A few Question about the Orbits & More

[Turk_WLF]

I have a few questions about Orbits & More…

1) What is the Minimum Stable Orbit for Kerbin (is it 70 or 72m) & Mun (Which I haven’t made it to yet)?

2) What is the Maximum Orbit range of Helldiver’s mini Shuttles (I want to use them to resupply my Space Station that I’m planning to launch)

3) I’m just curious if any of you launch probes to a new planet/moon before you launched manned Mission to it.

4) I’m not sure if this is the right place to post this, but Helldiver’s Mini Shuttle I’m having trouble separating the SRBs from the External Tank when they should be. (I don’t have an Separation motors for the SRBs)

Thanks,

[Poynting]

Hi Turk_WLF

1a) Minimum completely stable orbit must have a periapsis above 69 077.553 m (Height at which the game stops calculating drag on your ship)

1b) Any orbit around the Mun is stable so long as you don't hit the ground! Highest point is 7061 m which is near the south pole.

2) Sorry I'm no help here having never used them

3) You can make probes smaller and lighter. Which in turn makes missions easier and faster so yeah for the planets in ksp i've always sent probes first.

4) Again I'm not much help here.

[Mr Shifty]

2)What is the Maximum Orbit range of Helldiver’s mini Shuttles (I want to use them to resupply my Space Station that I’m planning to launch)

4) I’m not sure if this is the right place to post this, but Helldiver’s Mini Shuttle I’m having trouble separating the SRBs from the External Tank when they should be. (I don’t have an Separation motors for the SRBs)

2) KSO has tons of fuel; I'm pretty sure you can get out to synchronous altitude with it, even with a loaded cargo bay. (I posted a [thread=88371]challenge[/thread] recently to deliver station components using KSO out to a Molniya orbit, and fuel was no issue.) It'll be no problem whatsoever doing station building in LKO. Note that the orbital tug in the KSO pack is one of the coolest mod parts out there. Very very handy for building stations.

4) Load up the reference vessels included with the KSO pack ("KSP Block 8.craft" and "KSO EWBCL Block 4.craft")to see how to build and stage the SRB sepratrons, which you will need in order to clear them away from the ET. You don't really need to build your own KSO; the reference crafts work really well. Note that docking ports are not included with the reference vessels; you have to add them in order to dock to anything or use the cargo bay.

Edited August 19, 2014 by Mr Shifty

[Pecan]

I have a few questions about Orbits & More…

1) What is the Minimum Stable Orbit for Kerbin (is it 70 or 72m) & Mun (Which I haven’t made it to yet)?

2) What is the Maximum Orbit range of Helldiver’s mini Shuttles (I want to use them to resupply my Space Station that I’m planning to launch)

3) I’m just curious if any of you launch probes to a new planet/moon before you launched manned Mission to it.

4) I’m not sure if this is the right place to post this, but Helldiver’s Mini Shuttle I’m having trouble separating the SRBs from the External Tank when they should be. (I don’t have an Separation motors for the SRBs)

Thanks,

1. Although, as Poynting pointed out, any periapsis over 69km (and a bit) is stable most people take 70km as the absolute minimum and, usually, aim at 75km to provide a safety margin.

2. Never heard of it, we'll have to trust Mr. Shifty. The thing is though that orbits don't have a 'range'. If the ship can dock - and since you're going to use it for resupply I suppose it can - then it can be refuelled. With fuel it should be able to go anywhere.

3. Yes, as explained in my tutorial (link in the signature), I send mapping mapping satellites to find suitable landing sites. Sometimes I use the RT2 communications satellite mod as well. In career mode I'd probably use unmanned science probes too, but I hate the insane tech-tree so usually stay in sandbox.

4. No help here, sorry.