Question Getting a geostationary orbit with a DGIV

[ryanch06]

How would i go about doing this?? I would like to put a few satellites in to this type of orbit

 

[agentgonzo]

Launch into a GTO (about 60x35700km orbit).
Perform circularisation burn at apogee to raise your perigee and circularise the orbit.
Perform a plane correction burn over the equator to set inclination to 0 degrees wrt the earth.
Trim burn to get it to exactly Geostationary

 

[ryanch06]

Launch into a GTO (about 60x35700km orbit).
Perform circularisation burn at apogee to raise your perigee and circularise the orbit.
Perform a plane correction burn over the equator to set inclination to 0 degrees wrt the earth.
Trim burn to get it to exactly Geostationary

dont really understand im not really familiar with these terms is there an easier way of expressing it??

 

[Kaito]

dont really understand im not really familiar with these terms is there an easier way of expressing it??

to be honest, try getting familiar with them before doing complicated stuff

 

[Jer95]

GTO = Geostationary Transfer orbit
Apogee = highest point in orbit
Peregee = lowest point in orbit
Inclination = the angle between a reference plane and another plane or axis of direction.

 

[ryanch06]

ok so i've managed to circularise the orbit at the correct altitude now how do i get the inclination to 0?

 

[Tommy]

AlignPlanesMFD.

 

[ryanch06]

ok now my LAN is very high and the green line on the map mfd is curved how can i get the LAN to 0 and the green line straight without disturbing the inclination?

 

[agentgonzo]

Go Play in Space

 

[ryanch06]

nothing in there about how to do it properly. Is there any straight forward tutorial that tells you how to do it? its really frustrating me since i know that many other people can get into a geostationary orbit :S

Lol im such an orbiter noob

 

[pattersoncr]

nothing in there about how to do it properly. Is there any straight forward tutorial that tells you how to do it? its really frustrating me since i know that many other people can get into a geostationary orbit :S

Those other people understand what directions like these mean:

Launch into a GTO (about 60x35700km orbit).
Perform circularisation burn at apogee to raise your perigee and circularise the orbit.
Perform a plane correction burn over the equator to set inclination to 0 degrees wrt the earth.
Trim burn to get it to exactly Geostationary

This is an excellent reference to learn what those terms mean:

Go Play in Space

Lol im such an orbiter noob

There's nothing wriong with being a noob. We were all noobs once. Most on the forum will bend over backwards to help if you have a specific question but if you post a question that, in essence says "I don't understand the basic of orbital mechanics," then the best way to help you is to do what agentgonzo has done: point you in the direction of an excellent place to learn the basics.

 

[ryanch06]

any specific page in this pdf which will help me?

 

[Eagle]

Geostationary is just a specific orbit. Getting to GTO isn't any different than getting to any other defined orbit.

If you can get to ISS using the default MFDs (No autoburn allowed) you have all the necessary skills. The only difference is your target orbit.

 

[Spike Spiegel]

Speaking as one noob to another, I found that going through the "Go Play In Space" document, reading it thoroughly (sometimes more than once), and doing all the tutorial missions was very helpful. Maybe some of those missions seem really simple and a waste of time, but that's only because there's stuff you don't know yet. Once you read that and practice the activities, you'll understand.

After I learned about orbits and how to manipulate them, I didn't need a specific guide to help me get to a geostationary orbit. I just figured out what the dimensions of my orbit needed to be and flew it. You shouldn't focus on the one specific goal; you should learn the basics, expand your knowledge, and become more versatile. Then you'll be able to to whatever you want and plan your own missions.

 

[ryanch06]

Ok thanks for all your responses! I'll go through the Go Play In Space pdf

 

[Dig Gil]

Try also one of my favourite tutorials: http://orbiter.dansteph.com/download/T3G_Tutorial.php Trevor's "Noob... I mean... student learning with his Instructor"!

 

[george7378]

If you are still having problems with the alignment, just fly using the fundamental truth that with the four buttons labelled PRO GRADE, RETRO GRADE, NML + and NML - (plus engine burns), you can modify your orbit in any way you will be likely to need to.

NML +/- are used for alignment.

 

[othoudt]

What About the LAN?

Well I guess I'm a noob with Orbiter too since I've only logged about a hundred hours but I can rendevous and dock with ISS and/or MIR in about 45 minutes (it costs alot more fuel to do it fast!) and I can deorbit to my landing site +/- about 2km with nonspherical gravity and gravitational torque enabled so I do have the basics down but when I tryed geosyncronous orbit yesterday I couldn't get the align planes MFD to do what I wanted. I guess I can either set the inclination to 0 or 23.44 depending on whether or not I'm using equ or ecl but what do I set my LAN to? I used the empirical method to get to a (rough) geosyncronous orbit but I had a problen getting the altitude adjusted to stay over one spot. I was drifting slowly retrograde when I ran out of O2 and died. Is an altitude of 37500km correct? Shouldn't it be a little more exact than that? Should the orbital ecc be 0.0000?
Thanx in advance.

 

[tblaxland]

Your inclination should be 0 in Earth equatorial coordinates. The LAN is undefined at inc=0 so don't worry about the LAN. Eccentricity should be 0. You want an altitude of 35,786 km (should give you an orbital period of 86,164 s).

 

[othoudt]

OK, now I see that an equitorial orbit would not have a LAN but when I use the align planes MFD and select the ELS button it asks for an inc and LAN. When I input an inc of 0 I end up orbiting well north and south of the equator. When I input inc=23.44 and use the SWAG method (Scientific Wild Ass Guess) inputting a LAN I can get to within a few degrees of an equitorial orbit but I have to observe the map and wait for an An or Dn and play around a bit but the closest I can get to inc=0 is about .01 north/south. I figure I must have a brainlock here or I'm not using the sync orbit MFD and ELS correctly. Any suggestions? Thanx in advance.