New guy question about aero surfaces working in orbit

[Lanzfeld]

Hello,

Downloaded the demo to get a taste. I am coming from Orbiter 2010 so I noticed rather quickly that once in orbit my aero controls still work. No need for RCS. Also the capsule seems to be able to rotate around with no RCS both in orbit and in the atmosphere.

Is this stuff just demo bugs or am I missing something obvious?

Thanks

[roblamb98]

every command pod has reaction wheels, adding torque, your control surfaces are not effective in a vacuum

[Pecan]

And to expand on the above - the amount of torque available from the command pods/probe cores is finite so will have less effect on a massier vehicle. Adding additional, specific, reaction wheels will increase the available torque or, yes, you can add RCS as well.

[KerikBalm]

Yes, its the reaction wheels, not the aero surfaces. They consume electricity (the control surfaces do not), no electrical power = no rotation, unless you have RCS.

The reaction wheels are rather over powered - they can produce unlimited amounts of torque in the same direction as long as there is power. In contrast, a real world reaction wheel would spin up too fast and break like and overspeeded centrifuge if you tried to produce too much torque along one axis.

If you don't like them, you can click on the command pod and select disable reaction wheels.

[Lanzfeld]

Wow learn something new everyday!

Thanks guys

[Claw]

Also, don't be confused by the fact that the aero controls will still move in space. Although they will wiggle around, they are still ineffective.

[Lanzfeld]

Cool application of physics.

Does any capsule make use of this "free" rotation? (not free but batteries)

[Claw]

Cool application of physics.

Does any capsule make use of this "free" rotation? (not free but batteries)

Yeah, pretty much all the probe cores and capsules have torque. You can check specific ones by right clicking and looking for the torque values.

[ripvanlemon]

Cool application of physics.

Does any capsule make use of this "free" rotation? (not free but batteries)

If you're wondering if it can be exploited, the answer is yes! Just a couple of examples off the top of my head:

(by the end of the vid, he settles on a design that is driven only by reaction wheels)

(using pod torque in conjunction with fuel transfer)

Is that what you were looking for?

[Greenfire32]

Cool application of physics.

Does any capsule make use of this "free" rotation? (not free but batteries)

Most, if not all, capsules/pods/probes have some degree of torque, but it's super weak compared to the actual reaction wheels under the "Control" tab. You won't be able to keep a massive rocket (or even a standard sized one) stable with just the torque from the command pod, you'll need to add some extra stability through those parts.

Short version: yes, but its effects weaken with every part you add.