Inputing Landing Coordinates From Mapsat Into Mechjeb

[Hiatsu2k8]

Subject says it all, it seems like the coordinates from the mapsat are not as detailed as the mechjeb ones are if you click on the planets surface, that or im just putting them in wrong. Any advice?

[0jam3290]

Just copy the pop-up coords from mapsat and input them directly to Mechjeb on the coord input box in the landing autopilot module

[Tommygun]

The coordinates from the Mapsat are meant as general reference and not for landing and unless you have a really long planet scan to work from I don't think the Mapsat program can be upgraded to give better information.

I do use it myself for landings, but you have to accept its limitations.

[Hiatsu2k8]

Thanks, while were on the subject of mapsat does anyone know why there is no terrain for Jool?

[Tommygun]

It's a gas giant where the gases eventually get compressed into a liquid at lower altitudes.

Smaller gas giants may have a rocky core, but they are under a sea of liquid.

Larger ones are more like failed suns that didn't gather enough mass to become a star, but still have large amounts of nuclear reactions going on at their centers.

Jupiter for example gives off more heat than it receives from the sun and produces enough radiation to fry space probes that get too close.

[phoenix_ca]

Since no-one has asked: You are inputting those coordinates from ISA MapSat into MechJeb as decimal, right? I've found ISA MapSat's data to be more than sufficient for accurate landing targets. ISA MapSat scans at a resolution of 0.01 degrees (each data point represents a cell of 0.01x0.01 degrees, so the "real" area represented by each cell varies greatly and is dependent on the planet's equatorial radius).

[Aardvark]

You have to reverse the coordinates. (The second in the pair goes in the first MechJeb box).

[Casen]

Is there an update to this?

MapSat V3 is using degrees, I am assuming based off the center of the map, while Mechjeb is using longitude and latitude.

If I wanted to land at a Mapsat coord of -10.8, 25.2 how would I enter that into MechJeb?

Would I just load the digits as decimals into the first block as -10.8'0'0 N and 25.2'0'0 E. Or would the second pair be west?

[Kimberly]

It's a gas giant where the gases eventually get compressed into a liquid at lower altitudes.

Smaller gas giants may have a rocky core, but they are under a sea of liquid.

Larger ones are more like failed suns that didn't gather enough mass to become a star, but still have large amounts of nuclear reactions going on at their centers.

Jupiter for example gives off more heat than it receives from the sun and produces enough radiation to fry space probes that get too close.

I wonder if you could make Mapsat scan Jool or Kerbol, though. Both of them do technically have a surface, albeit a weird/invisible one.

MapSat V3 is using degrees, I am assuming based off the center of the map, while Mechjeb is using longitude and latitude.

If I wanted to land at a Mapsat coord of -10.8, 25.2 how would I enter that into MechJeb?

Would I just load the digits as decimals into the first block as -10.8'0'0 N and 25.2'0'0 E. Or would the second pair be west?

You should probably use the Mapsat 4 developer build that's out. Anyway, the first block displays north or south, with negative numbers being south. The second block displays east or west, with negative numbers being west. In Mapsat 4, at least, these are longitude and latitude that should work the same in any other program that uses coordinates. The thing to watch out for is whether units smaller than a degree are listed in minutes and seconds, or whether they're listed in decimals. 1 arcminute = 1/60th of a degree, and 1 arcsecond = 1/60th of an arcminute. (Arcminutes are denoted with a single ' and arcseconds with a double ''.)

Mapsat uses decimals, I don't know what Mechjeb uses. But -10.8, 25.2 degrees means 10.8 degrees south and 25.2 degrees east. 10.8 degrees can also be written as 10 degrees 48 arcminutes, 25.2 degrees can also be written as 25 degrees 12 arcminutes.

Edited July 13, 2013 by Kimberly