RangerDanger75

Whoops! I was using my altitude for the calculation instead of my SMA. I hate making silly mistakes. Thanks for the extra set of eyes!

Ok I just read through the past 10 pages and didn't find any problems completely similar to mine. I'm using remote tech 2 (v1.4.0) with x64 KSP (v0.24) and I set up a quick 3 satellite network at an altitude of 1000km with the omnidirectional antenna that have a range of 2.5Mm. The satellites will connect with mission control, but not with each other. They are all within range of each other (~1.8Mm) and they can all see each other (I checked with the directional dishes).

I ended up hacking together some code to pull the data and create raw alarms in the alarm .txt All of that sounds very promising too, can't wait to see what comes out of this.

Is there anyway to import a large amount of UT dates? i.e. Launch dates for interplanetary transfers http://www.eiden.fi/ksp/phaseangle-Kerbin-Dres.txt

On the contrary, Oberth Effect states that rockets can do work more efficiently at higher velocities. This is why some satellites/rockets will do burns through gravity slingshots around planets/moons.

Damn I could teach someone all about the moon landings with these!

Something I learned the hard way was to keep adjusting your heading as you do your inclination change burn. Your orbital velocity should stay the same and your apoapsis and periapsis should as well.

I wouldn\'t really call it a failure, but it\'s always disappointing whenever my satellite constellations start to deteriorate. Especially since I put so much effort into them.

That\'s pretty interesting. I usually do the opposite, so my debris will just blow up. Not quite the same IRL =P

My two cents if you\'re still confused. A regular orbit looks just like a circle around the planet. Well you can also have elliptical orbits (which are just elongated circles). If you look at that curve, it\'s just a little less than half of an elliptical orbit. If Mars weren\'t there then the curve would keep going around until it reached it\'s starting point again.

Thanks to Maltesh, I just learned all about Kepler\'s third law! For those interested http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Semi-major_axis#Orbital_period

3 Sustains: [list type=decimal] [li]I like the pictures to go with the instructions[/li] [li]I like the '10 Steps,' easy for the average Joe to follow[/li] [li]Good enthusiasm[/li] 3 Improves [list type=decimal] [li]Attention to detail, you 10 step plan is actually 9 steps[/li] [li]Your instructions were a little vague at points. For instance, it took me a few read-throughs and prior experience to understand steps 2-4[/li] [li]Don\'t be afraid to write more. The old adage, 'a picture is worth a thousand words,' is not necessarily true in this case. Explaining what you are doing and why you are doing it gives noobs more opportunites and a better chance to understand what is happening[/li] I would give it a low B (if you\'re familiar with the American school system).

How did you take into account the fact that the velocity wouldn\'t be constant in an elliptical orbit as opposed to the constant velocity of a circular orbit?

Pluto\'s way, although inefficient, is still perfectly valid. You do not need a 100x100km orbit to get to the Mun. In fact, if you really wanted to, you could have a 75 x 86 000km orbit and just wait around till your path intersects with the Mun. Again, not efficient, but it gets the job done. This is KSP though, efficiency is for chumps! ;P

My god, that is brilliant! I don\'t know why I\'ve never thought of that. The only problem I see is not being able to perform any corrections once the satellites have been deployed for a while.

That is one hell of a calculator! Unfortunately, bumping things up to an n-body system would be loads more complicated for PhysX and the Unity engine. Not to mention how much it would complicate the code.

The only problem with this is that if you have a bunch of debris, going to the tracking station, loading a flight scene, switching to debris, and ending the flight over and over again can be time consuming. Particularly if you have a slower computer like me. A cluttered Kerbin doesn\'t generally bother me, and when it does start to bother me, I just make rockets that don\'t leave debris in orbit.

For a satellite that points at Kerbin or a moon, try the mapping plugin.

I had this problem while I was trying to set up some satellite constellations of my own. The reason you\'re numbers are off is because you aren\'t taking the rotation of Kerbin into consideration. I\'m guessing it takes about 20 min for the satellite to go from the launch pad to the desired orbit? Here\'s what I would do if you\'re not against using MechJeb or another plugin that gives you latitude and longitude. Assuming it takes 20 minutes to get into orbit, find the change in longitude a satellite at 450km travels in 20 minutes. Next, launch a satellite into the 450km orbit, noting the longitude of the 450km transfer orbit apoapsis once you reach it. Finally, note the the longitude of the KSC and you\'ll have all the numbers you need to figure it out. In order to figure out when to launch here\'s the formula you\'ll need: SATorbit,initial = KSClong + delta-SATyou - (delta-SATorbit + 120o) Where, KSC = Longitude of KSC delta-SATyou = change in longitude between launch pad and 450km apoapsis delta-SATorbit = change in longitude of the satellite already in orbit SATorbit,initial = longitude the satellite in orbit should be at in order to achieve a 120o lead on it Boring Explanation/Derivation: In order to solve this, you want your final position to equal the orbiting satellite\'s final position + 120o SATyou,final = SATorbit,final + 120 All your final position is, is KSC\'s longitude + your change in longitude SATyou,final = KSClong + delta-SATyou And the orbiting satellite\'s final position equals it\'s initial position + it\'s change in longitude SATorbit,final = SATorbit,initial + delta-SATorbit Calling back on the first equation and substituting some equations... SATyou,final = SATorbit,final + 120o KSClong + delta-SATyou = SATorbit,initial + delta-SATorbit + 120o Solving for the initial position of the orbiting satellite SATorbit,initial = KSClong + delta-SATyou - (delta-SATorbit + 120o) Easy as that! P.S. Make sure you obtain all these values using the exact same craft, otherwise you\'ll get up to orbit at different times which will throw the whole thing off! And please let me know if anything isn\'t clear. It\'s easy to forget how difficult this can be to grasp.

With stock parts? I\'m not sure that you can. Try searching for 'submarine'

For example I would type out cd C:\Users\Devin\Documents\My Games\KSP_win\isa_RAM_Mapper Then hit enter Then I would type out isa_RAM_MapGen.exe Argument1 Argument2 With Argument1, Argument2, and so on being some combination of the MapGen arguments from the 1st page. Then just hit enter again and it should take a little bit for the program to run through all the data. I takes my laptop around 40 seconds to run through a 90mb file.

Whoops, didn\'t think to zip it ???. Does the plugin write commas instead of semicolons now? I must have missed an update!

I\'m gonna dump a .csv in here that has nearly the entire Kerbin Planet mapped, in case anyone is still collecting data. THe file is pretty big, ~90mb. Had to upload to dropbox because of the 5000kb limit. http://dl.dropbox.com/u/45083137/isa_RAM_Kerbin_Data.csv Also here\'s a image of what I\'ve got so far.

Do the spent stages explode when they hit the ground? My experience has always been that one parachute isn\'t enough to keep them from having a rough landing. Well even though Cezary upstage me (darn you!), I\'ll still post my constellation of four KSO satellites. I went with four because I wanted a spare, redundant satellite and it also provides overlapping coverage which is bueno. Slideshow time! Here\'s the tracking station view. The naming convention I used was [li]comsat - for the satellite plugin)[/li] [li]KSO - KerboStationary Orbit[/li] [li] 27 - approximate longitude of KSC, which is what I based much of my 4 flight plans off of[/li] [li] + or - 0/90/180 - this was the position of the satellite in KSO with respect to KSC\'s longitude[/li] The craft that brought the satellite\'s into orbit. It carries just enough fuel to deorbit once it reaches a stable KSO. You can see MechJeb on the capsule as well as AR202 on the side. Automating most of the flight was much more manageable. (I don\'t know how you do it Cezary ???) comsat_KSO_27+0; Longitude 27.473320 directly over KSC comsat_KSO_27+90; Longitude 117.654174 90 degrees positive from KSC comsat_KSO_27-180; Longitude -152.420671 180 degrees from KSC comsat_KSO_27-90; Longitude 60.669580 90 degrees negative from KSC, also the on that is furthest away from where I wanted it by a whole 2 degrees

Lol precisely like that, I am but a lowly noob