Print

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length

[Siquo]

Somewhat easier, but docking (and rendezvousing) isn't that hard once you got the trick. The trick being you can set the speed above the navball relative to your target, and match speeds with your target just by burning retrograde until your speed reaches zero (as pro-and retrograde markers will also be relative to your target).

A good location of your RCS ports is also important (don't mix rotation with translation), and you're all set.

[forsaken1111]

Another good thing to know is that you can get almost anywhere you need to once in orbit just using RCS thrusters. Often using the main engine for orbital maneuvering is way too powerful.

[ChairmanPoo]

I'm building a "planetary hover-rocket" in order to gather whichever data I can muster from Kerbin, and in order to practice landing and taking off from Mun (about which, science career info and R&D hints would be appretiated btw). I have had moderate success with the smallest engine, and am now testing alternatives...

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

So I was wondering: is there any way to control this alternate model?

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

[LoSboccacc]

there is a mod for balancing the center of thrust and all other things thrust related

http://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/threads/38069-0-23-Davon-Throttle-Control-systems-mod-%28major-improvement-complete-overhaul%29

and there is a simpler one for hoverthings:

http://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/threads/66593-Throttle-Controlled-Avionics (unsure about compatibility of this one)

[PTTG??]

You could use thrust limiting on the horizontal rocket.

[forsaken1111]

Is... there some reason you can't just tip the lander slightly to move? Does the engine serve some other purpose?

It's sitting so high compared to where I believe the CoM would be that you will get rotation when it fires.

[puke]

So does attaching lights to your spacecraft make docking to a station orbiting on the eclipsed side of a planet any easier, or is it still insanely difficult?

I suck at docking.  But I do believe that if you attached lights to the station instead of the ship, you might be getting somewhere.

[forsaken1111]

So is it the rendezvous or the docking that people have trouble with? Is it the mental reorientation necessary to use the translation controls that people don't get?

I don't understand why it is so hard for some.

[IronTomato]

So is it the rendezvous or the docking that people have trouble with? Is it the mental reorientation necessary to use the translation controls that people don't get?

I don't understand why it is so hard for some.

+1

It took me about half a second to teach myself the translation controls, but much longer with doing a rendezvous, but that might just be me.

[forsaken1111]

Oh yeah, getting the rendezvous orbit can sometimes be a pain in the ass if you launched on a tight deltaV budget, or mis-timed the launch. Sometimes it's a pain anyway because orbits.

I've never ever had trouble with the actual docking bit though once I am within 500m of the target. I tested high for visual and spatial acuity when I joined the military, so maybe that's why I just 'get' it? In any case I'm trying to understand what part others have trouble with so I can help, not bragging about my own meagre abilities. You should see me trying to land anything...

[puke]

So is it the rendezvous or the docking that people have trouble with? Is it the mental reorientation necessary to use the translation controls that people don't get?

I don't understand why it is so hard for some.

Its the rendezvous, for me.  I find words of French origin to be especially disorienting, as their pronunciation rules don't conform to my norms.

Also, I have a hard time meeting other objects in orbit. 

If I could get near it, I could probably dock okay.  The last time I sent out a rescue mission, I settled for getting within a few hundred clicks and covered the remaining gap with an EVA pack.

[ank]

You do know click is short for kilometer?

[WillowLuman]

A distance which would be a bit difficult to cover with an EVA pack, to be sure.

[Graknorke]

I don't understand what's difficult about getting the craft near each other. The hard part is covering the metres, not the kilometres. Docking is a bitch when the target craft is rotating (which is apparently all the time).

[forsaken1111]

I don't understand what's difficult about getting the craft near each other. The hard part is covering the metres, not the kilometres. Docking is a bitch when the target craft is rotating (which is apparently all the time).

Orient your target docking node to normal or antinormal and it will stay on the same axis allowing you to approach.

So long as the rotation is only on one axis though you can mostly compensate.