Strange vessel rotation when time warping near Gilly

[pejsek]

Hi,

I noticed a strange thing when orbiting Gilly under certain altitude. When time warping, a weird rotation of the vessel will appear. This rotation seems to be synchronized with the rotation of Gilly. This happens under a very specific altitude of 100 km. Here is how to reproduce it:

 

Launch a vessel. Use Alt+F12 to set orbit around Gilly. Set semi-major axis to 114,000 and eccentricity to 0.1. Set camera to LOCKED. Start time warping. You will notice that when you get above 100 km the rotation will stop. Also, if you place a maneuver node, aim at the blue marker on the navball, then time warp, the vessel should normally stay on the blue marker. But it will not if you are under 100 km.

 

This looks like a bug to me. Or am I wrong? Is it happening to you guys as well?

[OHara]

KSP uses a reference frame that rotates with the planet, for craft in low orbit (where the EVA report would be "in low orbit") or lower, including on the ground.  That means we cannot demonstrate Foucault pendulums in KSP.

It is a known issue on the bug tracker at #5234. 
The software quality department marked it 'not a bug', based on a user's excellent explanation.  If we as players have good reason to want KSP to use an inertial reference frame, I think we could reset it to 'yes a bug'.  I'm not sure we want to ask for a fix, though, for fear of side effects.

[pejsek]

Ah, I see. I always wondered why the maneuver node drifts just a little bit when warping in low orbit. However for Gilly, I think the 100 km are just a bit too high (sphere of influence is 113 km) and it can be a little annoying when your scanning satellite regularly runs out of power because the solar panels moved away from the sun.

Thank you.