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[mattie2009]

SASes save lives. Mainly by stopping the rocket flipping 180 and headbutting the ground.

[TheBronzePickle]

I wish they had more powerful SAS systems. When I strap 12 SRB rockets to my rocket, I kind of want them to be at least somewhat stable without needing 3 SAS's for each rocket engine.

[Aqizzar]

I think at a certain point, they just stop helping.  They also seem to work better the farther away they are from the axis.

Now, how the Hell do you guys manage to steer a rocket into an orbit trajectory?  Because it's all my brain can manage just to keep the thing stable and headed towards a specific point on the compass, let alone with any real idea whether that's a good heading and keeping an eye on my speed.

[Rilder]

Spoiler: Fly my pretty, Fly! (click to show/hide)

She's still an early design but flies surprisingly well, I need to change around the boosters though so that I can fit a third fuel tank for the main engine. (If the main weight is put on the main engine it will break off on the launch pad which is actually pretty hilarious because it still flies but sort of hovers there for awhile)

[sluissa]

I think at a certain point, they just stop helping.  They also seem to work better the farther away they are from the axis.

Now, how the Hell do you guys manage to steer a rocket into an orbit trajectory?  Because it's all my brain can manage just to keep the thing stable and headed towards a specific point on the compass, let alone with any real idea whether that's a good heading and keeping an eye on my speed.

straight up to about 40,000 meters. If you're above about 600 m/s, go ahead and angle down about 45 degrees in the direction you want to orbit. If less, keep it about 60 degrees up, if more, maybe about 30. As you do this your vertical speed should start to fall, if it doesn't angle down more. Try to get your direction pointer to point towards the horizon as you accelerate into an orbit. Once you hit about 2200 m/s, as long as you make it above 100 km, you'll be fine. Try to save some fuel for your Apoapsis, (point at which your vertical speed reaches zero.) Once you make it there, give yourself another burst of thrust in the direction you're travelling, this will raise the other side of your orbit above the atmosphere. It doesn't take much, just a few seconds of low thrust. maybe 10s at 1/3 throttle should be plenty.

If you make it that far without running out of fuel or spinning out of control or exploding, congratulations, you're in an orbit. Not a very pretty one, but it's better than a fiery death any day. Now just hope you kept enough fuel to deorbit. (again, doesn't take much.)


Edit: Also, don't keep it full thrust at the early portions of the launch. Low in the atmosphere, you'll hit a wall that atmospheric drag won't let you accelerate above. Get to this point, and then lower your throttle to keep yourself a bit below it, otherwise you waste fuel. (This is why I feel Solid rockets are a bit of a waste early on and too heavy to just lug along for later use.) You'll also get lighter, and higher and start to accelerate more as you rise. Keep lowering your throttle. You shouldn't be above 150 m/s below 10,000. shouldn't be above 200 m/s below 30,000. Once you get above that though, feel free to open up the throttle, just keep an eye on the fuel and heat levels.

[TheBronzePickle]

I always use the SRBs as free lift. They don't weigh as much as liquid rockets and produce a lot more thrust. I use them to get off the launchpad and a few kilometers in the air before I switch to the liquid, which excels in high-atmo and space flight.

[Akura]

I really wish it wouldn't overheat my video card. Even if it doesn't kill it, it's sure as hell heating up my room.

[Aqizzar]

Yeah, I'll have to write that down.  Hopefully, there will be some YouTube videos at some point, because I am definitely not a qualified astronaut.

[Jay]

Spoiler: Large image sequence (click to show/hide)

We're going to get you home, boys!  Don't you worry about it!


You'll be coming in for a wet landing, but that's pretty good aim considering you ran out of fuel ten minutes ago!


We've got a visual!

[Aqizzar]

I love how, even touching down on the water within sight of the pad, Bill and Jeb are just o_o and Bob is all D8 .  It'll be fun using different astronauts for different gauges once the game gets fuller.

[Talfryn]

Nice pictures Jay, I especially like the second one (None of my flights have been more then 20 minutes.). I've finally got two craft that get into space and orbit pretty well, one is a fair bit faster at low altitudes, but kinda rickity, second looks like a bit like a Soyuz, much smoother ride. Trying to get a stable orbit following Sluissa's instructions, we'll see how that goes.

[Aklyon]

Wow, I think I managed a small Macross Missile Massacre with radials and solid boosters.

Next step, a full Macross Missile Massacre.

Pics?

[Skeeblix]

Would it be too offtopic for me to ask why all you guys know orbital physics so well?

[NewsMuffin]

Would it be too offtopic for me to ask why all you guys know orbital physics so well?

You know too much.
If you would kindly follow me into this suspiciously warm room and await further instructions.

[rutsber]

Would it be too offtopic for me to ask why all you guys know orbital physics so well?

Because physics of any kind dominate, and when you add space to the pile, it just get's even better.