General Question Failing on Reentry

[mikelsic]

Hello guys, first time posting here. Im a beginner who started learning with David Courtney videos and they are really helpful, docked to the ISS succesfully yesterday. What Im trying to understand know is how to reentry and land, watched lots of videos but everyone do it in their own way and can't complete the mission without falling too fast or whatever. Im trying to do this with the basic Delta Glider, saw that some people recommended using the XR2 which I never tried/installed.

My current MFD's are: LoadMFD2, BaseSyncMFD, Glideslope and ModuleMessagingExtMFD

In orbiter's reddit I saw someone commented that combining BaseSync and AeroBrake is very helpful to do the reentry. Couldn't find the aerobrake mfd for orbiter 2016. So my questions are:

1. Do I install that aerobrake mfd and try the reentry combining it with the basesync one?
2. Do I install the XR2 or I can do it with the delta glider perfectly?
3. Is just me that dind't try enough to do reentry and landing?

 

[Urwumpe]

XR2 and vanilla Delta-Glider are two quite different beasts, so I wouldn't recommend you either on a question like "which one is easier to reenter".

Also, I recommend you to start practicing with getting a feeling for the spacecraft. If it has an autopilot, learn how to "program" the autopilot for successful reentry. If not, learn how to trim and fly it, find out how much speed you will most likely have when you reach the final 10 km altitude and how much distance you can cover with it.

There was once a pure Reentry MFD, that actually did its job quite well, just telling you your current decelleration and your position relative to the base. But you can also get the same just by "feeling" and the default MFDs.

 

[N_Molson]

Doing this manually isn't easy at all, it takes some practice.

 

[Urwumpe]

Doing this manually isn't easy at all, it takes some practice.

You can't die, you can save anytime in between, ... sounds pretty easy to me.

 

[N_Molson]

Well, sure, it would be nice if the next iteration of the stock DG (DG V ?) had temperature sensors like the XR-2 does...

 

[Urwumpe]

Well, sure, it would be nice if the next iteration of the stock DG (DG V ?) had temperature sensors like the XR-2 does...

Yeah, but again... its a simulation. You stop the sim, take a deep breath, think about you have done wrong this time, restart, try something else. No humans harmed in the process.

 

[mikelsic]

Doing this manually isn't easy at all, it takes some practice.

XR2 and vanilla Delta-Glider are two quite different beasts, so I wouldn't recommend you either on a question like "which one is easier to reenter".

Also, I recommend you to start practicing with getting a feeling for the spacecraft. If it has an autopilot, learn how to "program" the autopilot for successful reentry. If not, learn how to trim and fly it, find out how much speed you will most likely have when you reach the final 10 km altitude and how much distance you can cover with it.

There was once a pure Reentry MFD, that actually did its job quite well, just telling you your current decelleration and your position relative to the base. But you can also get the same just by "feeling" and the default MFDs.

Thank you guys for your replies, will keep training.

 

[Urwumpe]

There are also some phenomena which are pretty much the same regardless of the spacecraft you use, only depending on how you renter and on which planet you do that, caused by the density profile of the planet. for example, the "scale height" of the planet can be interesting to learn, how many km altitude you can descend, until the density doubles, and thus, the decelleration (g force) or maximum possible lift force doubles. Or how many km you have to climb, to reduce the g-force by half.

While not really an important value for autopilots, it can help you detect if you reentering good or bad. Many real-world autopilots are designed around this knowledge: G force and heating depends mostly on the rate of descent. And since real spacecraft can't measure rate of descend directly (contrary to aircraft), the complicated engineering works around getting the right rate of descent by using the few reliable measurements that they have.

And now the fun part: In Orbiter, you can always know your precise rate of descent by looking into Surface MFD.

 

[PhantomCruiser]

The "basic" or stock Deltaglider is an odd spacecraft to work with. It's fun (don't get me wrong), but takes some getting used to.

I used Basesync MFD for quite a while, when paired with the XR series craft autopilots, or with the Deltaglider IV autopilots, it got me down onto the runway of choice every time. Things I had to learn were when to disconnect the autopilot program to take over manually and touchdown speed to avoid breaking the landing gear

Both of those craft have great autopilot programs, and pitch and bank angles can be tweaked during the program to keep the base lined up. Learning how to use the autopilots really did wonders as I watched what it was doing, I learned how to "fly" better manually.

 

[mikelsic]

The "basic" or stock Deltaglider is an odd spacecraft to work with. It's fun (don't get me wrong), but takes some getting used to.

I used Basesync MFD for quite a while, when paired with the XR series craft autopilots, or with the Deltaglider IV autopilots, it got me down onto the runway of choice every time. Things I had to learn were when to disconnect the autopilot program to take over manually and touchdown speed to avoid breaking the landing gear

Both of those craft have great autopilot programs, and pitch and bank angles can be tweaked during the program to keep the base lined up. Learning how to use the autopilots really did wonders as I watched what it was doing, I learned how to "fly" better manually.

Nice, thank you