I am leaving the Iss by unlocking first and then letting time go by so i am away from the Iss and then i turn on my rockets and i point my craft when the moon is visible and then let time go by and then my craft does not go to the moon it is getting very frustrating that I cant figure out how to go to the moon simply turning on my rockets and then facing my craft to the moon it should then go to the moon right > i need help thanks
Hi sseckels,
Rocket science is tough, but the feeling when you master it is immense! I highly recommend the Go Play In Space tutorials, or Blixel's youtube sessions.
Here's a few things to think about:
1. When docked at the ISS, you are at quite a steep inclination. What does this mean? The angle of your orbital plane to the equator is 50+ degrees, which is intentional to make it easy to get to the ISS from the Russian Baikonur complex.
2. Look at the Moon's inclination (e.g. bring up Orbit MFD, set TGT to Moon, and look at the Inc. It's 5 degrees, give or take. So the orbit of the Moon relative to Earth is much closer to the equitorial plane.
3. Align Planes MFD is your friend to change your inclination. Remember "Anti-Normal" burn at the Ascending Node (AN at AN / so N at DN), and do successive burns to get into plane with the Moon. Flying a vessel like the Delta Glider is a good thing to learn. (Yes - you can do jazzy off-plany transfers, but if you are learning, then start by getting in plane first).
4. You now need to think about how to get out to the Moon's altitude above the Earth. Rather than pointing at the Moon and firing your engines (which is like trying to get to the Moon by launching from Cape Canaveral and going straight up ... i.e. wrong!), you need to burn in a Prograde direction. This might seem weird - e.g. burning 90 degrees from what seems right, but you are trying to add orbital velocity around the Earth, to generate more centripetal force, to drive you into a higher orbit. Burns come in pairs: one to make a circular orbit into an oval, and then a second burn at the top of the orbit (apoapsis) to raise the low side back up to a circular orbit.
5. OK - how much to burn and when? Well, that's with Synchronise Orbit MFD (Sync MFD), and I'll leave it at this point, as you need to studt and think carefully about this. I'll just say: if your orbit has a faster period (i.e. T is smaller) than the moon, then you will catch it up, so you can successively raise your orbit to get close to lunar distances from the Earth, refining your intersection as you do it. At some point, you will reach a point where the Moon has more influence than the Earth, and then you are well on your way to Lunar capture and orbit.
And you thought you could just point to the Moon and burn?
