How do I rondevous

[jake9039]

I am still a noob, as a lot of people may see, and get ahead of myself attempting to immitate the pros. but I want to learn how to rondevous and dock. I know I can, but how? I have used mechjeb before, but I don't like it. and also, docking is confusing, as well as landing.

Edited February 28, 2015 by jake9039

[GoatRider]

I used MechJeb, and watched what it did and learned, then tried it myself. Once I knew I could, I went back to using MechJeb.

[mudkest]

Mechjeb is nice to watch and learn form yes, see how it sets up maneuver nodes and try to figure out why it does it like that.

Best way to learn is to simply do it.

Launch a target ship in a round 200km orbit(Ap and Pe with no more then 2-3km difference, the close the better)

launch a new ship to a 130km round orbit

set target vessel as your target

match your inclination orbit

- burn normal at DN or anti-normal at AN, make a maneuver node so you know what way to burn, then execute. Easiest way i found to do it is set up a maneuver node so I can see what way to burn, then delete the node and burn my engines a bit before the AN/DN, depending how much I have to change. If you burn a bit early you will "push" the an/dn away form your vessel so you cut your engines and trust a little bit when you get closer again, getting closer and with less trust each time you can get the an/dn to 0.1% quite easy. mod like MJ or engineer redux helps without having to look at map and mouse over the AN/DN

when your orbit is matched check your orbit to see if it is still nearly circular, if it's not make it circular again

Set up a maneuver node a few minutes ahead and then adjust your Ap to 200km and check teh closest approach markers, then change your maneuver node by dragging it forward(or with precise node or mechjeb) till your closest approach is within 1km. Precise node mod is very useful here to fine-tune your maneuver nod and you can easily get a 50-100m closest approach

once you have your node set up, execute it as precisely as you can. After it you can still fine tune your closest approach by making a new maneuver node about a quarter of an orbit before rendezvous and tweaking it a bit, should take only a few m/s change(combination of pro/retrograde and radial in/out. shouldn't take much normal as you already matched planes before)

set up a new maneuver node at your closest approach and raise your Pe to 200km and try to overlap your new orbit as much with your targets orbit, when you execute it make sure your navball shows your velocity compared to your target and execute your maneuver burn and check your target velocity as well, when you see that is increasing(should be around 5-10m/s) cut your engine, at this point you can switch to docking mode and use your rcs to get to your target

For docking I suggest Docking port alignment mod. Docking is a pain without it

Edited February 27, 2015 by mudkest

[Reactordrone]

The important thing to remember is the difference in orbital periods at different heights. If you're lower than the target you'll orbit in less time and catch up, if you're higher your orbit will take longer and the target will catch up to you. You'll want your orbit touching the target orbit at one point (with matching inclination) with the rest of the orbit either inside or outside the target orbit (to catch up or slow down). If you set the orbits fairly close you'll be able to observe how the distance to target changes with each orbit. If you set up a slow closure rate you'll get a close approach but it will take a long time so a higher closure rate is usually preferred. Once the projected target position overshoots you, you can apply a small prograde or retrograde burn to dial the projected target position back to get a very close approach and on the next orbit you can kill the majority of your speed relative to the target (which should be fairly low at this point) and set up for docking.

[Taki117]

[moronwrocket]

What I do is create a maneuver node to get the encounter pips to show up, then right-click the center of the maneuver node (the white circle) to cause the "prev" and "next" orbit indicators to show up. Hit next until the pips are closest together, then scrub the node back and forth adjusting the prograde amount until the pips are <8km at least, <3km preferred. Then setup an alarm, and off you go. Recommend lowering your engine throttle to help prevent overshoot on the node. I use RemoteTech2's flight computer to do the actual node burn.

For more details, see the wiki:

http://wiki.kerbalspaceprogram.com/wiki/Tutorial:Orbital_Rendezvous

[jake9039]

thank you