[WIN/MAC/LINUX] KSP Trajectory Optimization Tool v1.6.10 [Major LVD Improvements!]

[StormWolf]

Hi, I just downloaded your program and got some really wild results that I would like help with. First of all whenever I run the program it virtually crashes my computer. Windows explorer goes unresponsive, I can't open the windows security options, I basically have to hold the power button and force a restart to make the computer useable again. Now I know nothing about matlab, the program or even how it works so I was hoping you could shed some light, however vague my issue may be. Some notes, I did try to run the program right after installing Matlab and that was the first instance of this unresponsiveness. That is literally all that I have done. Any help would be much appreciated!

EDIT: Nevermind! It was an issue with the Matlab install. If anyone else is having this issue try running the Matlab setup as administrator! It fixed it for me!

Edited August 10, 2014 by StormWolf

[Drew Kerman]

Ok I want to move my Mun mission back from 11/24 to 12/5 and I figured I'd use the Rendezvous Plotter to tell me when my new burn time was to head to Mun from Kerbin. I kept all the fields default for the Kerbin orbit and just used the drop-down to select Mun's orbital parameters. Then I entered in 1y 293d 10h to the Search Initial Epoch and hit the button to compute. It gave me a burn time of 1y 295d! So I tried entering into the Kerbin orbit Epoch a time an hour before the search epoch. Better, but still like 5 hours into the flight. I'm in a circular 100km orbit I should be able to burn towards Mun way earlier than 5 hours. So I changed the final orbit epoch from 0 to 9 hours after the Initial Search epoch to hopefully constrain the rendezvous but then I got a burn time to Mun on day 295 again. What am I doing wrong here? I realize the burn itself is essentially the same but I was hoping not to have to do trial and error in Mission Architect to use the burn dV info to get the Mun intercept shortly after establishing orbit (between 9 and 10 am)

Edit: duh, nevermind. There's no need for trial and error I simply used the optimizer. I changed the initial state of my original Mun plan to the new launch date, set new time constraints for the Coast to Burn and then optimized for the Coast to Pe event #4

Edited August 10, 2014 by Gaiiden

[Drew Kerman]

question regarding the Initial State of a mission. Is there any advice for how to get there? For example, if my Initial State is 9:45am on a 100km circular orbit, the program expects the craft to be in a specific spot around Kerbin at that time. How do I figure out when to launch to at least be close to that spot at the proper time so my mission plan doesn't have to be completely re-optimized? In other words if the program expects my craft to be over KSC at 9:45 and instead I'm on the other side of Kerbin, this means my upcoming burn at 10 won't send me where I want to go!

[diomedea]

question regarding the Initial State of a mission. Is there any advice for how to get there? For example, if my Initial State is 9:45am on a 100km circular orbit, the program expects the craft to be in a specific spot around Kerbin at that time. How do I figure out when to launch to at least be close to that spot at the proper time so my mission plan doesn't have to be completely re-optimized? In other words if the program expects my craft to be over KSC at 9:45 and instead I'm on the other side of Kerbin, this means my upcoming burn at 10 won't send me where I want to go!

My take is the Initial State can't really be considered before making orbit. Once in orbit, there is a fixed relation between time and true anomaly/mean anomaly (always tied to an Epoch time), so time can be used instead of true anomaly to define the position of the ship for a burn.

Once in orbit, it is possible to input the orbit parameters with the inital state; all parameters are fixed, but for true/mean anomaly that keeps changing with time, so it has to be input with the exact time (in KSP TOT, by using the Epoch entry). It should be identical for the Initial Elliptical Orbit with a Transfer and for the Initial State with Mission Architect; using the Initial Elliptical Orbit (and checking the Use? checkmark with Mean Anom. and Epoch) the result will actually show the burn time for the manuever changes when changing those parameters, so reflecting the different initial position of the vessel along its orbit.

[Drew Kerman]

Thanks for the additional insight, Diomeda.

ArrowStar is on break so I don't wanna bug him with what is hopefully a simple issue others have already come across. He said I need to import my orbit to the Initial_State once I'm in space, but I can't figure out how to do it! Right-clicking the Initial_State in the mission planner doesn't give me the option to fill the fields with data from KSPConnect. Also, when I look at the KSPConnect real time feed it shows me all the required fields I need to input except True Anomaly - instead it gives me Mean Anomaly. So how do I get the True Anomaly to fill in to the Initial_State?

[Arrowstar]

When you try to get the orbit from KSP, are you right-clicking in the orbit part of the Set State dialog box? See my professionally annotated image below:

[Drew Kerman]

ack! That's what I get for giving up so easy. I clicked on the Epoch and didn't see the orbit info so thought that was all the options there were, didn't think to click elsewhere in the box. Thanks

Well, I've managed to get MA to give me an intercept with Duna, actually has me on a well-inclined orbit without me needing a mid-course change. Uploaded the maneuver to KSP and sure enough, I got the Duna intercept! Alright, wish me luck here I go...

[Arrowstar]

Great! Glad to hear it.

Let us know how the mission goes!

[Drew Kerman]

Okay I'm working through a Mun mission at the moment, first one with kerbals so I need extensive planning. This is planned for about 2.5 weeks ahead of the current game time. I used the rendezvous plotter to get my initial Mun burn time and info, circularized and plane-changed to match the orbit of a vessel I want to rendezvous with. From there I went back to the rendezvous plotter with the Final State information from Mission Architect and imported the current orbital information of the target vessel from KSP. However, the red orbit of my kerbed Mun craft seems to be inclined opposite the target vessel. The only thing I notice different in the parameters between the MA and RP is that one has True Anomaly and the other calls for Mean Anomaly. So how do I go about getting the Mean Anomaly for my final orbit?

This is still tripping me up, but so far the Duna mission is progressing well. Just advancing the script and importing new orbit data as I go. Re-optimizing as needed. Working great!

[Drew Kerman]

also, doesn't seem a way to see planetary orbital data through KSPTOT. That would be cool as well

[Arrowstar]

also, doesn't seem a way to see planetary orbital data through KSPTOT. That would be cool as well

It's in the Mission Architect tools menu. ;-)

[Drew Kerman]

sorry, I implied "in real time" when I said KSPTOT. As in, what's the current RAAN of Duna?

[Arrowstar]

Well, only the true anomaly of the planets changes with time, but I see what you mean. Yeah, I don't have anything like that, sorry. Maybe Kerbal Engineer does?

[Drew Kerman]

yea no worries it's not a big deal I just wanted to make sure I just wasn't finding it if it was there.

Is there anything I can do about the True Anomaly/Mean Anomaly issue or will that have to wait until you have time to update the program so the Final State in Mission Architect can also display the Mean Anomaly?

[Drew Kerman]

crap, I thought I had it figured out but I'm still stumped

I played around with the graphical analysis tool and realized it could give me the mean anomaly for my end state. Bingo! But when I plugged it into the rendesvous sequencer it still ended up showing my visiting craft (red) in the exact opposite (or nearly) inclination as my target craft (blue). Both vessels have nearly the same inclination - so is this a bug or am I still missing something?

[Iansoreta]

Please help, I'm using windows 7 64-bit computer, so I don't think Windows 32-bit 2013a MATLAB Compiler Runtime (MCR) will work. Can you change the KSPTOT so that it runs on MATLAB MCR 64 bit?

[diomedea]

Please help, I'm using windows 7 64-bit computer, so I don't think Windows 32-bit 2013a MATLAB Compiler Runtime (MCR) will work. Can you change the KSPTOT so that it runs on MATLAB MCR 64 bit?

I'm also using a 64bit OS (Win 8.1), and the MCR 32-bit 2013a works fine with it (and, confirm that is the only MCR version that currently works with KSP TOT, I tested a number of MCR 32 and 64 bit, 2013 and 2014).

Then, give it a try. Also, in case you have an error the first time you launch KSP TOT, just run it a second time, sometimes the first time MCR is launched it may be problematic.

[Drew Kerman]

Okay I have at last figured out why the two orbits are different. My mission plan puts me in orbit around Mun with a RAAN of 0 and the craft I'm trying to rendezvous with has a RAAN of 250°. So I get it now, the inclination is the same but when you spin the orbit about the planet it appears to change relative to the other one. The reason this was impossible for me to see was thanks to one of the orbits being circular. If they had both been eccentric I would have seen the issue was like this:

Another lesson learned!

Edit: although, this has made me realize that there is no Go To for RAAN For now, I'm just using Delta Time and fiddling around until I find the proper RAAN along my orbit

Boom, money shot

Ooops, haha forgot to properly set the orbiting body, but that doesn't matter - just wanted to show it worked with my updated mission plan final state data

Edited September 1, 2014 by Gaiiden

[Arrowstar]

Nice work!

Where would you want to see Mean Anomaly displayed in Mission Architect? If I have time this weekend, I'll do it for you; it's an easy one I think.

[Drew Kerman]

Where would you want to see Mean Anomaly displayed in Mission Architect? If I have time this weekend, I'll do it for you; it's an easy one I think.

Well actually you don't even need to bother. Now that I've really discovered the Graphical Analysis tool finding the Mean Anomaly for any point along my mission is a cinch. Of course, that's a far from obvious method of getting it so if you were to add it, then it should just go with the rest of the orbital parameters given in the MA state window.

You can also ignore my previous request for >> buttons that skip you ahead in the State Log to various events as I've realized you can right/click on the event to get the orbital state at that point. Duh.

If you do end up with some free time my two (hopefully simple) suggestions would be:

1) Make it possible to select and copy values from the State Log and State windows in MA. Not only is it faster when transferring values over to things like the Rendezvous Sequencer, it greatly reduces the chance of error when manually entering the values. Since changing the Initial/Final State displays in the MA window might be troublesome, you could instead redo the pop-up window that you get when you query an event for its state information to have an editable text display like those in the Departure Burn calculator and Rendezvous Maneuver Sequencer

2) Add a Go To coast event for RAAN

Cheers!

Edit:

3) Allow Enter UT Date/Time for Delta Time and UT Go To coast events fields. This may be tricky I understand, since you're using the same text field for multiple types of input, and possibly why it's not already there

Edited September 3, 2014 by Gaiiden

[Arrowstar]

1) Make it possible to select and copy values from the State Log and State windows in MA. Not only is it faster when transferring values over to things like the Rendezvous Sequencer, it greatly reduces the chance of error when manually entering the values. Since changing the Initial/Final State displays in the MA window might be troublesome, you could instead redo the pop-up window that you get when you query an event for its state information to have an editable text display like those in the Departure Burn calculator and Rendezvous Maneuver Sequencer.

It's an interesting idea, I'll look into the popup box with copy-able text fields with an orbit.

2) Add a Go To coast event for RAAN

You can't really "go to RAAN" per say, since its a fixed orbital parameter. Do you mean go to an ascending/descending node? Because I believe I already have that functionality...

3) Allow Enter UT Date/Time for Delta Time and UT Go To coast events fields. This may be tricky I understand, since you're using the same text field for multiple types of input, and possibly why it's not already there

I'm not sure I understand. Can you clarify what you mean, maybe with a picture or something?

[Drew Kerman]

You can't really "go to RAAN" per say, since its a fixed orbital parameter. Do you mean go to an ascending/descending node? Because I believe I already have that functionality...

Sorry I mean have the option to select RAAN in the drop-down box for a Coast event. Right now, I'm using Delta Time and just fiddling around until I find the point along my orbit that has the proper RAAN. It would be better to just have the ability to say "Coast to 250° RAAN"

I'm not sure I understand. Can you clarify what you mean, maybe with a picture or something?

When you right-click a text box that holds seconds for Universal Time, you can choose the "Enter UT as Date" option, which is way better that figuring out the seconds yourself. I'd like to be able to do this in any text box that requires seconds. So for example when you do the Coast to UT event, you can right-click the value box to use the date window. Then you can copy/paste the seconds into the low/high optimizer boxes and use the Date Time popup window again to easily set them back/forward a few minutes.

[AppleDavidJeans]

Anything yet on that Mac version, bk2w?

[joker169]

Will the Windows (MCR) x64 2014 work or does it have to be 2013 x86? Thanks:D

Edit : Or can i just install them all and call it good

Edit 2 : I'm a blind person, just saw where this was covered in previous post. Sorry

Edited September 6, 2014 by joker169

[Arrowstar]

Sorry I mean have the option to select RAAN in the drop-down box for a Coast event. Right now, I'm using Delta Time and just fiddling around until I find the point along my orbit that has the proper RAAN. It would be better to just have the ability to say "Coast to 250° RAAN"

So again, I'm confused. The RAAN of an orbit never changes in KSP, so you can't be varying time to get the "proper RAAN." I think this is just an issue of terminology, though (RAAN being the incorrect term for what you're trying to express). Do you mean true anomaly? Or some other kind of right ascension? Maybe a picture would help me?

When you right-click a text box that holds seconds for Universal Time, you can choose the "Enter UT as Date" option, which is way better that figuring out the seconds yourself. I'd like to be able to do this in any text box that requires seconds. So for example when you do the Coast to UT event, you can right-click the value box to use the date window. Then you can copy/paste the seconds into the low/high optimizer boxes and use the Date Time popup window again to easily set them back/forward a few minutes.

It's an interesting idea. I've implemented what I think is the basic version, which is that in the "Enter Coast" MA dialog box, the UT value, min UT value, and max UT value now have the "Enter UT As Date/Time" context menu and dialog box. Let me know if this was what you were thinking or if you were looking for something more.

Anything yet on that Mac version, bk2w?

I am working with bk2w to get a Mac version available, hopefully soon.

Will the Windows (MCR) x64 2014 work or does it have to be 2013 x86? Thanks:D

Edit : Or can i just install them all and call it good

Edit 2 : I'm a blind person, just saw where this was covered in previous post. Sorry

Glad to hear you got it figured out.

---

Good news, everyone! KSP TOT v.1.1.6 will be out later this evening after I get things packaged up. It's a "wishlist" release, meaning I basically took a bunch of requests and implemented them. I didn't do everything, but I did do a few of them.