Go Play in Space 2010 in work (and request)

[bujin]

Reading the re-entry guide makes me wonder - how did everyone master re-entry techniques before the advent of the de-orbiting and base alignment MFDs?

Last night was the first time I'd tried using BaseSync and AeroBrake MFDs, although I had used the DGIV autopilot for de-orbiting in the past, which is why I was always so off target.

Before finding the DGIV, though, my "re-entry" usually ended up either burning up or skipping off the atmosphere. I was playing around with the IMFD free-return set-up a few days ago. Took a trip around the moon and got back to Earth. I de-orbited, bounced off the atmosphere, then fired the retros a bit more, bounced off the atmosphere a bit more, and just repeated that until I plummetted earthwards.

Needless to say, I'm yet to hear from NASA offering me a job as an astronaut.

EDIT: that first paragraph makes it sound like the DGIV autopilot was at fault! No, the autopilot worked fine, but because I had no idea when to deorbit, other than trial and error and guesswork, I ended up miles away from where I needed to be.

 

[Eihort]

Oh no. You're one of *those* people....

bancomicsans.com

In all seriousness though, I know it was discussed earlier in the thread, some stuff on TransX would be great too. Not so much a "push this, do this, do that" but some more on how the interface is set up and what various things actually *mean*.

The more I think about it though, the more that might be outside the scope of your project.

 

[Ripley]

...some stuff on TransX would be great too. Not so much a "push this, do this, do that" but some more on how the interface is set up and what various things actually *mean*....

Something like integrating, and editing it up-to-date, "deepspacemanual.pdf" (..\Orbiter2010\Doc\TransX) into GPIS ??

 

[FlyingSinger]

TransX is a great tool, and "The Deep Space Flight Manual" is an excellent explanation of interplanetary orbital mechanics and operations. It looks like it was last edited in 2003 and I don't know how recent changes in TransX affect its current usability (certainly all the nice background explanations are still relevant and helpful for anyone interested in interplanetary operations, regardless of the tool used).

Mark, Andy, and I are most familiar with IMFD and are planning to stick with that for GPIS 3rd Ed. There are many other worthwhile tools and tutorials around, and GPIS includes references to many of these which I am checking to make sure still exist (though I don't have time to test every tutorial with Orbiter 2010). GPIS doesn't aim to teach EVERYTHING about Orbiter, just to provide starting points and explanations for things that many users want to learn or review. Atmospheric reentry is clearly a major gap that we will try to fill with this edition, but we won't be adding a TransX tutorial.