GungaDin

I took a job recently to park a satellite in particular orbit. As you can see I have met all of the requirements except the Ascending node. The orange line here is related to the job. The blue line is my satellite. The ascending nod of the orange line is 0. I don't appear to have an ascending node since I don't have a target so I'm not sure what to do here. My inclination has to stay at around 1 so how can I play with my ascending node without changing my inclination? If anyone is familiar with this mission I would appreciate any help.

Thanks you all. Too late to catch my probe and install new equipment but I will upgrade my ground station and hope to get it to phone home again.

So far I have not given any careful attention to communication but now I have to. I designed a probe using a stayputnik and some other parts along with 2 HG5 high gain antenni and some cheap solar panels and sent it into orbit around the moon. there it did some experiments and transmitted them back to Earth. It was so successful that I decided to keep going and try to reach a nearby asteroid called Ryugu. About half way there I checked up on my probe and found that it was not in communication any more (communication line is red) even though it still has plenty of electricity and the antenna are still deployed. Any notion of why I lost touch. Also I still have control of the craft which I don't understand since I shouldn't be able to send command... Any ideas on this? Thanks.

I've looked around the webs but have not found a user generated list or forum topic that covers a KSP reading list. I'm an avid reader of early space history which would be one category to share but another would be readable books on orbital mechanics. I l'll start a thread myself here if one does not exist but I didn't want to be duplicatory... Danke.

Interesting. I tried holding the shift key but that's the throttle! I'll try the mouse wheel tonight. I'm making progress though! Got within 200 M last night and then - guess what! I ran out of electricity and could only maneuver with engines thrusting. I'll slap on some solar panels and try again tonight.

Thanks to all of you. Great stuff - I'm off to try it but here a few follow up questions... 1 - When in target mode the Nav Ball shows relative speed but does not indicate if I am closing or parting. Am I missing something or do you have to determine that on the fly by seeing if the distance is changing? 2 - You all seem to be able to get your intercept points to within a few K but my problem is that the slightest twitch of my hand moves them by quite a lot. Again am I doing it wrong is is this just a matter practice?

Sure but how does the craft fly itself??

This seems to be the big hurdle in space travel and I have not managed it yet. If someone can recommend a good document or video I would appreciate it. I've seen Scott Manlys and some others but they are frustrating to watch and sometimes run right past where the detail is that you need. I can navigate close to my target, like within 10 clicks, but after that I panic and go all wonky. I would PAY for a pause button with this sim like EVERY OTHER sim I've ever played or heard of!!! Has anyone ever learned why KSP does not have that feature? In my glorious sim career I have torpedoed the Yamato and lander a Viper with the HUD blown out but I would never have learned what was going in without being able to pause and see things from different angles. Anyway. End of Rant... Anyway when I'm under 10K and closing on my target I get disoriented. It's not just the whacky Newtonian physics when in orbit but the disorientation of direction and the poor camera controls. Any help in the way of references would be appreciated. I refuse to give up.

Thanks guys. I did put a faring on and it looks sweet! Even if it has no effect on my physics I'm keeping it. I'm big on aesthetics for a rocketeer...

I have an AEFF1.5 and an AEFF1 but how do you mount them? I tried dropping them over the stayputnik but they don't seem to stick.

In order to test my interplanetary navigation without risking Kerbils I have managed to build a stayputnik probe complete with solar cells, communication gear and that wheel control thingie. it works! But I just stuck it on top of a rocket with no shroud. It makes it out of the atmosphere OK but just looks weird sitting there like an apple on a stick. Can someone suggest a shroud part that would cover it and tell me how to mount it and eject the shroud? Thanks.

You guys are great. I hope that SQUAD understands that there is no way this simulation would be popular without an active community to learn, teach and mod.

OK guys thanks much. Just one more question then - I think you've outlined 3 different ways to control my ship's movements in orbit : 1- the rear engine on a swivel using mixed fuels 2 - the rcs thrusters using mono propellant 3 - the reaction wheel using electricity My final question is this. With SOME ships I have been able to slowly turn and maneuver (Fr) using only my rear engine while the engine is not firing! Am I hallucinating or is this possible in KSP?

OK comrades - the next step for me is to dock. I've got this baby into a nice flat 280K orbit now. The orange tanks are pretty much spent but I have 2 stages of liquid fuel left plus 90 mono propellant for close control. here are my questions: 1 - Before I even turn on my RCS system I am able to control my attitude using the swivel of my main thruster. It's awkward and slow but it works...sort of. Some engines seem to be able to turn slowly even when they are not engaged and some do not. Why is that? For instance the last two stages here use the swivel engine and sometimes, again even with zero thrust, the ship seems to respond to my maneuvers and sometimes it does not. Any idea why that would be true? 2 - I'll study up on RCS but the first thing I noticed is that even when I just turn on the RCS system they start to fire and maneuver and use up my mono propellant... why is that? 3 - Finally how did we get suck with these hard to spell French space words like "maneuver" and "rendezvous"?

Well I have tried this but if all I have is my big rear engine then the only way to slow down is to spin around 180 right? And to adjust left right swing 90 degrees each time... or am i missing something?

OK I get it now. I'm assuming that I come it at the same altitude and I'm close and relative speed low then I can 'wing' it. I did install a "docking port alignment" mod to help with this so I'll give it a go tonight. Thanks to all.

I'm at the point in my career where I can maneuver myself into a rendezvous but have not yet tried to dock. I just managed to squeeze out enough science to get RCS thrusters which I imagine are vital to docking. Anyway here is my question: If I have gotten close to my target and my closing rate is minimal or zero, can I forget that I am in orbit with my target and just treat it as if we were floating weightless? In other words is there a difference between docking in completely free space as opposed to docking in low Earth orbit? If I start to apply thrust and creep forward do I need to worry about rising up as a result of my speed increase or is that so minimal that can ignore it?

I'm in a career game and haven't earned the science yet.

I guess I could start with multiple batteries and do my transmission as soon as I get to orbit. Is there a special place to hook up batteries or are they live as long as I store them somewhere? Нет, сэр. Что это делает?

Up until now I have paid no attention to my electrical systems. I'm at the point now where I'm trying to transmit science data back home and I keep finding that I have no damn electrical charge left. I tried installing a rechargeable battery in a storage bay but that didn't help. I'm guessing that I will need a solar panel but I'm surprised that I have no charge left if I've only been off the pad for a few minutes. Thanks for any help comrades.

I have multiple instances of KSP installed and I'm enjoying a modified (KSRSS) career game right now. I also have installed the new Moar Boosters 1.8 version. Is there nay way to import the new parts from 1.8 into my 1.73? Thanks.

Sweet! Thanks. So I'm learning this in phases and the phase I'm on now is rendezvous and docking. For that I guess I can keep launching at 90 and just ignore the fact that the earth is spinning below me. But I will need to keep in mind that if I intend to head moonward and marsward I will need to establish equitorial orbits at that point. I guess if I'm really careful I could time it just right and intercept a planet but at the wrong angle.... Anyway do you folks know of any good, readable books on orbital mechanics?

Thanks Street - makes sense. Actually I'm playing a career in KSRSS so I can afford to be pretty wasteful but I'm still surprised at the limitations imposed on a northerly space base. Baikonur is at 45 so I'm surprised they can manage that. How the hell do the Ruskies get satellites into stationary orbits! Anyway now I know why the Europeans use a South American launch site.

I'm in a career game where I am launching from my secret lair in Northwestern China at about 45% longitude. When I launch I head due East and end up with an inclined orbit. I'm wondering what the most efficient path is to follow if my ultimate desire is to end up with an equatorial orbit? (This also makes me wonder how folks in Northern cities get satellite service from a stationary orbit when the earth keeps turning around below the satellite....?) I.e. how do you park a satellite above Reykjavik?

My capabilities have reached a point where I can orbit and return with no problems. However, when I bring along an SC-9001 Science Jr. or an Mk1 Crew Cabin it overheats and blows up on re-entry even when I slap a heat shield on it. Am I coming in at the wrong angle or is there another trick? Thanks.