Best orbit for Kethane scanning?

[Allso]

Did anyone calculate best orbit altitude and inclinations for Kethane scanning? I found this for ISA MapSat and it helped so much with map scanning.

I tried applying the same to the Kethane scanner and it worked out okayish on Kerbin but on the Mun it was terrible. It basically keeps going in the same lanes over and over and I only covered around 33% of the Mun.

Edited August 14, 2013 by Allso

[Jackissimus]

Did anyone calculate best orbit altitude and inclinations for Kethane scanning? I found this for ISA MapSat and it helped so much with map scanning.

I tried applying the same to the Kethane scanner and it worked out okayish on Kerbin but on the Mun it was terrible. It basically keeps going in the same lanes over and over and I only covered around 33% of the Mun.

This thread: http://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/showthread.php/25233-Kethane-Scanner

[Allso]

That doesnt help me at all really. I want math based orbits not some guess work that some guy did.

[annallia]

I go into a 90 degree inclination (polar orbit) and just hit time warp. The planets rotation makes sure you don't stand on the same line and then it is just a question of fine tuning the altitude, obviously the faster the planet rotates the lower the altitude you want so your orbit completes faster. I scanned duna fairly quickly doing this, currently have about 75-80% scanned in just a few days.

[dave4002000]

The difference is that MapSat uses an actual swath width that increases with altitude. The kethane scanners don't work the same way. They just scan a single 'row' of hexes on each pass irregardless of how high your orbit is. So i usually just go for a 240km polar orbit(just inside the max range of the smaller scanner) to allow the use of high time warps. If i notice it's starting to map over itself, i adjust my inclination by a couple degrees and let it keep going.

[Mr Shifty]

This post has a chart for ISA Mapsat:

http://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/showthread.php/27999-ISA-Mapsat-Ideal-and-Non-Ideal-Altitudes

You could at least use this to find orbits that aren't periodic with respect to the planet's rotation, even if the swath width isn't taken into account.

[Geckgo]

Polar orbit or close, any altitude unless you notice that you are tracking over your course. If you are, adjust altitude a little (5-10%) and it'll fix it. You don't need an equation, cause it's easy with kethane sats.

[Jackissimus]

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Edited August 14, 2013 by Jackissimus
Deleted -> Not nice.

[Kimberly]

Polar orbit or close, any altitude unless you notice that you are tracking over your course. If you are, adjust altitude a little (5-10%) and it'll fix it. You don't need an equation, cause it's easy with kethane sats.

You definitely want a sub-polar orbit. An exact polar orbit passes over the poles over and over and over...not very efficient at all.

[Allso]

So Respawn posted an answer in another thread:

You want a formula to calculate absolute optimal altitude?

Number of seconds the mun take to rotate once

divided by:

number of hexes across the munar surface along the equator.

that gives you the number of sec you want your orbit to take. (one orbit pr hex)

call that number (T)

Look up the muns GM (newtons gravitational constant x mass of the mun)

and look up the radius of the mun, referred to in the formula as ®

calculate: cuberoot((T²xGM)/4pi²) - r = your optimal scanning altitude.

If that's inside the mun (ie "-something"), simply double (T) in your formula and you're all good.

this will simply make you complete the surface scan in 2 munar "days".

(if the number of hexes across the surface is an even number,

instead of doubling it, multiply it by 1,5 or 3 to avoid scanning the same lines twice)

Place your craft in a perfect circular polar orbit at your calculated altitude and you shouldn't miss a single hex.

happy counting..

This is exactly what I was looking for.

[CosmicGamer]

So has anyone done the math for the mun?