Project Trajectory "Pork-Chop Plot" Generator

[Piper]

Still having this problem. See attached image.

I'm not sure what's happening. Are you running Vista?

 

[eyu100]

Could you put the computations in a different thread so the user interface doesn't freeze? It is very annoying to have a frozen program that is not displaying progress. Thanks...

 

[Zachstar]

Agreed it is very annoying and I am sure that for most the first instinct is to close it before it finishes.

 

[pattersoncr]

Piper, are you still developing this project?
I'm really looking forward to it.
I'm not sure if you're planning on implimenting this, but what I would to be able to do is evaluate tajectories from a LEO station to a station in orbit around the moon.

 

[pattersoncr]

If I select anything other than Eart & Mars I get a blank black window.
I tried playing with the min/max dV on the right but it's still all black.
Anyone have any idea what I'm doing wrong?

 

[Piper]

Piper, are you still developing this project?
I'm really looking forward to it.
I'm not sure if you're planning on implimenting this, but what I would to be able to do is evaluate tajectories from a LEO station to a station in orbit around the moon.

I'm most definitely still working on it As for trajectories to the moon, this program will be strictly between planets/planetoids, so I'm afraid not, however I may do something like that in the future.

If I select anything other than Eart & Mars I get a blank black window.
I tried playing with the min/max dV on the right but it's still all black.
Anyone have any idea what I'm doing wrong?

Not sure what's causing that, but it may be fixed in the new version.

Speaking of the new version, here is the new updated version, with complete VSOP87 for all the planets, plus a whole ton of elements for the dwarf planets and a bunch of minor planets:

TrajectoryPlanner.Zip (1.02Mb)

 

[Piper]

Despite keeping quiet the last few months, I've been working hard on my Trajectory Planner.

Trajectory Planner (1.03 Mb)

The program now outputs the values for Prograde, Outward, and Inclination velocities for TransX and can create a TransX plan for you to put into Orbiter. Considering that this mostly involved basic algebra (rotating co-ordinates), this took embarisingly way too long . These can also be displayed graphically.

I've also done some changes for moving through the dates for departure/arrival. Adding on the ability to simply click a button to move forward/back, or to move forward/back by a synoptic period (basically the time between best launch dates).

I haven't done up a "how-to" or "help quide" yet, but I'm going to make one up before releasing this on Orbit Hangar. In the mean-time, I'm looking for the usual input/bug-reports.

If you are familiar with how a porkchop plot is supposed to work and what they do, you shouldn't have any problem using this program. In case you're not, it basically works like this:
1. You select a departure planet and an arrival planet,
2. You input a range of launch dates and arrival dates,
3. A DeltaV range, and
4. The program displays a graph (which looks a bit like a porkchop) that shows you which launch/arrival combination uses the least amount of DeltaV.
5. Clicking "Find Peaks" automatically determines the best values in the graph.
6. Clicking on a point on the graph, or selecting a peak point, gives you information for that Departure/Arrival combination.

If all you see is black, chances are there are one of two problems:
1. You're DeltaV range is way too low, or
2. There are no efficient launch solutions between the dates you have selected. A good tip for this is make you launch date range as wide as a synoptic period (which is displayed above your launch dates), and keep your arrival date range about twice the range of your launch dates.

 

[tblaxland]

Good changes Piper, and good to see you around again!

Your link above was broken, but I've fixed it for you now.

I just tried it out and it seems to work very well. The only request I would make (I think it has been requested in this thread before) is for a progress bar to be displayed during the calculation. The long period of apparent inactivity during the calculation does tend to send me diving for the task manager to check what it is up to

Other than that, awesome work mate

 

[Piper]

A Progress Bar has been added, plus a few other minor alterations:

Trajectory Planner (1.04 Mb)

 

[Piper]

Bunch of bug fixes, and now a manual is included.

Trajectory Planner (1.38 Mb)

 

[flytandem]

This is perhaps the best thing I've seen since discovering Orbiter and learning TransX. It took hundreds of flights to get a mind's eye visualization of the options for transfers. This pork chop plot lays it out and looking at it I get the feel perhaps like a blind man who has spent his life making a mental image of the world around him only to suddenly be given the ability to actually see. It's sort of a "ya that's what I thought it was like" yet also "wow I had no idea it was so beautiful and elegant".

Thanks Piper for making this. I'll bet it will help a lot of new TransX users with faster progress, a better understanding of their transfer options and will act as a source of encouragement by providing some "fun" with trajectory planning.

I wonder if new TransX users will tend to be reluctant to alter a plan after using this app to make it. Part of the fun it tweaking the numbers to improve the intercept results. Maybe a good SOP would be to start with a pork chop, cut paste the plan (or just enter the dv numbers manually), then tweak, like seasoning a soup, to taste.

 

[Zachstar]

Bunch of bug fixes, and now a manual is included.

Trajectory Planner (1.38 Mb)

Gives me a showstopper error

Run time error 339

MSCOMCTL.ocx missing

 

[tblaxland]

MSCOMCTL.ocx missing

Do you have that file on your system? If not, I think it is a VB6 runtime file (Google should help you find it). If you have it, you may need to register it. Right-click the file and select "Register Control". HTH

 

[TJohns]

Pork-Chop Problems

I seem to be having one or two issues that doesn't quite add up

1) Incorrect font mapping (see scroll arrows around plot)


2) after COMPUTE, image appears as low-res sample


3) after FIND PEAKS, peaks appear to be located correctly for "real" plot


4) right-click on the plot gives option ACTIVATE PACKAGE, which then asks to OPEN a Windows BMP file which appears to be a "high-res" version of the plot, but the size seems a lot smaller than the application preview


Trev

 

[Zachstar]

Do you have that file on your system? If not, I think it is a VB6 runtime file (Google should help you find it). If you have it, you may need to register it. Right-click the file and select "Register Control". HTH

I found the file however when right clicking on it there is no option to register it.

 

[tblaxland]

I found the file however when right clicking on it there is no option to register it.

If there is no option to register it, you may not be logged in with an account that has admin privileges. Try with an admin account.

Try putting this into a command prompt:

Regsvr32 MSCOMCTL.ocx

or, if that doesn't work:

Regsvr32 [full path to file]\MSCOMCTL.ocx

Note you will need an admin account for those command lines to work too.

 

[Zachstar]

I dont understand tho why is it suddenly doing this now when the older version worked?

 

[tblaxland]

I dont understand tho why is it suddenly doing this now when the older version worked?

It is likely that the progress bar that was added needs that file: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa443485(VS.60).aspx

 

[Zachstar]

I would rather not have the progress bar then perhaps a "Processing Please Be Patient" line instead?

 

[TSPenguin]

A wonderful, long needed tool. Really well done.
I have a problem with it displaying the actual image. The output.bmp is created quite viewable, but the program is displaying the default icon from my assigned bmp viewer (irfanview) instead. Screenshot attached.
Also, when exiting the program with the windows forms (X button), the process persists and has to be killed via Task Manager. Process kills itself fine when using the exit button.
This is on a fully updated Windows 7 for x64.