Stock KSP - How to determine "Longitude of Ascending Node"

[zhollett]

I'm looking for pointers here so post if you know any way to do this in the stock game.

I have a contract to "Position satellite in a polar orbit of Kerbin"

Now, the particulars of this contract are as follows:

Apoapsis: 5,514,888 meters

Periapsis: 5,239,611 meters

Inclination: 90 degrees

Longitude of Ascending Node: 267.9 degrees

Argument of Periapsis: Undefined

My question relates directly to the bolded criteria above, the "Longitude of Ascending Node"

I understand that the "Longitude of Ascending Node" is the Longitude of the orbit around Kerbin where I pass the plane going towards "Up" (correct me if I'm wrong).

In orbits that are more flat (not more polar, but more equatorial) its easy to match my orbit by going into map mode and then burning at the appropriate time on the orbit to match the plane of the contracted orbit.. but that's extremely inefficient.

What I am asking is this:

How can I determine exactly when to launch and the direction to launch in so that my initial orbit is on the proper "Longitude of Ascending Node"?

I'd really like to get this down proper so that I dont have to constantly correct by hundreds of m/s just to match up after I'm already in orbit. I would like to be able to *From the Launchpad* launch at a particular time and point myself in a particular direction so that when I reach my initial 100km orbit (or thereabouts) be very close to the angle I need.

Thanks very much for reading and I look forward to your responses.

Z

Edited April 30, 2015 by zhollett

[Alshain]

That is a hold over from FinePrint, which relied on other mods to show that information. When it was integrated into stock they made it a little more tolerant, so all you really have to do is put your satellite in a position that the little orbit lines look like that match up. It will clear quite quickly without needing to worry about really any numbers at all, you really don't even need to look at Ap, Pe, or Inclination, you can do it entirely by sight. Just make sure you are orbiting in the right direction, the little moving indicators tell you which way you should be traveling. One of the most common mistakes is to launch into an equatorial orbit only to find out it should be a retrograde equatorial orbit.

[zhollett]

Ok, thats good information, and I get it, but it still doesn't really answer my initial question (unless your answer is "just eyeball it").

What I am doing now to launch in the proper direction is place my craft on the launch pad, and then go into map mode and ffwd time until my craft is roughly lined up with the orbit of the contract, then launch and try to keep my degrees roughly matched up. That works, but I was wondering if there was some more scientific way of grabbing the longitude numbers instead of said method above

Thanks for your answer by the way, its greatly appreciated.

*** EDIT ***

Just did one by the "eyeball" method, and it works

I wish there was a stock readout to tell me where I was on the orbital numbers though.

Edited April 29, 2015 by zhollett

[MacroNova]

Kerbal Engineer Redux will give you this information. I play with KER, but I just eyeball my satellite contracts like you just described. Once you realize that you need to wait until Kerbin rotates so that the launchpad is underneath the contract orbit, you're golden.