"Loosing" Orbit?

[Konrad Curze]

Hi!

First of all, I'm new to this game and a native german speaker, so please be kind to me. ;-)

I've got a question, and can't find something suitable for me through the search.

After some tests I was finally able to get me command module "Emperors Honor" into a orbit around Kerbin. But I burned all my fuel, so the question is, will the module drop out of orbit after some circles, or do I have to write a tombstone for poor Jebediah?

Thx.

[LexiSilva]

If the orbit's periapsis (lowest point) is above 70.000 meters, then you must rescue Jebediah. If Pe is below 70.000, Jeb will come back, eventually.

[blurrr 2]

To rescue Jebediah, fly a ship with an empty command module into orbit near the ship with Jebediah, and then use EVA to fly Jebediah into the rescue ship, and then de-orbit the rescue ship.

[DeepSpaceDutch]

If the orbit's periapsis (lowest point) is above 70.000 meters, then you must rescue Jebediah. If Pe is below 70.000, Jeb will come back, eventually.

To expand on this; losing orbital speed below 70km will only happen when you are "focused" on that vessel during the aerobreaking. If for examply your Pe is 60km and you are flying another craft at that moment the game will not calculate the speed loss.

To rescue Jebediah, fly a ship with an empty command module into orbit near the ship with Jebediah, and then use EVA to fly Jebediah into the rescue ship, and then de-orbit the rescue ship.

^this

Rendezvous (and Docking) are one of the hardest parts parts of KSP to learn well, the awesome Youtube tutorials of Scott Manley did the trick for me.

Rendezvous and Docking (he's using version 0.18 of the game here but that doesn't matter);

[Konrad Curze]

Ok, my PE is around 68k, so it should stop it, hopefully. I will watch his flight, so thanks for this hint.

Regarding the EVAC-Option, sadly I'm at the very beginning of the career mode and don't have enough parts to build a proper rescue-ship.

I will try the natural way first, and post back the results.

Thank you for your answers for the moment.

I really like that game. :-)

[DeepSpaceDutch]

Ok, my PE is around 68k, so it should stop it, hopefully.

Haha Jeb got lucky there than!

It will do it but it will take quite a few orbits!

And yes, KSP is great, addictive as hell! Just wait until you master docking, interplanetary travel and landing on bodies without atmosphere!

[Konrad Curze]

Haha Jeb got lucky there than!

It will do it but it will take quite a few orbits!

And yes, KSP is great, addictive as hell! Just wait until you master docking, interplanetary travel and landing on bodies without atmosphere!

Well, I convinced a friend to buy it too, and now we have got a little "Cold-War-Run for the moon" - thing running. In career-mode. :-D

[Deadpangod3]

Um, Kerbins atmosphere ends at around 68 km or so so Jeb may still be stuck in orbit,

Does it at any time during your orbit stop time warping by itself? If it does, then that means Jebs orbit is atleast slightly withing the atmosphere and he should come down eventually but it might take a long time, if it doesn't stop time warp, then Jebs orbit is above the atmosphere and you'll have to send a rescue mission,

[Woopert]

Ok, my PE is around 68k, so it should stop it, hopefully. I will watch his flight, so thanks for this hint.

Regarding the EVAC-Option, sadly I'm at the very beginning of the career mode and don't have enough parts to build a proper rescue-ship.

I will try the natural way first, and post back the results.

Thank you for your answers for the moment.

I really like that game. :-)

At 68KM the orbit will take looong time to decay. Hopefully Jeb will come home safe, though. I have faith in you

Have fun with your endeavors with KSP.

[Capt. Hunt]

You might be too early in career mode for this, but if you have RCS thrusters on the craft, point the rocket toward retrograde and thrust forward with RCS at your apoapsis, this might slow your orbit down enough to lower your periapsis.

[Mitchz95]

If you're really desperate, you can always try getting out and pushing the ship retrograde. Seriously, it helps.

[AlamoVampire]

ya, its gonna take a LONG while to get jeb back, if you just orbit the planet and watch the aerobrake.

there are 2 other options that do NOT involve a rendezvous/docking.

1. the non cheaty method: get jebediah OUT of the space craft after pointing it into the retrograde direction <the exact opposite direction you are going> and place jeb on eva on the 'heat shield" and push him into the capsules heat shield <if you faced that into the prograde, or direction you are GOING around kerbin> and shove the capsule to slow it down. be careful that you do not burn you FULL eva pack fuel, you need enough to get back INTO the capsule. repeat this a few times until you slow it down into a more proper descent. it will take a while to do this, but, it IS possible. if each thrust session is at apoapsis

2. the cheaty method: go into your persistent save file, and locate jebediah kerman, look for his STATE, it SHOULD be state 2 < in flight> and reset him to state 0 <in the astronaut complex> the persistent save file is just a regular text document that notepad can easily edit.

[Starwhip]

At 68 Kilometers the capsule will eventually return, albeit SLOWLY. Seriously, a few hours or so of time warping ahead: have fun

But welcome to the forums.

[SRV Ron]

I'm guessing that with some practice, your existing design will make orbit with fuel enough left for return.

Meanwhile, it will take several days in Kerbal time for Jeb to slow down enough to return to Kerbal.

Edited February 3, 2014 by SRV Ron

[allmappedout]

Your best bet is honestly to get out and push; when your craft is at its Apoapsis, you can get Jeb out of the ship and 'push' with your RCS thrusters retrograde until your Periapsis is lower. It might take a while, but it will definitely help, especially if your craft isn't too big (You'll realise that the Kerbal RCS system is a bit overpowered...they have around 500m/s dV in them, so it's definitely got enough to de-orbit you). Good luck!

[astropapi1]

Just remember to quicksave before going out of the capsule. You don't want to run outta RCS at the worst possible moment.

[Konrad Curze]

Thank you for all of the answers, I will not quote everybody. *g*

So, first, regarding my lowest Point, was a little bit wrong. At the moment it is around 63,523. To answer the timewarp-question, yes, the warps goes regulary from the green arrows to the red ones.

Regarding the get out and push idea, sounds good but I'm a complete noob at EVA's. I will give it a try tomorrow maybe. I don't want to cheat, I want to play it as hard as possible. :-)

Sadly I'm not able to post an Image of my rocket. How do I have to do that?

UPDATE: Jeb is back on Mother Kerban. *g* Thank you very much for the push-idea, was tricky, but I got it. And mastered a save landing in the water. :-)

Edited February 3, 2014 by Konrad Curze

[MajorThomas]

Thank you for all of the answers, I will not quote everybody. *g*

So, first, regarding my lowest Point, was a little bit wrong. At the moment it is around 63,523. To answer the timewarp-question, yes, the warps goes regulary from the green arrows to the red ones.

Regarding the get out and push idea, sounds good but I'm a complete noob at EVA's. I will give it a try tomorrow maybe. I don't want to cheat, I want to play it as hard as possible. :-)

Sadly I'm not able to post an Image of my rocket. How do I have to do that?

UPDATE: Jeb is back on Mother Kerban. *g* Thank you very much for the push-idea, was tricky, but I got it. And mastered a save landing in the water. :-)

Congratulations!

[Woopert]

Thank you for all of the answers, I will not quote everybody. *g*

So, first, regarding my lowest Point, was a little bit wrong. At the moment it is around 63,523. To answer the timewarp-question, yes, the warps goes regulary from the green arrows to the red ones.

Regarding the get out and push idea, sounds good but I'm a complete noob at EVA's. I will give it a try tomorrow maybe. I don't want to cheat, I want to play it as hard as possible. :-)

Sadly I'm not able to post an Image of my rocket. How do I have to do that?

UPDATE: Jeb is back on Mother Kerban. *g* Thank you very much for the push-idea, was tricky, but I got it. And mastered a save landing in the water. :-)

Press F1 to take a screen shot. By pressing F2, the interface for the spacecraft will close giving a picture of what the scene would look like. Post it to imgur and share the link from there, using the BBcode on the forums. :-)

[KN_Namida]

Well, congratulations for lnding him back safely

Also, with a periapsis of 63 km, I think it would have taken less than 10 orbits to lower its apoapsis down enough to achieve a sub-orbital trajectory (depending on how high your apoapsis was, of course). But of course, getting out and pushing is way faster.

Also, I like your idea of a "cold war space race" style competition, I might do something of the sort once multiplayer gets made. Not a bad idea.

[The Destroyer]

Congrats! I always use the "Get out and push" when I just need a little bit more fuel

[Deta]

If you're really desperate, you can always try getting out and pushing the ship retrograde. Seriously, it helps.

AKA the Manley Maneuver.

[KvickFlygarn87]

Rendezvous (and docking) are one of the hardest parts parts of KSP to learn

I taught myself (taught myself rendezvous loosely off Youtube, not tutorials though) those, and I did it in one shot.