Flight Question EVA Help

[Spaceman379]

Im using Ummu and the DGIV and i keep having trouble perfoming evas. Does anyone have any tips/tricks to help i have been having problems getting back to the glider i cant match the speed or the glider so i cant catch it. Any help would be nice

 

[Alexw95]

why would you slow yourself down that much ?

 

[ddom2006]

If you've just 'stepped' out of the DGIV and haven't fired the DGIV's engine since, the EVA crew member and the DGIV should be travelling at the same speed. (I'd presume so anyway, since Orbiter has realistic physics and astronauts don't drift off during EVAs at the ISS). It's not a problem I've ever had myself. I presume you've read the tutorials?

 

[Izack]

Use the Vessel Ref. HUD to check your velocity components relative to the DG-IV. If you're new to it, I'd suggest not letting any of them getting over 1.5m/s.

 

[Spaceman379]

if i am slowing myself down im not aware of it i usually go to the payload bay and mess with the cargo but when i try to get back to the airlock thats when my problems start to happen

 

[Alexw95]

check before you leave to make sure your engines are not on. and do not translate for to long ( space is a vaccume, theirfor their is nothing to slow you down if you fire engines once your just going to keep going until gravity pulls you in or you hit somthing)

 

[Spaceman379]

now that i think of it i did translate for a while and thats probaly why it threw me off

 

[Alexw95]

yea try that and if it doesnt work come back here

 

[Izack]

check before you leave to make sure your engines are not on. and do not translate for to long ( space is a vaccume, theirfor their is nothing to slow you down if you fire engines once your just going to keep going until gravity pulls you in or you hit somthing)

Not really. If you translate towards zenith or nadir you'll start oscillating around your DG-IV, once per orbit. If you get it just right you can cause yourself to 'orbit' the parent vessel.

 

[Alexw95]

the point is you dont keep your engines on for ever like an airplane you fire them to generate the required dV to get to were ever your going then you shut them off

 

[Izack]

the point is you dont keep your engines on for ever like an airplane you fire them to generate the required dV to get to were ever your going then you shut them off

And then you fire them again to make sure you stay where you were going.

 

[Alexw95]

And then you fire them again to make sure you stay where you were going.

exactly because gravity is pulling you off course

 

[garyw]

If you've just 'stepped' out of the DGIV and haven't fired the DGIV's engine since, the EVA crew member and the DGIV should be travelling at the same speed. (I'd presume so anyway, since Orbiter has realistic physics and astronauts don't drift off during EVAs at the ISS). It's not a problem I've ever had myself. I presume you've read the tutorials?

Not true, you'd be in a seperate orbit for the vessel and will, over time, drift. This does happen in orbiter.

Astronauts at the ISS use a dual tether system for ensuring they don't drift away from the ISS if they miss a hand hold or something.

 

[ddom2006]

They're tethered? I never noticed a tether system on the live feeds. I thought they used the MMU?

 

[garyw]

mmu was cancelled after the Challenger accident so I think you are getting confused with EMU which is what the spacesuit is actually called.

ISS eva's are conducted using tethers unless the astronaunt is on the RMS root restraint. As a backup the EMU's have SAFER units which is a small gas powered device for giving an astronaunt the ability to jet back to the ISS and attach a tether.

Have a look at the picture below, you can clearly see a tether on the right hand side.

 

[Spaceman379]

are there any add ons that feature the tether system?

 

[Izack]

exactly because gravity is pulling you off course

The only part gravity has is keeping you in a circle. When you apply thrust, no matter how little, you change your orbit, either through eccentricity, inclination or altitude, which is why you'll eventually 'drift' away from the parent spacecraft, and perhaps pass close to it again in the same place on the next orbit.

 

[jedidia]

are there any add ons that feature the tether system?

Since there's no inverse kinematics in Orbiter, I think implementing a tether would be somewhat of a task... not to talk about animating the blasted thing.

 

[Spaceman379]

a tether system would be a good idea

 

[N_Molson]

I remember a Gemini add-on where your EVA was limited to a given radius around the ship. When you reached the limit, you were "bounced" towards the vessel. This was a way to simulate a tether.