Rocket Science For Amateurs (RSFA)

[MikeB]

Happy New Year 2015 to all Orbinauts!

To celebrate, I’d like to open a new section of the Orbiter Wiki. I call it Rocket Science For Amateurs (RSFA). My hope is that the Orbiter community’s many experienced members can help to create a place for our less-experienced members to learn about rocket science (in the broadest sense).

To kick off RSFA, I’ve obtained permission from Bruce Irving (FlyingSinger) and Mark Lieberbaum (markl316) to upload the latest versions of Go Play In Space and the IMFD Full Manual. As many Orbinauts know, these are very extensive documents, but haven’t been updated lately. Updating a large document takes a lot of effort, and the latest attempts to update these two documents have not been successful. One of my hopes for RSFA is that updating this material in the wiki will be much easier, as it can it be done in small chunks and by many hands.

Please take a look, and feel free to contribute! Rocket Science For Amateurs

I would like to see this thread used by the Orbiter community to make suggestions for improving RSFA, and to announce updates by all contributors.

 

[PhantomCruiser]

What are you looking for in the "Building Spacecraft and Bases" section?
I've got a short tutorial on base building that I could expand maybe.
I could maybe put together a beginners guide to station building; using stock shuttle and modules, then expanding to show how that the user could use shuttle fleet and add-on modules.
All written for the "newbie".

 

[MikeB]

What are you looking for in the "Building Spacecraft and Bases" section?

I don't really know. The list of starting points into RSFA is pretty conjectural at the moment, and was intended to inspire folks like you. Is it working?

I've got a short tutorial on base building that I could expand maybe.
I could maybe put together a beginners guide to station building; using stock shuttle and modules, then expanding to show how that the user could use shuttle fleet and add-on modules.
All written for the "newbie".

Any or all of that material should fit in with the RSFA theme of helping new Orbinauts to learn the ropes. Feel free to add whatever material you think would be helpful, and to update the main RSFA page to point to your material. I would really like to see RSFA expanded, and serve as the short answer to many questions from new Orbinauts.

---------- Post added at 12:14 PM ---------- Previous post was at 12:13 PM ----------

I'm pleased to announce that the 3rd edition of Go Play In Space (GPIS) has been uploaded to RSFA. This is a snapshot of the progress that was made in updating GPIS for Orbiter 2010, but was unfortunately not completed. In addition to numerous updates to the 2nd edition, it includes a new chapter on reentry by Mark Paton.

There are still areas that need updating, such as references to obsolete tutorials and other resource websites. Anyone who is familiar with such things should feel free to edit the pages. I'm sure that the Orbiter community can make this great document even more useful and up-to-date.

Take a look: http://www.orbiterwiki.org/wiki/Go_Play_In_Space

---------- Post added at 12:17 PM ---------- Previous post was at 12:14 PM ----------

I'm pleased to announce that the IMFD Full Manual has been uploaded to RSFA. This is the 2009 version, so it could use some updating.

Anyone who is familiar with IMFD should feel free to edit the pages. I'm sure that the Orbiter community can make this great document even more useful and up-to-date.

Take a look: http://www.orbiterwiki.org/wiki/IMFD_Manual

 

[MikeB]

As many of you know, David Courtney's (blixel) videos on YouTube are a great resource for exploring beginning and advanced Orbiter topics. However, it isn't always easy to find a video that addresses a specific topic.

I've started an index to his videos on OrbiterWiki. The index is at: http://www.orbiterwiki.org/wiki/David_Courtney_YouTube_Index

You can also find a link to it in Chapter 8 of Go Play In Space: http://www.orbiterwiki.org/wiki/GPIS_8:_Learning_and_Doing_More

I sincerely hope the Orbiter community will help keep the index up-to-date and useful for new orbinauts.

---------- Post added 02-22-15 at 12:41 PM ---------- Previous post was 02-21-15 at 11:01 PM ----------

I've uploaded the scenario/playback files for the IMFD Full Manual on OrbiterWiki. Links to the files are on the page for Appendix E Navigation Checklists:
http://www.orbiterwiki.org/wiki/IMFD_AppE_Navigation_Checklists

As the tutorials are updated, new scenario files can be uploaded to OrbiterWiki to maintain consistency between the text of the tutorials and the scenario/playback files.

Special thanks to rstarkov (RaMan on OrbiterWiki) for assistance in configuring OrbiterWiki to support this effort.