Im a rocket scientist and these are my requests :-)

[Trekimann]

Having done 2 Degrees in Engineering and Rocket Science I have some requests for a new mode or just additional options.

I would love to be able to plan missions more accurately but I dont have enough information. It would be great to be able to click on a spacecraft and get its COE's. knowing the u value for the planetary bodies would be good too. A persistent timer/clock would be handy for planning launch windows. Knowing the delta V for a constructed rocket would be immensely useful.

My Fiancée and I are thinking it would be awesome to be able to plan a Voyager style "grand tour" but to do that we would need to know all the orbital data for the planets and even better would be the option to rearrange the solar system to a chosen time so we wouldn't have to wait for gravity assist opportunities to come up.

With these extra features it would lend itself to having a rocket scientist mode where you could enter the calculated values for a launch window and get a nice count down. And once in orbit knowing this info would let you calculate phasing orbits and intercepts properly. I know there are a few mods out there which give you some of this info but all of them are to make the process automated, I would love a hybrid where I could calculate the data by hand then input it to create manoeuvre nodes. There could even be a series of tutorials so that you actually learn some real rocket science if you wanted

And an option im sure has been requested would be to have multi-player. To make it less crowded than say an mmorpg just have a max of 4 players, each with a launch site on a different continent at different latitudes. Maybe trade currency/science for the chance to launch at a different site.

Edited September 26, 2013 by KasperVld
steeeeerrriike

[NoMrBond]

I suspect some of what you're asking for will be available in the Mission Control (building) when its functionality is implemented

[Captain Sierra]

Well . . . . . You can't argue with science. I know there are mods out there that provide everything you are asking for but I do believe that most of these would be nice in the stock game.

[RawChicken]

The deltaV you ask for you can get it from a mod called kerbal engineer, pretty awesome.

Also, planets orbits data are in the wiki.

Also, im pretty sure you will like a mod called kOS, perfect for all us engineers!

Good luck!!

[th3shameless]

there's a mod called hyper edit, which can help you arrange the planets in the right order. and the lazor system mod can give you launch windows

[Trekimann]

Thank you for the suggestions I will check out those mods. What I would really like is a manoeuvre planner where I can specify the time for the burn, the delta v and the angle for the burn so I can perform combined manoeuvres. With regards to the tutorials I have all my class notes on Orbital Mechanics and Spacecraft Design so I would be happy to help if I can with the lesson planning

[KasperVld]

I striked through the multiplayer suggestion. It's #1 on the What not to suggest? list.

[KvickFlygarn87]

Great suggestions, all are available to some degree, with mods, but would be great in stock!

[CyclonicTuna]

The problem I have with these sort of requests is how fun its gonna be if implemented in the game. It shouldn't be a tedious taske you're forced to do before launch. Sure it makes the game more realistic but KSP isn't a simulator. I do like the idea however of being able to plot out a journey much in the same way the manouvre nodes tell you what is going to happen with an increase/decrease of speed. Some sort of orbital map accesible via the Mission Control building would be neat.

[pizzaoverhead]

Here are some mods that will help get you some of the way towards what you're looking for:

Kerbal Engineer Redux will give you the dV data you need during construction and detailed flight parameters after launch.

The Manneuver Node Improvement mod allows you to input accurate values for planning your craft's trip.

Kerbal Alarm Clock allows you to run time at a fast warp and automatically slow it down in time for important events such as burns which you can set.

If you like doing things by hand, kOS will let you write programs to read your craft's current state and react to it in flight, allowing things like hands-off satellite launches.

Hope this helps, good luck!

[Monkeh]

Here's a shot with the engineer redux in action. Gives a lot of what you wanted in one handy window. Excellent

[Trekimann]

I get that for most it would not be fun and that's why I would think of it as a hardcore difficulty mode Primarily i'm thinking about what tools would have been useful if this had been around when I was studying, a way to keep my skills sharp without having to do textbook problem all the time.

[Trekimann]

Thanks, I was going to remove it as I just read that topic but you beat me to it

[Trekimann]

The Delta V will be a very useful tool when combined with the other info Looking at your screenshot that reminds me of another request/sugestion. The ability to name stages not just have numbers. Something to help keep track of exactly what stage is what. I know the custom action groups are useful but I have a few craft that I deploy in different orders depending on what I am trying to achieve and quite a few times ive staged the wrong bit or activated the wrong thing at the wrong time.

[Kulebron]

I would love to be able to plan missions more accurately but I dont have enough information.

A lot of the information is in KSP wiki. Delta-V of a rocket can be calculated with either Flight Engineer Redux plugin or MechJeb. MechJeb is very useful for precise journey planning, because in it you can edit every maneuver exactly, by whatever precision you need, which is very hard in 3D map. Also it has all kinds of flight helpers (maintain prograde/nominal/radial, autoland, etc. if you are ok wih machine aid)

Nevertheless, precise trip planning is technically impossible right now: you still have to correct your course. KSP developers explained this at a conference: the issue is that they use 2-level coordinate systems with values stored as floating point values, which have low precision, and errors increase with distance. That's why your maneuver for 100 days later will not be precise, and you'll have to readjust it. (Rewind to 4:20)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=w9KZ3JG0TnY#t=260

There, they also explain that there does exist universal time, and all planets positions can be calculated beforehand.

(But with some adjustments you can shoot from Kerbin to Laythe and enter exactly the orbit you need, with an inclination aligned with the islands, to land on the ground, not in water.)

Edited September 26, 2013 by Kulebron

[Kodiak42]

I do agree with you on some of these parts, Kerbal space program only gives you enough numbers to eyeball your missions. Although, you can already calculate the delta-v of your spacecraft (if you can ever get the sea slugs to tell you how the numbers work out). In all honesty, though, I can't really blame mod developers for automating the process, users would either not know the calculus to perfectly plan these processes, or they would soon get annoyed at doing the same thing over and over again.

[rkman]

The problem I have with these sort of requests is how fun its gonna be if implemented in the game. It shouldn't be a tedious taske you're forced to do before launch.

Even in KSP it is good practice to plan missions ahead of time and design the craft accordingly. It's kind of inevitable that you'll have to know TWR and delta-v. TWR is fairly simple to calculate but especially adding the mass of all the parts by hand is more tedious than having it calculated in-game. Calculating delta-v by hand is beyond what can reasonably be expected of most people. Even with the game calculating it for you, you'll still have to know how to use that information.

Sure it makes the game more realistic but KSP isn't a simulator.

According to Squad KSP is something in between a game and a simulator.

[Mr Shifty]

Having done 2 Degrees in Engineering and Rocket Science I have some requests for a new mode or just additional options.

I would love to be able to plan missions more accurately but I dont have enough information. It would be great to be able to click on a spacecraft and get its COE's. knowing the u value for the planetary bodies would be good too. A persistent timer/clock would be handy for planning launch windows. Knowing the delta V for a constructed rocket would be immensely useful.

Planetary body information is in this spreadsheet. (Note that there are two tabs at the bottom.)

If you really want to do elaborate mission planning, you should check out Orbiter. The TransX MFD lets you do Voyager-style grand-tour mission planning.

[softweir]

This is a good suggestion. Mission Planning is one of the intended features of the game, and hopefully it will satisfy the O.P's requirements!

In the meantime, he could look at the Protractor and Kerbal Alarm Clock mods which will go some way towards satisfying his needs!