Question: How to work out the best gravity turn?

[togfox]

So is there a table somewhere that shows altitude verses speed and gives an indication of when it is best to start your gravity turn after launch?

I hear some say 30k is the best altitude and some say 40k. Some say it depends on your craft.

Unless I\'m mistaken, the true factor is your speed. If you have a lot of speed then you can afford an early gravity turn but if you\'re going slow then you\'ll have to reach a higher altitude so the atmosphere doesn\'t pull you back down.

Is there a \'optimum curve\' to work this stuff out, assuming a constant target altitude? Cheers.

[power5000]

not sure but I\'d love to know as well. I tend to start around 25KM and end me turn around 35KM but I don\'t think this is optimum curve

[what-the]

You would need;

Thrust

Weight

Burn Rate (loss of mass)

Gravity

Drag at angles

To calculate a best turn.

I start my turn once my apoapsis (not altitude) is about 27,000 meters (square root of 70000 * 10) this is where drag is less than 75% of what it is on the ground, making horizontal velocity at least 25% easier to obtain than on the ground

[Tiberion]

Correct me if I am wrong, but we don\'t actually have the capability to do gravity turns anymore; since there really is not a gravity-gradient for ships from end to end anymore (they were Removed in 0.12 to boost performance)

It also made rockets less likely to randomly tip over without input, but the result is you can\'t get that rotational force during ascent without control inputs.

Angluar drag might still simulate this a little bit, but that would have to be answered by someone who knows how the drag is applied to individual parts.

[The_Duck]

Correct me if I am wrong, but we don\'t actually have the capability to do gravity turns anymore; since there really is not a gravity-gradient for ships from end to end anymore

In a gravity turn, gravity does not provide the torque that rotates the ship. So it doesn\'t matter whether the parts of the ship feel gravity separately. Rather, in a gravity turn, gravity is what bends (turns) the trajectory downward. The ship still has to rotate itself to line its main axis up with its velocity.