RE : Frustrating Orbit ? How Do You know When You are in same orbit as another Ship ?

[tricio]

Hi There ,

This Sim / Game / is fantastic and challenging I like IT / no I mean I love IT

Hope some of the brain-boxes here can help me out

I have been wanting to dock a ship , but ... I seem to always be a bit off on the circular orbit ,

Trying to change my Orbit i can never see when the orbit lines touch perfectly

So I either go too high or too low but by millimeters

Is there any trips or tricks to know when you are adjusting orbit that You know that You are on the right track ?

I am finding this very difficult and don't want to use mods , plugins to do it

[3_bit]

I can't really explain it well, but you should really watch a proper rendezvous/docking tutorial video.

Simply: If the target vessel is in front of you, burn retrograde. This will put you in an orbit that takes less time to complete, thus you can catch up; Vice versa if it's behind you. Once you're close (within ~30 k) kill all relative velocity (click on the navball until it says TGT and burn retrograde). Then aim at the purple/pink circle (as this is will point you towards the target vessel) and get up to 50 m/s relative velocity towards it. If you're somewhat far away, you may need to do some quick course corrections along the way. I do some complex tangent-to-target burns to save fuel, but you can just kill all relative velocity and start again if it's your first time rendezvousing. Good luck, and I hope this helps you.

You can just eyeball the orbits when you're starting to rendezvous, matching orbits to begin with is useless if the target vessel isn't right in front of you. Just get the orbits similar, then follow my above instructions.

If you're superstitious, make sure Jeb is at the helm of the vessel you're flying.

[dr_jt]

Consider Kerbals

Edited June 6, 2013 by dr_jt

[Karriz]

There are many docking tutorials, you may want to check them out.

Set the desired target in the map view. Then, get the ascending/descending nodes to zero, so that you're on the same orbital plane.

After that, get to an orbit that gets a close intersect with the target orbit. You can see these in the map view, if you've set the target.

You'll probably have to time accelerate until you get close enough, 1km or less.

After that you just burn retrograde relative to your target, and there you are, floating next to it.

Then you just dock. Trial and error, basically. It can be frustrating.

[Xiphos]

Hi Tricio,

You are very close to getting your first dock, and I think my docking tutorial video can help! I go in depth and offer many tips and tricks to help things go smoothly. It has helped others get their first dock! There is a link to it in my signature! Good luck!

[Vanamonde]

Take the situation in your pictures for an example. Rotate view until you are looking at the orbits from the same plane, and you will be able to see if you are passing north (above) or south (below) the target at closest approach. If you are passing south, point the nose of your ship due north and fire the engine. This should cause the line of your path to rise and meet that of the target. Once the intercept markers appear, you can further fine-tune your intercept. Try to get it within 2kms, and then you can close the final distance with short burns and RCS.

[tricio]

Wow , Outstanding Comments from all of You , Thank You very much , Very interesting , Wish me luck ! I will post back If I have managed my 1st DOCK