Maintaining KEO and other satellite disasters

[Aeon-Phoenix]

At this point i'm rather frustrated. I like to play with mods like RemoteTech and Interstellar Mod.

Both rely on working satellite networks. One for comms, the other for proper microwave power.

Getting things into KEO is relatively easy. Well you always get them close to KEO. And there lies the problem. Not even Mechjeb is so accurate that the archived orbit is 100% KEO.

This always results in the sattelites shifting positions over time, till the network simply orbits itself apart. You can of course try to adjust them as the needs arises, but with networks consisting of a dozen or more satellites, things start to get annoying.

Another thing i did tried is to edit the save files. But i am either too dump or KSP is like that.

My question is: Do you guys now an elegant way to solve the KEO over time dilemma? Could there be a mod, that automatically keeps satellites in check?

Thanks for any answer in advance.

Edited August 27, 2014 by Aeon-Phoenix

[Boomerang]

I've always just edited the persistence file once I've gotten my satellites into near-perfect orbits. If it feels like cheating to you, that's fine, but I think with the lack of station-keeping tech in the game, it's acceptable. Just be aware that if you edit something into a perfect orbit, then focus on that craft later, the orbit won't be perfect anymore. You can always go back and re-perfect the orbit though, if you do accidentally go to a craft you meant to leave on rails.

What you want to do, once your satellites are in a near-perfect orbit, is to find the crafts in the save file (just search the document for the vessel name). You'll find something that looks like this (copied from my own save)

VESSEL

{

pid = 1906eb1737a746a7a5fdd6a8d30498ee

name = KEOSat - A

type = Probe

sit = ORBITING

landed = False

landedAt =

splashed = False

met = 224.199999882549

lct = 145842.977170916

root = 0

lat = 0.052187714036644

lon = 201.732008723705

alt = 1585589.90461314

hgt = -1

nrm = -0.9986992,0.03208894,-0.03962749

rot = 0.6991592,0.1069715,0.1374546,-0.6934261

CoM = -0.007738262,0.4775213,-3.827736E-07

stg = 0

prst = False

ref = 0

ctrl = True

cPch =

cHdg =

cMod = 0

ORBIT

{

SMA = 2185180

ECC = 0

INC = 0

LPE = 36.3275083048605

LAN = 78.3508991348915

MNA = 1.58173475785541

EPH = 146067.217170799

REF = 1

}

I only kept the entirety of that there in case you've never seen where exactly the orbit information is. You can ignore everything between the name of the vessel and the ORBIT tag for what you're doing now. You want a semi-major axis of 2 185 180 meters (SMA), with an eccentricity (ECC) and inclination (INC) of 0, for a perfect Kerbin-synchronous orbit.

So just change those three values. If you look on the wikia, there's a list of the synchronous orbits for the other bodies as well, the SMA will change in those cases. Hope that helps.

Edit: My Kepler-related math is a bit rusty, so I don't know if the changes to the length of the Kerbin day affects the SMA for Kerbin-synchronous orbits, but as long as the numbers are the same for all your satellites, it shouldn't matter unless you've got some ground-based power station that you need a satellite directly over at all times.

Edited August 26, 2014 by Boomerang

[Taki117]

Using Mech Jeb you are less concerned with altitude and far more concerned with orbital period. If the orbital period of all your stats match then they will stay in formation for litteral years before anything ahppens to them. If you put 3 properly designed comsats in Kerbo-stationary Orbit (Orbital period is roughly 6hrs, I don't know it since they changed the rotational period) in a triangular formation you can cover All of Kerbin, the Mun, and Minmus with very little drift.

[Kasuha]

The matter with stationary orbit is not in setting up the apoapsis/periapsis but in setting up the orbital period. A probe which differs from Pe/Ap by a few hundred meters but has sufficiently precise orbital period is as good as stationary.

Make your retranslator as sturdy as possible. Wiggly joints add up to orbit inaccuracy. Give it ion engine or RCS for fine setup.

Highlight both periapsis and apoapsis with your mouse, and keep applying corrections till they are exactly three hours apart. Then switch off the ship.

You can do that with any orbital period, too. It does not have to be stationary if it is sufficiently high. Three satellites can give 100% coverage to 99% of planet's surface.

Edited August 26, 2014 by Kasuha

[agent 902]

my way of doing this is to add 4-6 polar orbit satelites at about 500k altitude,if any problems acour in the network and im to bored to fix it,they transmit the signal abowe kerbin instead of around

And yoiu only need like 4 sats in geosync orbit using remottech,and the microwawe power i have no ide to use,its far beyond my moding expertise *cough*

[Kryxal]

When I set up a network, I usually set up the Kerbin part with 6 or so satellites on highly eccentric orbits, so they spend MOST of their time in a given region. Try combining that with "adjacent" satellites being 180 degrees off-phase and match up the orbital periods (and maybe add 20 degrees of inclination) and you should be perfectly good for quite a while, and mostly good for a VERY long time.

Now that I think of it, with more of an inclination you could probably set the apoapsis safely between Mun and Minimus if you so choose...

[Aeon-Phoenix]

Thanks alot for all your advises. Sometimes you really got a block in thinking straight and you need some advise.