2nd question of the day. (Orbit matching)

[Dewm]

So thanks to everyone in my last thread I got a couple of station pieces into orbit. and I matched their orbital pattern almost perfectly.

2nd question.. They are in different spots in the orbit (picture below)

What is the best way to get one of them to speed up and/or slow down so i can pair them up?

Maybe someone has a video they could link me.

My assumption is. if I slow down my orbit speed I'll begin to fall? maybe that isn't correct.

Bonus question: Does having solar panels out in orbit effect speed at all? I know IRL a while back they thought about having a solar sail that would move because of the photons hitting the solar panel.. I really don't think it would get effected in this game.. but thought I'd ask.

Thanks guys!

Edited July 29, 2013 by Dewm

[Tex_NL]

It's counter intuitive but that's the way orbital dynamics work. To speed up you'll need to put on the brakes (burn retro grade) and get your craft in a lower orbit. To slow down you'll need to throttle up (burn prograde) to get to a higher orbit.

In a vacuum the shape of your craft does not affect speed. Panels extended or retracted does not matter.

In real life there is indeed the solar wind but you'd need several square kilometers of sail to gather enough force to move a craft. Plus real life vacuum isn't a complete vacuum, especially in low earth orbit, causing some drag and slowing you down.

Edited July 29, 2013 by Tex_NL

[Dewm]

So I did as you said, and it worked great!

BUT

once I get then super close how do you fine tune it? when I zoom out to set courses and whatnot I can't see the fine enough detail..

They are right at 22km apart.

Do I just gun in and hope for the best? what would you recommend?

Thanks!

[metaphor]

If you're close enough you can set it as target, switch the navball to target mode (by clicking on where the speed is displayed), and burn towards the retrograde marker until target speed is 0. Then burn a little (like 10 m/s) towards the purple circle (that's the direction of the target). That will get you closer. Wait until you're closer and then repeat several times until you're close enough to dock.

[Dewm]

WOOHHOOOOOOO

Thanks for the help guys!

my first docking (and man does it feel good)

[Swifty]

Well done!! I've played ksp a lot now and nothing beats the satisfaction of docking with a space station

[xylotism]

If you're close enough you can set it as target, switch the navball to target mode (by clicking on where the speed is displayed), and burn towards the retrograde marker until target speed is 0. Then burn a little (like 10 m/s) towards the purple circle (that's the direction of the target). That will get you closer. Wait until you're closer and then repeat several times until you're close enough to dock.

Oh good, this is how I do it, I was worried that I might be doing it wrong and wasting a lot of fuel by burning pro-target, retrograde, pro-target, retrograde, over and over until I got within docking distance.