A quick question about geosync orbits.

[IllicitMedic]

So I bought this game Saturday, been looking for a game exactly like this for years. Anyway, day 1 I was able to get into orbit, I have a pretty basic understanding of space due to my years with Orbiter so that helped. I was able to get a one man capsule to the Mun in 3 days and orbit and return and then Thursday I was finally able to land a 3 man capsule on the Mun's surface and return.

Anyway....just now discovering mods and I've now mapped the Mun and Earth lol, ok enough of my life story

My question is, I've downloaded the GPS mod and am launching my sats, and I guess this really isnt a geosync question but...I'm not sure what its called, how do I change "WHERE" over Kerbin my sats are orbiting? I understand inclination but my 4th sat is at a 90 degree inclination, my other three are at 0, 45 and 135...but the one at 90 isnt exactly "where" I want it.

This picture is NOT my GPS network this was from my very first game so the sats are not even at the right height but it shows what I mean.

I want the one at the 90 degree inclination to pass through the triangle the other 3 form...

[Mediosthenes]

Burning on the normal or anti-normal should rotate the orbit like a ring on a gyro. Burn on the poles, because where you burn is like the location of the hinge on which the orbit rotates. Because you are messing with velocities, whenever you burn, you are always either stretching or rotating your orbit. Pro-grade/retrograde stretch, normal/anti-normal rotate, like on a gyro, and radial-in/radial-out spin, like on a tire.

[sgt_flyer]

for that, you need to do an orbital inclination manoeuver (purple triangle on the tool) at south or at north pole (basically, the axis around which you want to do your inclination change will be where you put the manoeuver node - here, at north or south pole)

but, judging from here, that will be a high delta V manoeuver at such a low orbit

[IllicitMedic]

for that, you need to do an orbital inclination manoeuver (purple triangle on the tool) at south or at north pole (basically, the axis around which you want to do your inclination change will be where you put the manoeuver node - here, at north or south pole)

but, judging from here, that will be a high delta V manoeuver at such a low orbit

Thats what I was thinking I just didn't know where to do the maneuvers so it never looked right.

I'll give it a shot, ty so much!

Also yea, these are not my GPS sats, my GPS sats are at half geosync orbit.

[IllicitMedic]

Ok so, it seems to be working a little but my altitude is also going up, do I need to launch into a lower orbit first? Even if I alternate at each pole and burn retro its still going up, can I prevent this or do I need to launch into a lower orbit?

[Jason Patterson]

You want to make your burn 90 degrees away from the point that you want to move. You can adjust the orbit from any other position (except right at the spot you're looking to move) but that will not give a symmetrically adjusted orbit; it will only be correct on one side.

[ThePsuedoMonkey]

What I do is keep the nav ball heading as close to dead center between the prograde and retrograde markers (the prograde rotates toward the nav ball marker during your burn, which gives a tiny component of that burn toward raising your orbital speed, and thus increasing your orbit). It seems like only one of those markers can be displayed on the nav ball at a time, so I position it so that the retrograde is just barely visible and keep that attitude until the prograde becomes visible for the same amount of time the retrograde was visible (repeat until burn is finished). It is never perfect, but it gives me better results than sticking to maneuver nodes.

[sgt_flyer]

Ok so, it seems to be working a little but my altitude is also going up, do I need to launch into a lower orbit first? Even if I alternate at each pole and burn retro its still going up, can I prevent this or do I need to launch into a lower orbit?

when you create your manoeuver node, alternate between the purple triangle and the retrograde node on your manoeuver marker if you want to create the good flight plan - problem is, if you only use the purple triangle, the other side of your orbit is increasing because the angle changes, and the more the you turn, the more your thrust will shift towards a prograde burn along your orbit.

the manoeuver node, even if you see that it changes his angle with the projected course angle - but that's false consider your manoeuver node stay at your current orbit angle, no matter what modifications you make to your flight plan.

Edited May 19, 2013 by sgt_flyer