TransX TransX-Earth to mars: What am I doing wrong?

[palebluevoice]

Right, so after becoming familiar with docking and moon landing, I thought I'd try my hand at interplanetary travel. After spending a few hours fumbling around and studying various tutorials and videos, I think I became familiar with the procedures. Unfortunately, I've tried about 5 times to get to mars, and each time I've failed(years passed and it still looked only like an orange dot).

Here's my procedure; I hope someone more experienced can spot what I'm doing wrong, or perhaps provide some troubleshooting steps if the MFD isn't working correctly.

-I start a scenario in low earth orbit, using the default Delta Glider.

-I select the Transx MFD and select the target variable to "escape"

-I press "FWD" and set the target variable, in stage 2, to "Mars"

-I adjust the "prograde velocity", "eject date", and "ch plane vel" variables until "CL. app." is as low as I can reasonably get it; usually around 3g

-I press "Back" to set the stage to 1, the earth escape stage

-I watch at the bottom until the burn time is 0

-I apply full throttle, and wait until DV is as close to zero as I can get it

-I wait a while, until I'm far enough away from earth, and the Transx mfd deletes the first stage. I turn prograde and apply linear RCS thrust in various directions, until I can get the "CL. App." on the screen to a minimum(usually around 400-500m)

Here's where things go stinky. I accelerate time to the max, checking the transx mfd every few days. After a few months or so(not sure exactly) transx stops displaying Mars as a target(perhaps because of distance?). I set it as a target again, and the "CL. App." is all over the place, fluctuating from 100g to 20g, all over the place. I accelerate time some more, fix "CL. App" and then wait...and wait...and wait, for years; and mars appears farther.

Is there something I don't understand? A technical glitch? Something I skipped? I know this isn't very much information, but I'm afraid I it's all I know to provide. If someone could help, I would be very appreciative.

---------- Post added 03-23-11 at 05:25 AM ---------- Previous post was 03-22-11 at 09:41 PM ----------

Nevermind, I managed to get interplanetary MFD working and I managed to land(more like crash, time for some more practice flights eh?) sorry for filling up the help with needless stuff, but maybe now that I understand interplanetary travel I can make up for it by helping others...

 

[Mister Mxyzptlk]

You need to get it closer than 3G to start for one thing, and then at the halfway point do your first mid course correction, Then again when the distance halves, and then at least one more time. That should get you in the ballpark. Use manuver mode in transX for your course corrections.

 

[Ripley]

.....maybe now that I understand interplanetary travel I can make up for it by helping others...

...For example, you could start with writing down what you were doing wrong, and explaining what you did to accomplish your objective!
:thumbup:

 

[C3PO]

..... but maybe now that I understand interplanetary travel I can make up for it by helping others...

Someone who understands interplanetary travel should have no trouble using TransX.

Choosing IMFD or TransX is a matter of personal preference.

However, I always advice beginners to start with TransX, because IMHO it gives a better understanding of basic orbital mechanics. But I guess that's a personal preference too.

You could argue that starting with the basic MFDs (OrbitMFD, AlignMFD and SyncMFD) is the optimal route to go, but in my experience TransX is quite good for beginners.

 

[palebluevoice]

You need to get it closer than 3G to start for one thing, and then at the halfway point do your first mid course correction, Then again when the distance halves, and then at least one more time. That should get you in the ballpark. Use manuver mode in transX for your course corrections.

Ahh, so closer at the start, and more mid course corrections. Perhaps I need to review the transx manual; I'm guessing I don't entirely understand the lines. Next interplanetary flight I'll try it, so I become familiar with both.

Even though Transx didn't work for me, the tutorials did teach me a lot about orbital mechanics, and I have a pretty good understanding of each step of the interplanetary MFD; moreso than if I had just learned it originally. I just need to review some orbital mechanics for as to WHY burning in certain directions changes your orbit; its probably somewhere in the early chapters of "Go play in space" and I was just to eager to get flying that I skipped the details.

Thanks for your help everyone!

 

[flytandem]

snip... After a few months or so(not sure exactly) transx stops displaying Mars as a target(perhaps because of distance?). I set it as a target again, and the "CL. App." is all over the place, fluctuating from 100g to 20g, all over the place. ...snip

Sounds like you may have an early somewhat buggy version of TransX. The best and current version is here...
http://orbiterfixes.googlecode.com/files/transx-3.13-enterbutton-graphicsfix.zip

Place it into your Orbit/Modules/Plugin folder. You might want to rename the previous Transx.dll as something like TransX_old.dll first.

Hey did I see Steve (agentgonzo) is back.?? We need someone to take the helm with continuing TransX development.

 

[Mister Mxyzptlk]

Yes, conceptualizing exactly what a burn in each of the parameters (inward, outward,prograde,retrograde,normal,antinormal) does is indispensable.

 

[agentgonzo]

Hey did I see Steve (agentgonzo) is back.?? We need someone to take the helm with continuing TransX development.

Yes, I am, but I'm not going to be doing any development in the next few months. Most of my time at the moment is caught between trying to find a new job and trying to find a new house, so there really isn't even time to load up orbiter, let alone break out Visual Studio and start coding again... unfortunately.

But yes, I'm back! And I had an awesome time (I'm the one crouching low with the cap)

 

[Ripley]

...And I had an awesome time...

Not quite the same for the poor elephant!!
;-)

 

[Mister Mxyzptlk]

Is pachyderm dead?

 

[agentgonzo]

Is pachyderm dead?

No. She had got a loop of wire caught around her leg that was causing her to Limp. She couldn't get it off her leg so we had to dart her, remove it and treat the wound. She recovered fine and was with the rest of the herd the following morning.

 

[flytandem]

Great! that was close Steve. My wife saw the pic and said that if you had intentionally hurt the elephant that I would not be allowed to use TransX any more. Now she knows you helped it, so I get to play Orbiter twice as much. Yay!!!:thumbup: