VincentMcConnell Posted March 31, 2012 Share Posted March 31, 2012 Can someone make a guide on how to do a burn to orbit launch? AKA: The engines start running at liftoff and don\'t stop until the craft is in a 100KM orbit/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kosmo-not Posted March 31, 2012 Share Posted March 31, 2012 Basically, you want to end up with a velocity vector that is orbital speed in magnitude and parallel with the horizon at whichever orbit elevation you want. You can have your apopasis higher than the orbit you want, and upon reach your orbit altitude pitch down towards the ground to change you vector to bring the apoapsis to you. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Randox Posted April 1, 2012 Share Posted April 1, 2012 As in 1 strait burn to circular orbit? That would take some doing. It would be easier to do higher out of the atmosphere (200+). The real trick would be accounting for the transition to sideways (I guess go to min thrust, or allow a brief stop). You\'d need to know the exact horizontal speed target for your altitude, and make sure you reach that at exactly the same time you reach Ap. You\'ll need a table of velocities for circular orbits handy. Once your on your side, you can nose up a bit as needed (5-10 degrees) to get your Ap exactly right. After that its all about timing the horizontal velocity.I think I have a nice design on hand that could do that, but not that low. It was designed to reach a 200km orbit (and the staging and fuel tanks line up perfectly with the altitude at which it performs is maneuvers), but if I bring the engines back during the horizontal phase, it could probably be made to get a pretty nice orbit in one burn. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ivan Ivanovich Posted April 1, 2012 Share Posted April 1, 2012 I would not recommend doing such a thing, it would require you to spend a prolonged time in the denser atmosphere. Instead I would suggest getting to a sensible height, pushing the apogee to where you want it to be, shut off engines and reignite them when you\'re at apogee to push perigee up to it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cepheus Posted April 1, 2012 Share Posted April 1, 2012 Here\'s what you do. Do the exact same procedure to launch into a 100 km suborbital trajectory. Next, point your nose to the ground, and burn. It\'ll raise your periapsis. Now, it\'ll need some correcting, but you\'ll be in orbit. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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