Incline an orbit to overfly a specific location

[grimlock14]

Is there a good stock way to adjust  and orbit so that it passed over a particular, non-equatorial orbit?  I was trying to overfly a specific location for contract but I was having trouble.   The problem was that I would setup normal/antinormal burn to change my inclination and it would look good in the map but only from that point of view.  If I tilt the camera up or down with the arrow keys, my intended orbit is no longer above the target.  

[Snark]

It can sometimes be helpful to switch the map view so that it is focused on the planet itself, rather than on your ship. (You can do that by double clicking the planet.)

It makes it easier to see where the orbit is, relative to the surface, since the camera viewpoint isn't shifting as your ship moves.

You can tell whether the orbit passes above a given spot on the ground by rotating the map camera until you're looking at the orbit perfectly edge-on, so that it looks like a straight line passing through the planet's center. Any point on the surface that's under the line is under the orbit.

Edited January 16, 2016 by Snark

[steve_v]

You are centring your view on Kerbin (double-click), yes? not the craft you are flying? If so, I tend to line up the camera using the orbit itself, i.e. looking exactly side-on so that it appears as a single line - thus (mostly) avoiding parallax error, which I'm guessing is what you're seeing.

Ed. nevermind, ninjad.

Edited January 16, 2016 by steve_v

[Plusck]

If all else fails, drop a fake manouvre node on the orbit after the plane change, with a massive retrograde burn that drops you to the surface. Then at least you know for absolutely sure where the obit will take you. Don't forget to factor in the planet's rotation.

[Geschosskopf]

10 hours ago, grimlock14 said:

Is there a good stock way to adjust  and orbit so that it passed over a particular, non-equatorial orbit?  I was trying to overfly a specific location for contract but I was having trouble.   The problem was that I would setup normal/antinormal burn to change my inclination and it would look good in the map but only from that point of view.  If I tilt the camera up or down with the arrow keys, my intended orbit is no longer above the target.  

The highest/lowest latitudes you can fly over are the same as the inclination of your orbit.  IOW, if your orbit is inclined 30^, you will only fly over spots between 30^ N and 30^ S but not closer to the poles.  And if your obital period isn't an even multiple or fraction of the planet's day, then you'll eventually, over a number of orbits, fly over EVERY point of land within the band of latitude given by your inclination.  This is how mapping satellites work.  They get in polar orbits and let the planet rotate through it's day/night cycle under them, so that eventually they fly over every point.

So, the way to do contracts that require observations from space above a number of points on the ground is as follows:

1.  Incline your orbit enough.  If the contract spots are on Kerbin, eyeball the latitude of the point farthest north or south and launch with a bit more inclination that that.  If the contract is at Mun or some other planet, do a mid-course up/down burn en route so that when you arrive, your Pe will be above or below the planet's equator.  That way, when you capture, you'll be in an inclined orbit.  Just make the mid-course burn big enough to put your Pe at a high enough latitude at the target planet.

2.  Once in an orbit with the necessary inclination, adjust your altitude with burns and Ap and/or Pe so that you're flying at the altitude specified in the contract.  Odds are, this will NOT make a synchronous orbit so now you're assured of flying over all the contract points eventually.

3.  Watch and wait.  Each time your ship orbit's the planet, the planet will rotate under you somewhat, so that next time around you'll fly over a different strip of terrain than you did the previous orbit.  Eventually you'll see that you're about to fly over one of the contract spots.  Leave the map view and wait for the text to pop up saying you're "entering Jeb's Armpit" or whatever.  As soon as you see that text, hit an action group to trigger whatever type of experiment you need to do there (so naturally, it's a good idea to have the experiments set up on action groups ahead of time).  Then warp ahead however many orbits until the next contract spot comes along.  Repeat until all contract objectives are met.

[grimlock14]

Thanks