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Ejection Angles


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Well, I sort of just estimate it.. You could always put a protractor on the screen, but yeah you can see that 0/360, 90, 180, 270 are vertical/horizontal, and half way between them is 45 degrees...

So I basically zoom out on the map screen, and just estimate :)

(sorry I couldnt be more help, it is tricky business)

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If you haven't already, edit your game settings.cfg file so that CONIC_PATCH_LIMIT is at least 3 (4+ preferred, I'd say, but each step requires your computer to do more work), and possibly CONIC_PATCH_DRAW_MODE to 3 (at least that's my preferred mode as it is less taxing on my brain-meats).

As for telling you the ejection angle required to reach a planet, try this. You still have to mash your brain a little when it comes to figuring-out what your current ejection angle is though; just think of it as an angle relative to Kerbin's (or whatever celestial body you're orbiting) orbit around Kerbol, not your own orbit around Kerbin. Ish. I think. Don't quote me on that.

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Bah, that's not an excuse! I did a report on ion-propulsion drives when I was in grade four. (Uh, actually a speech, and my poor classmates were terminally bored, but I didn't really care. Ion propulsion is just plain nifty.)

Your alternate choice is to wait until people with more knowledge of programming and orbital mechanics come-up with a solution that allows very easy interplanetary transfers. However, I'd encourage you to at least try to learn the basics of this stuff. It's a good challenge, and it will give you a greater appreciation of the things scientists on the ISS, and at the world's various space agencies, do every day. All to advance science...or get you your satellite TV.

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AdamKSP is good, I picked a protractor off the the somethingawful forum's KSP thread when the servers were all down.

Be sure to burn before your ejection angle, usually ~6 degrees earlier should help.

The proper ejection angle depends on the TWR of the craft. For my craft it is 7.51 degrees earlier, not 6 degrees.

The ejection angle shown by the online calculator assumes an instant change in delta-V. However, real craft have a burn time, so you need to start earlier. To work out what the ejection angle adjustment is... you will need to use my super special secret trick.

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What is you secret trick?

1. Quicksave

2. Do your ejection burn at the proper angle as-per http://ksp.olex.biz/, using AdamKSP mod to know when to actually do it (note that I have found the mod buggy but still useful).

3. Stop the burn when your Ap is at the target orbit height as seen in Map View.

4. Now... your ejection angle will be wrong, as expected, because your burn was not instant. So now use an onscreen protractor to measure how much. This will save you a lot or trial/error/quickload. To be clear, the angle you are measuring here is between your escape trajectory, and the orbital path of the planet.

5. Quickload. Now do the burn again factoring in the error. So lets say you measure about 8 degrees, and this is a Duna burn from 100Kn up, that is stated as 150.91 degrees. You should now do the burn earlier at 158.91 degrees instead. Note that you probably will not be 100% correct still, but whatever error you have now will probably be less than a degree, just guess it for the next attempt... or get the onscreen protractor out again.

For a given craft, orbit altitude, and target planet, the above only needs to be done once.

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