Orbiter demos & AMSO Appreciation

[tblaxland]

Here's a report that I wrote for my blog. I need to find a new hands-on demo exercise that is quick to explain and do, requires few controls, takes place in space, is fairly easy to do, and has clear success criteria. Any ideas? Tex, your Apollo video was a big help and a big hit (as was AMSO)

What about a recreation of the Apollo 17 Blue Marble photo? You could show the TLI burn then time accelerate so your observers can observe the change in the both Earth size and phase. Not very hands on though.

A better hands-on demo would be to try and station keep the Space Shuttle in RPM position below the ISS. This would require only use of translational thrusters and would demonstrate the difficulties of station keeping/rendezvous and also show a lower orbit is faster than a higher one. The external view of the ISS and shuttle "hovering" over the Earth together is quite nice.

 

[doggie015]

Which Delta-Glider? :lol:

he has a point, there are so many models to choose from including: Stock, DG-IV, DG XR1, DG-III, DG XR5, DG MKII... the list goes on

 

[polaris149Tiberius]

AND...This Simulator is Mod-able

AND...This Simulator is Mod-able

The fact that this simulator is available freely to the public is of course a huge credit to its useability and getting better with each step forward in its modification. Yes, I said it. Were metamorphasizing it every day every minute that goes by. Sometimes painfully slow, sometimes as quick as you think it up.

What I like about this simulator is that we are given permission to modify it slightly in some really great ways. Hence AMSO, Gemini, Mercury, NASSP. Cvel, Vinkas, Shuttle Fleet...etc.

There are more user created, researched, coded, compiled and released in a nice package -MFDs for this simulator than ANY other Space Sim out there.

Take MS Space Sim. Boooooo Hissss. But I started on that and graduated to Orbiter 2005.
Take MS Flight Sims even the combat mods for that are way behind ever building a solar system.
Again, we kick thier buts too.
We are a special breed. We code and then fly, then we code, then we fly.
MFDs for this Simulator make Orbiter a research model in which to dig our (what I like to call) "Brain-Claws" into.

Check your azimut at 40,000ft and your attitude at launch. To do this I am using CompasMFD with Flight Instrument MFD with AttitudeMFD. What mach am I? -well Ill tell you when I pass max Q and break the sound barrier with FlightMFD.
(some of these names may not be correct)

Roll Pitch programs that people are able to write for CVEL ships, I have yet to learn how to do, but I can manually climb at 30* for 30% of liftoff to ensure that IMFD's Orbital Cirrcularization program will give me an Eccentricity of 0.0001 if I stop engines and start them up near 5.76km.sec tangent Velocity.

The more I and anyone else who gives this simulator a fair chance to impress them will be confounded with the unlimited testing quallity alone has. Fun? Well that just comes with the territory of being an aspiring rocket scientist or Orbinaught.

People who see the simulator for the first time will not believe thier eyes as I did not when I first saw it. The are sure to find themselves wanting to see how the community who help to develop it got to where they it is now.
Its users make rockets and model, reasearch, and test/re-test all kinds of contemporary orbital mechanics with the ease of a navigator on a spice mine freighter.

The astronaught will be impressed with the Orbinaughts. Watch out for the Autobots!!

Thank You Dr. Martin Schweiger