Is it possible on the Mun to have a 10m orbit?

[Piv]

It might sound crazy, but is it possible, even with the factors that make it impossible out of the problem?

[gompasta]

Is it possible when its not impossible? How pointless a question is that?

Yes, if there are no terrain features at all, then you can orbit at 10m.

[ilikemoneygreen]

put it in on hyperedit. See how well it goes....

[Vostok]

as gompasta said, you could have a 10m orbit if the moon was a perfect sphere. However the altitude is measured against a 'sea level' and some of the mountains are far higher than 10m. If you sent an expedition around the equator of the moon, and found the highest hill there, you could conceivably put a craft into an equatorial orbit just meters higher than the tallest hill. Likewise, if you knew the highest hill on the moon, you could put a craft above that altitude on a polar orbit.

It's something I'd like to try myself, a perfect equatorial orbit around the mun missing the top of the highest hills by a few meters.

[Cesrate]

If Mün is a perfect sphere and the game have not any physics error and you are the LEGION of Mass Effect, you can; but all of them are not true(while I don't know the third:D). For now, what we can do is to make the orbit a little higher than the peak of surface you'll encounter. I used to achieve about 20m(reckoning) on Mün's equator.

PS:

Be careful, the ships that get too close to surface may crash during the Time Warp.

Edited April 24, 2013 by Cesrate

[shand]

generally advised minimum (i seem to remember) was 5k, for a semi stable orbit. but it "decays" [read: randomly explodes] after a moderate time, probably due to floating point errors. yay.

[Audiopulse]

I remember a changelog from way back that said muns maximum mountain-height was raised from 2000 to 4000 metres. As far as I know this hasnt been changed since then.

[Azivegu]

I've tried that before. I was able to get my orbit down to, on average, 4km. I had to do a lot of looking at ISA to find the lowest route through the trans-polar mountain range. A polar orbit wont work, the poles are just to mountains. The Mün is pretty flat, it is really just the trans-polar mountain range i mentioned. My orbit had a slight eccentricity and was only able to complete 4 orbits at that altitude before it crashed into the side of a mountain.

So it is possible to get a really low orbit, but it isn't sustainable and it is a grueling process. I spent about 6 hours game play and probably something like 10 hours with planning included. Remember, you cant time warp at that altitude.

[TwoHedWlf]

I have no doubt there is some path that would allow you to make a full orbit at 10m. However, I doubt you'll make it a second orbit with splattering on a mountainside.

[RoboRay]

I have no doubt there is some path that would allow you to make a full orbit at 10m.

I'm quite certain there is no great circle around the Mun where terrain height is always less than 10m above the datum.

[swiftgates24]

I believe the lowest orbit is around 3,000 meters Anything below that and you will surely hit the surface.

[Wjolcz]

I believe the lowest orbit is around 3,000 meters Anything below that and you will surely hit the surface.

i'm pretty sure i have a probe on a stable orbit with pe and ap at about 1500m

[RoboRay]

i'm pretty sure i have a probe on a stable orbit with pe and ap at about 1500m

For how long?

Eventually, it's going to hit a peak. It just may take a while.

[Exal]

If I'm not mistakin I think u would be going really fast as well so I would imagine that would lead to less accuracy as well.

[SLAMS]

i'm pretty sure i have a probe on a stable orbit with pe and ap at about 1500m

AFAIK the lowest orbit should be 2200-2300 around the equator and that's cutting it close. One hill should be less than 100 meters away at that altitude. That said I'm not sure if I did this pre or post mun redesign so I don't know if the terrain changed.

[Wjolcz]

then you can call me a liar. at least i could see the probe body from the surface. and it was like WOOOOOSH!

[SteevyT]

Low enough? Yes, that is the shadow of the rocket peaking over the navball.

[RoboRay]

then you can call me a liar. at least i could see the probe body from the surface. and it was like WOOOOOSH!

Nobody is calling you a liar. I have no doubt you put a craft into a circular non-perfectly-equatorial orbit at 1500m. The point is that it's eventually going to encounter higher terrain as the Mun rotates. The collision may take a lot of orbits, but it's going to happen.

Heck, I've done surface-touching orbits once, when I had a probe's transfer stage get stuck on the probe due to a misplaced decoupler. It took a few tries, but I eventually managed to smash the transfer stage against the peak of a mountain while leaving the probe intact and able to continue its mission.

Edited April 24, 2013 by RoboRay

[joppiesaus]

It would be possible. but you must burn up because the higest points are more than 10 m. So highest point on Mun + 1 meter

[Werwolf]

Low enough? Yes, that is the shadow of the rocket peaking over the navball.

*SNIP*

LOL..... Bill looks absolutely TERRIFIED!

[BFalcon]

LOL..... Bill looks absolutely TERRIFIED!

I was just thinking that about Bob too - presumably he just saw a mountain go past out the window...

Typical Jeb though - grinning like an idiot...

[BFalcon]

I think I managed 500 a while back, but I can't remember if that was the Mun or Minimus - I do know I lost a small solar array on a mountain as it went past (quickly adjusted the orbit on that one, I can tell you).

[Randox]

Around the equator, I remember the minimum as being in the low or mid 3000's, though it's been a while since I had cause to put a craft down that low. I crashed at least once trying to get the orbit down, and I remember that when I did do it there were definitely a couple points where you feel like you need to lift your feet up.