[IMPORTANT RESEARCH - PLEASE HELP]. Figuring the average LKO altitude.

[AncientAstronaut]

This is sort of a little poll I'll be doing, without an actual poll because the options are limitless. On an average Low-Kerbin Orbit flight, how low do you go?

Your input is greatly appreciated in the name of science.

[SkyHook]

100x100Km for LKO Proving flights, 300x300Km for station and Shuttle development purposes..hope this helps!

[Decho]

Standard parking orbit for me is 71km, my station is at 105km.

[OrbitusII]

I keep stations and Kerbal Transportation Systems at roughly 90km*90km. That's it.

[Spyritdragon]

100-105Km orbits for most of my space stations, probes generally go whereever i need the probe. Usually at a multiple of 50km up. Highest probe i've sent up had a +- 3m kilometer circular orbit.

Launch stages go in magically stable 100km by 50 km orbits.

[King Arthur]

Note: Assume all my orbits are circular unless I state otherwise.

My LKO parking orbits vary from 80km to 150km depending on the weight of the payload and mission objectives, my 150km parking orbit is by far the busiest space lane and it's also riddled with spent ascent stages and fairings that Jeb could make a space junkyard.

My space stations orbit at 200km while undergoing construction before going to their final parking orbits or other-worldly destinations. Space Station Archangel, the primary space station orbiting Kerbin and watching over all Kerbin-based vessels (including other stations) and satelites, is orbiting at 300km. The Eclair Space Telescope is orbiting at 700km.

Personally I consider anything between 80km to 1000km to be LKO. The 75km orbit is far too close to the atmosphere so that orbit is very seldomly used unless I am launching some very unusually heavy payloads.

[loknar]

I thought it would be cool to keep my station at 1000km orbit because it looks nice at this altitude.

That was a dumb waste of fuel - I imagine interplanetary craft after refueling @ 1000km can't benefit from swinging around kerbal for velocity - correct my if I'm wrong.

Edited August 9, 2013 by loknar

[Dangerous_Beans]

Most of the time i aim to get things to an 80km circular orbit from launch.

My station is in a roughly 150km circular orbit.

i prefer not to use orbits under 80km as i like a bit of breathing room between me and the atmosphere.

[manskal]

I keep my LKOs in standard circular orbits and increasing with increments of 120km. Eg 120x120, 240x240, 600x600. My standard parking orbit is 120x120.

Higher than 1200km is considered MKO.

[Tw1]

For a regular launch, just to be in space I go for 85 Km, as that gives a little leeway for problems when I circularise.

Anything else goes higher.

Edited August 9, 2013 by Tw1

[tntristan12]

I regularly observe 150km as LKO. I choose this because setting periapse to 70km usually results in quick (but not too quick) rendezvous and catch up with the station I have there.

[magnemoe]

100 km is standard, 80 is mostly an holding orbit for lifting heavy stuff up to. 110-130 is often used for launching ships with low trust to other planets, too low and they might clip into the atmosphere and the launch tend to be less accurate even if not.

Sometimes use higher orbit for things I might reuse.

[trvtannenberg]

Usually ~100-160km, generally 80-300km.

[leopardenthusiast]

I go for 100km for craft waiting for their transfer window, waiting to be docked with something else, or only just launched into space, 200km for station-related things, and 300km for stuff that I don't need right now but will need later (old reusable landers, transfer stages, and so on)

[NoMrBond]

I usually go for 100x100, then push it up until the orbital insertion stage has enough left to deorbit itself

Actual mission to mission profile is all over the show however due to some stuff only just being orbit capable, or ending up being obscenely overpowered

[Mr. Scruffy]

Station is at 90km. Other crafts park in increments of 2km above or below, depending on their estimated departure burn time: A long burn means it gets parked higher up, and vice versa. Point is to come fairly low, without touching the atmosphere, during exit-burn.

[Spyritdragon]

Actually i might push up my .21 station to 120 or 150km. 100 km is a bit hard to catch up to i.m.o.

[allmappedout]

Literally all over the shop. Mostly between 100-150km. That way it gives me leeway either side to slow down or speed up my orbit without de-orbiting

[togfox]

Whatever Jeb feels like.

[Tophir]

Okay, I have quite a few orbits of choice 70km is where I put my first satellite network, 100km is where my refueling station is along with the general parking orbit for ships going to the Mün or beyond, 250km where another satellite network lies, 500km is where my general purpose station is, and finally at 550km is my final orbit where yet another satellite network lies. As you can tell I like to build satellite networks.

[nerdboy64]

I'll go anywhere between 70 and 90 km for stations, SSTOs, and most other spacecraft. Autonomous probes, on the rare occasion that I use them, usually go somewhere in the 100-200 km range to keep them out of the way. I almost never go higher than that unless I'm on my way to some other part of the system.

[Holo]

85km is my standard parking orbit, and 150km is where I place things if I want to dock them later.

[Stochasty]

I rarely use a parking orbit, but when I do I put it as low as I can manage; typically 70km. Anything above 75km was either a mistake or trying to orbit something awkward with poor handling.

However, for almost all of my trips, I time my launch so that I can burn directly for transfer without orbiting. (I never go to LKO for the sake of going to LKO; if I'm there I'm either testing spacecraft or parking temporarily while I refuel.)

[Sof]

80Km for pretty much everything. My space station all my satellites and any interplanetary craft being constructed are parked in 80x80km orbit. All missions to the Mun and beyond start here too. The only other useful orbit above 80 is geostationary. Everything inbetween is pointless.

[el_coyoto]

My LKO standard parking orbit is 75x75 km.

I used to put my stations at 125 km, but I now prefer 250 km : they are easier to catch in one single orbit with a Hohmann transfer from my 75x75 parking orbit.