[WEB] Resonant Orbits Worksheet and Orbital Calculator

[NASAHireMe]

First post to the forums! I've been playing KSP and reading these forums for about 3 months now, but only just got around to making a forum account so I can post this.

I found a need for a compendium of resonant orbits of the different bodies in the Kerbolverse. I checked 'The Drawing Board' as well as doing a few Google searches for "Kerbal resonant orbits", and didn't find anything that met my needs, so I made one myself.

Here's a link to the Google Sheets, so you can view on either mobile or desktop: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1Uwapdg0oNEIiX0R0fUwqQvl5PhtOZ87KO-9Or6MIvGM/edit?usp=sharing

First sheet is a table of common resonant orbits for all bodies in the Kerbol system, from 1:7 to 7:1 resonances. Orbits are displayed by orbital period (in seconds, and in Kerbin-time y-d-h-m-s, which is MechJeb's format) and semi-major axis. 'Smaller resonances' means your orbit is quicker and smaller than the parent, whereas 'larger resonances' means your orbit is longer than the parent.

Obviously, there are an infinite number of orbital resonances, but resonances beyond 7 (like 9:13) start to get unwieldy. Who wants to time-accelerate for 13 Eeloo orbits of 17 years each? If there is demand, I can easily extend the spreadsheet to cover more resonances.

Second sheet is an orbital calculator that converts your 1) apoapsis and periapsis to semi-major axis and orbital period, or 2) orbital period to semi-major axis. Also included are the gravitational parameters and radii for the planets. All data is taken from the KSP Wiki as of December 2014 (presumably, KSP v. 0.25).

I mostly use the orbital resonances to string multiple planetary flybys for gravity-assist purposes. Often, one gravity assist is not enough to raise your orbit from Kerbin to Jool, for example. But TWO or more gravity assists will usually get you there. By knowing the resonant orbits, you can adjust the resultant trajectory of your first gravity assist so that you can perform a second flyby gravity-assist down the road. There are plenty of other uses for orbital resonances, especially if you use ISA MapSat, Kethane, or RemoteTech.

I'm working on converting this into a stand-alone tool for a website. My JavaScript is a little rusty, but I'll get around to it eventually. Message me if you want to help me.

Any and all comments appreciated.

Edited December 23, 2014 by NASAHireMe

[Specialist290]

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