sufficiently well for this purpose. For the KOS Devs... I'm not sure whether it's KOS or Action Groups, but sometimes some of the engines do not switch off. I've implemented different switching off sequences (ie: Throttle=1, AG(xx) engine off, Throttle=0 OR , Throttle=0, AG(xx) engine off ). It happens intermittently... so it's a bugger to track ? I always put a Wait 0.001 delay after every Action Group I'll try some direct switching from KOS next, instead of using AGs.

Here's the ISS core been put into orbit at an exact Inclination and LAN, with an accuracy of 0.001 degrees (+- 120m at 400Km) It's recorded at 1x FPS, and compressed to 3000x for playback... so it moves fast (don't blink ) https://www.dropbox.com/s/ynpara6c9av2ebq/ISS_Core.mp4?dl=0 (64MB = 03:45) The core part launches from South America, goes north and performs all it maneuvers at the Poles and Equator. The code can easily be adjusted for lower inclinations - I just used an inclination of 90, just to be difficult The idea was to align the Apsides on the poles, but they're slightly off.. this is not a problem for the upcoming ships that will work on the 'target' apsides after reaching 'polar' parking orbit. The code can be further refined to make allowances for these offsets, but I don't want to waste too much time on KSP - have other things to do. Maybe much later... when I'm bored. I've had to redo the code for Stage-4, and have placed each stage code in modular format. Launch to first circular orbit involves Stages 1-3. Stage-4 the Core module boosts to 400km and aligns at the same time. The following docking modules will raise their orbits to 220km parking orbit and align. Stage-5 (nearly finished), The core module 'sits tight', while the joining modules will execute Rendezvous routes. Stage-6 (the plan.. is to make a plan), The core module activates to prograde, and the joining module will be within 5 km, travel to 200m off the target docking port, align, then approach for docking. I'll post the code once I've dolly'ed it up..

Can't believe how well this works.. it's too good to be true !! At north pole on start of first maneuver.. Again north pole on final maneuver... Took one orbit to align - this depends on how far off you are at the start. Program ends at this point. At this point the ship would be directly under the target plus/minus a maximum of 500m at rendezvous. From here the Rendezvous phase would start - have the method already, just need to type it in Will post this phase code once cleaned up. PHASE 1+2 CODE:- https://www.dropbox.com/s/52zlh771s3e6jn0/Cols_KosMod_P2.zip?dl=0 Video LAN/INC locks :- https://www.dropbox.com/s/vbap5mpfrskp5uo/Phase-2.mp4?dl=0 Video fast forward sections.. from end of Stage-3 to final lock at 3/4 of an orbit.

Sorry Bob.. maybe I take things for granted.. but this post makes me smile... a lot. :-) Welcome to the annoying world of KSP.

Down to testing the LAN and INC Locking mechanism... it's on the right track, but the thrusters are a bit weak - I'll have to add more 'power'. Approaching South Pole Note LAN and INC Correct 'engines' firing to correct LAN in this case LAN has changed.. too little so we need to put more thrusters on board

Here's 'Phase-1'.. (of 4 ) It's not perfect... but consistently gives the same results plus/minus small errors (ahh life... ) A slight number problem here and there.. but this is a cosmetic problem and doesn't effect final results. Video: https://youtu.be/o2mY9KYmtRo DropBox version (better resolution) https://www.dropbox.com/s/5j69bj46h42x0nt/Phase-1.mp4?dl=0 Code: https://www.dropbox.com/s/7um2z0urrj0fsg2/Cols_KosMod_P1.zip?dl=0 The basic functionality of this phase: - Find target (if exists - or use defaults) parameters and calculate Launch Time, Launch Angle/Course. Wait for launch time. - Stage-1 takes the rocket to approx 110 Km altitude, controls Roll Maneuver, Pitch Angle, SRB separation , Fairing Separation. Most actions are done via Action Groups which are grouped into sections (number ranges) that are unique to a particular stage. This enables modular construction (as well as programming) without having to re-invent new AG or Module groups. - Stage-2 places the rocket about 20m/s short of orbit Delta-V at an altitude of approx 200 Km. This is the stage that controls the Target Inclination Lock, and both LAN and INC lock are brought within RCS correction range. Cooked controls are used throughout as it's easier, and would like to get the automated docking done first before venturing into PID loops. I have made a numerical PID loop but needs more work to 'keep it calm'... this will be applied later - but there is always the problem with KOS's instruction rate wrt KSP. Will it be enough for effective control in the launch stages ? The next phase will be posted when done . . might take a while as busy with RL

Very nooice Also to give it a 'real' feel is to have a TV monitor that relays on-board camera pictures - working together with remote tech.

No problem - It'll be all up for grabs when done. I'm just having a problem switching some motors off via Active Groups, I'm not sure whether it's KOS or AGX but am trying different ship configs as it's messing up my control system. The biggest problem is working out how KOS and KSP interact - takes time and documentation is mostly vague at best.. and shyte the same engine hasn't switched off again (running tests while browsing/typing ) It's not the code as I switch it off 3x to prove a point to myself here - I'll set it to another AGX number. Anyway this is what I'm getting... the Inclination lock is mostly less than 0.003 and the LAN lock is coming on nicely. Inclination lock should be true.. but as said... working out what KOS is up to !! Once both LAN and INC lock are achieved then the race for rendezvous starts as the ship climbs to target altitude. edt: Ignore my stupidity.. I'm such a dickhead.. found the problem... The code needs cleaning up and what I'll do is post the stages, as the whole sequence is in 4 stages.. Circular orbit, LAN/INC locks, Rendezvous, Final approach and dock.

The objective is to launch an ISS into Polar orbit, then automatically construct a big space station without any green people After much fidgeting of parameters to the basic launch system... nirvana is achieved, with no changes to original launch algorithm. A target inclination of 90 (Polar) set, and orf it goes.. This pic depicts a few minutes after second stage separation ( as it follows a lower.faster orbit ) plus as 1 second boost to separate payload from 2nd stage. The KOS CPU has guided the craft to a 89.998 degree polar course... not bad for this launch.. but it's not consistent, and can vary wildly. What's important is that it can keep the error within 0.01 degrees which is easily correctable with RCS, enabling docking procedures.

Enhanced Navball Mod.. Bit old but still works with V1.5 http://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/index.php?/topic/46454-10-enhanced-navball-13/