Reaching Orbit

[SpaceCowboy]

I've tried to get into earth orbit aboard the shuttle manually before, but I always get into an elliptical orbit, and naturally, come back down. Any suggestions on how to do this right? Also, I was curious if there is a way to reach orbit on autopilot aboard the shuttle; where you basically sit back, cast off the SRB's and ET, and enjoy the ride.

 

[Urwumpe]

1. Don't learn orbiting with the shuttle. Start with the deltaglider and practice until you can do orbit insertions with 1 km accuracy (5 is usually enough, but for the sake of training). Also don't take the shuttle before you are adept with basic maneuvers. The Shuttle has only very little margin for error and it is thus not recommended for all people, who still commit big errors: Newbies.

See it as the reward for excellence.

2. Did you already watch the playback of a launch? Orbiter has one such replay scenario in it's default installation.

3. The Shuttle Fleet add-on and Space Shuttle Ultra have both autopilots for launch.

 

[Woo482]

just launch and use the interplanetary MFD and there is a auto pilot on that that will make your orbit a circle
EDIT1:but only use this if you are finding it relay hard
EDIT2: link to IMFD http://koti.mbnet.fi/jarmonik/Orbiter.html

 

[SpaceCowboy]

Thanks. So when you say try to get it down to an accuracy of 1km, do you mean that I just predetermine before I take off "I want a 100 by 150 mile orbit"?

 

[Urwumpe]

Thanks. So when you say try to get it down to an accuracy of 1km, do you mean that I just predetermine before I take off "I want a 100 by 150 mile orbit"?

Yes. But learn thinking metric first, it makes the learning in orbiter easier. And as even NASA decided to use metric for their moon landings...

The basic idea of orbit insertion is to get into an orbit accurately.

Say, you aim for 250x250 km first. That is the standard LEO today. When you can get there, you can go into many other orbits, by just burning longer.

Next stage: Orbit plane. Try to launch into orbit, by having minimal relative inclination to a space station. when relative inclination according to Align Plane MFD is lower than 0.02° you are great.

Finally practice the maneuvers to control all your Kepler elements in Orbit (Apoapsis, Periapsis, Eccentricity, Semimajor axis, Inclination, LAN, Argument of periapsis, Orbit Period). Ideally you should then be able to get into any orbit you like. ANY.

 

[SpaceCowboy]

Cool! i'll give it a try and update you!

 

[SpaceCowboy]

I downloaded Orbiter again, although this time I have it on my own personal computer. So anyway, all the stars are back, and I've been working on using the Delta Glider to get into orbit. But I was curious, how can I tell what type orbit Im in? For example, how many kms by kms?

 

[Urwumpe]

Read the manual (Orbiter.pdf) and then use the Orbit MFD mode. The manual tells you how to set it to show you the numbers you want and how these numbers are called.

 

[SpaceCowboy]

I can't seem to find that. Did it come with the download?

 

[Urwumpe]

I can't seem to find that. Did it come with the download?

Yes, you can find it inside the folder "docs" (Short for "documents")

 

[SpaceCowboy]

ok, thanks.

 

[Tommy]

If you're falling back to Earth it usually means you haven't achieved orbital velocity. Attaining orbit isn't just a matter of geting up high enough, it a matter of going around the planet fast enough. Try pitching down more in the later portions of your ascent. Start with a very steep climb to get out of the thicker air (to reduce drag so you can accelerate faster), and over 10km start pitching down gradually.By the time you are at 80km you should have a pitch of 10 degrees or so. Stop your burn when the ApA (use the DST button on OrbitMFD to get ApA instead of ApR) is at your desired altitude (say, 250km), then coast up to it. Shortly before you reach your ApA (watch the ApT number on OrbitMFD, and 10 to 30 seconds, depending on the ship and how fast you're going) burn prograde to bring your PeA up to your desired altitude.

It's worth downloading AMSO and the DGIV, both have launch autopilots. Watching the way they launch can show you what pitch angles to use at a given altitude.

 

[RisingFury]

Watch the Launch demo, note the height at which the shuttle is when it lets go of SRB's... and the pitch. Then check out how it turns later and you'll get it into orbit.

I got it into Orbit pretty early on by watching the Demo.