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mikusingularity
(by ballistic, I mean mostly ballistic with some lift. Capsules do generate some lift, which tends to lessen the G-forces experienced.)
Elon Musk of SpaceX fame once tweeted:
With a ballistic capsule, however, you aren't able to do this yet (3:07), unless you are really, really skilled, because just a small change in attitude causes big changes in the projected landing coordinates (if you look at Aerobrake MFD). Re-entry with a winged spacecraft involves the same thing, but as I have just said, you can glide to the runway if you aren't spot-on.
It would be great if there was an landing autopilot that can land a capsule inside a landing ellipse that is only 0.001° in radius (3 significant figures is the maximum amount displayed by Aerobrake MFD), which is about 100 meters.
This would also mean that there can be a capsule in Orbiter that didn't have to splash down in the ocean or land in the middle of nowhere (which means no expensive recovery crews - although this is just a simulation and not real life).
Perhaps, the autopilot would have a re-entry corridor: initially, it would target an ellipse error of 0.1° (or 1°) in radius, but as the re-entry progressed, it would hone in, to 0.01°, then to 0.001°.
If the Mechjeb mod for Kerbal Space Program can do it, why can't an Orbiter MFD or built-in vessel autopilot do it?
(I might answer my own question with: the atmospheric/aerodynamics models are more complex in Orbiter)
This problem has been mentioned before:
Elon Musk of SpaceX fame once tweeted:
But for Orbiter, it seems that wings are necessary to have precision landings, because even if you are several kilometers off, you can glide to the runway.Elon Musk said:
With a ballistic capsule, however, you aren't able to do this yet (3:07), unless you are really, really skilled, because just a small change in attitude causes big changes in the projected landing coordinates (if you look at Aerobrake MFD). Re-entry with a winged spacecraft involves the same thing, but as I have just said, you can glide to the runway if you aren't spot-on.
It would be great if there was an landing autopilot that can land a capsule inside a landing ellipse that is only 0.001° in radius (3 significant figures is the maximum amount displayed by Aerobrake MFD), which is about 100 meters.
This would also mean that there can be a capsule in Orbiter that didn't have to splash down in the ocean or land in the middle of nowhere (which means no expensive recovery crews - although this is just a simulation and not real life).
Perhaps, the autopilot would have a re-entry corridor: initially, it would target an ellipse error of 0.1° (or 1°) in radius, but as the re-entry progressed, it would hone in, to 0.01°, then to 0.001°.
If the Mechjeb mod for Kerbal Space Program can do it, why can't an Orbiter MFD or built-in vessel autopilot do it?
(I might answer my own question with: the atmospheric/aerodynamics models are more complex in Orbiter)
This problem has been mentioned before:
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) the computations can quickly get out of hand.
