Orbital Mechanics 101 - A Kerbal Space Program Tutorial

[Johann]

I just get a screen saying the video is private on Youtube?

[MNKerboNaut]

I just get a screen saying the video is private on Youtube?

Ditto.

I've got some "stupid" questions to ask and I think those videos would answer all of them. Looking forward to viewing them.

Thank you!

[pebble_garden]

I've got some "stupid" questions to ask and I think those videos would answer all of them. Looking forward to viewing them.

Okay, try it now.

[HeadHunter67]

Thank you for these tutorials - they were VERY informative and really made the basic concepts pretty simple to grasp!

[justchad]

Hey, everyone! I've made a 15 minute tutorial on the basics of orbital mechanics. It's a visual, uncomplicated presentation designed to help non-technical people wrap their heads around orbital navigation. I hope it helps! I recommend watching it at 720p (the highest resolution available).

Orbital Mechanics 101 (HD) (v0.18.4, but still totally works with v0.20.2)

Here is my old v0.16 version. (I only include this out of historical interest.)

I've also made many other KSP tutorials. Mind you, I don't always demonstrate the best or most efficient methods. I just want to give newcomers a leg up, as simply and quickly as possible.

Oh, and I've scoured the internet for the very best Creative Commons music tracks to augment the visuals, complete with a track list and download information at the end of each video. I hope you enjoy the tunes!

Maneuver Nodes (HD) (v0.19.1) - A quick, 10-minute introduction to the use of maneuver nodes.

Maneuver Nodes

Take Me To The Mun (HD) (v0.19.1) - A simple approach to reaching the Mun, complete with rocket assembly instructions.

As a playlist

Part 1 - Rocket Construction

Part 2 - To The Mun

Part 3 - Home Again

Mission To Minmus (HD) (v0.18.4) - How to reach Minmus using a nuclear-powered Phoenix-variant.

As a playlist

Part 1 - Lander Construction

Part 2 - Launch Vehicle Construction

Part 3 - Launch to Orbit

Part 4 - Transfer and Landing

Part 5 - EVA

Part 6 - Return

The Phoenix Project (HD) (V0.18.4) - A series of lessons in orbital rendezvous and docking, under a variety of conditions.

As a playlist

Part 1 - Rocket Construction

Part 2 - Launch to Orbit

Part 3 - Rendezvous (direct intercept from launch)

Part 4 - Orbital Rendezvous

Part 5 - Challenging Rendezvous (eccentric, inclined orbit)

Mun Ferry (HD) (v0.18.4) - A complete mission played at 4x speed, showing the launch and operation of a Munar Ferry, to be based at Kerbin-orbiting station Gamma.

Without commentary

With commentary

Gamma to Delta (HD) (v0.18.4) - An orbital transfer flight from stations Gamma to Delta, orbiting at 100 and 200km respectively.

Gamma To Delta

The Goddard Problem (HD) (v0.18.4) - A visual demonstration of the effect of different throttle settings/ascent profiles, showing the impact of aerodynamic resistance, gravity, fuel expediture, etc.

The Goddard Problem

I removed links to some very old KSP videos that no longer apply, but the truly adventurous can find them on my channel.

wanted to say THANK YOU!! I've just watched the first vid and learned a LOT!

THanks again,

Chad

[Diche Bach]

Watched you Orbital Mechanics 101 and that is great stuff Pebblegarden! Do you have one that specifically focuse on how to land on Kerbin (in a rocket) at a specific spot?

[pebble_garden]

No, but there are some helpful tutorials on pinpoint landings here in the forums.

[pebble_garden]

I'm working on a few tutorials, as time permits. Which one would you like to see first?

1. Building a basic space station and getting it to 100km orbit, then flying an orbiter up to dock with it. (a moderate amount of work)

2. A v0.21.1 redo of my Phoenix Project, taking some of the new functionality into account, and some stuff I've learned since. (the most work)

3. A dirt-simple rocket and tutorial designed to get absolute beginners into orbit as easily as possible. (very short video, already captured, just need to edit it.)

I think the next big thing I will tackle is a Duna mission. No landing, just a flight to Duna and maybe a landing on Ike, then a return. Duna landing later.

[Diche Bach]

I'd find #1 or #2 edifying!

[HeadHunter67]

I'd love to see a video series on setting up a space station, and rendezvousing and docking with it. Perhaps even adding other modules to it in this way.

[pebble_garden]

I'd love to see a video series on setting up a space station, and rendezvousing and docking with it. Perhaps even adding other modules to it in this way.

Hmm. I'll consider that. Especially seeing as I've already done most of the actual hard work by creating the downloadable savegame for my 100km Rendezvous Challenge complete with station and orbiter.

[Kerolyov]

I'm working on a few tutorials, as time permits. Which one would you like to see first?

1. Building a basic space station and getting it to 100km orbit, then flying an orbiter up to dock with it. (a moderate amount of work)

2. A v0.21.1 redo of my Phoenix Project, taking some of the new functionality into account, and some stuff I've learned since. (the most work)

3. A dirt-simple rocket and tutorial designed to get absolute beginners into orbit as easily as possible. (very short video, already captured, just need to edit it.)

I think the next big thing I will tackle is a Duna mission. No landing, just a flight to Duna and maybe a landing on Ike, then a return. Duna landing later.

Great to see you back pebble_garden, I learnt the most from your tutorials than any other. Why not do the tutorials in order of difficulty, ie 3) then 1) and finally 2)?

Other ideas for tutorials are:- Rovers (building and landing), advanced space station (ie multi-part), stations around other planets and maybe bases. Would love to see a Laythe landing tutorial too.

What software do you use for your videos and is there any you'd recommend thats free or low cost to get started with making game youtube vids in windows? I'm thinking of doing a grand tour and making a video for each mission, but haven't any idea how to start!

[pebble_garden]

Great to see you back pebble_garden, I learnt the most from your tutorials than any other. Why not do the tutorials in order of difficulty, ie 3) then 1) and finally 2)?

Other ideas for tutorials are:- Rovers (building and landing), advanced space station (ie multi-part), stations around other planets and maybe bases. Would love to see a Laythe landing tutorial too.

What software do you use for your videos and is there any you'd recommend thats free or low cost to get started with making game youtube vids in windows? I'm thinking of doing a grand tour and making a video for each mission, but haven't any idea how to start!

Thanks! I'm glad my stuff helped. I probably will do the videos in order of difficulty, but inspiration and motivation plays a big part in it, too.

You know, I haven't done anything with rovers, really. I should. I have a little experience with stations, though, and I plan to do that. I've not done a lot of interplanetary exploration, so far I've been to Ike a couple of times, landed (but never returned) on Duna once, and sent a probe to Jool once. I need to get a lot more facile with that stuff before I can even think about *teaching* it to anyone. More specifically, I have to find ways to simplify the lesson. That's not easy, because doing that stuff is innately hard.

As far as software...Fraps is probably the best recorder out there, and it's really cheap. But you can also use Open Broadcast Software, which is free, though configuring it is a little less straightforward. Thankfully there are YouTube tutorials on that. As for editing, I just use Windows Life Movie Maker. It's not as powerful as Adobe After Effects or Sony Vegas, but I can put together a video on WLMM in a fraction of the time, and the restrictions force me to be creative and careful in my design choices. Give those a try, and I'll be happy to help you learn some of the ins and outs of the tools.

[Kerolyov]

Thanks! I'm glad my stuff helped. I probably will do the videos in order of difficulty, but inspiration and motivation plays a big part in it, too.

You know, I haven't done anything with rovers, really. I should. I have a little experience with stations, though, and I plan to do that. I've not done a lot of interplanetary exploration, so far I've been to Ike a couple of times, landed (but never returned) on Duna once, and sent a probe to Jool once. I need to get a lot more facile with that stuff before I can even think about *teaching* it to anyone. More specifically, I have to find ways to simplify the lesson. That's not easy, because doing that stuff is innately hard.

As far as software...Fraps is probably the best recorder out there, and it's really cheap. But you can also use Open Broadcast Software, which is free, though configuring it is a little less straightforward. Thankfully there are YouTube tutorials on that. As for editing, I just use Windows Life Movie Maker. It's not as powerful as Adobe After Effects or Sony Vegas, but I can put together a video on WLMM in a fraction of the time, and the restrictions force me to be creative and careful in my design choices. Give those a try, and I'll be happy to help you learn some of the ins and outs of the tools.

Thanks for the recording tips. I'll take a look at FRAPS and MovieMaker, also had a recommendation for VirtualDub and ezvid so I think its a case of playing around with them and seeing what works. Thanks for the offer of video mentoring!

Looks like I've done a bit more interplanetary stuff than you, but not by much, I've orbited Eve, and landed on Duna (drogue chutes make this much easier!) and Ike and returned and sent probes to Laythe, Eeloo and Moho. Moho caught me out big time using the delta V maps as they don't account for inclination and eccentricity and my probe came screaming in much faster than I expected taking more fuel to capture and ran out of fuel before I could circularize. Since then I've used Alex Moons planner http://alexmoon.github.io/ksp/ with more success.

Rovers yeah me too, not done much. Watched Scott Manleys tutorial on them recently and given me a few ideas, be great to have something to do other than a quick walk, flag and photo after flying Kerbals half-way across the solar system!

Anyway looking forward to more videos from you, if I get time I might try the docking challenge!

[Hallofo]

Awesome Vids Pebble, I too wish I'd found your guides sooner!

At least now I can see where I could use some improvements and practice.

As for your next set of guides, I'd ask for either a multi-part interplanetary ship, or a multi-part Mun base.

[pebble_garden]

Google is forcing YouTube members to join Google+ in order to see their channel inbox, or comment on videos. But I happen to hate Google+ and will never join it because I'm stubborn that way.

But it means my YouTube career is stalled. (sigh) I'm going to start moving my videos over to Daily Motion, and eventually change my links over. I've already copied Orbital Mech 101 over, and that seemed to go well.

More news as it develops.

[skylinkdave]

Your videos are immensely helpful, and I dig your music choices

A couple questions about "Take me to the Mun, part 2":

-How did you come up with the 10x power curve rule of thumb? (Hopefully not just trial and error )

-How do you control the throttle so finely?

-I love your method for jettisoning the extra lander tanks, it made me LOL...

Edited November 22, 2013 by skylinkdave

[pebble_garden]

I'm so glad you find my videos helpful! As for the music, it takes me longer to find just the right tunes than it does for me to edit the darned videos. Thank goodness for freemusicarchive and ccmixter!

As for your questions:

How did I devise the 10x Rule for landings/approaches? I stumbled onto it. I did a bunch of Mun landings and eventually noticed my approach speed in km/sec was about 10x my altitude in meters (for the landings I survived, that is). Eventually I started using it as a tool, and found it very handy.

Throttle control: I use very light taps on the keys to get that throttle control. It's just a lot of practice.

Spin-jettison: Yeah, the first time I flew that mission, I realized the separators had no kick to push the spent tanks away. I think I invented that spin technique right there, as I did it for the second time in that video.

[skylinkdave]

How did I devise the 10x Rule for landings/approaches? I stumbled onto it. I did a bunch of Mun landings and eventually noticed my approach speed in km/sec was about 10x my altitude in meters (for the landings I survived, that is). Eventually I started using it as a tool, and found it very handy.

Does it scale well for landing on other planets/moons?

[pebble_garden]

Does it scale well for landing on other planets/moons?

Remember it's just a tool/guideline, and you must adapt it for different situations. For example, a ship with higher delta-v can land on the Mun (or perform a rendezvous) with a 20x or 30x rule--meaning, a faster approach.

The most efficient landing or approach is the 'suicide burn', where you delay your burn until the last possible moment and then burn at full throttle, timed exactly so you reach zero speed at your destination. Calculating that time, however, requires some serious math, and there are threads devoted to it.

My 10x rule (or 20x or 30x, whatever you use) sacrifices efficiency for ease of calculating desired approach speed. It's something you can do in your head, and it gets the job done.

Yes, the rule works for other bodies...assuming you've designed a ship capable of landing on the body in question. It's a balance between available delta-v and gravitational strength.

Edited November 22, 2013 by pebble_garden

[SabreRedleg]

I've been watching these videos today and think they're great. I'm having a small problem though - Part 4 of the Minmus video stops at 4:45 every time I try to watch it. I doubt there's a problem with the video itself, but I've tried several times now and it always stops in the same spot, so I thought I'd ask if anyone else had a similar issue.

Edit: Nevermind, I got it to work.

Edited April 29, 2014 by SabreRedleg

[MoridinUK]

Love these, hate daily motions ads though...

[Helmseye]

I have played many hours of KSP but find orbits really hard

thank you for the simple step by step video

[tbarcello]

Great Mun landing right there. Will this kind of reentry work now for 1.04?

[iNVERTEDpLAZMA]

What is a "Large ASAS"? I am in sandbox mode and there is no such part.

What does it do?