OFSS Pilot Briefing Room

[Tex]

Good question, that's up to you I guess. I'd say it would probably be more realistic to do that yes.

Thanks PhantomCruiser.

 

[Tex]

I just sent STS a PM as he hasn't posted his post flight scenario yet. Just wanted to let you guys know that I'll get the next mission up as soon as STS gets a chance to post his scenario. I'll be at the airshow all day tomorrow, so I won't be able to release it any earlier than Sat. night.

 

[cr1]

Hi all, uhh, I'm still doing OFSS 25. I'm now at the reentry phase... using AutoFCS. But in the end it landed me in the Gulf of Mexico, 315.8k from KSC...
I wonder whether that's a config error. I still have a quicksave from undocking so I can try reentry again

See attachment... What the heck just happened?

Wheels stop! - Copy wheels stop welcome back...

 

[Tex]

Hi all, uhh, I'm still doing OFSS 25. I'm now at the reentry phase... using AutoFCS. But in the end it landed me in the Gulf of Mexico, 315.8k from KSC...
I wonder whether that's a config error. I still have a quicksave from undocking so I can try reentry again

See attachment... What the heck just happened?

Post moved to Pilot Briefing room thread.

Did you post your scenario after completing it? Don't forget to do that, the next mission is scheduled for tomorrow.

 

[cr1]

Done!

During reentry I had a few problems with AutoFCS. Sometimes it randomly switches off by itself in the middle of reentry, so I had to keep a close eye on it and quicksave it whenever it switches off, then I'd re-open Orbiter with my quicksave and start AutoFCS again to continue where I left off.
A quick search in the forum told me I should keep the AutoFCS dialog box open and close GPCMFD, however that didn't solve the problem.

 

[Tex]

]Let the record show that the A6 is unbelievably frustrating to work with.

Oh man tell me about it! Nice job getting this done so fast, I scheduled it for tomorrow as I didn't even get it out till today. Anyway, thanks for that, I should get the next mission out on time. :thumbup:

 

[Ark]

Oh man tell me about it! Nice job getting this done so fast, I scheduled it for tomorrow as I didn't even get it out till today. Anyway, thanks for that, I should get the next mission out on time. :thumbup:

Lost control of the A6's final stage, the engines cut out and it went into a tumble before crashing. Spawned an XR5, retrieved the module, and blew out the radiator after deploying it to wait for a launch window. Reloaded the scenario, lost control again, and then the module magically recovered and docked itself in place. :lol:

I will probably go back and do it properly tomorrow, but I didn't want to hold you guys up. :thumbup:

 

[PriestLizard]

Just finished OFSS30 - I'm glad to be on board btw.

I want to make some comments and maybe get some suggestions from you guys.

1. I usually have Nonspherical gravity sources and gravity-gradient torque enabled and I can rende-vouz the shuttle with ISS. I found it very difficult though to make a good interception with the OFSS .. I tried to use STSGuidance but this didn't help either. I wonder if there's a difference between ISS and OFSS orbits? They seem rather similar (despite the fact that the OFSS' orbit is slighty higher).

In the end I disabled both options and performed the rendevouz without further problems.

2. Docking was much harder than with ISS too. OFSS seems to rotate very quickly so it was rather difficult to keep myself aligned. I didnt want to mess up something so I didn't use a autopilot for OFSS but maybe thats a good way? maybe use prograde or horizon level APs to make docking easier? How do you do it?

3. The most weirdest thing was the issue about the fuel. For some unknown reason, the shuttle was losing fuel all the time... but there was no RCS on (I even turned it off) nor did I see/hear any OMS burn... did you ever experience that problem? I did not realized the fuel loss untill I prepared for de-orbit burn... it was still enough to do the burn but still I remember I docked with like 50% fuel left and when I undocked, I had merely 15% left?

Hope you guys have some ideas
Oh and the mission report: Link

See you

 

[Revolpathon]

OFSS rotating could be a problem, is it possible to focus on the OFSS station and execute a killrot autopilot?

or was it merely spinning faster than usual because of the gravity gradient torque and the non-spherical gravity sources?

 

[PhantomCruiser]

I tried that once with really bad results. I focused on the Core module and once I selected KillRot it started rolling around, mostly I think it was trying to overcontrol. After all, that's a lot of mass.
I one of the Shuttle missions as I approcahed the station, the orientation of it was just so odd I couldn't wrap my head around why it was behaving the way it was. My solution was to navigate (very carefully) up to it, with the horizon leveled (and pointing prograde), then opened the scenario editor and docked with the PMA, brining it to my present position.
I know by my own definition that it's cheating. But it solved my problem, and it looked great with the screenshots.

 

[lennartsmit]

You need to select the Zoe module and kill the rotation from there.

 

[PriestLizard]

:thumbup: Good to know!

 

[Adelanthal]

Second what lennartsmit said. I usually, once my vehicle is on orbit, put Zoe either pro- or retrograde and leave it there. MUCH saner approach and dock procedures.

 

[Revolpathon]

i just landed at wideawake international.

will post mission scenario tomorrow and screenshots and flight summary will follow shortly as well.

no mIRC coverage, because i didn't use a checklist (i always fly the steps from the top of my head) and i got burned for not having a checklists... Garyw and Xyon could've been a bit nicer about it though. anyhow i learned from it and will practice more complicated missions from now on (building my own station in lunar orbit)

only 1 complication on this flight, because i didn't practise with the urms extensively before the flight i forgot to position it appropriately to catch the cargo module when i undocked it from the station, so i had to undock the delta glider a bit prematurely and fly after it catching it in my cargo bay. (nice bit of flying that was )

re-entry went nearly text book (overshot just a little bit and had to fly around)

more in the flight summary that i will upload tomorrow or the day after that.