Docking orientation?

[mattsnow]

When docking do the ports have to be orientated in a certain way relative to each other?

I've watched Scott's video on docking (

).

In his video when the magnets kick in he says that they're still not aligned and turns off RCS and ASAS for them to "magically" align.

This worked fine for me with small ships but I'm trying to dock a solar panel array and the closest I've got is the magnets connect and then everything gets pulled into a mess.

Is the yellow arrow on the docking port a "this way up" sort of thing?

Thanks!

[Scarecrow88]

The closer you can get to being aligned in the up/down left/right axis ( x and y ) the better. Rotationally it doesn't matter.

Edited June 24, 2013 by Scarecrow88

[stoani96]

the oriantation does not matter, they just have to be almost parallel and in one line.

almost because the magnet pulls the crafts "magically" together

[Klingon Admiral]

Tipp: Align your docking ports in such a way that they face exactly south/north (the point where the 0/180° line crosses the equator), as they will keep this oriantation no matter where they are on their orbit, which makes docking a LOT easier.

[DChurchill]

There's a mod called Lazor Docking Cam which is pretty handy, and fairly realistic it seems, if you're a purist. I pretty much learned to dock before I found it, but even so, it seems to make docking more fun. Plus you can use it to get near perfect angular alignment with senior docking ports.

http://kerbalspaceprogram.com/lazor-docking-cam/

[chrischambers]

Tipp: Align your docking ports in such a way that they face exactly south/north (the point where the 0/180° line crosses the equator), as they will keep this oriantation no matter where they are on their orbit, which makes docking a LOT easier.

Are you saying that the Docking ports have a Top and down, to them and if I have a docking port on my Space Station point Top, and one on my Craft / extention Pod pointing Top then, they will alline the way I want ?

[Sirrobert]

Are you saying that the Docking ports have a Top and down, to them and if I have a docking port on my Space Station point Top, and one on my Craft / extention Pod pointing Top then, they will alline the way I want ?

No, he's saying that once in space, turn your station so that the docking port points to an exact point on the Navball. Doesn't really matter what point, long as it's easy to find.

To do this, control from the docking port, and point it so that you are pointing to that point on the Navball (most people pick North/south axis). Now when you come in to dock with another craft, control from the docking port you want to dock with, and point to the opposit of whatever you pointed the station at (so if you picked North, point South). This way you know they are alligned correctly, rather than having to guess if they are or not.

Alternatively, use Mechjeb's smart ASS. It has an option to allign exactly right, nomather how the station is orientated. Might be easier with stations that are more dificult to turn

[Flixxbeatz]

If you want perfect alignment, use bicoupler docking ports.

[Klingon Admiral]

Are you saying that the Docking ports have a Top and down, to them and if I have a docking port on my Space Station point Top, and one on my Craft / extention Pod pointing Top then, they will alline the way I want ?

No, let me explain it with a picture:

This is a station I am currently building in a nearly perfect equatorial orbit. Because of the properties of a equatorial orbit, the direction marker will not move, no matter where on the orbit the object currently is.

Here a picture of the station on another position:

Still pointing in the same direction on the navball.

However, the more inclined your orbit gets, the further away from exactly norht/south is this fixed point. If you really want to dock to something in a perfect polar orbit, align it west/east. (my statement above was wrong)

And for everything in between, the direction at which to orientate your ship can be easily determined. For example on a 45° inclined orbit you would point the docking port either NW/SE or NE/SW, depending if you orbit prograde or retrograde.

Or, to put it really simple, align your docking port to the normal vector of your orbital plane.