orbiter

ORBITER User Manual (c) 2000-2006 Martin Schweiger 1

ORBITER Space Flight Simulator

2006 Edition

User Manual

ORBITERUserManual(c)2000-2006MartinSchweiger 2

ORBITERUserManual

Copyright(c)2000-2006MartinSchweiger 26September2006Orbiterhome:orbit.medphys.ucl.ac.uk/orwww.orbitersim.com

Contents

1 INTRODUCTION .............................................................................................................51.1 AboutOrbiter....................................................................................................................61.2 Aboutthismanual ............................................................................................................61.3 Gettingmorehelp ............................................................................................................6

2 INSTALLATION...............................................................................................................72.1 Hardwarerequirements ...................................................................................................72.2 Download .........................................................................................................................72.3 Installation........................................................................................................................72.4 Uninstall ...........................................................................................................................8

3 THELAUNCHPAD..........................................................................................................93.1 Scenariotab.....................................................................................................................93.2 Parameterstab ..............................................................................................................103.3 Visualeffectstab............................................................................................................123.4 Modulestab ...................................................................................................................133.5 Videotab........................................................................................................................143.6 Joysticktab ....................................................................................................................153.7 Extratab.........................................................................................................................16

4 QUICKSTART ...............................................................................................................17

5 THEHELPSYSTEM .....................................................................................................22

6 KEYBOARDINTERFACE.............................................................................................236.1 General ..........................................................................................................................236.2 Spacecraftcontrols ........................................................................................................246.3 Externalcameraviews...................................................................................................256.4 Internal(cockpit)view ....................................................................................................256.5 Menuselections .............................................................................................................26

7 JOYSTICKINTERFACE ...............................................................................................27

8 MOUSEINTERFACE ....................................................................................................28

9 SPACECRAFTCLASSES ............................................................................................299.1 Delta-glider.....................................................................................................................299.2 Shuttle-A ........................................................................................................................299.3 ShuttlePB(PTV)............................................................................................................319.4 Dragonfly........................................................................................................................319.5 SpaceShuttleAtlantis....................................................................................................329.6 InternationalSpaceStation(ISS) ..................................................................................349.7 SpaceStationMIR.........................................................................................................359.8 LunarWheelStation ......................................................................................................369.9 HubbleSpaceTelescope...............................................................................................379.10 LDEFSatellite ................................................................................................................37

10 OBJECTINFORMATION..............................................................................................3910.1 Vesselinformation .........................................................................................................3910.2 Spaceportinformation....................................................................................................39


10.3 Celestialbodyinformation .............................................................................................40

11 CAMERAMODES.........................................................................................................4111.1 Internalview...................................................................................................................4111.2 Externalviews................................................................................................................4211.3 Selectingthefieldofview ..............................................................................................4311.4 Storingandrecallingcameramodes .............................................................................44

12 GENERICCOCKPITVIEW ...........................................................................................4512.1 Generalinformationdisplay ...........................................................................................4612.2 Cameratarget/modedisplay..........................................................................................4612.3 Engineinformationdisplay.............................................................................................4612.4 Navigationmodeindicators/controls..............................................................................4712.5 SurfaceHUDmode........................................................................................................4712.6 OrbitHUDmode ............................................................................................................4812.7 DockingHUDmode .......................................................................................................48

13 MULTIFUNCTIONALDISPLAYMODES......................................................................4913.1 COM/NAVreceiversetup ..............................................................................................5013.2 Orbit ...............................................................................................................................5213.3 VOR/VTOL.....................................................................................................................5513.4 HorizontalSituationIndicator.........................................................................................5613.5 Docking ..........................................................................................................................5813.6 Surface...........................................................................................................................6013.7 Map ................................................................................................................................6213.8 Alignorbitalplane ..........................................................................................................6413.9 Synchroniseorbit ...........................................................................................................6613.10Transfer..........................................................................................................................6713.11Ascentprofile(customMFDmode) ...............................................................................70

14 SPACECRAFTCONTROLS .........................................................................................7214.1 Main,retroandhoverengines .......................................................................................7214.2 Attitudethrusters............................................................................................................73

15 RADIONAVIGATIONAIDS ..........................................................................................74

16 BASICFLIGHTMANOEUVRES...................................................................................7516.1 Surfaceflight ..................................................................................................................7516.2 Launchingintoorbit........................................................................................................7516.3 Changingtheorbit..........................................................................................................7616.4 Rotatingtheorbitalplane...............................................................................................7616.5 Synchronisingorbits.......................................................................................................7816.6 Landing(runwayapproach) ...........................................................................................7916.7 Docking ..........................................................................................................................80

FLIGHTRECORDER...............................................................................................................82

EXTRAFUNCTIONALITY.......................................................................................................8418.1 Scenarioeditor...............................................................................................................8418.2 ExternalMFDs ...............................................................................................................84Performancemonitor................................................................................................................8518.4 Remotevesselcontrol ...................................................................................................8518.5 Flightdatamonitor .........................................................................................................86

19 FLIGHTCHECKLISTS..................................................................................................8819.1 Mission1:Delta-glidertoISS ........................................................................................8819.2 Mission2:ISStoMirtransfer.........................................................................................9019.3 Mission3:De-orbitfromMir...........................................................................................91

20 VISUALHELPERS........................................................................................................9220.1 Planetariummode..........................................................................................................9220.2 Forcevectors .................................................................................................................9320.3 Coordinateaxes.............................................................................................................94

21 DEMOMODE ................................................................................................................96


22 ORBITERCONFIGURATION .......................................................................................9722.1 Masterconfigurationfile.................................................................................................9722.2 Planetarysystems..........................................................................................................9822.3 Planets ...........................................................................................................................9922.4 Surfacebases ..............................................................................................................10222.5 Addingobjectstosurfacebases..................................................................................10422.6 Addingcustommarkers ...............................................................................................10922.7 Scenariofiles ...............................................................................................................110

APPENDIXA MFDQUICKREFERENCE..........................................................................114

APPENDIXB SOLARSYSTEM:CONSTANTSANDPARAMETERS .............................118B.1 Astrodynamicconstantsandparameters ....................................................................118B.2 Planetarymeanorbits(J2000).....................................................................................118B.3 Planetaryorbitalelementcentennialrates ..................................................................119B.4 Planets:Selectedphysicalparameters .......................................................................119B.5 Rotationelements ........................................................................................................120B.6 Atmosphericparameters..............................................................................................120

APPENDIXC CALCULATIONOFORBITALELEMENTS................................................121C.1 Calculatingelementsfromstatevectors......................................................................121

APPENDIXD COPYRIGHTANDDISCLAIMER................................................................123


1 Introduction

WelcometotheORBITER2006Edition!Thisrelease incorporatesquitea fewexcitingnewfeatures,both in termsof thephysicsen-gine and visual appearance. Planet surfaces can now be rendered at twice the previousresolution,whichmakesabigdifferencein loworbit.Aflightrecordingandplaybackfunctionallows to replay and share flights. Orbiter now comes with a scenario editor module forcreating, editing and deleting spacecraft in a running simulation. Additional MFD displaywindowsprovidealltheflightdatayouneed.Gravity-gradienttorqueissupported,andmakesthealignmentduringdockingmaneuversjustabitmoredifficult.ORBITER is a free flight simulator that goes beyond the confines of Earth’s atmosphere.LaunchtheSpaceShuttlefromKennedySpaceCentertodeployasatellite,rendezvouswiththe InternationalSpaceStationor take the futuristicDelta-glider for a tour through the solarsystem–thechoiceisyours.Unlikemanycommercial“spacesimulator”gamesOrbiteraimsataccuratelysimulating thephysicsofspace flight.Don’tget frustrated if youdon’tsucceedimmediately–it’sonlyrocketscience.ReadthedocumentationandtrysomeofthenumerousOrbitertutorialsavailableontheinternet,andyouwillsoonbeorbitinglikeapro.At thevery least, youshould familiariseyourselfwith theprimaryspacecraftcontrolsand in-strumentationinthismanualtogetyourshipofftheground.“Advanced”missionslikerendez-vousmaneuversorinterplanetarytripswillrequirealotmoreeffort!Suggestions, corrections, bug reports (and praise) for Orbiter are always welcome. Thepreferredwaytopostyourcomments,inparticulariftheymaybeofinteresttootherusers,isvia theOrbitermailing list or the web forum,available via links from theofficialOrbiter site:orbit.medphys.ucl.ac.uk/(aliaswww.orbitersim.com).UnfortunatelyIcan’tguaranteetoanswerallOrbiter-relatedmailsentdirectlytome.Before posting a bug reportmake sure you have got the latest ORBITER release, and thatyourproblemisnotalreadydocumentedintheFAQ,thebugtrackerorthebugforum(allac-cessiblefromtheORBITERhomepage).ORBITER–thethinkingbeing’ssimulator.Enjoytheride!MartinSchweiger


1.1 AboutOrbiterOrbiterisaspaceflightsimulatorbasedonNewtonianmechanics.Itsplaygroundisoursolarsystem with many of its major bodies - the sun, planets and moons. You take control of aspacecraft-eitherhistoric,hypothetical,orpurelysciencefiction.Orbiter isunlikemostcom-mercialcomputergameswithaspacetheme-therearenopredefinedmissionstocomplete,no aliens to destroy and no goods to trade. Instead, you will get an idea about what is in-volvedinrealspaceflight-howtoplananascentintoorbit,howtorendezvouswithaspacestation,orhowtoflytoanotherplanet.It ismoredifficult,butalsomoreofachallenge.Somepeoplegethooked,othersgetbored.Findingoutforyourselfiseasy-simplygiveitatry.Or-biterisfree,soyoudon'tneedtoinvestmorethanabitofyoursparetime.Orbiter isacommunityproject.TheOrbitercore is just theskeleton thatdefines the rulesofthesimulatedworld(thephysical model).Abasicsolarsystemandsomespacecraft(realandfictional) are included, but you can get a lot more with addon modules developed by otherenthusiastsintheOrbitercommunity.Thereareaddonsfornearlyeveryspacecraftthateverflew (and quite a few that never got beyond the drawing board), for many more celestialbodies in thesolarsystem(orentirelynewfictionalsystems),forenhanced instruments,andmuchmore.TheOrbiterwebsitecontainslinkstomanyOrbiteraddonrepositories.

1.2 AboutthismanualThis document is the main help file that comes with the basic distribution of Orbiter. It is aUser's Guide to the Orbiter software - which is to say that it gives an introduction into howmostthingswork,butdoesn'ttellyoumuchwhytheybehaveastheydo.Byfollowingthein-structions,youwillfindouthowtooperatetheenginesofyourspacecraft,howtousethein-struments,andhowtoperformthemostcommonmissions.ButabigpartoftheappealofOrbiterisfindingoutaboutthewhy-whydospacecraftinorbitbehave as they do, what is involved in a gravity-assist flyby, why do rockets have multiplestages,whycanitbetrickytolineupfordockingwithaspacestation,whatdothenumbersintheinstrumentdisplaysactuallymean...?Thisiswherephysicscomesintothepicture.Ifyouwanttobecomeanorbiterpro,youwillatsomestageneedtounderstandafewofthefundamentalphysicalconceptsthatformtheba-sisofastrodynamicsandspaceflight.Luckilymostof it isnotverydifficult- ifyoulearnabitaboutforcesandgravity("Newtonianmechanics")andhowtheyrelatetothemotionofplan-ets and spacecraft in orbit ("Kepler's laws"), you will have covered a good deal of it. Ofcourse,therearealwaysopportunitiestodigdeeperintothedetails,soyournextstepsmightbefindingoutabout theeffectsoforbitperturbations,attitudecontrol, trajectoryoptimisation,missionplanning,instrumentdesign-tonamejustafew.EventuallyyoumightstarttodevelopyourownaddonmodulestoenhanceOrbiter'sfunction-ality,writetutorialsandhelpfilesfornewcomers-oreventakeactivepart intheOrbitercoredevelopment by identifying and discussing flaws or omissions in the Orbiter physics model(andtherearestillmany!)

1.3 GettingmorehelpThehelpfilesthatcomewiththemainOrbiterpackagearelocatedintheDocsubfolderbelowyourmainOrbiterdirectory.Manyaddonswillplacetheirownhelpfilesinthesamedirectoryafter installation.The Doc\Technotes folder contains a fewdocuments with technical detailsforinterestedreaders.TheyarenotrequiredforusingOrbiter.ManypeoplehavewrittendocumentationandtutorialscoveringparticularaspectsofOrbiter.Someof themcanbe foundvia links from theOrbiterwebsiteatorbit.medphys.ucl.ac.uk/ .OtherusefulonlineresourcesaretheOrbiterforum,orbit.m6.net/Forum/default.aspx,theOr-biterwikipediaentry,en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orbiter_(sim)and theOrbitercommunitywikisite,www.orbiterwiki.org/wiki/Main_Page.A very good introduction to using and understanding Orbiter for beginners is Bruce Irving'sonlinebookGo Play In Space,whichcanbefoundviaalinkfromtheManualpageontheOr-biterwebsite.The scientific and technical background of space flight is covered in many textbooks andonlinesites.AgoodintroductionisJPL'sBasics of Space Flight,atwww.jpl.nasa.gov/basics/.Among the many online resources for the general mathematics and physics relevant forspaceflight,youmightfindtheScienceworldsiteuseful,atscienceworld.wolfram.com.


2 InstallationThissectionliststhecomputerhardwarerequirementsforrunningOrbiter,andcontainsdownloadandinstallationinstructions.

2.1 HardwarerequirementsThestandardORBITERdistributionrequiresthefollowingminimumhardwarefeatures:• 600MHzPCorbetter(Pentium,Athlon,etc.)• 256MBRAMormore• Windows95/98/Me/2000/XP• DirectX7.0orhigher• DirectXcompatible3Dgraphicsacceleratorcardwithatleast16MBofvideoRAM(32MB

ormorerecommended)andDXTtexturecompressionsupport• Approximately 100MB of free disk space for the minimum installation (additional high-

resolutiontexturesandaddonswillrequiremorespace).• DirectXcompatiblejoystick(optional)Installing high-resolution texture packs or addons may have an impact on performance andcouldrequiresignificantlyhighercomputingspecs.

Since ORBITER keeps evolving these specs tend to become obsolete over time. If youdon’tget a reasonable framerate (approx.≥ 20fps)using thedefaultOrbiter.cfgonama-chinewhichmeetsthespecsthenpleasedropmeanoteandIwillcorrecttherequirementlistupward.

2.2 DownloadThe ORBITER distribution can be obtained from one of several Orbiter mirror sites on theinternet. You can find links to these mirrors at the Download page of the ORBITER site,http://orbit.medphys.ucl.ac.uk/.Orbiterisdistributedinseveralpackages(.zipfiles).TheBasepackage contains the basic Orbiter system and is the only required package. All otherpackagesareoptionalextensionstothebasicsystem.Allpackagenamescontaina6-digittimestamp(YYMMDD)whichallowstoidentifythemodi-ficationdateofthepackage.Forexample,orbiter060504_base.zipcontainsthebasepackagebuiltonMay4,2006.Note thatnotallcurrentpackagesmayhave thesame timestamp. Inparticular, high-resolution planetary texture packages are rarely updated and may have anoldertimestamp.Checkthedownloadpagesforthelatestversionsofallpackages.

2.3 Installation• CreateanewfolderfortheORBITERinstallation,e.g.\ProgramFiles\Orbiter.• If aprevious versionofORBITER is already installedon yourcomputer, youshouldnot

install thenewversion intothesamefolder,becausethiscould leadtofileconflicts.Youmay want to keep your old installation until you have made sure that the latest versionworkswithoutproblems.MultipleORBITERinstallationscanexistonthesamecomputer.

• Download theBase package fromanORBITERdownload site into your newORBITERfolderandunzip itwithWinZiporanequivalentutility. Important:Takecare topreservethedirectorystructureofthepackage(forexample,inWinZipthisrequirestoactivatethe“UseFolderNames”option).

• After unzipping the package, make sure your ORBITER folder contains the executable(Orbiter.exe) and, among other files, the Config, Meshes, Scenarios and Textures sub-folders.

• RunOrbiter.exe.ThiswillbringuptheORBITER“Launchpad”dialog,whereyoucanse-lectvideooptionsandsimulationparameters.

• YouarenowreadytostartORBITER.SelectascenariofromtheLaunchpaddialog,andclickthe“ORBITER”button!


IfOrbiterdoesnotshowanyscenariosintheScenario tab,or ifplanetsappearplainwhitewithout any textures when running the simulation, themost likely reason is that thepack-ageswerenotproperlyunpacked.MakesureyourOrbiterfoldercontainsthesubfoldersasdescribedabove.Ifnecessary,youmayhavetorepeattheinstallationprocess.

2.4 Uninstall• ORBITERdoesnotmodifytheWindowsregistryoranysystemresources,sonocompli-

catedde-installationprocessisrequired.SimplydeletetheOrbiterfolderwithallcontentsandsubdirectories.ThiswilluninstallORBITERcompletely.


3 TheLaunchpadStartingOrbiter.exebringsuptheOrbiterLaunchpaddialogbox.Fromhere,youcan• setsimulation,videoandjoystickparameters• loadavailablepluginmodulestoextendthebasicOrbiterfunctionality• selectastartupscenario• opentheonlinehelpsystem• launchtheOrbitersimulationwindow,or• exittothedesktop.FromtheLaunchpaddialog,thesimulationcanbestartedbypressingthe“LaunchORBITER”button,providedascenariohasbeenselected.IfyouarerunningOrbiterforthefirsttime,youshouldmakesurethatthesimulationparameters(inparticularvideooptions)areproperlysetbeforestartingthesimulation.

3.1 Scenariotab

Figure1:Launchpaddialog,Scenariotab

Scenario:Containsahierarchical listofavailablescenarios.Selectoneand launch itwith the “LaunchORBITER”button.Belowthelistisadescriptionofthecurrentlyselectedscenario.Specialscenariosandfolders:• The(Current state)scenarioisautomaticallygeneratedwheneveryouexitthesimulator.

Usethistocontinuefromthelatestexitstate.• TheTutorials foldercontainspre-recordedflightswithonscreenannotationsthatexplain

differentaspectsandstagesofspaceflightmissions.• The Playback folder contains the flights you have recorded with Orbiter's built-in flight

recorder.Launchingoneofthesewillstartareplay.• TheQuicksave foldercontains in-gamesavedscenariosgeneratedbypressing.

Multiple quicksaves are possible. Orbiter saves the quicksave states under the originalscenario name, followed by a quicksave counter. The counter is reset each time thesimulationislaunched,somakesuretocopyanyscenariosyouwanttokeep!


• The Demo folder can be filled with scenarios that are automatically run in kiosk/demomode(seeSection20.2).Thisallowstoputtogetherasetofsimulationsthatcanberuninunsupervisedenvironments.

Options:• Startpaused:Pausesimulationonstart.Presstoun-pauseafterlaunch.Savecurrent:Savethecurrentexitstateunderanewnamewithacustomdescription.Clearquicksaves:EmptytheQuicksavefolder.

3.2 Parameterstab

Figure2:Launchpaddialog,Parameterstab

Realism• Complexflightmodel:Selecttherealismoftheflightmodelforspacecraft.Tickthisbox

toenable themost realistic flightparametersavailable forallvessel types.Disabling thisoptionmayactivatesimplified flightparameterswhichmakespacecrafteasiercontrol fornewcomers.Notallvesseltypesmaysupportthisoption.

• Damageandfailuresimulation:Spacecraftcansustaindamageandsystemfailure,forexampleifoperationallimitsareexceeded.Notallvesseltypesmaysupportthisoption.

• Limitedfuel:Un-tickthisboxtoignorefuelconsumptionofyourspacecraft.

Someofthemore“realistic”spacecraft,suchastheSpaceShuttle,mayNOTworkproperlyif“Limitedfuel”isnotselected,becausetheyrelyonthereductionofmassduringliftoffasaconsequenceoffuelconsumption.

• Nonsphericalgravitysources:Thisoptionactivatesamorecomplexgravitycalculationwhichcantake intoaccountperturbations in thegravitationalpotentialdue tononspheri-calobjectshapes,thusallowingmoreaccurateorbitpredictions.Notethatthisoptioncanmake orbital calculations more difficult, and may reduce the stability of instruments thatdon’t take thiseffect intoaccount.Foraplanet tomakeuseof theperturbationcode, itsconfigurationfilemustcontaintheJCoef f entry.

Technical background: Orbiter uses the following simple perturbation approach to calculate thegravitationalpotentialUofacelestialbodyasafunctionofitsradialdistancerandlatitudeφ:

NEW!


−= ∞

=2

2

)(sin1),(n

nn Pr

RJ

r

GMrU φφ

where M and R are the planet’s mass and equatorial radius, G is the gravitational constant, Pn is theLegendrepolynomialofordern,andJnistheassociatedperturbationcoefficient.Thegravitationalaccelerationisgivenbythegradientofthepotential:

Ua ∇=

• Gravity-gradient torque: If this option is enabled, vessels can experience an angular

moment in the presence of a gravitational field gradient. This will be noticeable inparticular in low orbits and can lead to attitude oscillations around the equilibrium orattitude-lockedorbits.

Windowfocusmode• Focus follows mouse: If this option is ticked, the input focus is switched between the

Orbitersimulationwindowandanyopendialogboxesbymovingthemouseoverthewin-dow.Ifunticked,thefocusisswitchedinnormalWindowsstylebyclickingthewindow.

Orbitstabilisation• Enable stabilisation: If this option is enabled, Orbiter uses an alternative method to

update the state vectors of orbiting bodies under certain conditions, where only theperturbationsoftheosculating2-bodyorbitalelementswithrespecttoadominantgravitysourcearedynamicallypropagated.Thiscanhelptoavoidorbitdeteriorationathightimecompressions.

• G-fieldperturbation limit:Defines theupper limitofperturbation [%]of thegravity fieldofthemaingravitysourceunderwhichstabilisationisenabled.Ahighervaluewillswitchtostabilisationmodeevenifthe2-bodyassumptionisnotveryaccurate.Defaultvalueis0.01(1%).

• Orbitsteplimit:Thisentryallowstolimittheapplicationoforbitstabilisationtotimestepswhich propagate an object by more than a given fraction of its full orbital path. Moreprecisely,orbitstabilisationwillonlybeappliedifthisconditionissatisfied:

rtv πα2>∆ wherevistheorbitalvelocity,risthelengthoftheradiusvector,∆tisthetimestep,andαistheuser-specifiedsteplimit.Defaultvalueisα =0.0001(0.01%).

• Note:Orbiterusesnowanimprovedstabilisationalgorithm.Unlikepreviousversions,thiscan now account for perturbations of the gravitational field, aerodynamic and thrusterforces.

Stars• Count: Number of displayed background stars. Orbiter uses the Hipparcos database of

morethan100000brightstars.Specifyinga largenumberwillprovideamoreimpressivenightsky,butmaydegradeperformance.Settozerotosuppressbackgroundstars.

• Brightness:Brightnessscalingfactorforbackgroundstars.Validrangeis–4to4(default1).Notethatthedynamicrangebecomeslessrealisticforlargevalues.

• Contrast:Intensitycontrastusedforrenderingstars.Validrangeis0to5(default1).If youuseonlyasmallpartof thedatabase, youmaywant to increase thecontrast (e.g. to1.5)andreducethebrightness(e.g.to0.8).Ifyouusethefulldatabase,valuesofbrightness1.5andcontrast1.0givegoodresults.

Technical background: The mapping between a star’s apparent magnitude mv and pixel renderbrightnessciscalculatedbytheclampedlinearrelationship

+−

−−

= 0001

10 )1(,max,1min cc

mm

mmcc v

where

3.0

,3/22

,2/22

0

1

0

=++=+−=

c

CBm

CBm

with B and C the user-supplied brightness and contrast values. For default values B=1, C=1, thesupportedcontrastrangeisthusm0=2tom1=7.

Instruments

c

mv

c0

1

m0 m1

NEW!

• TransparentMFD:Maketheonscreenmultifunctionaldisplaystransparent.Thisprovidesabetterviewofthe3Denvironment,butmakesitmoredifficulttoreadtheinstruments.

• MFD refresh: Time (in seconds) between MFD updates. Shorter intervals providesmootherupdates,butmaydegradeperformance.Somebuilt-inMFDmodes,suchastheSurfaceandHSImodes,definealowerlimitfortheupdatefrequency.

• Panelscale:Sizing factor for instrumentpanels.Scale1providesoptimalvisualquality,butothervaluesmaybeusedtoadaptthepanelsizeatloworhighscreenresolutions.

• Panel scroll speed: Determines how fast the panel can be scrolled across the screen[pixels/second].Negativevaluesinvertthepanelscrolldirection.

3.3 VisualeffectstabThissectionprovidesoptionsfortuningtherenderingparameters.Theseoptionswillimprovethevisualappearanceandrealismofthesimulator,butmostofthemhaveanadverseeffecton simulation performance (frame rates) when enabled, and may increase video and mainmemorydemands,sotheyshouldbeusedwithcare.AsafirststepintroubleshootingOrbiterproblems,itisoftenagoodideatoturnoffallvisualeffects.

Figure3:Launchpaddialog,Visualeffectstab

Planetaryeffects• Cloudlayers:Rendercloudsasaseparatemeshlayerforappropriateplanets.• Cloudshadows:Rendercloudshadowscastontheplanetsurface.Onlyplanetswhose

configurationfilescontainaCloudShadowDepthentry<1willactuallyrendercloudshad-ows.

• Horizonhaze:Render intensity-graded (“glowing”)horizon layer forplanetswithatmos-pheres.

• Specular water reflections: Render water surfaces on planets with specular reflectioneffects.

• Specular ripples: Generate “ripple” effect in specular reflections from oceans for im-provedappearanceofwatersurfaces.

• Planet night lights: Render city lights on the dark side of planet surfaces where avail-able.

• Nightlightlevel:Definesthebrightnessofnightcitylights.Validrangeis0to1.(ignoredifplanetnightlightsaredisabled)

NEW!


• Max.resolutionlevel:Themaximumresolutionatwhichplanetarysurfacescanberen-dered.Supported valuesare1 to 10.Highervaluesprovidebetter visualappearanceofplanets that support high texture resolutions, but also significantly increase the demandoncomputingresources(graphicsprocessorandmemory).Simulationloadingandclose-downtimesarealsoaffectedbythisoption.

Usingahighresolutionlevelcanseverelyincreaseloadingtimesatthestartofasimulationsession,inparticularifyouhaveinstalledmanyhigh-resaddonplanettextures.

Generaleffects• Vesselshadows:Enableshadowscastbyspacecraftonplanetsurfaces.• Objectshadows:Enabledynamicshadowsofground-basedobjectssuchasbuildings.• Specularreflectionsfromobjects:Renderreflectivesurfaceslikesolarpanels,window

panesormetallicsurfaces.Maydegradeperformance.• Reentryflames:Renderglowingplasmahullduringreentry.• Particlestreams:Renderionisedexhaustgasesandvapourtrailswithparticleeffects.• Ambientlightlevel:Definesthebrightnessoftheunlitsideofplanetsandmoons.Ambi-

entlevel0isthemostrealistic,butmakesitdifficulttospotobjectsinthedark.Level255isuniformlighting(nodarkness).

3.4 ModulestabThis tab allows to activate and deactivate plugin modules for Orbiter which can extend thefunctionality of the core simulator.Plugins can containadditional instruments, dialogs, inter-faces to external programs, etc. Make sure you only activate modules you actually want touse,becausemodulescantakeupsomeprocessingtimeeveniftheyruninthebackground,andthusaffectOrbiter'sperformance.To activate a module, select it in the Inactive modules list, and click Activate selected (orsimplydouble-clickitinthelist).ItwillthenbemovedfromtheInactivetotheActivelist.Inthesameway,activemodulescanbedeactivated.Themodulesprovidedwith the standardOrbiter distributionaredemos from theSDKpack-age, andareavailable in full source code.A wide variety of additionalmodulesby 3rd partyadd-ondeveloperscanbedownloadedfromOrbiterrepositoriesontheinternet.

Figure4:Launchpaddialog,Modulestab

SomeofthestandardmodulesdistributedwithOrbiterare:

NEW!


ScnEditor: A versatile scenario editor that allows to add, edit and delete spacecraft in arunningsimulation.SeeSection18.1formoredetails.ExtMFD: This module allows to open additional multifunctional displays in external dialogboxes.Usefulifyouneedmoreinformationthanavessel’sbuilt-inMFDdisplaysprovide,orifyouwanttotrackflightdatainexternalcameraviews.CustomMFD:Thismoduleprovidesanadditional“AscentMFD”modeforthemultifunctionaldisplays,whichcanbeselectedvia.Rcontrol: Remote control of ship engines. This allows to manipulate vessels even if theydon’t have input focus. If this module is active, the remote control window can be selectedfromtheCustomFunctionslist( ).FlightData:Real-timeatmosphericflightdatatelemetry.Ifthismoduleisactive,theflightdatawindowcanbeselectedfromtheCustomFunctionslist( ).Framerate:Agraphicalsimulationframerate(FPS)display.Ifthismoduleisactive,theframeratewindowcanbeselectedfromtheCustomFunctionslist( ).

3.5 Videotab

Figure5:Launchpaddialog,Videotab

3D Device: Lists the available hardware and software devices for 3D rendering. Select ahardwaredevice whenpossible, suchasDirect3DHALorDirect3DT&LHAL.Softwarede-vicessuchasRGBEmulationwill producepoorperformance.Note that somehardwarede-vicesdonotsupportwindowmode.Alwaysenumeratedevices: Tick this box ifOrbiter doesnot display3Ddevicesor screenmodes correctly. This option enforces a hardware scan whenever Orbiter is launched andskips the device data stored in device.dat. Make sure to tick this box after upgrading yourgraphicshardwareorDirectX/videodriverstomakeOrbiterawareofthechanges.


Trystencilbuffer:Enablesstencilbuffering,ifthevideomodesupportsit.Stencilbufferscanimprovevariousvisualeffects(forexample,providesupportforalpha-blendedshadows),buthave a slight impact on frame rates. If the selected video mode doesn’t support stencilbuffers,thisoptionisignored.FullScreen:SelectthisoptiontorunOrbiterinfullscreenmode.Youcanchoosethescreenresolution and colour depth from the lists provided. Only modes supported by the selecteddevicearelistedhere.Higherresolutionandcolourdepthwill improvethevisualappearanceatthecostofreducedperformance.In addition, you can select the Disable vertical sync option. This allows Orbiter to update aframewithoutwaiting forasynchronisationsignal from themonitor.Thiscan improve framerates,butmayleadtovisualartefacts(tearing).Window:SelectthisoptiontorunOrbiterinawindow.Youcanspecifythesizeoftherenderwindowhere.Forbest results,useawidth:height ratioclose to4:3(or tick theForce4:3as-pectratiobuttontokeeptheoptimalaspectratio).Largewindowsizescanreducesimulationperformance.Note thatsomeoldergraphicsdriversmaynotallow3-Dapplications torun inwindowmode.

3.6 Joysticktab

Figure6:Launchpaddialog,Joysticktab

Joystickdevice:Listsallattachedjoysticks.Mainenginecontrol:Definethejoystickaxiswhichcontrolsthemainthrusters.Trydifferentoptionsifthethrottlecontrolonyourjoystickdoesn’tworkinOrbiter.Ignorethrottlesettingonlaunch:Ifticked,thejoystickthrottlewillbeignoredatthelaunchofascenarioutiltheusermanipulatesit.Otherwise,thethrottlesettingisusedimmediately.Deadzone:Usethistodefinehowsoonthejoystickwillrespondwhenmovedoutofitscentreposition.Smallervaluesmake it respondsooner. Increase ifattitudethrustersdonotcutoutcompletelyinneutralposition.


Throttlesaturation:Defines the tolerancezoneat theminimumandmaximumrangeof thethrottlecontrolatwhichthejoystickreportszeroandmaximumthrottle,respectively.Reduceifmain engines do not cut out completely at minimum throttle setting. (Applies only to joy-stickswiththrottlecontrol).If furthercalibration is requiredyoushoulduse theappropriate tools in theWindowsControlPanel.

3.7 ExtratabTheExtratabcontainsalistofmoreadvancedandspecialisedsettingsandconfigurationpa-rameters, including details about Orbiter’s dynamic state propagation, vessel configurationand debugging options. Addon plugins may add their own configuration entries to the listwhenactivated.It is generally safe for new users to leave all settings in this list at their default values. Ad-vanceduserscanfine-tunethebehaviourofthesimulatorhere.

Figure7:Launchpaddialog,Extratab

Clickonanitemtoseeashortdescriptionof itspurposetotherightof thelist.Double-click-ing,orpressingtheEditbuttonopenstheassociatedconfigurationdialog.

NEW!


4 QuickstartThissectiondemonstrateshow to takeoffand landwith oneofOrbiter’sdefault spacecraft,theDelta-glider. If youareusingOrbiter for the first time, thiswillhelp to familiariseyourselfwithsomebasicconceptsofspacecraftandcameracontrol.Youshouldalsoreadtherestofthismanual, inparticularsections5and7onkeyboardand joystick interface,section13oninstrumentation,section14onspacecraftcontrols,andsection16onbasicflightmaneuvers.MakesureyouhaveconfiguredOrbiterbeforelaunchingyourfirstsimulation,inparticularthevideoand joystickparameters (seesection3).Onceyouhavestarted thescenario, youcanget the following scenario instructions also on-screen by opening the Help window with.Starting:• Select the Checklists|Quickstart scenario (see Section 3.1 on scenario selection), and

press the“LaunchORBITER”button to launchthescenario.Oncethemissionhasbeenloaded(thiscantakea fewmoments),youwillsee in frontofyourunway33of theSLF(ShuttleLandingFacility)attheKennedySpaceCenter,CapeCanaveral,Florida.

• YouareincontrolofaDelta-glider,apowerfulfuturisticspacecraft,alignedandreadyfortakeoff.

• Youcanalwaysexit thesimulationbypressing or,orbyclicking“Exit”onthemainmenu ().Orbitersaves thecurrentsimulationstatus in the “(Currentstatus)”scenario,soyoucancontinueyourflightlaterbyselectingthisscenario.

Cameramodes:Youareinanexternalcameramode,lookingtowardsyourship.• Youcanrotate thecameraaroundyourshipbypressingandholdingdownthekey

and pressing a cursor key ( ) on the cursor keypad of your keyboard.Alternativelyyoucanpresstherightbuttononyourmouseanddragthemousetorotatethecamera.Or,ifyouhaveajoystickwithadirectioncontroller(“cooliehat”),youcanusethataswell.

• Tojumpintothecockpitofyourglider,press.(alwaystogglesbetweencockpitandexternalviewofthespacecraftyouarecontrolling).

• In the cockpit, you can lookaroundby rotating the camerawith , orwiththerightmousebuttonorthejoystickcooliehat.

• Tolookstraightahead,pressthe button.• Tolearnmoreaboutcameramodesandviews,havealookatSection11.Cockpitmodes:• At themoment, youare in "virtualcockpit"mode - that is, youare insidea three-dimen-

sional representation of the glider cockpit, with the glass pane of the head-up display(HUD)infrontofyou,andtheinstrumentsandcontrolsarrangedaroundyou.Ifyoulookback,youcanevengetaglimpseofyourpassengersinthecabinbehindyou!

• Youcan switch to adifferent cockpitmodebypressing.Pressing once will openthe"generic"cockpitmodewithonlytheHUDandtwoonscreenmultifunctionaldisplays.Pressingagainwillopena2-Dpanelmode.

• Thepanelcanbescrolledbypressingacursorkey( )onthecursorkeypad.Toscroll the panel out of the way, press. You should now be able to see the runwaystretchinginfrontofyou.Scrollingthepanelisusefulifyouwanttoseemoreofyoursur-roundings.Also,ifthepanelislargerthanyoursimulationwindow,youcanscrolldifferentpartsofthepanelintoview.

• Somespacecrafthavemorethanasinglepanelwhichcanbeaccessedbypressingincombinationwithacursorkey. If youpress, youwillsee theglider’soverheadpanelwithsomeadditional controls.Pressing twicewill bringup the lowerpanelwithbrakeandgearcontrols.Fornow,switchbacktothemainpanelwith.

• Notallspacecrafttypessupport2-Dpanelsor3-Dvirtualcockpits,butthegenericcockpitmodeisalwaysavailable.


MFDinstruments:Themost importantandversatile instrumentsare the twomultifunctionaldisplays (MFDs) inthecentreof the instrumentpanel.EachMFDconsistsofasquareLCDscreenandbuttonsalongtheleft,rightandbottomedges.• MFDs can be set to different modes:With the mouse, left-click the “SEL” button at the

bottom edge of one of the MFDs. (Alternatively, you can press. MFD keyboardinterfaces always use key combinations, where the left key controls the leftMFD, and the right key controls the right MFD). You will see a list of availablemodes.

• Clickononeofthebuttonsalongtheleftorrightedgetoselectthecorrespondingmode.Ifyouclickthetop-leftbutton,theMFDswitchestoOrbitmode.

• Ifyouwanttoselectamodeviakeyboard,press or tomovethehighlightmarker(greenbox)tothedesiredmode,thenpresstoselectthemode.

• Mostmodeshaveadditionalsettingsandparametersthatcanbecontrolledwiththebut-tonsaswell.Thebuttonlabelschangetoindicatethevariousmodefunctions.Forexam-ple,theOrbitmodehasabuttonlabeled“TGT”.Thiscanbeusedtodisplaytheorbitofatargetobject.Clickthisbutton–youwillseeadialogboxtoselectatargetobject.Press,type“iss”inthetextbox,andpressagain.ThiswillshowtheorbitalparametersoftheInternationalSpaceStationintheMFDdisplay.

• Toseeashortdescriptionof theavailablemodefunctions,click the“MNU”buttonat thebottomoftheMFD(Alternatively,use ).

• A description of standard MFD modes can be found in Section 13. Orbiter can also beextendedwithaddonMFDmodes,soyoumayseeadditionalmodesinthelist.

• Fornow,switchtheleftMFDtoSurfacemode,andtherightMFDtoHSImode.

Takeoff:Yourglider iscapableof runway takeoffsand landingsonEarth (andonanyotherplanet, iftheatmosphericdensityissufficienttoprovideaerodynamiclift).• Fortakeoff,engagemainenginesatfull thrust.YoucandothisbypushingtheMainen-

gineslidersattheleftofthepaneltothetopusingthemouse(makesureyoupushbothsliderssimultaneously!),orbypressing Numpaduntilenginesareatfullthrottle.Ifyouhaveajoystickwiththrottlecontrol,youcanusethattoengagethemainengines.


• Your spacecraft will start to roll. You can check the speed (in meters/second) on theAIRSPDindicatoroftheSurfaceMFD,orontheHUD(head-updisplay)–thevalueinthegreenboxatthetoprightofthescreen.

• Whentheairspeedreaches100m/s,pullbackonthejoysticktorotate,orpressandholdNumpad.

• Onceclearoftherunway,presstoraisethelandinggear.

When the atmosphere is too thin to produce enough lift for a runway takeoff (for examplewhen taking off from the Moon) or when no runway is available, you can use the glider’shoverenginestoliftoff:• Move the Hover slider on the instrument panel up by clicking and dragging with the

mouse.Alternatively,presstheNumpadkeyuntilhoverenginesarefullyengaged.• Yourglidershouldnowliftoffvertically.Onceclearoftheground,engagemainengines.

NotethatafullyloadedandtankedglidermaybetooheavytoliftoffverticallyfromEarthwhenthe“realistic”flightmodelisused.

• Asyougainairspeed,youcangraduallyreducehoverthrust.Atmosphericflight:In the loweratmosphere, thegliderbehavesverymuch likeanaircraft.Try the joystickcon-trols for pitch, roll and yaw to get a feeling for handling at different altitudes.Without a joy-stick, you can use the numerical keypad (/Numpad for pitch,/Numpad for roll, and/Numpad foryaw).Thegliderhaspowerfulrocketengines,buttheirperformancedependsonatmosphericpressure(atverylowaltitudes,itwillnotevengosupersonic).This is a good time to try different camera modes. Open the Camera dialog ( ), andchecktheeffectofdifferenttrackmodesandfieldofview(FOV)settings.Landing:• Goaroundandapproachrunway33oftheSLFfromthesouth.Lineupwiththerunway.

Your HSI instrument helps to maintain the correct approach path and slope. One of itstwo displays should already be tuned to the runway ILS system. The HSI contains acoursepointer,deviationandglideslope indicator. Itworks likeastandardaircraft instru-ment,soyoumayalreadybefamiliarwithitsuse.Ifnot,checksection13.4fordetails.

• Asyouapproachtherunway,youwillseePAPIandVASIlandingaidsinfrontofandbe-sidetherunway(seesection16.6).ThePAPIisoflimitedusehere,becauseitisadjustedfortheSpaceShuttle’ssteepdescentslopeof20°.

• Throttle back and engage airbrakes ( ) to reduce speed. Lower the landing gear().


• Aftertouchdown,engage leftandrightwheelbrakes(and)untilyoucometoafullstop.

Spaceflight:Sofarwehavetreatedtheglidermuchlikeaconventionalaircraft.Nowit istimetoaimabithigher...• Takeoffasbefore.Turneast(usethecompassribbonatthetopedgeoftheHUD,orthe

oneintheSurfaceMFDdisplay),andpitchupto50°.• Asyougainaltitude,youwillnoticethatyourcraftstartstobehavedifferently,duetothe

reduction in atmospheric pressure. One of the effects is a loss of lift, which causes theflightpathindicator(the⊕HUDmarker)slowlytodriftdown.Anothereffectisthelossofresponsefromyouraerodynamiccontrolsurfaces.

• At about 30km altitude your glider will start to drop its nose even while you are pullingbackon thestick.Nowactivate theRCS(ReactionControlSystem)by right-clicking the“RCS Mode” selector (on the right side of the instrument panel) or by pressing Numpad.Youarenowcontrollingyourcraftwithattitudethrusters.

• Pitchdowntoabout20°.Afterleavingthedensepartoftheatmosphere,youneedtogaintangentialvelocitytoachieveorbit.Yourflightpathindicatorshouldstayabove0°.

• NowisagoodtimetoactivatetheOrbitmodeinoneofyourMFDs.Thisshowstheshapeofyourcurrentorbit(thegreencurve)inrelationtotheplanetsurface(thegraycircle),to-getherwithalistoforbitalparametersalongtheleftsideofthedisplay.Youshouldswitchthedisplayto“currentorbitalplane”projectionmode,byclickingonthe“PRJ”buttonuntil“Prj:SHP”isshowninthetoprightcornerofthedisplay.

• Atthemoment,yourorbitwillbearathereccentricellipse,whichforthemostpart isbe-lowEarth’ssurface.Thismeansthatyouarestillonaballistic trajectoryrather than inastableorbit.As you keepgaining tangential velocity, theorbit will start to expand.Oncethe green curve is completely above the planet surface (and sufficiently high above theatmosphere)youwillhaveenteredorbit.

• Atthispoint,themostimportantpiecesofinformationfromtheOrbitdisplayaretheorbitalvelocity(“Vel”)andapoapsisradius(“ApR”).Fora lowEarthorbit,youneedtoachieveavelocityofat least7800m/s.Onceyoureachthisvalue,youwillseetheorbitrisingrap-idlyaboveEarth’ssurface.At thesametime, theapoapsisdistance(thehighestpointoftheorbit)willstarttogrow.KeepfiringyourenginesuntilApRreachesabout6.670M.Thiscorrespondstoanaltitudeof300km.Nowcuttheengines.

• Youarenownearly inorbit.All thatremainstodoisraisetheperiapsis(the lowestpointoftheorbit)toastablealtitude.Thisisdonebestwhenyoureachapoapsis,whichshouldbehalfanorbit (orabout 45minutes) fromyourcurrentposition.Time toswitch intoanexternalcameramodeandenjoytheview!

• ItisalsoagoodideatoswitchtheHUDfromsurfacetoorbitmodenow.Dothisbyclick-ing the “OBT” button in the top left corner of the instrument panel, or by pressingtwice.Inthismode,theHUDflightpathladder isalignedwiththeorbitalplaneinsteadofthehorizonplane,andthereisaribbonshowingyourorbitalazimuthangle.Italsoshowsindicators for prograde (the direction of your orbital velocity vector) and retrograde (theoppositedirection).

• Whenyouapproachapoapsis, turnyourcraftprograde.YoucanseehowcloseyouaretotheapoapsispointbycheckingtheApT(timetoapoapsis)valueintheOrbitMFD.If ittakestoolong,presstoengagetimeacceleration,and toswitchback.Toturnpro-grade,youcanactivatetheRCSmanually,but it iseasierto leaveit totheautomaticat-titude control, by simply pressing the “Prograde” button on the right of the instrumentpanel(or!).

• Nowfireyourmainenginesforfinalorbit insertion.Thetwoparameters towatchare theorbit eccentricity (“Ecc”) and periapsis radius (“PeR”). The eccentricity value should getsmaller, indicating that the orbit becomes more circular, while the periapsis radius ap-proaches the apoapsis radius (ApR). Once the eccentricity value reaches a minimum,turnthemainenginesoff.Youcanalsodeactivatetheprogradeattitudemodebyclicking“Prograde”again.

• Congratulations!Youmadeitintoorbit!


Deorbiting:Should you ever want to come back to Earth, you need to deorbit. This means to drop theperiapsispoint toanaltitudewhere theorbit intersects thedensepartof theatmosphere,sothatyourvesselissloweddownbyatmosphericfriction.• Deorbitburnsareperformedretrograde.Clickthe“Retrograde”button,waituntil theves-

selattitudehasstabilised,andengagemainengines.• Keepburninguntiltheperiapsispoint iswellbelowEarth’ssurface,thencuttheengines.

Strictlyspeaking,thedeorbitburnmustbetimedprecisely,becausetooshallowareentryanglewillcauseyoutoskidofftheatmosphere,whiletoosteepananglewillturnyouintoashootingstar.Fornowwearenotconcernedwithsuchfinedetail...

• Turnprogradeagainandwaitforyouraltitudetodrop.Asyouenterthelowerpartoftheatmosphere, friction will cause your velocity to decrease rapidly. Reentries are usuallyperformedwithahighangleofattack(AOA)–about40°fortheSpaceShuttle.

• Once your aerodynamic control surfacesbecome responsive again you can turnoff theRCSsystem.Yourgliderhasnowturnedbackintoanaircraft.

• Youhaveprobablyendedupa longwayfromyour launchpointat theKSC.Re-enteringtowards a specified landing point requires some practice in timing the deorbit burn andthe reentry flightpath.We’ll leave this fora latermission.Fornow,simply look foradrypatchtolandyourglider.

• Thiscompletesyourfirstorbitalexcursion!Youarenowreadytotrymoreadvancedmissions.Trythe“LaunchtodockingwiththeISS”flightdescribedinsection19.Firstyoumightwanttolearnabitmoreaboutorbitalmaneuversanddockingproceduresinsection16.


5 ThehelpsystemFrom theOrbiter launchpad, youcangetadescriptionof thedifferentdialogboxoptionsbypressingthe“Help”buttoninthebottomrightcorner.During the simulation you can open the Orbiter help window by pressing, or by se-lecting“Help”fromthemainmenu().Thehelpsystemprovides informationaboutMFDmodes,andoptionallyadescriptionof thecurrentscenarioorthecurrentlyactivespacecraft.

Many in-game dialog boxes provide context-sen-sitive help. To activate the relevant help pages,click the “?” button in the title bar of the dialogbox.Thehelpsystemiscurrentlystillunderdevelopment.Notallscenariosandvesselscurrentlysupport context-sensitive help. The system can be extended by adding additional scenarioandvesselhelppages,andaddondevelopersareencouragedtousethehelpsystemtopro-vide user-friendly information about their spacecraft, or to include documented tutorial sce-nariosthatillustratethefeaturesoftheirplugins.

Scenarioinfo VesselinfoTableofcontents Helppage

Context-sensitivehelp

NEW!


6 KeyboardinterfaceThis section describes the default Orbiter keyboard functions. Please note that the keyassignmentsarecustomizablebyeditingthekeymap.datfile in theorbiterdirectory,andthatthereforethekeyboardcontrolsforyourOrbiterinstallationmaybedifferent.The key assignment reference in this section and the rest of the manual refers to the key-boardlayoutshowninFigure8.Forotherlayouts(e.g.language-specific)thekeylabelsmaybedifferent.TherelevantcriterionforkeyfunctionsinOrbiteristhepositionofthekeyonthekeyboard,notthekeylabel.Forexample,ontheGermankeyboard,thekeysforthe“turnor-bit-normal”(; )and“turnorbit-antinormal”(’ )willbe“Ö”and“Ä”.Keys from the numerical keypad or the cursor keypad will be denoted by subscript, e.g.Numpador Cursorpad.Note that certain spacecraft may define additional keyboard functions. Check individualmanualsforadetaileddescriptionofspacecraftcontrolsandfunctionality.

Figure8:Keyboardlayoutreference

6.1 General

"Toggleframerateinfoon/off

#$ Toggledisplayofinformationaboutcurrentobjectandcameramode.

%Timewarpshortcut:Slowdownsimulationbyfactor10(downtoreal-time).SeealsoTimeaccelerationdialog(&)

'Timewarpshortcut:Speedupsimulationbyfactor10(uptoamaximumwarpfactorof100000).SeealsoTimeaccelerationdialog(&)

(Zoomout(increasefieldofview).SeealsoCameradialog()

) Zoomin(decreasefieldofview).SeealsoCameradialog()

*$ Start/stoprecordingaflight,orstopaflightplayback.SeealsoFlightrecorderdialog(+)

, Undockfromavessel.

Pause/resumesimulation.

- ExittoLaunchpaddialog.

. Quicksavescenario.

Toggleinternal/externalviewoftheuser-controlledspacecraft.

OpentheCameradialogtoselectcameratarget,viewmodeandfieldofview.

&Toggletrackingmodeforexternalcameraviews(target-relative/absolutedirection/globalframe).

&$ OpentheTimeaccelerationdialog.Thisallowstospeedup/slowdownthesimulation,andtopause/resume.

Cursorpad

Numpad


/Openvesseldialogtoswitchcontroltoadifferentspacecraft.

/$ Switchcontrolbacktothepreviouslyactivevessel.Thisallowstoquicklyswitchbackwardsandforwardsbetweentwovessels.

Mainmenu.

OpentheCustomfunctionsdialog.Containsalistoffunctionsdefinedinpluginmodules,ifavailable.

+$ OpentheFlightrecorder/playbackdialog.Containsrecordingandplaybackoptions.

0$ OpentheObjectInfodialogforobject-specificdatasuchasILSnavaidfrequenciesetc.

1$ OpentheMapdialog(spaceports,navaidlocationsetc.)

2$ OpentheNavaidInfodialogcontainingalistofnavigationalradiobeacons.

3$ OpenthePlanetariumoptionsdialogforcontrollingthedisplayofgridsandmarkers.

3“Planetariummode”:Toggledisplayofconstellations.

6.2 SpacecraftcontrolsThese keys allow manual maneuvering of the user-controlled spacecraft. See also joystickcontrols.Notesomespacecraftmaynotdefineallthrustertypes.Main/retrothrustercontrols:

NumpadAcceleratebyincreasingmainthrustersettingorbydecreasingretrothrustersetting.

4NumpadDeceleratebydecreasingmainthrustersettingorbyincreasingretrothrustersetting.

5NumpadKillmainandretrothrusters.

NumpadFiremainthrustersat100%whilepressed(overridespermanentsetting)

4NumpadFireretrothrustersat100%whilepressed(overridespermanentsetting)

Hoverthrustercontrols(whereavailable):

NumpadIncreasehoverthrustersetting.

NumpadDecreasehoverthrustersetting.

Attitudethrustercontrols(rotationalmode):

/NumpadEngageattitudethrustersforrotationaroundlongitudinalaxis(bank)

/NumpadEngageattitudethrustersforrotationaroundtransversalaxis(pitch)

/NumpadRotationalmode:Engageattitudethrustersforrotationaroundverticalaxis(yaw)

6NumpadToggle“Killrotation”navigationcomputermode.Stopsspacecraftrotationbyengagingappropriateattitudethrusters

Note:Incombinationwith,thrustersareengagedat10%max.thrustforfinecontrol.Attitudethrustercontrols(linearmode):

/NumpadEngageattitudethrustersforup/downtranslation.

/NumpadEngageattitudethrustersforleft/righttranslation.

/7NumpadEngageattitudethrustersforforward/backtranslation

Note:Incombinationwith,thrustersareengagedat10%max.thrustforfinecontrol.Othercontrols:

NumpadTogglereactioncontrolthrustermodebetweenrotational(engageoppositethrusterpairs)andlinear(engageparallelthrusterpairs)

NumpadEnable/disablereactioncontrolsystem(RCS).TheRCS(ifavailable)isasetofsmallthrusterswhichallowsattitude(rotation)andlinearcontrolofthespacecraft.

NumpadEnable/disablemanualusercontrol(viakeyboardorjoystick)ofaerodynamiccontrolsurfaces(elevator,rudder,ailerons)ifavailable.

8$ Toggle“Holdaltitude”navcompmode.Maintaincurrentaltitudeabovesurfacebymeansofhoverthrustersonly.Thiswillfailifhoverthrusterscannotcompensateforgravitation,inparticularathighbankangles.Combiningthismodewiththe“H-level”modeisthereforeuseful.

9$ Toggle“H-level”navcompmode.Thismodekeepsthespacecraftlevelwiththehorizonbyengagingappropriateattitudethrusters.

!$ Toggle“Turnprograde”navcompmode.Thismodeturnsthespacecraftintoitsorbitalvelocityvector.

:$ Toggle“Turnretrograde”navcompmode.Thismodeturnsthespacecraftintoitsnegativeorbitalvelocityvector.

;$ Toggle“Turnorbit-normal”navcompmode.Rotatesspacecraftnormaltoitsorbitalplane(inthedirectionof VR

× )

<$ Toggle“Turnorbit-antinormal”navcompmode.Rotatesspacecraftantinormaltoitsorbitalplane(inthedirectionof VR

×− )

=/>CursorpadTrimcontrol(onlyvesselswithaerodynamicsurfaces)

$ Applyleftwheelbrake(whereapplicable)

$ Applyrightwheelbrake(whereapplicable)

6.3 Externalcameraviews

?$ Movecameraawayfromtargetobject.

@$ Movecameratowardstargetobject.

$

$

Rotatecameraaroundobject.

In ground-based camera views, will move the observer position,? and@will change the observer altitude, and will rotate the observer direction (unlesslockedtothetarget).

6.4 Internal(cockpit)viewThetwomultifunctionaldisplays(MFD)on the leftandrightsideof thescreenarecontrolledvialeft/rightShiftkeycombinations,wheretheleftShiftkeyaddressestheleftMFD,therightshiftkeyaddressestherightMFD.TheHead-updisplay(HUD)andMFDsarevisibleonlyininternalcockpitview.

$ Togglebetweengeneric,2Dpanel,and3Dvirtualcockpitmodes(ifsupportedbythecurrentspacecraft)

$

$

Rotateviewdirection.


$ Returntodefaultviewdirection.

$ Scrollinstrumentpanel(in2Dpanelview).

$

$

Switchtoneighbourpanel,ifavailable(in2Dpanelview).

$ ToggleHUDdisplayon/off.

$ SwitchHUDmode.

%$ HUDreferenceselection.OrbitHUD:opensreferenceselectioninputbox.DockingHUD:stepsthroughavailableNAVreceivers.

%$ DockingHUD:Referenceselection,bypassingXPDRandIDStransmitters.

A$ ToggleMFDon/off.

$ Openamenuforleft/rightMFDmodeselection.

/$ WhentheMFDmodeselectionpageisopen,thismovestheselectionhighlight.

$ WhentheMFDmodeselectionpageisopen,thisselectsthehighlightedmode.

$ Open/page/closetheMFD-specificparameterselectionmenu.

Forcontrolofspecificmultifunctionaldisplay(MFD)modesseeSection13orthequickrefer-enceinAppendixA.

6.5 Menuselections

$ Movetopreviousiteminthelist.

$ Movetonextiteminthelist.

$ Displaysub-listforselecteditem,ifavailable.

$ Gobacktotheparentlistfromasub-list.

$ Selectcurrentitemandcloselist.

A$ Cancellist.

NEW!

NEW!

NEW!


7 JoystickinterfaceA joystick can be used to operate the attitude and main thrusters of the user-controlledspacecraftmanually.Action EffectPushstickleftorright Rotatearoundvessel’slongitudinalaxis(bank)Pushstickforwardorbackward

Rotatearoundvessel’stransversalaxis(pitch)

OperateruddercontrolorPushstickleftorrightwhileholdingjoystickbutton2

Rotatearoundvessel’sverticalaxis(yaw)

Operatethrottlecontrol Controlsmainthrustersettings.ThisissimilartotheNumpadand4 Numpadkeyboardcontrols,butitaffectsonlythemainthrusters,nottheretrothrusters.Cockpitview:rotateviewdirectionDirectioncontroller(“coolie

hat”) Externalview:rotatecameraaroundtheobservedobjectCockpitview:scrollinstrumentpanel(ifapplicable)Directioncontoller+joystick

button2 Externalview:rotateviewdirection(groundobservermodeonly)


8 MouseinterfaceSpacecraft instrumentpanelscanbeoperatedby themouse.Mostbuttons,switchesanddi-alsareactivatedbypressing the leftmousebutton.Someelements likemulti-waydialsmayrespondtobothleftandrightmousebuttons.Ingenericcockpitview,thebuttonsaroundthetwomultifunctionaldisplays(MFDs)canbeoperatedwiththemouse.In external cameramodes, the mouse wheel control (if available) can be used tomove thecameratowardsorawayfromtheviewtarget.Themousewheelactslikethe?and@keys.The camera direction can be rotated by holding down the right mouse button and draggingthemouse.Thisworksbothinexternalandcockpitviews.Themousecanofcoursealsobeusedtoselectandmanipulatedialogcontrols.


9 SpacecraftclassesThefollowingstandardspacecraft typesarecurrentlyavailable in theOrbiterstandarddistri-bution.Manymorecanbedownloadedasadd-ons.SeetheOrbiterwebsiteforalistofadd-onrepositories.

9.1 Delta-gliderThe Delta-glider is the ideal ship for the novice pilot to get spaceborne. Its futuristic designconcept,highthrustandextremely lowfuelconsumptionmakeiteasytoachieveorbit,anditcanevenbeused for interplanetary travel.Thewingeddesignprovidesaircraft-likehandlingin the lower atmosphere, while the vertically mounted hover-thrusters allow vertical takeoffsandlandingsindependentofatmosphericconditionsandrunways.

Delta-glidermodelandtexturesbyRoger“FryingTiger”Long.InstrumentpanelsbyMartinSchweiger.

Twoversionsareavailable:ThestandardDGisequippedwithmain,retroandhoverengines.The scramjet version (DG-S)has in addition twoairbreathing scramjet engines fitted, whichcan be used for supersonic atmospheric flight. The scramjets have an operational airspeedrangeofMach3-8.TheDGsupports2-Dinstrumentpanelsandavirtualcockpitinadditiontothestandard“glasscockpit”cameramode.Theglidercomeswithoperating landinggear,noseconedockingport,airlockdoor,deploy-ableradiatorandanimatedaerodynamiccontrolsurfaces.Itsupportsparticleexhausteffects.Detailsoninstrumentation,controls,cameramodesandtechnicalspecificationscanbefoundintheseparatedocumentDoc\DeltaGlider.pdf.→→→→seealso:Doc\DeltaGlider.pdf

9.2 Shuttle-ATheall-newShuttle-A,designedbyRoger“FryingTiger”Long.Amediumsizefreight-vessel,designed preliminary for low gravity/low density environments. The current design allows toachieveLEOfromEarth’ssurface,butyouneedtoplanyourascentcarefullynottorunoutoffuel.The vessel has a set of two main and two hover thrusters, plus a pair of auxiliary thrusterpodswhichcanberotated180°formain,hoverorretrothrust.


Modeldesign:RogerLong.Instrumentpanelsandmodulecode:MartinSchweiger.Virtualcockpit,payloadmanagementextensions:RaduPoenaru.

TheShuttle-Acomeswith instrumentpanels.Foroperationaldetailsand technicalspecifica-tionsseetheseparateShuttle-ATechnicalManual.The latest version of the Shuttle-A supports a virtual cockpit, detachable cargo pods, andworkinglandinggear,contributedbyRaduPoenaru.Mainandoverheadinstrumentpanels:Turnthepanelsonandoffwith.TheShuttle-Asupportstwopanelswhichcanbeselectedwith and .

Vessel-specifickeycontrols:

B$ Operatedockinghatchmechanism

C$ Open/closeouterairlockdoor

D$ Operatelandinggear.

Fueltank/pumpstatusindicator

airlock/lockcovercontrol

Navmodeselectors/indicators

leftMFD

RCSmodeselector

rightMFD

mainengines hoverengines thrustindicators

auxengines auxpodtiltcontrols

payloadcontrol


9.3 ShuttlePB(PTV)ThePBisaveryagilesingle-seater.Itproduceslittleliftinatmosphericflight,anddependsonitshoverthrustersfortakeoffandlanding.Aerodynamiccontrolsurfacesarenotsupportedinthisversion.AttitudecontrolisperformedviatheRCS(reactioncontrolsystem).

Overalldesignandtextures:BalázsPatyi.Modelimprovements:MartinSchweiger

Technicalspecifications:Mass 500kg (emptyorbiter) 750kg (fuelcapacity) 1250kg (total)Length 7m Thrust 3.0·104N (main) 2x0.75·104N (hover)Isp 5.0·104m/s (fuel-specificimpulseinvacuum)

9.4 DragonflyTheDragonfly is a space tugdesigned formovingpayload in orbit. Itmaybeused tobringsatellitesdeliveredbytheSpaceShuttleintohigherorbits,ortohelpintheassemblyoflargeorbitalstructures.TheDragonflyhasnodedicatedmainthrusters,butaversatileandadjustablereactioncontrolsystem.THE DRAGONFLY IS NOT DESIGNED FOR ATMOSPHERIC DESCENT OR SURFACELANDING!


Dragonflyoriginaldesign:MartinSchweiger.Modelimprovementsandtextures:RogerLong.Systemssimulationandinstrumentpanels:RaduPoenaru.

The Dragonfly is the first vessel to be modeled with detailed electrical and environmentalsystemssimulation,contributedbyRaduPoenaru.FordetailedinformationseetheDragonflyOperationsHandbook.Technicalspecifications:Mass 7.0·103kg (empty) 11.0·103kg (100%fuel)Length 14.8m Width 7.2m Height 5.6m Propulsionsystem RCSmountedin3pods(left,right,aft)total16thrustersThrustrating 1.0kN perthrusterIsp 4.0·104m/s (vacuum)

9.5 SpaceShuttleAtlantisSpace Shuttle Atlantis represents the only “real” spacecraft in the basic Orbiter distribution(buttherearemanymoreavailableasaddons).ItsflightcharacteristicsarelessforgivingthanfictionalmodelsliketheDelta-glider,andjustreachingorbitisachallenge.The Atlantis orbiter features a working payload bay with remote manipulator system (“Ca-nadarm”),soyoucansimulatethedeploymentorevenrecaptureofsatellites,ortheshipmentofresuppliestotheInternationalSpaceStation.The model now also features a virtual cockpit, with working MFD instruments and head-updisplay,aworkingpayloadbayandremotemanipulatorarm,aswellasMMUsupport.Operationproceduresandimplementationdetailsareprovidedinseparatedocuments:→→→→seealso:Doc\Atlantis.pdf→→→→seealso:Doc\Atlanis_MMU_Sat_30.pdfBelowareafewsimplifiedchecklistsforlaunch,dockingandpayloadoperation.Launch:• Firemainenginesat100%.• SRBsare ignitedautomaticallywhenmainengines reach95%.SRBsarenot controlled

manually.Onceignited,theycannotbeshutoff.


• During launch, attitude is controlled via SRB thrust vectoring. Roll shuttle for requiredheading,anddecreasepitchduringascentforrequiredorbitinsertion.

• SRBs separate automatically at T+2:06min. In an emergency, SRBs can be jettisonedmanuallywithE.

• AscentcontinueswithOrbitermainengines.Throttledownasrequiredfor3gmaxaccel-eration.

• TankseparatesatT+8:58min(alt110km)whenempty,ormanuallywithE.• After tankseparation,orbiterswitches toOMS(orbitalmaneuveringsystem)using inter-

nal tanks, for final orbit insertion.Attitude thrusters (RCS– reaction control system)areactivated.

Docking:• Theorbitercarriesadockingattachmentinthecargobay.• Opencargobaydoorsbeforedocking.• Dockingdirection is inorbiter’s+ydirection (up).TheDockingMFDmustbe interpreted

accordingly.RMSmanipulationandgrappling:• Theshuttlecarriesamechanicalmanipulatorarminthecargobaywhichcanbeusedfor

releasingandrecapturingsatellites,MMUcontrol,etc.• Thearmcanbeusedinorbitoncethecargodoorshavebeenfullyopened.

3Dmodelandtextures:MichaelGrosberg,DonGallagher(orbiter)andDamirGulesich(ET+SRB).Originalmodulecode:MartinSchweiger.Originalgrappling,RMSandMMUextensions:RobertConley.Modulecodeextensions:DavidHopkinsandDouglasBeachy.

Thevirtualcockpitfromthecommander’sseat.

NEW!


• TobringuptheRMScontroldialog,press+Space.• Thearmhasthreejoints:theshoulderjointcanberotatedinyaw

and pitch, the elbow joint can be rotated in pitch, and the wristjointcanberotatedinpitch,yawandroll.

• To grapple a satellite currently stowed in the cargo bay, movetheRMStipontoagrapplingpoint,andpress“Grapple”.Ifgrap-plingwassuccessful,thebuttonlabelswitchesto“Release”.

• Tomakeiteasiertoidentifythegrapplingpointsofsatellites,youcantick the“Showgrapplepoints”box.Thismarksallgrapplingpointswithflashingarrows.

• Toreleasethesatellite,press“Release”.• You can also grapple freely drifting satellites if you move the

RMStipontoagrapplingpoint.• ToreturnasatellitebacktoEarth,itmustbestowedinthecargo

bay.UsetheRMSarmtobring thesatellite into itscorrectposi-tion in the payload bay. When the Payload “Arrest” buttonbecomesactive,thesatellitecanbefixedinthebaybypressingthebutton.ItisautomaticallyreleasedfromtheRMStip.

• TheRMSarmcanbestowedinitstransportpositionbypressingthe RMS “Stow” button. This is only possible as long as noobjectisattachedtothearm.

• Payloadcanbereleaseddirectlyfromthebaybypressingthe“Purge”button.Atlantis-specifickeycontrols:

E$ Jettison:separateSRBsormaintank

B$ Operatecargobaydoors.ThecargobaydoorscannotbeclosedwhentheKu-bandantennaisdeployed.

D$ Operatelandinggear(activatedonlyaftertankseparation)

F$ Operatesplit-rudderspeedbrake.

G Deploy/retractKu-bandantenna.Theantennacanonlybeoperatedifthecargobaydoorsafullyopen.

+Space OpenRMScontroldialog.

Unlike the futuristic spacecraft designs, Atlantis provides only a small margin of error forachievingorbit.TrysomeoftheothershipsbeforeattemptingtolaunchtheShuttle.Limitedfuelmustbeselected,otherwiseAtlantisistooheavytoreachorbit!

9.6 InternationalSpaceStation(ISS)The International Space Station is a multinational scientific orbital platform currently underconstruction(althoughitsfateisnowsomewhatindoubtaftertheColumbiadisaster).Orbitercontains the ISS in itscompletedstate.The ISS isagooddocking target forShuttleandotherspacecraftmissions.


3Dmodelandtextures:ProjectAlphabyAndrewFarnaby

InOrbiter,theISScanbetrackedwith itstransponder(XPDR)signal,whichbydefault issettofrequency131.30.The ISS contains 5 docking ports. In Orbiter, each is equipped with an IDS (InstrumentDockingSystem)transmitter.ThedefaultIDSfrequenciesare:

Port1 137.40Port2 137.30Port3 137.20Port4 137.10Port5 137.00

FordockingproceduresseeSection16.7.

9.7 SpaceStationMIRInOrbiter, theRussianMIRstation isstill inorbitaroundEarthandcanbeused fordockingapproaches.Furthermore,unlikeitsreal-lifecounterpart,Orbiter’sMIRisorbitingintheplaneoftheecliptic,whichmakesitanidealplatformtolaunchlunarandinterplanetarymissions.

MIRmodelandtexturesbyJasonBenson


MIRsendsa transponder (XPDR)signalatdefault frequency132.10whichcanbeused fortrackingthestationduringarendezvousmaneuver.MIRsupports3dockingports,withthefollowingIDStransmitterfrequencies:

Port1 135.00Port2 135.10Port3 135.20

9.8 LunarWheelStationThisisalargefictionalspacestationinorbitaroundtheMoon.Itconsistsofawheel,attachedtoacentralhubwithtwospokes.Thewheelhasadiameterof500metresandisspinningatafrequencyofonecycleper36seconds,providingitsoccupantswithacentrifugalaccelera-tionof7.6m/s2,orabout0.8g,tomimicEarth’ssurfacegravitationalforce.The main problem the station poses to the spacecraft pilot is in performing a dockingmaneuver.Dockingtoarotatingobjectisonlypossiblealongtherotationaxis.Thewheelhastwo docking ports in the central hub. The docking approach is performed along the axis ofrotation. Before docking, the approaching vessel must synchronise its own longitudinalrotationwiththatofthestation.Fordockingprocedures,seeSection16.7.

Currently, Orbiter’s docking instrumentation works on rotating docking targets only if thevessel’s docking port is aligned with its longitudinal axis of rotation. This is the case forShuttle-AandDragonfly,butnotfortheDelta-gliderorSpaceShuttle.

Thewheelstationsendsatranspondersignalatfrequency132.70.ThedefaultIDStransmit-terfrequenciesforthetwodockingportsare

Port1 136.00Port2 136.20

Wheelmodelandtextures:MartinSchweiger


9.9 HubbleSpaceTelescopeTheHubbleSpaceTelescope is thevisible/ultraviolet/near-infraredelementof theGreatOb-servatories astronomical program. The spacecraft provides an order of magnitude betterresolution than iscapable fromground-based telescopes.Theobjectivesof theHSTare to:(1)investigatethecomposition,physicalcharacteristics,anddynamicsofcelestialbodies;(2)examine the formation, structure, and evolution of stars and galaxies; (3) study the historyand evolution of the universe; and (4) provide a long-term space-based research facility foropticalastronomy.Duringinitialon-orbitcheckoutoftheHubble'ssystems,aflawinthetele-scope's main reflective mirror was found that prevented perfect focus of the incoming light.Thisflawwascausedbytheincorrectadjustmentofatestingdeviceusedinbuildingthemir-ror.Fortunately,however,Hubblewasdesigned for regularon-orbitmaintenancebyShuttlemissions.Thefirstservicingmission,STS-61 inDecember1993, fullycorrected theproblembyinstallingacorrectiveopticspackageandupgradedinstruments(aswellasreplacingothersatellite components). A second servicing mission, scheduled for March 1997, installed twonewinstrumentsintheobservatory.OrbiterprovidesseveralSpaceShuttle/HSTmissions forbothdeploymentandrecaptureop-erations.ForShuttlepayloadmanipulation,seeSection9.5above.HST-specifickeycontrols:

$ Deploy/retracthigh-gainantennae

$ Open/closetelescopetubehatch

$ Deploy/foldsolararrays

HSTmodelandtexturesbyDavidSundstrom

9.10 LDEFSatelliteLongDurationExposureFacility(LDEF)Deployed inorbitonApril 7,1984byShuttleChallengerand intended for retrievalafteroneyear,theLDEFsatellitewasstrandedinorbitforsixyearsaftertheChallengeraccident.ThecrewofSTS-32recoveredtheLDEFfromitsdecayingorbitonJanuary11,1990,twomonthsbeforeitwouldhavere-enteredtheEarth'satmosphereandwouldhavebeendestroyed.TheLDEFmakesagoodobjectfordeploymentandretrievalmissionsinOrbiter.


LDEFmeshbyDonGallagher.


10ObjectinformationUsetheobjectinformationwindowtoretrievedataandcurrentparametersabout• thecurrentcameratargetobject• spacecraft• spaceports• celestialobjects(sun,planets,moons)

TheobjectinformationwindowcanbeopenedduringthesimulationbyselectingObjectinfofromthemainmenu,orbypressing0.

10.1 VesselinformationSelect object type Vessel, and pick one of thespacecraft inthecurrentsimulationfromthelist.The information sheet for spacecraft andorbitalstationscontains:• currentmass• size• mass-normalisedprincipalmomentsof iner-

tia(PMI)• transponderfrequency• equatorial position (longitude and latitude)

abovecurrentlyorbitedplanet• altitude• groundspeed• attitude relative to local horizon (yaw, pitch,

rollangles)• orbital elements in the ecliptic frame of ref-

erence, relative to currently orbited planet (semi-major axis, eccentricity, inclination,longitudeofascendingnode,longitudeofperiapsis,meanlongitudeatepoch)

• docking port status, if applicable (free/docked vessel, instrument docking system [IDS]transmitterfrequency)

• timepropagationmode(free-flight/landed,dynamicorstabilisedtimestepupdates)

10.2 SpaceportinformationSelectobjecttypeSpaceportandpickoneoftheavailablesurfacebases from the list.Spaceportinformationsheetscontain:• planet/moonandequatorialposition• landing pad status (free/landed vessel, and

instrument landing system [ILS] transmitterfrequency)

• runway information (runway alignment di-rection, length, and ILS transmitter fre-quency)

• frequencies for any VOR (very high fre-quency omnidirectional radio) transmittersassociatedwiththespaceport.


10.3 CelestialbodyinformationSelectobjecttypeCelestialbodyandpickoneofthebodieslisted.Informationsheetsforce-lestialbodies(suchassun,planetsandmoons)contain:• physicalparameters:

• mass(M)• meanradius(R)• lengthofsiderial(“star”)day(Ts)• obliquity of ecliptic (Ob) – tilt of axis of

rotationagainstplaneofecliptic• atmosphericparameters(ifapplicable):

• atmospheric pressure at zero altitude(p0)

• atmosphericdensityatzeroaltitude(r0)• specificgasconstant(R)• ratioofspecificheatscp/cv(g)

• orbital elements in the ecliptic frame of ref-erence, relative to currently orbited body(semi-major axis, eccentricity, inclination,longitude of ascending node, longitude ofperiapsis,meanlongitudeatepoch)

• current ecliptic position in polar coordinates(longitude, latitude and radius) relative tocurrentlyorbitedbody.

• geocentriccelestialposition(rightascensionanddeclination)


11CameramodesOrbiter’ssolarsystemcontainsavarietyofobjects,includingplanets,moons,spacecraftandlaunchsites.Youcanhavealookatanyofthesebyadjustingthecameramode.Toopenthecameraconfigurationdialog,press.Youcannow• Pointthecameratoanewtarget.• Jumpbacktothecurrentfocusobjectinexternalorcockpitview.(Shortcut:)• Selecttheexternalcameratrackingorground-basedmode.(Shortcut:&)• Changethecamerafieldofview(FOV).(Shortcut:)and()• Storeandrecallcameramodesviathepresetlist.

Figure9:Cameradialog–targetselectionlist.

11.1 InternalviewIninternal(cockpit)viewtheplayerisplacedinsidethecockpitofhis/herspaceshipandlooksforward. Instrument panels, head-up display (HUD) and multifunctional displays (MFD) areonlyshown in internal view.To return tocockpit view fromanyexternal views,press, orselectFocusCockpitfromthecameradialog.Some spacecraft types support scrollable 2D instrument panels and/or a 3-dimensional“virtual cockpit”, in addition to the generic view. Press to switch between the availablecockpitmodes.Youcan rotate theviewdirectionbypressing thekey incombinationwithacursorkey( ) on the cursor keypad. To return to the default view direction, press on thecursorkeypad.

2D panels can be scrolled with . This is useful if the panel is larger than thesimulationwindow,ortoscrollthepaneloutoftheway.Ifashipsupportsmultiplepanels,youcanswitchbetweenthemwith .

GenericcockpitGenericcockpit 2Dpanelview2Dpanelview VirtualcockpitVirtualcockpit


FordetailsonHUDandMFDmodes,seesections12and13.

11.2 ExternalviewsExternal views allow to have a look at any objects currently populating the simulated solarsystem,includingtheSun,planetsandmoons,spacecraft,orbitalstationsandsurfacebases.Fromcockpitview,anexternalviewofthecurrentspaceshipcanbeselectedbypressing.OtherobjectscanbeselectedfromthetargetlistintheCameradialog( ).Twotypesofexternalcameramodesareavailable:Trackviewsfollowtheobject.Thecameracanberotatedaroundthetargetobjectbypress-ing keys. The? and@ keys move the camera towards or away from thetarget.Differentcamerapanningmodesforexternalviewscanbeselectedbypressing&orviatheTracktabintheCameradialog:• Target-relative: The camera is fixed in the target’s local frameof rotation. Lookingat a

planet inthismodeforexamplewillrotatethecameratogetherwiththeplanetarounditsaxis. willrotatethecameraaroundthetarget’slocalaxes.

• Globalframe:Thecameraisfixedinanon-rotatingreferenceframe.Lookingataplanetinthismodewillshowtheplanetrotatingunderneath thecamera. willro-tatethecameraaroundtheaxesoftheeclipticframeofreference.

• Absolutedirection:Thiscanberegardedasamixtureofthetwomodesabove:Thedi-rection intowhich thecamerapoints is fixed inanabsolute frame,but it is tiltedwith re-specttothetarget’slocalframe. willrotatethecameraaroundthetarget’slocalaxes.

• Targetto…:Positionscamerasothatthespecifiedobjectisbehindthetarget.• Targetfrom…:Positionscamerasothespecifiedobjectisbehindthecamera.In Target to … and Target from … modes camera rotation ( ) is deactivated,butradialcameramovementwith?and@isstillavailable.Ground-basedviewsplacethecameraata fixedpointon thesurfaceofaplanet.This isagoodwaytofollowthelaunchofarocketfromaspectator’sperspective,orviewthefinalap-proachofaShuttlefromthecontroltower.Toselectaground-basedview,selecttheGroundtab in theCameradialog.Youcannowselectoneof thepredefinedobserver locations fromthelists,e.g.“Earth”+“KSC”+“Pad39Tower”.Alternatively,youcanjustspecifytheplanetand enter the location by hand, providing longitude (in degrees, positive towards east),latitude (in degrees, positive towards north), and altitude (in metres), e.g. “Earth” + “-80.62+28.6215”.ClickApplytojumptotheselectedlocation.You canalsodirectly use the current camera location in ground observermode, by clicking“Current”.Thelongitude,latitudeandaltitudearethenenteredautomatically.Youcanmovetheobserverlocationbypressing ,andtheobserveraltitudebypressing? [email protected] speed at which the observer moves can be adjusted with thePanningspeedsliderinthedialogbox,intherangefrom0.1to104m/s.There are two ways to select the camera orientation: If the Target lock box in the dialog isticked, thecamera isalwaysautomaticallypointing towards thecurrentcamera target. If theboxisnotticked,thecameradirectioncanbemodifiedmanuallybypressing .SeealsoSection22.3onhowtoaddnewobserversitestoaplanetdefinitionfile.


Figure10:Selectingatrackcameramode(left)oraground-basedview(right).

Inexternalviewsadisplayoftargetparameterscanbetoggledbypressing0.

11.3 SelectingthefieldofviewThe camera aperture can be adjusted under the FOV tab in the Camera dialog. The sup-portedrangeisbetween10°and90°(Orbiterdefinesthefieldofviewastheverticalaperture,between the topandbottomedgeof thesimulationwindow).Themostnaturalaperturede-pendson thesizeof thesimulationwindowon yourscreen,and thedistancebetween youreyesandthescreen.Typicalvaluesarebetween40°and60°.Youcanadjustthefieldofviewbyclickingoneoftheaperturebuttons,movingtheslider,orenteringanumericalvalueintheeditbox.

Figure11:Camerafieldofviewselection.

Thekeyboardshortcutsare) todecrease theFOV,and( to increasetheFOV.Thecur-rentfieldofviewisdisplayedinthestatussectioninthetopleftcornerofthesimulationwin-dow.


11.4 StoringandrecallingcameramodesOrbiterprovidesaneasymethod tostoreand recall cameramodes inapreset list.ClickonthePresettabintheCameradialog.Anyavailablemodesarelistedhere.Toactivateamode,double-clickitinthelist,orselectthemodeandclickRecall.Tostorethecurrentcameramodeasanewpreset inthelist,simplyclickAdd.Thiswillpro-duceanewentrywithashortdescription.Todeleteamode,clickDelete,orCleartoclearthewholelist.

Figure12:Thecameramodepresetlist.

Eachentryremembersitstrackmode,position,targetandaperture.Thepreset listisagoodwaytoprepareasetofcameraanglesbeforehand(forexampletofollowalaunch)andthenactivatethemquicklywithouthavingtoadjustthepositionsmanually.Thepresetlistisstoredtogetherwiththesimulationstate,soitcanbesharedviaascenariofile.


12GenericcockpitviewGenericcockpitmodedisplays flight information in a standard formatand isavailable forallvessels.Somevessel typesmayadditionallyprovidecustomised instrumentation in the formof2-Dpanelsor3-Dvirtualcockpits.Inthatcase,switchesbetweentheavailablemodes.The generic view mode represents a head-up display (HUD) that projects various avionicsdatadisplaysdirectlyontothepilot’sforwardview.TheHUDisswitchedon/offwith .HUDmodescanbeselectedwith.Thefollowingmodesareavailable:• Surface:Displayshorizonpitchladder,compassribbon,altitudeand“airspeed”.• Orbit:Displaysorbitalplanepitchladder,progradeandretrogradevelocitymarkers• Docking:Displaystargetdistanceandrelativevelocitymarkers.All HUD modes show engine and fuel status in the top left corner, and general information(timeandcameraaperture)inthetoprightcorner.Two multifunctional displays (MFDs) can be displayed independent of the HUD mode (seeSection13).EachMFDhasupto12mode-dependentfunctionbuttonsalongtheleftandrightedgesofthedisplay,and3standardbuttonsbelowthedisplay.Thestandardbuttonsare:• PWR: Turns the MFD display on or off. This button is available even if the MFD is

deactivated,providedthattheHUDisactivated.• SEL: Displays the MFD mode selection screen. This allows to activate a different MFD

mode.Ifmorethan12modesareavailable,useSELrepeatedlytoshowmoremodes.• MNU:Displaysanonscreenmenu for theavailable functionbuttonsof thecurrentMFD

mode,includingtheassociatedkeyboardshortcuts.TheMFDbuttonscanbeoperatedeitherwiththemouse,orwithkeyboardshortcuts.

Figure13:GenericcockpitviewwithtwoonscreenMFDdisplaysandHUDinsurfacemode.

Engineinformationdisplay

LeftMFD RightMFD

Directionindicator

Pitchladder

AltitudeAirspeedCompasstape General

information

Navmodes

Velocityvector

NEW!


12.1 GeneralinformationdisplayAblockofdatawithinformationaboutsimulationtimeandspeed,framerateandcameraaperture,displayedinthetoprightcornerofthesimulationwindow.Thisdisplaycanbeturnedonandoffwith0.

Universaldateandtime

ModifiedJulian

Date(days)

Simulationtime(seconds)

Framerate

TimeaccelerationfactorFieldofview(cameraaperture)Viewportdimension(WxHxbpp)

Figure14:Generalsimulationinformation

UT: Universaltimecountedfrom0hatmidnight.Unitismeansolarday.MJD: TheJulianDate(JD)istheintervaloftimeinmeansolardayselapsedsince4713BC

January 1 at Greenwich mean noon. The Modified Julian Date (MJD) is the JulianDateminus2400000.5

Sim: Simulatedtime(inseconds)elapsedsincethestartofthesimulation.Wrp: Time acceleration factor. This field is not displayed for acceleration factor 1 (real

time).FoV: (vertical)fieldofview,i.e.viewportcameraaperture.FPS: currentframerate(framespersecond)Dim: viewportdimension(widthandheightinpixels,colourdepthinbitsperpixel)Thedisplayofframerateandviewportdimensioncanbeturnedonandoffwiththe"key.Orbiter provides a date conversion utility (date.exe) in the Utils subdirectory. The ScenarioEditor(seeSection18.1)allowstomanipulatethedateofarunningsimulation.

12.2 Cameratarget/modedisplayThisdatablockisdisplayedinexternalcameramodesonly,inthetopleftcornerofthesimulationwindow.Itcontainsinformationaboutthecameratargetandtrackmode.Thisdisplaycanbeturnedonandoffwith0.

Cameratarget

Cameratrackmode

Cameradistancefromtarget

Figure15:Externalcamerainformation

View: Nameofthecurrentcameratarget.Mode: Thecameramodeusedfortrackingthetarget.Dist: Distancebetweencameraandtarget.

12.3 EngineinformationdisplayTheengineinformationdisplayisonlyshowninnon-panelcockpitviews.Fuelstatus:Remainingfuelisdisplayedaspercentageoffulltanks.Mainengine:Thehorizontal bar showscurrentmain/retroengine thrust as fraction ofmax.enginethrust.Greenindicatesmainthrusters,orangeindicatesretrothrusters.Thenumericalvalue shows acceleration in units of m/s2 (positive for main, negative for retro thrust). Notethat theaccelerationmaychangeeven if the thrustsettingdoesn’t,becausetheship’smasschangesasfuelisconsumed.Hoverengine:Ifavailable,hoverenginesaremountedunderneaththeship’sfuselagetoas-sistinsurfaceflight,inparticularduringtakeoff/landing.Displayanalogoustomainengine.

NEW!

RCS indicators/controls: The Reaction Control System (RCS) is an assembly of smallthrusters arranged on the spacecraft so that they can be used for rotation and fine transla-tionaladjustments.Thedisplayshowsthecurrentmode(off/rotational/translational).Theindi-catorbuttonscanbeclickedwiththemousetochangetheRCSmode.Trimsetting:Displaysthecurrentsettingofthetrimcontrol(ifavailable).Trimmingallowstoadjusttheflightcharacteristicsduringatmosphericflight.

HUDmode

RCSindicators/controls

FuelstatusMainengine:acceleration[m/s2]Hoverengine:acceleration[m/s2]Trimcontrolsetting

Figure16:Fuel/enginedisplaysandcontrols.

FormoreinformationaboutenginesandspacecraftcontrolseeSection14.

12.4 Navigationmodeindicators/controlsThenavigationmodeindicatorsareshownasarowofbuttonsatthebottomedgeofthege-nericcockpitviewwindow.Theydisplayanyactivenavigationsequencessuchas“progradeorientation”or “kill rotation”.Thebuttonscanbeclickedwith themousetoselectordeselectmodes.Notethatsomespacecrafttypesmaynotsupportalloranynavigationmodes.ThenavigationmodeindicatorsarenotshowniftheHUDisdeactivated.

mode shortcut actionKILLROT 6numpad killanyvesselrotation(auto-terminates)HORLVL H$ keepvessellevelwithlocalhorizonPROGRD !$ alignvesselwithorbitalvelocityvectorRETRGRD :$ alignvesselwithnegativeorbitalvelocityvectorNML+ ;$ alignvesselwithnormaloforbitalplaneNML- <$ alignvesselwithnegativenormaloforbitalplaneHOLDALT I$ holdaltitude(hoverfunction)

AllnavigationmodeexceptHOLDALTmake use of the RCS. PROGRD,RETRGRD,NML+andNML-alignthevessel into a specific attitude with re-spect to theorbitalvelocityvectorandorbital plane, while HORLVL alignswithrespecttothelocalhorizon.HOLDALTisonlyavailableforvesselsthatprovidehoverthrusters.The KILLROT mode terminates auto-matically at zero angular velocity. Allothermodesarepersistentandterminateonlywhendeselectedorwhenaconflictingmodeisselected.

12.5 SurfaceHUDmodeIndicatedby“SRFCE”intheupperleftcorner.

NEW!

killrotation

levelhorizon

pro-grade

retro-grade

orbit-normal

orbit-antinormal

holdaltitude

NEW!


This mode displays a pitch ladder which indicates the ship’s orientation w.r.t. the currentplaneofthehorizon.Theplaneofthehorizonisdefinedbyitsnormalvector,fromtheplanetcentretothespacecraft.Thecompassribbonatthetopofthescreen indicatestheship’sforwarddirectionw.r.t.geo-metricnorth.Amarkershowsthedirectionofthecurrenttarget(spaceport).Theboxleftbelowthecompassribbonshowsthecurrentaltitude[m].Theboxrightbelowthecompassribbonshowsthecurrent“airspeed”[m/s](evenifthereisnoatmosphere).Thesurface-relativevelocityvectordirectionismarkedby“⊕”.

12.6 OrbitHUDmodeIndicatedby“ORBITRef”intheupperleftcorner,whereRefisthenameofthereferenceob-ject.Thismodedisplaysapitchladderrelativetothecurrentorbitalplane,wherethe“0” lineindi-cates theorbital plane. Italsomarks thedirectionof theorbital velocity vector (progradedi-rection)by“⊕“andretrogradedirectionby“+”.Ifneithertheprogradenorretrogradedirectionisvisible,thenthedirectionofthe⊕markerisindicatedbyapointerlabeled“PG”(prograde).ThereferenceobjectfortheHUDcanbemanuallyselectedbypressing%.

12.7 DockingHUDmodeIndicatedby“DOCKTgt”intheupperleftcorner,whereTgtisthenameofthetargetstation.Thismodemarks the current docking target (orbital station) with a square marker, and dis-plays itsnameanddistance. Italsoshows thedirectionandmagnitudeof the target-relativevelocityvector.Thevelocityofthetargetrelativetotheshipisindicatedby“⊕“.Thisisthedi-rectioninwhichyouneedtoacceleratetosynchroniseyourspeedwiththetarget.Theoppo-sitedirection(thevelocityoftheshiprelativetothetarget)isindicatedby“+”.Ifneither⊕nor+arevisible,thenthedirectionofthe⊕markerisindicatedbyapointer.Similarly,ifthetargetmarkerisoffscreen,itsdirectionisindicatedbyapointer.ThetargetstationfortheHUDcanbemanuallyselectedbypressing%.


13MultifunctionaldisplaymodesMultifunctionaldisplays(orMFDs)areused inthecockpitsofmostmilitaryaircraftandmod-ern airliners. They combine the function of a variety of traditional instruments in a compactformat,and incombinationwithcomputerisedavionicsdataprocessingpresentthepilotwithsituation-dependentrelevantdata.In space flight, providing thepilot with informationappropriate to the current flight regime isevenmorecritical,andtheSpaceShuttlemakesextensiveuseofMFDdisplays.OrbiterusestheMFDparadigminageneralandextendablewaytoprovideflightdataindependentofves-seltype.AnMFDisessentiallyasquarecomputerdisplay(e.ganLCDscreen)andasetofinput controls (usually push buttons ar-ranged around the screen). The specificlayout can vary, but the functionality isthe same. The picture shows the MFDrepresentation for the generic cockpitviewmodewhich isavailable forallves-sel types. Up to two MFDs can be dis-played in thismode.Vesselswhichsup-portcustomised2-Dinstrumentpanelsor3-D virtual cockpits may use a differentnumber of MFD screens. In genericmode, thedisplaysaresuperimposeddi-rectlyontothe3-Dscenery,representingforexampleaprojectionontothepaneofaHUDdisplayinfrontofthepilot.InthecentreoftheMFDisthedatadisplay.The12buttonsalongtheleftandrightedgearemode-dependent function buttons. Their labels may change according to the currentoperationmodusof the instrument.The threebuttonsalong thebottomedgeare static andmode-independent.TheMFDscan be operatedeither by left-clicking with themouseon thebuttons, or via thekeyboard. All MFD keyboard functions are-key combinations, where the left and rightkeysoperate the leftandrightMFD,respectively.For instrumentpanelswithmore thantwo MFD displays, only two can be operated with the keyboard; the others are limited tomousecontrol.TurningtheMFDonandoffThePWRbuttonactivatesanddeactivatestheMFDdisplay.Keyboardshortcut isA . Ingeneric view mode, turning off the MFDalsohidesthebuttons(exceptthepowerbutton,soitcanbeturnedonagain).ModeselectionThe SEL button activates the mode se-lection screen. Keyboard shortcut is .EachMFDmodeprovides infor-mation for a different navigation or avi-onics problem (orbital parameters, sur-face parameters, docking and landingaids,etc.)Fora full listofdefaultmodesseethefollowingsectionsinthischapter.Many additional modes are availablevia3rdpartyaddons.The display shows the available modesin the display area, one mode next to

NEW!


each functionbutton.Toselectamode,simplyclick thecorrespondingbutton.Forselectionwiththekeyboard,pressthekeytogetherwiththemodeselectionkeydisplayedingreywitheachofthelistedmodes(forexample,J forOrbitmode).Iftherearemoremodesthancanbedisplayedinasinglepage,pressingSEL(or )re-peatedlywill page throughallmodescreens.PressingSEL on the lastmodescreenwill re-turntothepreviouslyselectedMFDmode.Notethatthemodeselectionwithkeyboardshort-cutsworksfromanyof themodeselectionpages,even if thedesiredmode isnotdisplayedonthecurrentpage.FunctionbuttonsThe function of the buttons to the left and right of the display depends on the current MFDmode,andtheir labelswillchangeaccordingly.CheckthedescriptionsoftheindividualMFDmodes in the followingsections for thebutton functionsofstandardMFDmodes.Foraddonmodes, consult the accompanying documentation. In some cases the buttons may act asswitches,whereeachpressexecutesaspecificfunction.Inothercasesitmaybenecessarytopressdownakeycontinuouslytoadjustaparameter.Function buttons can also be activatedwith-keycombinations.PressingtheMNU button on the bottom edge of thescreenwill switch intomenumode (key-board shortcut is ),wherea shortdescription of each function button isdisplayed, together with the associatedkeyboard key. Pressing MNU again (orpressing a function button) will restorethedisplay.In generic view mode, and in most in-strument panels in Orbiter the MFDshave12 functionbuttons,but inprinciplethiscouldvary. IfanMFDmodehasde-fines more functions than can be as-signed to the buttons, then pressingMNU repeatedly will page through theavailablesetsoffunctions.Below isadescriptionof thestandardMFDmodesprovidedbyOrbiter.Seealso theQuickMFDreferenceinAppendixA.

13.1 COM/NAVreceiversetupTheCOM/NAVsetupMFDmodeprovidesaninterfacetotheship’snavigationradioreceiverswhich feed data to the navigation instruments. It also allows to select the frequency of theship’s transponderwhichsendsasignal to identify thevessel.Themode isactivatedvia theCOM/NAVentryfromtheMFDmodeselectionpage( ).TheMFD lists frequencyand signal source information for allNAV radios (NAV1 toNAVn).The number of receivers (n) depends on the vessel class. A NAV receiver can be selectedfromthelistby and .Theselectedreceiverishighlightedinyellow(seebelow).Keyoptions:

$ SelectpreviousNAVreceiver

$ SelectnextNAVreceiver

4$ Stepdownfrequency1MHz.

K$ Stepupfrequency1MHz

!$ Stepdownfrequency0.05MHz

:$ Stepupfrequency0.05MHz


MFDcontrollayout:

MFDdisplaycomponents:

The display is divided into two sections: The NAV receiver stack, listing the frequency andsignalstatusoftheship’snavigationradioreceivers,andtheTransponderstatus,showingthefrequencyoftheship’stransponder.

Thefrequencyoftheselectedreceiver/transmittercanbetunedinstepsof1MHzwith4andK ,andinstepsof0.05MHzwith! and: ,intherangefrom85.00MHzto140.00MHz.IfacompatibleNAVtransmitter iswithinrange,theinstrumentdisplaysinforma-tionaboutthesignalsource.Notes:• Certain instrumentssuchas theLaunch/LandMFDmodeareslaved toaNAVreceiver,

andwillonlywork ifasuitablesignal isavailable.Thisbehaviourdiffers fromearlierOr-biterversions,wherethedatareferencewasobtainedautomatically.

• TheObjectInfo(0 )andNavaidInfodialogs(2 )areausefultoolstoobtainfre-quenciesfornavaidtransmitterssuchasVORandILSbeaconsorvesseltransponders.

• The positions and frequencies of VOR stations in your vicinity can also be displayeddirectlyinthesimulationwindowviatheVORMarkersoptionoftheVisualhelpersdialogbox(3).

NAVreceiverstatus

Transponderstatus

frequency

signalsourcetypeandID

Prev.receiver

Nextreceiver

Down0.05MHz

!Down1MHz

4Up0.05MHz

:Up1MHz

K


Figure17:InfoandNavaiddialogswithVORandILSfrequencies.

13.2 OrbitTheOrbitMFDmodedisplaysalistofelementsandparameterswhichcharacterisetheship’sorbitaroundacentralbody,aswellasagraphicalrepresentation.Inaddition,atargetobject(ship,orbitalstationormoon)orbiting thesamecentralbodycanbeselected,whoseorbitaltrackandparameterswillthenbedisplayedaswell.ThemodeisactivatedviatheOrbitentryfromtheMFDmodeselectionpage().The display shows the osculating orbits at the current epoch, i.e. the 2-body orbit corre-spondingto thevessel’scurrentstatevectors,withrespecttoagivencelestialbody.Theor-bital parametersmay change with timedue to the influence of perturbingeffects (additionalgravitysources,distortionsofthegravitationalfieldduetononsphericalplanetshape,atmos-phericdrag,thrusteraction,etc.)Theorbitalelementscanbedisplayedwithrespecttooneoftwoframesofreference:eclipticorequatorial.TheplaneoftheeclipticisdefinedbytheEarth’sorbitalplane,andisusefulforinterplanetaryflights,becausemostplanetsorbitclosetotheecliptic.Theequatorialplaneisdefined by theequator of the current referenceobject, and is useful for loworbital and sur-face-to-orbitoperations.UseL toswitchbetweenthetwoframesofreference.Thecur-rentmodeisdisplayedinthetoplineofthedisplay(Frm).The plane into which the graphical orbit displays are projected can be selected via .Thecurrentprojectionplaneisindicatedinthetoprightcorneroftheinstrument(Prj).ECLorEQUproject intotheplaneoftheeclipticorequator,respectively.SHPprojects intotheves-sel’scurrentorbitalplane,andTGTprojectsintothetarget’scurrentorbitalplane,ifatargetisspecified.Thelengthofthecurrentradiusvector,andtheapoapsisandperiapsisdistancescanbedis-playedintwomodes:• planetocentricdistance(distancefromorbit focus), indicatedbyRad,ApR,PeR, respec-

tively• altitudeaboveplanetmeanradius,indicatedbyAlt,ApA,PeA,respectively.Use, toswitchbetweenthetwomodes.' opensamenu tospecifya targetobject.Only targetswhichorbitaround thecurrentreferenceobjectwillbeaccepted.Thetargetdisplaycanbeturnedoffwith2 .


PressingM will switch the vessel’s head-up display to Orbit mode and copy the orbitreferenceobject fromtheMFDto theHUD.This isoftenmoreconvenient thanselecting theHUDreferencedirectlywith .Keyoptions:

8$AR Auto-selectreferenceobject.

,$DST Toggleradius,apoapsisandperiapsisdatadisplaybetweenplanetocentricdistanceandaltitudeabovemeanplanetradius.

L$FRM Toggleframeofreference(ecliptic,equatorofreferenceobject)

M$HUD SetHUDtoOrbitmodeandcopythecurrentMFDorbitreferenceobject.

1$MOD Toggledisplaymode(listonly,graphicsonlyandboth)

2$NT Notargetorbit.

$PRJ Toggleorbitprojectionmode(referenceframe,ship’sandtarget’sorbitalplane)

%$REF Selectnewreferenceobject(planetormoon)fororbitcalculation.

'$TGT Openmenufortargetselection.

MFDcontrollayout:


1.GraphicdisplaymodeIngraphicalmode, theOrbitMFDshowstheship’sorbit (green)andoptionally theorbitofatarget object (yellow) around the reference body (surface represented in gray). The displayalsoshowstheship’scurrentposition(radiusvector), theperiapsis(lowestpointof theorbit)and apoapsis (highest point), and theascendingand descendingnodes w.r.t. the referenceplane.Theusercanselecttheplaneintowhichtheorbitrepresentationsareprojected(orbitalplaneoftheshiportarget,eclipticorequatorialplane).

Selectorbitreference

Auto-select

reference

8Selecttarget

'Unselecttarget

NDisplaymode

OFrameofreference

L

Orbitprojec-tionmode

P

Alt/raddis-tancedisplay

Q

CopydatatoHUD

M

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2.OrbitalelementlistmodeInlistmode,theship’sorbitalelementsandotherorbitalparametersarelistedinacolumnontheleftof theMFDdisplay(green). Ifatarget isselected, itselementsarelisted inacolumnon the right of the MFD (yellow). The elements refer to the selected frame of reference, sotheywillchangewhenswitchingbetweenecliptic(ECL)andequatorial(EQU)frame.

Notation:• Semi-majoraxis:thelongestsemi-diameteroftheorbitellipse.• Semi-minoraxis:theshortestsemi-diameteroftheorbitellipse.• Periapsis:The lowest point of theorbit (ForEarthorbits, this is also calledperigee.For

solarorbits,itisalsocalledperihelion).• Apoapsis:Thehighest pointof theorbit (forEarthorbits, this isalsocalledapogee.For

solarorbits,itisalsocalledaphelion).• Ascendingnode:Thepointatwhich theorbitpasses throughthereferenceplane(plane

oftheecliptic,orequatorplane)frombelow.

Orbitreference

Spacecraftorbit

Ascendingnode

Descendingnode

Radiusvector

Apoapsis

Periapsis

TargetorbitPlanetsurface

Frameofreference

Projectionplane

G-fieldcontribution

Lineofnodes

Semi-majoraxisSemi-minoraxis

PeriapsisdistanceApoapsisdistance

RadialdistanceEccentricityOrbitperiod

TimetoperiapsispassageTimetoapoapsispassage

VelocityInclination

LongitudeofascendingnodeLongitudeofperiapsisArgumentofperiapsis

TrueanomalyTruelongitudeMeananomalyMeanlongitude

Orbitreference

Shipelements Targetelements

Frameofreference

G-fieldcontribution

• Descendingnode:Thepointatwhich theorbitpasses through the referenceplane fromabove.

• Radiusvector:Thevectorfromtheorbit’sfocalpointtothecurrentpositionoftheorbitingbody.

ForfurtherexplanationoforbitalelementsseeAppendixC.Forhyperbolic(non-periodic)orbits,thefollowingparametersareinterpretedspecially:SMa: realsemi-axisa:distancefromcoordinateorigin(definedbyintersectionofhyperbola

asymptotes)toperiapsis.Thesemi-majoraxisisdisplayednegativeinthiscase.SMi: imaginarysemi-axisb=asqrt(e2-1)ApD: apoapsisdistance:notapplicableT: orbitalperiod:notapplicablePeT: timetoperiapsispassage;negativeafterperiapsispassageApT: timetoapoapsispassage:notapplicableMnA: meananomaly,definedasesinhE–E,withEhyperboliceccentricanomalyG-fieldcontributionThe“G”valueatthebottomofthedisplayshowstherelativecontributionofthecurrentrefer-encebodytothetotalgravityfieldattheship’sposition.Thiscanbeusedtoestimatethereli-abilityof theKeplerian (2-body)orbit calculation.Forvaluesclose to1a2-bodyapproxima-tion isaccurate.For lowvaluesthetrueorbitwilldeviatefromtheanalyticcalculation,result-inginachangeoftheorbitalelementsovertime.Asawarningindicator,theGdisplaywillturnyellowforcontributions<0.8,andredifthese-lectedreferenceobjectisnotthedominantcontributortothegravityfield.Inthatcase,8willselectthedominantobject.

13.3 VOR/VTOLThe VOR/VTOL MFD mode is a navigational instrument used for surface flight and verticaltakeoffandlanding.Inadditiontoaltitudeandairspeedreadoutsitcandisplayagraphicalin-dicatorof the relativepositionofaVOR(veryhigh frequencyomnidirectional range)naviga-tionradiotransmitter.ThisMFDmodecanbeslavedtooneof theship’sNAVreceivers.Thecurrent receiverandfrequency isshown in theupperrightcornerof thedisplay. Ifasignal is received, the trans-mitterIDisdisplayedinthesecondline.IftheshipsupportsmorethanasingleNAVreceiver,a different receiver can be selected with2 . To set the receiver frequency, use theCOM/NAVMFDmode(seesection13.1).The instrument can also be used for vertical instrument landing (VTOL).When slaved to aVTOLtransmitter,thetargetindicatorshowstherelativepositionofthecorrespondinglaunchpad.Keyoptions:

2$ Selectnavigationradio(NAV)receiverforVORorVTOLinformationinput.


MFDcontrollayout:


• DIST:distancetoNAVtransmitter[m]• DIR:directionofNAVtransmitter(ship-relative)• HSPD:horizontalairspeedcomponent[m/s]• ALT:altitude[m].Thealtitudebarhasarangefrom1to104m(logarithmicscale).• VSPD: verticalairspeedcomponent [m/s].Theverticalspeedbarhasa range from±0.1

to±103m/s (logarithmicscale).Positiveverticalspeed is indicatedbyagreenbar,nega-tiveverticalspeedbyayelloworredbar.Redisasurfaceimpactwarning.

• Targetindicator:Showsthehorizontal locationoftheslavedNAVtransmitter(ship-rela-tive)onalogarithmicscale.Range:1to104m.

• Hspeedvector:Showsthehorizontalcomponentoftheairspeedvector(ship-relative)onalogarithmicscale.Range:0.1to103m/s.

• VTOL cone: This circle indicates the admissible deviation from the vertical touchdownvectorasafunctionofaltitude.DuringVTOLlanding,thetargetindicatormustremainin-side the VTOLcone.A red circle indicates that the ship is outside the cone.TheVTOLconeisdisplayedonlywhentheMFDisslavedtoaVTOLtransmitter.

13.4 HorizontalSituationIndicatorThe Horizontal Situation Indicator (HSI) consists of two independent displays. Each displaycanbeslaved toaNAV receiverandshowdirectionaland relativebearing information.The

SelectNAVreceiver

N

NAVreceiverfrequency

verticalspeed[m/s]

altitude[m]

verticalspeedbar(logscale)

altitudebar(logscale)

NAVtypeandid

NAVdistanceanddirection

horizontalairspeed[m/s]

horizontalspeedvector

VTOLcone

targetpositionindicator


instrumentsacceptdatafromsurface-basedtransmitterssuchasVORandILS.Thefunctionissimilartoinstrumentnavigationsystemsfoundinaircraft.Thedisplayconsistsofagyro-compassindicatingthecurrentheadingatthe12o’clockposi-tion. The yellow arrow in the centre of the instrument is the course arrow or Omni BearingSelector (OBS).WhentheslavedNAVradio is tuned toaVORtransmitter, theOBScanbeadjusted with the OB- (!) and OB+ (: ) keys. For ILS transmitters, the OBS isautomaticallyfixedtotheapproachdirection.ThemiddlesectionofthecoursearrowistheCourseDeviationIndicator(CDI).Itcandeflectto the leftandright, toshowthedeviationof theOBSsetting fromthecurrentbearing to theNAVsender.IftheCDIisdeflectedtotheleft,thentheselectedradialistotheleftofthecur-rentposition.Inthelower leftcorneroftheinstrument istheTO/FROMindicator.“TO”meansthatyouareworking with a bearing from you to the ground station; “FROM” indicates a radial from thegroundstationtoyou.When tuned to an ILS (localiser) transmitter, the instrument shows an additional horizontalglideslopebarforverticalguidancetotherunway.Ifthebariscenteredintheinstrument,youareon thecorrectglideslope. If it is in theupperhalf, theglideslope isabove you, i.e. youaretoolow.Ifitisinthelowerhalf,theglideslopeisbelowyouandyouareapproachingtoohigh.The refresh rate for the HSI MFD is 4Hz or the user selection in the Launchpad dialog,whicheverishigher.Keyoptions:

2$ SelectNAVreceiver

"$ Switchfocustoleft/rightHSIinstrument

!$ RotateOBSleft

:$ RotateOBSright

MFDcontrollayout:

Switchleft/rightHSI

LSelectNAV

receiver

NRotateOBS

left

!RotateOBS

right

:



TousetheHSIforsurfacenavigation:• DeterminethefrequencyoftheVORstationyouwanttouse(e.g.fromtheMap1or

spaceport infodialog# )and tuneoneof yourNAV receivers to that frequency (ontheCOM/NAVMFD)

• SlaveoneoftheHSIdisplaystothatreceiverwith 2 .• Toflydirectlytowardsthestation,turntheOBSindicatoruntil theCDIalignswiththear-

row,andtheTO/FROMindicatorshows“TO”.• TurnthespacecraftuntiltheOBSindicatorpointstothe12o’clockposition.• If theCDIwandersoff totheleftorright, turn thespacecraft inthatdirectionuntil thear-

rowisalignedagain.• Toflyawayfromthestation,usethesameprocedure,butmakesurethattheTO/FROM

indicatorshows“FROM”.TousetheHSIforinstrumentlanding:• Makesure the runway isequippedwith ILS (use thespaceport infodialog,# ),and

tuneoneofyourNAVreceiverstotheappropriatefrequency.• SlaveoneoftheHSIdisplaystothatreceiver.• Assoonas the ILS transmitter is in range, theOBS indicatorwill turn into theapproach

directionandcanbeusedasa localiser indicator.At thesame time, theglideslope indi-catorwillbecomeactive.Whenboth indicatorsarecenteredtoformacrosshair,youareoncourseandonglideslopetotherunway.

13.5 DockingTheDockingMFDassistsduringfinalapproachtodockwithanothervesselororbitalstation.Itprovidesindicatorsfortranslationalandrotationalalignmentwiththeapproachpath,aswellasdistanceandclosingspeedreadouts.This instrumentreliesondockingapproachdatareceivedbyyourspacecraft.Approachdatacanbeacquiredinthreedifferentmodes:• IDSmode:dataareacquiredfromaradiosignalsentbythedockingtarget.TheIDS(In-

strumentDockingSystem)signalisobtainedbytuningaNAVreceivertotheappropriatefrequency and slaving the Docking MFD to that receiver. The typical range for IDS is~100km.ToselectaNAVreceiver,press 2 .TheselectedfrequencyisdisplayedintheupperrightcorneroftheMFD.

• Visual mode: Docking parameters are acquired from onboard visual systems (typicallyvideocamerasmountedinthedockingport.Thevisualsystemaidsindockingtotargets

LeftHSIindicatorNAVreceiver,frequencyandidentifier

OBS

TO/FROMindicator

Glideslope

Localiser

Course

Deviation

Bearing

RightHSIindicator

Gyro-compass

CDI

Distance

whichdon’tprovideIDS.Thetypicalrangeforvisualmodeis~100m.Toswitch tovisualmode,pressR.

• Directtargetselection:Ifyouwanttoavoidtheneedtotuneintoanavigationtransmittersignal,youcanopentargetdialog( )andenter targetname(andoptionaldockingportindex≥1)directly.(Thisshortcutmethodmaybedroppedinafutureversion).

Apart fromtheirdifferentoperationalrange,thethreemodesprovideareidentical intermsoftheproducedMFDdisplay.Keyoptions:

2$ SelectNAVreceiverforIDSinformationinput.

R$ Switchtovisualdockingdataacquisitionmode.

'$ Directtargetanddockingportselection

MFDcontrollayout:


• IDSsource:identifiesthesourceofthecurrentlyreceivedIDSsignal.• TOFS: tangentialoffset fromapproachpath.Thisvalue isgiven inunitsof theapproach

cone radiusat the current target distance.TOFS<1 indicatesa position inside theap-proachcone.

SelectNAVreceiver

NSwitchtovis-

ualacquisition

SDirecttarget

input

transmitterID(IDS/XPDR)

tangentialap-proachoffset

tangentialvelocity

longitudinalrota-tionindicator

tangentialvelocityindicator

alignmentindicator

approachcone

NAVfrequency

targetdistance

closingvelocity

distancebar(logscale)

closingspeedbar(logscale)

approachpathindicator

• TVEL: Tangential velocity (velocity relative to target, projected into plane normal to ap-proachpath)[m/s]

• DST:Dock-to-dockdistance[m].Thebarshowsthedistanceonalogarithmicscaleintherange0.1–103m.

• CVEL: Closing speed [m/s]. The bar shows the closing speed on a logarithmic scale intherange0.1–103m/s.Yellowindicatespositiveclosingspeed.

Thecircularinstrumentshowstheship’salignmentwithrespecttotheapproachpathtowardstheallocateddock.• Approach path indicator: The green cross indicates the position of the approach path

relative to theship.Whencentered, theship isalignedon theapproachpath.Theradialscale is logarithmic in the range 0.1–103 m. Tangential alignment should be performedwithattitudethrustersinlinearmode(seeSection14.2).

• Tangentialvelocityindicator:Theyellowarrow indicatestherelativetangentialvelocityofyourvesselwithrespecttothetarget.Theradialscaleislogarithmicintherange0.01–102m/s.Thenumerical value is the tangential velocity [m/s].Toalignyourshipwith theapproachpath,engage linearattitude thrustersso that thearrowpoints towards theap-proachpathindicator.

• Alignment indicator: The white/red cross indicates the alignment of the ship’s forwarddirectionwiththeapproachpathdirection.Whencentered,theship’sforwarddirectionisparallel to the approach path. The cross turns red if misalignment is > 2.5°. The radialscaleislinearintherange0–20°.Rotationalalignmentshouldbeperformedwithattitudethrustersinrotationalmode(seeSection14.2).

• Longitudinal rotation indicator: This arrow indicates the ship’s longitudinal alignmentwith the docking port. Toalign, the indicator must bemoved into 12 o’clock position byrotating theshiparound its longitudinalaxis,byengagingbankattitude thrusters in rota-tional mode (see Section 14.2). When alignment is achieved, the indicator turns white(misalignment<2.5°).Notethatthisindicatorisonlydisplayedwhendirectionalalignment(seeabove)iswithin5°.

• Approach cone: The concentric red or green circle indicates the size of the approachcone at the current dock distance. The ship should approach the dock so that the ap-proach path indicator is always inside the approach cone (indicated by a green circle).Theapproachconebecomessmallerastheshipapproachesthedock.

Closing speed should be reduced as the ship approaches the dock (using retro thrusters).Thefinalspeedshouldbe<0.1m/s.Notes:• Todocksuccessfully,youmustapproachthedocktowithin0.3m.Additionalrestrictions

maybeimplementedinthefuture(speed,alignment,etc.)• Nocollision checksare currently performed. If you fail to dockand keep closing in, you

mayflyyourshipthroughthetargetvessel.

13.6 SurfaceTheSurfaceMFDmodeassists in flightclose toplanetarysurfaces. Itcontains the followingelements:• Artificialhorizonwithpitchandbankreadouts.• Headingindicatortape• Altitudetapewithmarkersforpherihelandaphelaltitude• Verticalspeedtape• Verticalaccelerationtape• Speedtape(IAS/TAS/GS/OS)• Accelerationtape• Angleofattacktape• Atmosphericdata• Equatorialposition(longitudeandlatitude,andrateofchange)


Thefollowingatmosphericdataaredisplayed(ifapplicable):• OAT: OutsideAirTemperature:Absoluteatmosphericfreestreamtemperature[K].• M: MachnumberM=v/a,withairspeedvandspeedofsounda.• DNS: Atmosphericdensityρ[kgm-3]• STP: Staticpressure[Pa]• DNP: Dynamicpressureq=½ρv2[Pa].

Keyoptions:

#$ SelectIndicatedAirspeeddisplay.

'$ SelectTrueAirspeeddisplay.

D$ SelectGround-relativeSpeeddisplay.

J$ SelectOrbitalSpeeddisplay.

MFDcontrollayout:


verticalaccelera-tiontape[m/s2]

VSI(verticalspeedindicator)tape[m/s]

altitudetape[km]

accelerationtape[m/s2]

speedtape[m/s](IAS/TAS/GS/OS)

headingtape[deg.]

artificialhorizon

aphelionmarker

referenceobject

pitch/bankreadout

bankindicator

atmosphericdata

perihelionmarker

equatorialpositionandrate

angleofattack[deg]

pitchladder

Indicatedairspeed(IAS)

0Trueairspeed

(TAS)

Ground-relati-vespeed(GS)

DOrbitalspeed

(OS)

J

Speeddisplaymodes:Theusercanchoosebetweenfourdifferentspeedindicatormodes:• TAS (true airspeed): The speed of the spacecraft relative to the surrounding atmos-

phere.Airspeed isusually measuredwith apitot tube in theairstream recording thedif-ferencebetweenfreestreamandstagnationpointpressure.TheTASmode isonlyavail-ableifthefreestreampressurep1>10-4Pa(onEarth,thiscorrespondstoapprox.140kmaltitude).IfTAScannotbemeasured,thespeedtapeisresetto0andthereadoutshows“----“.

• IAS (indicated airspeed): Commonly used in conventional aircraft. IAS is calibrated toatmospheric density and speed of sound at sea level. IAS and TAS are similar at lowaltitude,butstarttodivergeathigheraltitudes,withIAS<TAS.Thelimitp1>10-4PaalsoappliesforIASavailability.

• GS(ground-relativespeed):Themagnitudeof thevessel’svelocityvector transformedinto the rotating planet reference frame. This is similar to TAS at lower altitudes, butdiverges at higher altitudes. Usually, TAS is no longer available at altitudes where thedifferences would become significant. Note: For an object in geostationary orbit, GS iszerosinceitisstationaryrelativetotherotatingplanetframe.

• OS(orbitalspeed):Thevessel’svelocity relative to theplanet’scentre inanon-rotatingframe.Thisisidenticaltothe“Vel”readoutintheOrbitMFD.Note:OSisusuallynonzeroforavesselatrestontheplanetsurface,sincetheplanetitselfrotates.

The speed tape left of theartificial horizondisplays the vessel speed in the selectedmode.Theaccelerationtapebelowshowsthespeedrateofchangeinthesamemode.Theverticalspeedandverticalaccelerationtapesarenotaffectedbythespeeddisplaymode.The refresh rate for theSurfaceMFD is 4Hz or theuser selection in theLaunchpaddialog,whicheverishigher.

Technical background:Orbiterusesacompressibleflowmodeltocalculateindicatedairspeed:

−

+

−−

=

−

111

21

10IAS

γγ

γ ss p

ppav

wherep0andp1arethestagnationandfreestreampressures,respectively,psandasarethestandardsealevelvaluesforstaticpressureandspeedofsound,andγistheratioofspecificheats.Thestagnationpointpressurep0isobtainedfromthetrueairspeedby

−

−=

−

11

21

1

01TAS

γγ

γ p

pav

wherea1isthefreestreamspeedofsound.

13.7 MapTheMap MFDmodeshowsa surfacemapof a planet ormoon in an equatorial projection.Planetsforwhichamapisnotavailableonlyshowthelongitudeandlatitudegrid.Theintersectionoftheplaneofyourcurrentorbitwiththesurfaceoftheplanetisshowninagreenandorredcurve.Yourownpositiononthetrajectory isshownwithawhitecross.Thegreen section of the curve is the part of the orbit above the planet surface. The red part, ifshown,indicatesthesectionoftheorbitbelowtheplanetsurface.The presence of a red section therefore indicates a ballistic trajectory which will result in asurfaceimpactunlesstheperiapsisisraisedbyanengineburn.The intersection points of the trajectory with the surface are indicated with red and greenboxes,wheretheredboxistheimpactpoint.Theimpactpointdisplaycanbeusedasanapproximateaidfortimingreentryburns.

Note that even orbits which do not intersect the surface may not be stable if they passthroughplanetaryatmospheresandcausesignificantdrag.Inaddition to yourownorbit, theorbitalplaneofa targetobject (e.g.aspacecraftormoon)orbiting thesamecentralbodycanbedisplayed.This trajectorywillbeshown inyellow,andthetargetpositionisindicatedbyayellowcross.Sub-surfacepartsofthetargettrajectoryarenotspeciallymarked.Note that the trajectorycurvesshow the intersectionof theorbitalplaneat the current time,and not the projected ground tracks of the orbiting bodies. This means that the curves willshift horizontally over the planet surface with time, due to the rotation of the planet under-neath.Surfacebasesare indicatedbyredsquares.Thepositionof thecurrentlyselectedbaseandthe distance to it are displayed. In addition, the projections of the orbital planes of the shipandtheselectedorbitaltargetontotheplanetsurfaceareplotted.The map display can show either the full planet surface in global view (360º x 180º) or asmaller (180ºx90º)area in2xzoommode.Scrollingbuttonsallowtopan thevisiblepartofthemapdisplay.Alternatively,byswitchingtoTrackmode,thevessel'scurrentpositioniskeptcenteredinthedisplay.Inthiscase,thescrollingfunctionisdisabled.Keyoptions:

$REF Openinputboxforreferenceplanet/moonselection.

'$TGT Openamenufortargetselection.

B$TRK Switchautomaticvesseltrackmodeonoroff.

)$ZM Togglebetweenglobalmapviewand2xzoom.

!$<< Scrollmapdisplayleft(notintrackmode).

:$>> Scrollmapdisplayright(notintrackmode).

4$UP Scrollmapdisplayup(notintrackmodeorglobalview).

K$DN Scrollmapdisplaydown(notintrackmodeorglobalview).

MFDcontrollayout:

Selectmapreference

Selecttarget

base/orbit

Toggletrackmodeon/off

BZoomon/off

)Scrollleft

!Scrollright

:

Scrollup

4

Scrolldown

K



Targetbase:• Pos:Equatorialcoordinates(longitude,latitude)ofselectedspaceport.• Dst:Surfacedistanceofship’sprojectedpositiontothetargetbase.• Dir:Directionofthetargetbaseasseenfromtheship.Targetorbit:• Pos:Equatorialcoordinates(longitude,latitude)oftheprojectedtargetposition.• Alt:Targetaltitude.Notes:• Only objects (ships, stations or moons) orbiting the current reference planet will be

acceptedasorbittargets.• Onlybaseslocatedonthecurrentreferenceplanetwillbeacceptedastargetbases.• Your ship’s orbital plane will only be plotted if you are orbiting the current reference

planet.

13.8 AlignorbitalplaneThisMFDmodeaids in rotating theorbital plane in space so that it correspondswith sometargetplane,e.g.theorbitalplaneofanotherobject.Theinstrumentcontainstherelevantor-bitalelements (inclinationand longitudeof theascendingnode)of thecurrentand targetor-bits. It also shows the relative inclination (anglebetween the twoplanes), the anglesof thecurrentradiusvectortowardsascendinganddescendingnodes,thetimetointerceptthenextnode,andthepredictedrequiredthrusterburntime.Seesection16.4onhowtousethisMFDmode.Thetargetplanecanbeeitherdefinedintermsoftheorbitalplaneofanotherorbitingobject,orbyspecifying theparameters thatdefine theorientationofanorbitalplane: the inclinationandlongitudeofascendingnodewithrespecttotheeclipticframeofreference.Keyoptions:

'$ Inputanewtargetobjectortargetorbitalparameters.

T$ Inputtargetplaneaseclipticinclinationandlongitudeofascendingnode.

referenceplanet

parametersforselectedtargetbase

parametersforselectedtargetorbit

surfacebases

orbittarget

currentposition

targetorbitalplane

orbitimpactpoint

orbitemer-gencepoint

orbitalplane(subsurface)

orbitalplane(abovesurface)

targetbase


MFDcontrollayout:


TheMFDdisplayshowsaschematicorbit,indicatingthedirectionsoftheascending(AN)anddescending(DN)nodesoftheintersectionofthecurrentorbitwiththetargetorbit,aswellasourcurrentposition(P)alongtheorbit.TheangulardistancesfromthecurrentpositiontothenextANandDNpassagesareshownontheleft(range0-360°).Alsoshownisthetimetothenextnodepassage(Tn).Readoutsfortherelativeinclinationbetweenthecurrentandtargetorbits(RInc)andtherateofchangeoftherelativeinclination,dRInc/dt(Rate)helpwithtimingthealignmentburn.Finally,theestimatedburntimesrequiredtoaligntheorbitwiththetargetplanearelisted,as-sumingamainengineburnatfullthrust,perpendiculartotheorbitalplane.Note that therequiredvelocitychange(Delta-V),andthus theburn time,dependson theor-bital velocity, andmay thereforebedifferent at theascendinganddescendingnodes, if theorbit is not circular. The MFD shows the burn times both for the ascending (TthA) and de-scendingnodes(ThtD).Tip: It isoftenmore fuel-efficient tomake theorbitmoreeccentricbeforeapplying theplanechange,so that the radiusdistanceofoneof thenodes is increasedand thecorrespondingDelta-Vdecreased.Inparticular if theplanechange istobecombinedwithotherchangesto

Selecttargetobject

targetobject

curr.inclination

currentlongitu-deofasc.node

rel.inclination

rateofchange

anglestonextasc/descnode

timetonode

predictedthrusttimes

targetinclination

targetlongitudeofasc.node

schematicorbit

descendingnode

ascendingnode

radiusvector

intersectionwithtargetplane

action

Selectcustomelements

T

NEW!


theorbit,acarefulplanningof thesequenceofburnscanhelp tominimise the fuelexpendi-ture.

13.9 SynchroniseorbitThe Synchronise Orbit MFD assists in catching up with an orbiting body once the orbitalplaneshavebeenaligned(seeprevioussection).Theinstrumentdisplaystheship’sandtargetbody’sorbits,togetherwithareferenceaxisandliststhetimesitwilltakebothobjectstoreachthisaxisforaseriesoforbits.

For this instrument to work properly the orbital planes of both objects must coincide. Therelative inclinationof theorbitalplanes isshown in the lower leftcorner(“RInc”). If thisbe-comes greater than 1°, realign the planes using the Align Orbital Planes MFD. Once theplanesarealigned,allsubsequentmaneuversshouldbeperformedinthisplane.

Keyoptions:

'$ Selecttargetobject.Onlyobjectsorbitingthesamebodyastheshipwillbeaccepted.

1$ Selectreferenceaxismode.Intersection1and2areonlyavailableiftheorbitsintersect.

/$ Rotatereferenceaxis(manualaxismodeonly).

2$ Selectnumberoforbittimingsinthelist.

MFDcontrollayout:

Selecttargetobject

Toggleinter-sectionpoint

OListlength

NRotateinter-sectionpoint

Rotateinter-sectionpoint



Targetobject

Referenceaxis

Trueanomalyofref.axis

Longitudedifference

Distance[m]

Rel.velocity[m/s]

Timeofarrival

difference

Rel.orbitinclination

OrbitcounterShiptime-on-referenceaxisTargettime-onreferenceaxisShiporbitTargetorbitShipradiusvectorTargetradiusvec.Referenceaxis

Figure18:SynchroniseOrbitMFDmode.

• Targetobject:Thesynchronisationtarget isdisplayedinthetitle line.Itcanbeselectedwith'.

• Referenceaxis:Aselectableaxisforwhichtimingsarecomputed.Canbeselectedwith1 fromoneofthefollowing:orbitintersection1and2(ifapplicable),shipandtargetapoapsis and periapsis, and manual. The manual axis can be rotated with and .

• Trueanomalyof ref. axis (RAnm): Thedirection of the referenceaxis w.r.t. the ship’speriapsisdirection.

• Longitudedifference(DLng):Theanglebetweenshipandtargetasseenfromthecen-tralbody.

• Distance(Dist):Distancebetweenshipandtarget[m].• Rel.velocity(RVel):Relativevelocitybetweenshipandtarget[m/s].• Time-of-arrivaldifference(DTmin):Thisistheminimumtimedifference[s]betweenthe

ship’sandtarget’sarrivalatthereferencepointforanyofthelistedorbits(seebelow).• Rel.orbitinclination(RInc):Inclinationbetweenship’sandtarget’sorbitalplanes.• Time-on-reference lists (Sh-ToRandTg-ToR):A listof time intervals for the shipand

target to reach the selected reference point. The number of orbits can be selected with2 .Theclosestmatchedpairof timings is indicated in yellow.TheDTminvalue re-ferstothispair.

ForusageofthisMFDmodeinorbitsynchronisation,seeSection16.5.

13.10 TransferTheTransferMFDmodeisusedforcalculatingtransferorbitsbetweenplanetsormoons(ormoregenerally,betweenanyobjectswithsignificantlydifferentorbits,forwhichtheSyncorbitMFDisnotsufficient).Note that Orbiter now contains Duncan Sharpe’s TransX MFD mode as a plugin module,which supersedes and extends most of the Transfer MFD mode. TransX is described in aseparatedocument(TransXmanualv3).Keyoptions:

%$ Openinputboxforselectionofreferencecelestialbody.

.$ Openamenuforsourceorbitobjectselection.

'$ Openamenufortargetselection.


2$ Unselecttarget.

($ ToggleHTO(hypotheticaltransferorbit)displayon/off.

1$ Togglenumericalmulti-bodytrajectorycalculation.

G$ Refreshnumericaltrajectory,ifdisplayed.

)$ Openinputboxfortimestepdefinition.

/$ Rotatetransferorbitejectionlongitude.

4 /K$ Decrease/increaseejectionvelocitydifference.

MFDcontrollayout:


Transferreference

Currentsourceorbittruelongitude

HTOparams:

EjectlongitudeTimetoejection

deltavelocityInterceptlongitude

Timetointercept

HTO

Currentsrcpos

directionindicator

Currenttargetpos

Relinclination

Targetorbitparams(currentlongitude,longitudeatintercept)NumorbitparamsNumorbitIntersectionindicatortargetatintersectiontargetorbitEjectindicator

Figure19:TransferMFDmode.

TheTransferMFDlookssimilartotheOrbitMFD:itdisplaysasourceandatargetorbit,rela-tive to a selectable orbit reference. The source orbit is usually your ship’s current orbit, al-though sometimes a different source is more appropriate (see below). The MFD again as-

Selectrefer-enceobject

Selectsource

orbit

Selecttarget

Unselecttarget

NTogglehypo-theticalorbit

UNumericaltrajectory

O

Updatetrajectory

V

Timesteps

W

Rotateejectionpoint

Rotateejectionpoint

Decrease∆V

4

Increase∆V

K


sumesmatchingorbitalplanesofsourceandtarget,althoughthisconditionusuallycannotbepreciselysatisfiedforinterplanetaryorbits.SourceorbitselectionThesourceorbit is theorbit fromwith toeject into the transferorbit.Usually thesourceorbitwill be the ship’s current orbit. In certain situations however it is better to use a differentsource.ConsiderforexampleaninterplanetarytransferfromEarthtoMars,usingtheSunasreference.Since theship’sprimarygravitationalsourcewillbeEarth rather than theSun, itsorbitw.r.t. theSunwillbestronglydistortedby theEarth’s field. In thiscase it isbetter todi-rectlyuseEarthasthesourceorbit.Wheneverthesourceisnotidenticaltotheship,asmalldirectionindicatorwillbedisplayedatthecurrentsourcepositionwhichshowstheship’sdirectionw.r.t.thesource.Thishelpswithtimingtheejectionburn(e.g.directionindicatorpointingawayfromtheSun.HypotheticaltransferorbitUnlike inOrbitmode, thisMFDallows you toplota hypothetical transferorbit (HTO),whichallows tosetup “what if”scenarios,withouthaving tochange theactualorbit.TheHTOdis-play istoggledon/offvia(. It iscalculatedassumingthatsomewherealongthecurrentsourceorbit aprogradeor retrogradeorbitejectionburnoccurs.TheHTOhas twoparame-ters:thelongitudeatwhichtheejectionburnoccurs(adjustedwith /)andtheveloc-ity change during the burn (adjusted with4 /K). The HTO is displayed as a dashedgreencurveintheMFD.Thepositionoftheejectionburnis indicatedbyadashedgreenra-diusvector.AnumberofparametersisshownwhentheHTOisturnedon:TLe: TruelongitudeoforbitejectionpointDTe: Timetoejectionpoint[s]Dv: Velocitydifferenceresultingfromejectionburn[m/s]TLi: Truelongitudeofinterceptionwithtargetorbit(ifapplicable)DTi: Timetointerceptionwithtargetorbit[s](ifapplicable)InterceptindicatorIf thesourceorbit (or, ifshown, theHTO) intersects the targetorbit, the intersectionpoint ismarked by a gray line, and the intersection longitude is displayed (TLi). The position of thetargetat thetimewhentheshipreachesthe intersectionpoint ismarkedbyadashedyellowline.TheobjectiveistoadjusttheHTOsothatthegrayanddashedyellowlinescoincide,sothatshipandtargetarriveattheintersectionpointsimultaneously.HohmanntransferorbitA transferorbitwhich just touches the targetorbit (i.e.whereejectionand intersection longi-tude are 180° apart) is called a Hohmann minimum energy transfer orbit, because it mini-mises the amount of fuel used during the orbit ejection and injection points. Transfer orbitswithlargermajoraxisrequiremorefuel,butarefasterthanHohmannorbits.EjectionburnOnce the HTO has been set up, the ejection burn takes place when the ejection point isreached(whenthesolidanddashedgreen linescoincide).Theejectionburn isprograde(orretrograde)giventheorbitw.r.t. thecurrentorbitreference.Astheburntakesplace,thecur-rentorbit(solidgreenline)willapproachtheHTO.Theburnisterminatedwhentheorbitcoin-cideswiththeHTO,andDvhasreachedzero.AfterejectiontheHTOshouldbeturnedoffsothatinterceptparametersaredisplayedfortheactualtransferorbit.Numericalmulti-bodytrajectorycalculationThe source, target and transfer orbits discussed above are analytic 2-body solutions. TheTransferMFDhoweveralsosupportsanumericaltrajectorycalculation,toaccountfortheef-fect ofmultiple gravitational sources. The display of the numerical trajectory is toggled with1 .Thetrajectory isdisplayedasasolidbright yellow line.Thecalculation isperformedindiscretetimesteps,startingfromthecurrentsourceposition,or(ifdisplayed)fromtheHTOejection point. Since the calculation of the trajectory can be time-consuming, it is not auto-matically updated, but can be refreshed withG . The interval between time steps is


automatically adjusted to provide consistent accuracy. The number of time steps, and thusthe length of the trajectory, canbe selected via). Thenumberof time steps, and thetotaltimeintervalcoveredbythetrajectory,aredisplayedunder“Numorbit”intheMFD.InterplanetarytransfersUsingtheTransferMFDforEarthtoMoonorbitsshouldbestraightforward.Forinterplanetarytransfers(e.g.EarthtoMars)afewcaveatsapply:• Forinterplanetarytransfers,thereferenceshouldbetheSun,andthesourceorbitshould

betheplanetcurrentlybeingorbited.Thisisbecausetheship’sorbitw.r.t.theSunwillbeseverelydistortedbytheplanet.

• Theshipshouldbeinanorbitwithzeroinclinationagainsttheeclipticbeforeejection.Therelativeinclinationbetweensourceandtargetorbitscannotbeadjusted,itissimplygivenbytherelativeinclinationbetweentheplanets’orbits.

• The ejection burn should take place with the Sun in opposition (on the planet’s “dark”side)sothattheship’sorbitalvelocity isaddedtotheplanetaryvelocity.This isthecasewhenthesource shipdirectionindicatorispointingawayfromtheSun.

• Immediatelybeforetheejectionburn,switchthesourceorbittoyourship,sothatDvcanbeestimated.

13.11 Ascentprofile(customMFDmode)ThisMFDmodeisonlyavailableifthe“CustomMFD”pluginisactivatedintheModulessec-tionoftheLaunchpaddialog.TheascentprofilerecordsanumberofspacecraftparametersanddisplaysthemingraphsontheMFD.Thefollowingarerecorded:• Altitudeasafunctionoftime.• Pitchangleasafunctionofaltitude.• Radialvelocityasafunctionofaltitude.• Tangentialvelocityasafunctionofaltitude.

Figure20:AscentprofileMFDmode,pages1and2

Keyoptions:

$ Switchdisplaypage.

8$ Setaltituderange.

%$ Setradialvelocityrange.

'$ Settangentialvelocityrange.

Parametersaresampledat5-secondintervals.Atotalof200samplesarestoredandcycled.Bydefault,axisrangesareadjustedautomatically,butmanualrangesettingispossible.


CircularorbitinsertionIn the tangential velocity graph (Vtan), a gray line indicates theorbital velocity for a circularorbitasafunctionofaltitude.Ifthevessel’stangentialvelocitycrossesthislineforagivenal-titude,whilesimultaneouslytheradialvelocitycrosseszero,circularorbitisachieved.


14SpacecraftcontrolsThischaptercontainsguidelinesonhowtocontrolyourspacecraft infreespace(outsidetheinfluenceofaerodynamicforcesduetoanatmosphere).Weareconsideringa“generic”ves-sel.Note that thehandlingofdifferent spacecraft typesmayvaryconsiderably.Always readtheoperatinginstructionsofindividualvessels,ifavailable.

14.1 Main,retroandhoverenginesMain thrusters accelerate the ship forward, retro thrusters accelerate it backward.Mainandretroengines canbeadjusted withNumpad (to increasemain thrust or decrease retrothrust) and4Numpad (to decrease main thrust or increase retro thrust). Main and retrothrusterscanbekilledwith5Numpad.Thepermanentsettingcanbetemporarilyoverrid-denwithNumpad(setmainthrustersto100%)and4Numpad(setretrothrustersto100%).Ifavailable,ajoystickthrottlecontrolcanbeusedtosetmainthrusters.Theship’saccelerationaresultingfromengagingmainorretrothrustersdependsontheforceFproducedbytheengineandtheship’smassm:

aF m=

Note thatbothaandFarevectors, that is, theyhaveadirectionaswellasamagnitude. Intheabsenceofadditionalforces(suchasgravitationoratmosphericdrag)thespacecraftwillmove with constant velocity v as long as no engines are engaged. When engines are en-gaged,theship’svelocitywillchangeaccordingto

)()(

tdt

tda

v = or ′′+=t

t

tdttt0

)()()( 0 avv

Note that for a fixed thruster setting F the acceleration will slowly increase as fuel isconsumed,resultinginareductionoftheship’smassm.Hover engines, if available, are mounted underneath the ship’s fuselage to provide upwardthrust.Hover thrust is increasedwithNumpadanddecreasedwithNumpad.Hover thrust-ersareusefultocompensateforgravitationalforceswithouttheneedtotilttheshipupwardtoobtainanupwardaccelerationcomponentfromthemainthrusters.Thecurrentmain/retrothrustersettingandcorrespondingaccelerationisdisplayedintheup-per left corner of the generic HUD (“Main”). The indicator bar is green for positive (main)thrust, and yellow for negative (retro) thrust. The hover thrust setting is also displayed ifapplicable (“Hovr”). The numerical acceleration value is in units of m/s2. Spacecraft withcustomisedinstrumentpanelsusuallyhavetheirownindicatorsforthrustlevels.Spacecraftequippedwithairfoilsmovingwithinaplanetaryatmosphereusuallydonotrequirehover thrusters except for launch and landing, because they produce an upward force (lift)whenmovingwithsufficientairspeed, likeanormalaircraft.Lift is speed-dependentandwillcollapsebelowathresholdspeed(stallspeed).

Main Retro Hover

Numpad(perm.)Numpad(temp100%.)Joystickthrottlecontrol

4Numpad(perm.)4Numpad(temp100%.)

Numpad$Numpad

Figure21:Accelerationfrommain,retroandhoverthrusters.


Themaximumvacuumthrustratingsformain,retroandhoverthrustersaswellasthecurrentspacecraftmassaredisplayedinthevessel’sinfosheet(0).ValuesareinNewton(1N=1kgms-2).Notethattheactualratingsmaybelowerinthepresenceofambientatmosphericpressure.

14.2 AttitudethrustersAttitudethrustersaresmallengineswhichareengagedinpairstoenablerotationortransla-tionofthespacecraft.Inrotationmode,attitudethrustersarefiredincross-linkedpairstopro-duce a rotational moment (e.g. front right and back left to rotate left). In translation mode,thrustersarefiredinparallelpairstoproducea linearmoment(e.g.frontrightandbackrighttoaccelerateleft).ThecurrentattitudemodeisindicatedinthetopleftcorneroftheHUD(AttROTandAttLIN)andcanbetoggledwithNumpad.Attitudethrustersarecontrolledwiththejoystickorkeyboard.Inrotationmode:

Rotate:Yaw Rotate:Pitch Rotate:Bank

NumpadNumpad

JoystickruddercontrolOr

Joystickleft/right+Button2

NumpadNumpadJoystickforward/back

NumpadNumpadJoystickleft/right

Figure22:Attitudethrustersinrotationalmode.

In translation mode the spacecraft can be linearly accelerated forward/back, left/right andup/down.

TranslateForward/back Translate:Left/right Translate:Up/down

Numpad7Numpad NumpadNumpadJoystickruddercontrol

OrJoystickleft/right+Button2

NumpadNumpadJoystickforward/back

Figure23:Attitudethrustersintranslational(linear)mode.

For fine control of attitude thrusters with the keyboard use-Numpad key combinations.Thisengagestheenginesat10%thrust.An importantcontrol function is theKill rotationsequence(6Numpad).Thiswillautomaticallyengageappropriateattitudethrusterstostoptheship’srotation.


15RadionavigationaidsOrbiter uses various types of radio transmitters and receivers to provide information forspacecraft instrumentnavigationsystems.MostvesselsareequippedwithoneormoreNAVradio receivers which can be tuned to the frequency of a navigation radio transmitter, andfeedthedatatothevessel’snavigationsubsystems.To tuneaNAVreceiver,open theCommControlMFDmode,selecta receiver (and ),andtunethroughthefrequencyband(! ,: ,4 ,K ).ThefollowingtypesofnavaidradiotransmittersarecurrentlysupportedinOrbiter:• VOR:surface-basedomnidirectionalradiobeacons,typicallywitharangeofseveralhun-

dredkilometres.VORsignalscanbefedintotheHSI(horizontalsituationindicator)MFDortheVTOL/VORMFDtoobtaindirectionanddistanceinformation.AmapwithVORlo-cations is available with O . Frequencies of VOR transmitters located at a surfacebasearealsoavailablefromthebase’sinformationsheet( 0 ).

• VTOL: Surface landing pads for vertical take-off and landing (VTOL) may be equippedwithshort-rangelandingaidtransmitters.ThissignalcanbefedtotheVTOL/VORMFDtoobtain landing alignment information. A list of available VTOL transmitters can be ob-tainedfromtheinformationsheetofasurfacebase( 0 ).

• ILS: Many runways are equipped with Instrument Landing Systems (ILS) to provideheadingandglideslope information. ILS information isusedby theHSIMFDmode. ILSfrequencies are available from the runway listing in the information sheets of surfacebases.

• XPDR:Somespacecraftandorbital stationsareequippedwith transponders for identifi-cationandlong-rangehomingpurposes.AnXPDRsignalcanbefedtotheDockingMFDto obtain distance and closing speed information. It is also recognised by the DockingHUD mode, which will display a target rectangle, velocity marker and distance informa-tion.TheDockingHUDcanbeslavedtoaNAVreceiverwith % .XPDRfrequenciescanbeobtainedfromavessel’sinformationsheet( 0 ).

• IDS:Instrumentdockingsystem.Mostspacestationsandsomespacecraftprovideshort-rangeapproachsignals for theirdockingports (typical range10km).Thissignal canbefed to the Docking MFD to obtain dock alignment information. It can also be fed to theDockingHUDtodisplaytheapproachpathasaseriesofrectangles.IDSfrequenciesareavailablefromavessel’sinformationsheet( 0 ).

TofindouthowtosetupXPDRandIDStransmittersviaacfgscriptseethe3DModeldocu-ment.


16BasicflightmanoeuvresThefollowingflighttechniquesaremostlymyowninvention.Theyseemplausible,butsinceIam not a space flight expert (although an enthusiastic amateur) they may be inefficient orplainlywrong.Correctionsandsuggestionsarealwayswelcome.

16.1 SurfaceflightBysurfaceflightImeanflightpathsclosetoaplanetarysurfacewhicharenotactuallyorbits,i.e.where thegravitational fieldof theplanetmustbecounteredbyapplyinganaccelerationvector, rather than the free fall situation of an orbit. Surface-to-surface transfers (from onesurfacebasetoanother)typicallyinvolvesurfaceflight.IftheplanethasnoatmosphereIn thiscase theonly forcesactingon yourshipare theplanet’sgravitational fieldandwhat-ever thrust vectors you apply. Most notably, there is no atmospheric friction to reduce theship’s“airspeed”.Thiscausesaflightmodelratherdifferentfromanormalairplane.Thesim-plest,butprobablynotthemostefficientstrategyforsurfaceflightis:• Usehoverthrusterstobalancegravitationalacceleration(canbedoneautomaticallywith

“Holdaltitude”navmode).Thisalsomeanstheshipshouldbekeptlevelwiththehorizon.• Navigatewithshortmainthrusterbursts.• Athighhorizontalvelocitiestheflightpathmayapproachanorbitaltrajectory.Inthatcase

hover thrusters must be reduced to maintain altitude. In the extreme case of horizontalvelocityexceedingtheorbitalvelocityofacircularorbitatzeroaltitude, theshipwillgainaltitudeevenfordisengagedhoverthrusters.Thatmeansyouhaveenteredintoanellipticorbitatperiapsis.

IftheplanethasanatmosphereWhen flying through an atmosphere, the flight model will be similar to an airplane’s, in par-ticular if your ship essentially is an airplane, i.e. has airfoils that produce a lift vector as afunctionofairspeed.Aswithanairplane, youneed toapplycontinuous thrust tocounterat-mosphericfrictionandmaintainaconstantairspeed.Ifyourshipproduceslift,hoverthrustersare not necessary unless airspeed falls below stall speed (e.g. during vertical lift-off andlanding). If yourshipdoesnot generatea lift vector, hover thrustersmustbesubstituted,ortheshipmustbe tiltedsuch that themain thrustersprovideavertical component tocounterthegravitationalfield.Notethat“lift”producedbythrustersisindependentofairspeed.

16.2 LaunchingintoorbitLaunching from a planetary surface and entering into a low orbit is one of the most basicproblemsofspace flight.During theearlypartof the launch theshipneeds toapplyverticalthrusttoovercomethegravitationalfieldandacquirealtitude.Astheshipapproachesthede-siredaltitude,thepitchisreducedtoincreasethehorizontalaccelerationcomponent,inordertoreachorbitalvelocity.Astableorbit isachievedassoonas theperiapsisdistance issuffi-cientlyhighabovetheplanetarysurfacesothatatmosphericfrictioncanbeneglected.Orbits should usually be prograde i.e. rotate in the same direction as the planet surface, toexploit the initial velocity vector provided by the planet. (That is, on Earth ships should belaunched eastwards). This also means that launch sites near the equator are most efficientsincetheyprovidethelargestinitialvelocity.InPractice:(ThisassumestheshipisinitiallyplacedontheEarth’ssurface).• SetHUDtosurfacemode.BringupSurfaceandOrbitMFDmodes.• Engagehoverthrusterstoatleast10m/s2.• Oncefreeofthesurface,turntowardseast(90°onHUDcompassribbon).• Raisenoseto70°pitch,whileatthesametimeengagingfullmainthrusters.• Asairspeedincreases,bringhoverthrustersslowlybacktozero.• Asyougainaltitude,slowlyreducepitch(e.g.60°at20km,50°at50km,40°at80km,etc.• As the desired altitude is reached (e.g. 200km) the vertical velocity and acceleration

should fall tozero. (by reducingpitch,notbykilling the thrusters).Pitchmaystill be>0


becausepartofthethrustvectorisrequiredtocountergravitationuntilfullorbitalvelocityisreached.

• As the tangential velocity increases, pitch should be reduced to maintain constant alti-tude.

• Assoonasthetangentialvelocityforacircularorbitisreached(eccentricity=0)thrustersshouldbekilled.

16.3 ChangingtheorbitTochangetheshapeoftheorbitwithoutchangingtheorbitalplane,thethrustvectormustbeapplied in theorbitalplane.Thesimplestmaneuvers involvemodifying theapoapsisorperi-apsisdistances.• Increase apoapsis distance: Wait until the ship reaches periapsis. Apply thrust vector

prograde(shiporientatedalongvelocityvector,engagemainthrusters).• Decrease apoapsis distance: Wait until the ship reaches periapsis. Apply thrust vector

retrograde(shiporientatedagainstvelocityvector,engagemainthrusters).• Increase periapsis distance: Wait until the ship reaches apoapsis. Apply thrust vector

prograde.• Decrease periapsis distance: Wait until the ship reaches apoapsis. Apply thrust vector

retrograde.InPractice:Case1:Assumeyouwant tochange froma lowcircularorbit (200km) intoahighercircularorbit(1000km).• Turnshipprogradeandengagemainthrusters.• Kill thrustersassoonasapoapsisdistancereaches1000km+planet radius(e.g.7370km

forEarth).UseOrbitMFDmodetomonitorthis.• Waituntilyoureachapoapsis.• Turnshipprogradeandengagemainthrusters.• Killthrustersassoonasperiapsisequalsapoapsisandeccentricityisbackto0.

initialorbit

transferorbits

A

P

r2

r1

a1

targetorbit

a2

initialorbit

A

P

r2

r1

targetorbit

-a1

-a2

Figure24:MovingintoahigherorbitinvolvesprogradeaccelerationatPandA(periapsisandapoapsisofthetransferorbit).Conversely,movingfromthehighertothelowerorbitrequiresretrogradeaccelerationatAandP.

Case2:Rotatetheargumentofperiapsisofanellipticorbit(i.e.rotatetheorbitalellipseinitsplane).• Waituntilyoureachperiapsis.• Turnshipretrogradeandengagemainthrustersuntilorbitiscircular(eccentricity=0).• Waituntilyoureachthedesirednewperiapsisposition.• Turn ship prograde and engage main thrusters until original eccentricity and apoapsis

distancesarere-established.

16.4 RotatingtheorbitalplaneWhen trying to rendezvouswithanotherobject inorbit, the requiredorbitchangescanoftenbesimplifiedbysplittingthemintotwoseparatephases:aplanechangethatrotatestheplane

ofthecurrentorbit intothatofthetarget,andfurtherin-planeoperationsthatonlyrequiretheapplicationofthrust intheplaneoftheorbit.Onceyouareinthesameplaneasyourtarget,most of the following navigational problems become essentially two-dimensional, whichmakesthemmorerobustandaloteasiertocompute.In termsof theorbitalelements,aligning theplaneof theorbitwitha targetplanemeans tomatch the twoelementswhichdefine theorientationof theorbit inspace: inclination (i)andlongitudeoftheascendingnode(Ω).The rotationof theorbitalplane requires theapplicationofout-of-plane thrust.Tomatch theplanewitha targetplane, thrustshouldbeappliednormal to thecurrentplane, inoneof thenodes (thepointswhere theorbit crosses the intersectionof the current and target planes).Thiswillrotatetheorbitalplanearoundanaxisdefinedbyyourcurrentradiusvector.Theamountofnormal∆vrequiredtorotatebyagivenangle∆iisproportionaltotheorbitalvelocityv.Itisthereforemorefuel-efficient toperform theplanechangewherev is small,i.e. close to aphelion. For a given line of nodes, it ismoreefficient to perform theplane changeat thenode closer toaphelion. Sometimes it may even be useful to make theorbitmoreeccentricpriortotheplanechangemaneuver,sothattheradiusdistanceofoneofthenodesisincreased.Note:• If theanglebetween the initial and targetOP is large itmaybenecessary toadjust the

orientationofthespacecraftduringthemaneuvertokeepitnormaltotheOP.• Itmaynot bepossible toalign theplane inasinglenodecrossing. If theangle towards

thetargetplanecannotbereducedfurtherbyacceleratingnormaltothecurrentorbit,cuttheenginesandwaitforthenextnodecrossing.

• Sincethemaneuverwilltakeafiniteamountoftime∆T,thrustersshouldbeengagedap-proximately½∆Tbeforeinterceptingthenode.

currentorbit

accelerationvector

accelerationvector

AN

DN

ir

ntns rs

vstargetplane

Figure25:Alignmentoftheorbitalplane.rs:radiusvector.vs:velocityvector.AN:ascendingnode.DN:Descendingnode.ns:normalofthecurrentplane.nt:normalofthetargetplane.

Thedirectionofthenormalvectornsisdefinedbythedirectionofthecrossproductrs×vs .Accelerationshouldbeappliedindirection–ns intheascendingnode(AN),andindi-rection+nsinthedescendingnode(DN).(seeFigure25).InPractice:• TheAlign orbital planeMFDmode (seeSection13.8) is designed toaid in planealign-

ment.Selectthetargetobject(').• TheHUDshouldbeinOrbitmode.Asyourshipapproachestheintersectionwiththetar-

getplane,rotateittoanormal(ifatDN)oranti-normal(ifatAN)orientationtothecurrentorbitalplane.ThereareautomatedRCSsequences(;and<)availabletoperformtherequiredalignment.UsetheHUDOrbitinclinationladdertomonitorprogress.


• Assoonasthe timetonode(Tn)reacheshalf theestimatedburntime(TthAorTthD forAN and DN, respectively) the “Engage thruster” indicator will start flashing. Engage fullmainthrusters.Makesuretherelativeinclination(RInc)decreases,i.e.therateofchange(Rate)isnegative,otherwiseyoumaybepointinginthewrongdirection.

• Adjust the ship’s orientation as required to keep normal to orbital plane (the automatedRCSsequenceswilldothisforyou).

• Disengagethrustersassoonastheactionindicatorturnsbackto“Killthruster”.• If the relative inclination was not sufficiently reduced repeat the procedure at the next

nodepassage.• Duringthemaneuvermakesureyourorbitdoesnotbecomeunstable.Watchinparticular

fortheeccentricity(usetheOrbitMFDtomonitorthis).

16.5 SynchronisingorbitsThissectionassumesthattheorbitalplanesofshipandtargethavebeenaligned(seeprevi-oussection).Thenextstepinarendezvousmaneuverafteraligningtheorbitalplanesistomodifytheorbitin theplanesuch that it intercepts the target’sorbit andbothshipand target arrivesimulta-neouslyattheinterceptionpoint.UsetheSynchroniseOrbitMFDtocalculatetheappropriateorbit.Forsimplicitywefirstassumethattheshipandtargetareinacircularorbitwiththesameor-bital radius (forsynchronising theorbital radiusseeSection16.3), i.e.bothobjectshave thesameorbitalelementsexceptforthemeananomaly.Themethodforinterceptingthetargetisthenasfollows:• SwitchthereferencemodeoftheSynchroniseOrbitMFDto“Manual”androtatetheaxis

toyourcurrentposition.• Turnyourshipprograde(usingOrbitHUDmode)andfiremainthrusters.• Theorbitwillbecomeelliptic,withincreasingapoapsisdistance.Periapsisisyourcurrent

position.Simultaneouslytheorbitperiodandthetimestoreferenceaxiswillincrease.• KillthrustersassoonasoneoftheSh-ToRtimescoincideswithoneoftheTg-ToRtimes.• Thenyoujusthavetowaituntilyouinterceptthetargetatthereferenceaxis.• Atinterception,firethrustersretrogradetogetbacktothecircularorbitandmatchvelocity

withthetarget.

targetorbit

shiptarget

shiporbitTS

TT

∆tT

Sh-ToR(0)=TS

Tg-ToR(0)= t∆ T

Tg-ToR(1)=T + tT T∆

Synchronisation:T =T + tS T T∆

Figure26:Atransitionorbittointerceptthetargetatthenextperiapsispassage.

Notes:• Instead of increasing the apoapsis distance one could fire retrograde and reduce the

periapsisdistance in thismaneuver.Thismaybemoreefficient if the target isaheadoftheship.Butmakesurethatperiapsisdoesnotbecomedangerouslylow!

• ItshouldalwaysbepossibletomatchyournextToR(orbit0)withthetarget’sToRatorbit1. If you are low on fuel it may however be better to match later orbits if this can beachievedwith lessdistortion to theoriginalorbit.For example, if the target ismarginallyahead,thentointerceptitinthenextorbityouneedtonearlydoubleyourorbitalperiod.


• It isnotessential thattheorbitsareidenticalorcircularat thestartof themaneuver. It issufficient for themto intersect. In thatcase it isbest touse Intersection1or2referencemodeintheSynchroniseMFD.

• Youdon’tnecessarilyneedtowaituntilyoureachthereferencepointbeforefiringthrust-ers, but it simplifies matters because otherwise the intersection point itself will move,makingthealignmentoforbittimingsmoredifficult.

16.6 Landing(runwayapproach)SomeofOrbiter’s spacecraft support powered or unpowered runwayapproaches, similar tonormalaircraft.ExamplesarethedeltagliderandtheSpaceShuttle.TheShuttleLandingFa-cility(SLF)attheKennedySpaceCenterprovidesangoodopportunityforexercisinglandingapproaches.VisualapproachindicatorsThevisualapproachaidsattheSLFaredesignedforShuttlelandings.TheyincludeaPreci-sion Approach Path Indicator (PAPI) for long-rangeglide slopealignment, and aVisual Ap-proachSlopeIndicator(VASI)forshort-rangealignment.ThePAPI issetupforaglideslopeof20°(about6timesassteepasstandardaircraftapproachslopes!).TheVASIissetupfora1.5°slopeduringthefinalflareuppriortotouchdown.PrecisionApproachPathIndicatorThePAPIconsistsofanarrayof4lights,whichappearwhiteorredtothepilotdependingonhispositionaboveorbelowtheglideslope.Atthecorrectslopetherewillbe2whiteand2redlights(seefigure).InOrbiterthereare2PAPIunitsperapproachdirectionattheSLF,locatedabout2000metersinfrontoftherunwaythreshold.

Aboveglideslope

Slightlyaboveglideslope

Onglideslope

Slightlybelowglideslope

Belowglideslope

Figure27:PAPIindicatorsignals

VisualApproachSlopeIndicatorTheVASIconsistsofaredbarof lights,andasetofwhite lights infrontof them.Atthecor-rectslope, thewhite lightsarealignedwith theredbar. (see figure).At theSLF, theVASI islocatedabout670metersbehindtherunwaythreshold.

Aboveglideslope

Onglideslope

Belowglideslope

Figure28:VASIindicatorsignals


PAPI Threshold VASI

20°

1.5°

2000 670

Figure29:SLFShuttleapproachpath

16.7 DockingDocking to an orbital station is the last step in the rendezvous maneuvered. Assuming youhave intercepted the target station following the preceding steps, here we discuss the finaldockingapproach.• SelectDockingmode inoneofyourMFDdisplays,andtheDockingHUDbypressing

untildockingmodeisselected.• Tune one of your NAV receivers to the station’s XPDR frequency, if available. The fre-

quencyislistedinthestation’sinformationsheet( 0 ).• SlavetheDockingMFDandDockingHUDto thatNAVreceiver( 2 and % , re-

spectively)• Ifnotdonealready,synchroniserelativevelocitybyturningtheshipuntil it isalignedwith

therelativevelocitymarker(⊕)andfiremainthrustersuntilvelocityvalue(V)approacheszero.

• Rotatetheshiptofacethestation(marker).• Atarangeofapprox.10km,tuneaNAVreceivertotheIDS(InstrumentDockingSystem)

frequencyof thedesignateddockingport, if available.SlaveDockingMFDandDockingHUDtothatreceiver,ifapplicable.ThiswilldisplayorientationanddirectioninformationintheMFD,andavisualrepresentationoftheapproachpathintheHUD(rectangles).

• Movetowardstheapproachpathrectanglefurthestawayfromthestationandhold.• Aligntheship’sheadingwiththeflightpathdirectionusingthe‘X’indicatorintheMFD.• Align theship’spositionon theapproachpathusing the ‘+’ indicator in theMFD.Switch

attitudethrusterstolinearmodeforthis.• Aligntheship’srotationalongitslongitudinalaxisusingthearrowindicatorintheMFD.• Approach the station by engaging main thrusters briefly. During approach correct your

positioncontinuouslyusinglinearattitudethrusters.• Slowdownapproachspeedtolessthan0.1m/sbeforeinterceptingthedock.• Youneedtoapproachthedocktolessthan0.3mforasuccessfuldockingmaneuver.• Todisengagefromthedockingport,press , .


Figure30:AShuttle-AclasscargoshipaftersuccessfullycompleteddockingapproachtotheISS.

Notes:• For precise attitude control with the keyboard use the attitude thrusters in “low power”

mode(Ctrl+Numpadkey).• Rotationalalignmentisnotcurrentlyenforced,butmaybeinfutureversions.• Currentlynocollision testsareperformed,soyoumight flystraight through thestation if

youmissthedockingapproach.DockingatrotatingstationsStationslikeLuna-OB1rotatetousecentrifugalforcesforemulatinggravity–whichisnicefortheir inhabitants but makes docking a bit more complicated. Docking is only possible alongtherotationaxis,soatmost2dockingportscanbeprovided.Thedockingprocedureissimi-lar to the standard one, but once aligned with the approach path, the rotation around theship’slongitudinalaxismustbealignedwiththatofthestation.Important:• Initiate your ship’s longitudinal rotation only immediately before docking (when past the

lastapproachmarker).Onceyouarerotating,linearadjustmentsbecomeverydifficult.• Once the rotation is matched with the station, don’t hit Numpad5 (Kill rotation) by acci-

dent,oryouwillhavetostarttherotationalignmentagain.Cheat:Sincerotationalalignmentisnotenforcedatpresent,youcansimplyignoretherotationofthestationandflystraightin.


17FlightrecorderYou can record and play back your Orbitersimulation sessions with the built-in flight re-corderfeature.Toaccesstherecorderduringasimulation, open the Flight recorder/player dia-logwith+.Youcannowselectanamefortherecordedscenario.Bydefault,therecordingwillbestoredunderthecurrentscenarioname.Then press the REC button to begin recordingtheflighttodisc.PresstheSTOPbuttontoturnthe recorder off again. You can also start andstop the recorder directly from the simulationwiththekeyboardshortcut* .Anactivere-corder is indicated by a “Record” box in thesimulationwindow.Some additional recorder options can be ac-cessed by pressing the ∇ button. These in-clude:• Record timeacceleration: thisoption recordsanychanges in timecompressionduring

the recording. During playback, the user has then the option to set time compressionautomaticallyfromtherecordeddata.

• Samplinginsystemtimesteps: If ticked,theintervalsbetweenrecordeddatasamplesaredetermined insystemtime,otherwise insimulation time. Insystemtime,sampling islessdenseduringtimecompression.Thisallowstoreducethesizeofthedatafileswhenrecordingoverlongperiodsoftime,byfast-forwardingthroughlesscriticalpartsofamis-sion.

• Samplingintervals:Currentlynotused.• Attitude data: Can be recorded either with respect to the global ecliptic frameof refer-

ence,orwithrespecttothelocalhorizonofthecurrentreferencecelestialbody.Toplaybackapreviouslyrecordedsession,launchthescenariounderthePlaybackscenariofolder. During playback, all vessels will follow their pre-recorded trajectories and will not re-spond to manual user control. At the end of the playback, the simulation will automaticallyswitchbacktomanualmode,andtheusercantakeovercontrol.Youcanterminatetheplay-backbefore theendof the recordeddata is reachedbypressing* ,orbypressing theSTOPbuttonintheRecorderdialog.Inthatcase,controlreturnsimmediatelytotheuser.During playback, the user has still various op-tions to interactwith thesimulation.Forexam-ple, it ispossible tomove thecamera,changebetween internalandexternalviews,andevenmanipulate the MFD instruments to accessmore flight data. Manual control of time com-pression is only possible if the Play at record-ing speed option is deactivated in the Playerdialog(+).Otherwise,Orbitersetsthetimecompressiondirectlyfromtherecordeddata.Recordedflightscanbeannotatedwithonscreennoteswhichappearon thesimulationwin-dow at predefined times.This opens an exciting new way to write tutorials and space flightdemonstrations. (The annotations can be turned off from the recorder dialog during a play-backbydeactivatingtheShowinflightnotesoption).Thedata for recordedsimulationsessionsarestoredunder theFlights subdirectory.Orbitercreates a new folder for each recording, using the same name as the recorded scenario.Eachvesselinthescenariowritesthreedatastreamstothisfolder,including:

NEW!


• positionandvelocity(*.pos).Atthemoment,thesedataarerecordedrelativetotheref-erenceplanet,either ina non-rotating referencesystem (eclipticandequinoxof J2000),orarotatingequatorial referencesystem.Asaresult, trajectoriesarerecorded inanab-solute timeframe.Samplesarewritten inregular intervals(currently4seconds)or if thevelocityvectorrotatesbymorethan5degrees.

• attitude(*.att).AttitudedataaresavedintermsoftheEuleranglesofthespacecraftwithrespecttotheeclipticreferenceframeor localhorizonframe.Samplesarewrittenwhen-everoneoftheangleshaschangedbymorethanapredefinedthresholdlimit.

• articulation events (*.atc). This stream contains changes in thrust levels of spacecraftengines,andother typesofevents(e.g.changeofRCSmode,activation/deactivationofnavigationmodes,etc).Itcanalsobeusedbyindividualvesselmodulestorecordcustomeventssuchasanimations.Further,timecompressioneventscanberecordedhere.Thisdatastreamcanalsocontaintimedannotationsthataredisplayedontopofthesimulationwindow during replay. Annotations must be added manually to the atc file after the re-cordingiscompleted.

A complete recording session consists of the playback scenario in the Scenarios\playbackfolder, and the corresponding flight data folder under the Flights directory. To share aplaybackwithotherOrbiterusers, thesefilesmustbecopied.Note that thescenario filecanbemoved to adifferentScenario folder, but no twoplayback scenarios canhave the samename.Be aware that long simulation sessions (in particular during time acceleration) may lead toverylargedatafilesiftheSamplinginsystemtimestepsoptionisnotused.Note that the recorder feature is still under development. Future versions may introducechangestotherecordingmechanismandfileformats.Certainfeatures,suchastherecordingofanimations,requiremodificationstothevesselpluginmodulesandmaynotbeavailableforallvesseltypes.FormoreimplementationdetailsseetheRecorderRefdocumentintheDoc/Technotesfolder.


18ExtrafunctionalityOrbiter comes with a default set of plugin mod-ules to enhance the core functionality of thesimulator. To access these additional functions,the appropriate modules must be loaded in theModulestaboftheOrbiterLaunchpaddialog(seeSection3.4onhowtoactivatepluginmodules).Many more plugins are available from 3rd partyaddon developers. Check out the Orbiter reposi-toriesonthewebtofindmore.You should only activate modules you want touse,becausemanypluginsmayaccesstheCPUeven if they are running in the background. Toomany active modules can degrade simulationperformance.When activated, some plugins, such as customMFD modes, take effect automatically whenever the simulation runs. Others are accessibleviatheCustomfunctionsdialog.Presstogetalistoftheavailablefunctions.

18.1 Scenarioeditor→→→→seealso:Doc\ScenarioEditor.pdfOrbiter has an editor that allows to create, configure and delete vessels within a runningsimulation,andtochangethesimulation time.Theeditor isprovidedasapluginmodule.Touse it, make sure that the ScnEditor module is activated in the Modules tab of the OrbiterLaunchpaddialog.Duringthesimulation,youcanaccesstheeditorbyopeningtheCustomFunctionsdialogwith,anddouble-clickingtheScenarioEditorentryinthelist.Thiswillbringuptheeditor’smainpage.Fromhere, youcaneitherconfigureanyvesselscurrentlypresent in thesimula-tion,orcreatenewvesselsinanylocation.Theoperationofthescenarioeditorisdescribedinaseparatedocument:ScenarioEditor.pdf.Thisalsocontainsasection forvesseladdondeveloperswhowant to integrate thescenarioeditorwiththeirvesselcode.

18.2 ExternalMFDsIf themultifunctionaldisplays (MFD) integrated in thevessel instrumentpanelsdon’tprovideenough information, youcanopenadditionalMFDdisplays inexternalwindows.This ispar-ticularly useful inmulti-monitor setups where you candisplay theOrbiter simulation windowononemonitor,andasetofMFDsontheother.To open external MFDs, the ExtMFD module must be activated in the Orbiter Launchpaddialog.Youcan thenopenanynumberofMFDwindowsbyclickingExternalMFD from theCustomFunctionsdialog().ExternalMFDsbehaveinthesamewayasbuilt-inMFDs.Theycanbecontrolledbypressingthebuttonsontheleft,rightandbottomedges.SeeSection13foradescriptionoftheavail-ableMFDmodesandcontrols.

NEW!

NEW!


Unlikebuilt-inMFDdisplays,thewindowMFDscanberesized.Theyareavailableinexternalviewaswellascockpitview,andtheycanbeconfiguredtoeitherautomaticallyfollowthefo-cusvessel,orremainattachedtoaspecificvessel,evenifthefocusisswitchedtoadifferentvessel.

18.3 PerformancemonitorThis is a little dialog box to keep track ofOrbiter’s frame rate performance andsimulation timestep intervals. It shows theframes per second (FPS) and/or the steplength interval (in seconds) between con-secutive frames inagraphicaldisplayoverthe last 200 seconds. This is a useful toolto estimate the impact of complex sceneryand visual effects on the simulationperformance. The time step graph alsoincorporatestheeffectoftimeacceleration,and thusreflects the fidelityof thephysicalmodel (accuracy of trajectory calculation,etc.)This function is only available if the Framerate module is active and is accessible via theFrameRateentryintheCustomfunctionspanel().

18.4 RemotevesselcontrolTheRemoteVesselControlpluginallowstoremotelycontroltheenginesofallspacecraft.The dialog contains the a vessel selection list, gauges for main, retro and hover engines,controlsforRCSthrustersinrotationalandlinearmode,andaccesstothestandardnavmodefunctions. This interface can also be useful if simultaneous access to linear and rotationalRCSmodesisrequired.This tool is available only if the Rcontrol module is active, and can be accessed via theRemoteVesselControlentryintheCustomfunctionspanel().

CloseMFDmodehelpLockvessel

Selectmode ModemenuPoweron/off

Leftfunctionbuttons

Rightfunctionbuttons

Referencevessel


Figure31:Remotevesselcontroldialog.

18.5 FlightdatamonitorThe flight data monitor graphically displays a number of flight parameters as a function oftime.ThistoolisavailableonlyiftheFlightDatamoduleisactive.ThedialogboxisaccessibleviatheCustomfunctionspanel().The control area of the dialog box allows to select the vessel for which the flight data aredisplayed,thesamplingrate,andtheflightparameterstoshow.Thefollowingparameterdisplaysarecurrentlysupported:• Altitude• Airspeed• Machnumber• Freestreamtemperature• Staticanddynamicpressure• Angleofattack• Liftanddragforce• Liftoverdragratio(L/D)• VesselmassForeachparametercategoryselectedinthelist,agraphdisplayisopenedbelowthecontrolareatotrackthatparameterasafunctionoftime.• TheStart/Stopbuttonstartsorstopstheupdateofthedatagraphs.• TheResetbuttonclearsthedatagraphs.


• The Log button starts or stops theoutput of flight data to a log file.When the Log button is ticked, Or-biter will write out data into text fileFlightData.log in themainOrbiterdi-rectory.Thisfilecan laterbeusedtoanalyse or visualise the data withexternal tools. FlightData.log isoverwritten whenever Orbiter is re-started.


19FlightchecklistsThis section contains point-by-point checklists for some complete flights. While flying thesechecklists,youmaywanttosaveregularly(),soyoucanpickupfromapreviousstateifnecessary.Thechecklistscanalsobeaccessedduringthesimulationwhenrunningachecklistscenarioby callingup help () and clicking theScenario button in thehelp window.Other sce-nariosmayalsoprovideonlinehelp.

19.1 Mission1:Delta-glidertoISSInthismissionwelaunchtheDelta-gliderintoorbitfromrunway33oftheShuttleLandingFa-cility(SLF)attheKennedySpaceCenter,andperformarendezvousanddockingmaneuverwiththeInternationalSpaceStation.• StartOrbiterwiththeChecklists|DGtoISSscenario.Yourglider isreadyfortakeofffrom

SLFrunway33attheKSC.• Youmayneedtoscrolltheinstrumentpaneldownabit(Cursorpad)toseetherunwayin

frontofyou.MakesureyoucanstillseethetophalfofthepanelwiththeMFDscreens.• Your launch isscheduledatMJD=51983.6308 (theModifiedJulianDate, orMJD, isOr-

biter’suniversal time reference,and isshown in the top rightcornerof thescreen).Thisleavesplentyoftimetogetusedtotheinstrumentation.Ifyouarenotyetfamiliarwiththeglider’spanellayout,checksection9.1.FordetailsonMFDmodes,seesection13.

• TheleftMFDscreenisinSurfacemodeandshowsvelocityandaltitudedata.• TherightMFDscreenis inMapmodeandshowsyourcurrent location(KSC)asawhite

cross.Theorbitalplaneof the ISS isshownasa yellowcurve.As timeprogresses, thecurvewillshiftacrossthemap,astheEarthrotatesunderthestation’sorbitalplane.

• Tofast-forwardtoyourlaunchwindow,press'.(Eachtimeyoupress',timeacceler-atesbyafactorof10).Asyouapproachlaunchtime,switchbacktoreal-timebypressing untilthe“Wrp”indicatorinthetoprightcornerofthescreendisappears.

• Engage main engines (Numpad) to 100% thrust. You may also use the sliders ontheinstrumentpanelsorthethrottlecontrolonyourjoysticktooperatethemainengines.

• At ground speed 100 m/s (surface MFD or HUD readout), pull the stick (or pressNumpad)torotate.

• Climbat10°andretractthelandinggear().• Turnrighttowardsheading140°.• Pitchupsteeplyto70°.• At about 30km altitude your glider will start to drop its nose due to decreasing atmos-

phericpressure,evenwhileyouarepullingbackonthestick.NowactivatetheRCS(Re-actionControlSystem)byright-clickingthe“RCSMode”selector(ontherightsideoftheinstrumentpanel)orbypressing Numpad.Youarenowcontrollingyourcraftwithat-titudethrusters.

• Pitchdowntoabout20°.Afterleavingthedensepartoftheatmosphere,youneedtogaintangentialvelocitytoachieveorbit.Yourflightpathindicator(the“⊕”symbolontheHUD)shouldstayabove0°.

• Switch the right MFD to Orbit mode (SEL, Orbit). Select the ship’s orbit as referenceplane( )andselectISSastarget( ,‘ISS’).

• Continueat100%thrust.Maintainyourheading,andadjustpitchangleso that the flightpathvectorremainsslightlyabove0°.Youwillseehowyourorbittrajectory(greencurveintheOrbitMFD)grows.

• Cut thrusters when your apogee radius (highest point of the orbit) reaches 6.731M (the“ApR”entry in the left columnof theOrbitMFD).Thiscorresponds toanaltitudeof360km.

• SwitchtoOrbitHUDmode(M,M)• Sofarweareonaballisticflightpaththatwouldeventuallybringusbacktothesurface.

Toenterorbit,weneedtoperformafurtherburn(“orbitinsertionburn”)attheapexofthetrajectory.Waituntilyoureachapogee(theremainingtimeisshowninthe“ApT”entryoftheOrbitMFD).Thiscouldtakeawhile,soyoumaywanttotime-accelerate.

• Atapogee,press the“Prograde”button to turnprograde.Oncethevelocitymarker(“⊕”)iscenteredonthescreen,engagemainthrustersuntilorbiteccentricity(“Ecc”)reachesaminimum,andperigeeradius(“PeR”)equalsApR.(thiswillrequireonlyashortburn!)

• SwitchtheleftMFDtoAlignOrbitalPlane(SEL,Alignplanes).SelectISS(,‘ISS’).• Ideally the orbital planes should already be roughly aligned (RInc within 5°). You now

needtofine-adjusttheplane.• Asyourship (P)approachesan intersectionpointwith the targetplane (ANorDN):Ro-

tatetheshipperpendiculartoyourcurrentorbitalplane(90°ontheOrbitHUDinclinationladder).Ifyouareapproachingtheascendingnode(AN),turnorbit-antinormal.Ifyouareapproachingthedescendingnode(DN),turnorbit-normal.YoucanusetheAuto-naviga-tionmodes(; fororbit-normaland< fororbit-antinormal)toobtain thecorrectorienta-tion.

• Assoonasthe“Engageengines”indicatorstartsflashing,engagefullmainengines.Therelativeinclinationbetweentheorbitalplanesshouldnowdecrease.

• Killthrustersassoonasthe“Killthrust”indicatorappears.Ifyoucouldnotreducetheor-bitinclinationsufficiently(within0.5°)repeattheprocessatthenextnodalpoint.

• Once theplanesarealigned, thenext step is intercepting the ISS.Switch toSyncOrbitMFD (SEL, Sync orbit). Switch the reference point to “Intersect 1” or “Intersect 2” “(O ).Iftheorbitsdon’tintersect,select“Shperiapsis”instead.

• ThetwocolumnsontherightoftheMFDscreenshowthetimesitwilltakeyou(Sh-ToR)and your target (Tg-ToR) topass the referencepositionat yourcurrentorbit (Ob0)andthe4subsequentorbits(Ob1-4).

• Turntheshipprograde(alignwith“⊕”velocitymarkeroftheorbitHUD).ThiscanbedonebyengagingtheProgradeauto-navigationmode(!).

• FiremainenginesuntilSh-ToR(0)matchesTg-ToR(1).Youwillnow intercept the ISSatyournextpassageofthereferencepoint.Youmaywanttoengagetimeaccelerationuntilthe time-on-target counters are close to zero, indicating that you are approaching theencounterpoint.

• Onapproach, tune yourNAV receivers to the station’s navaid radio transmitters:SelectComm MFD mode (SEL, COM/NAV), and tune NAV1 to 131.30 MHz (ISS XPDRfrequency)andNAV2to137.40MHz(Dock1IDSfrequency).

• SwitchtoDockingHUDmode(M,M)andtoDockingMFD(SEL,Docking).• MakesurebothHUDandDockingMFDareslavedtoNAV1(use tocyclethrough

theNAVreceiversfortheHUD,andN fortheMFD).• RotatetheshiptoalignwiththeHUDrelativevelocitymarker(“⊕”)andfiremainengines

untilrelativevelocityisclosetozero.• RotatetheshiptowardstheISS( targetdesignatorbox)andmovetowithin5kmofthe

station. You may want to use attitude thrusters in linear (translatorial) mode for this.SwitchbetweenlinearandrotationalmodewiththeNumpadkey.

• SlaveHUDandDockingMFDtoNAV2.Ifyouarewithin10kmoftheISSyouwillreceivethesignaloftheIDSsystemfordock1,providingalignmentinformationintheMFDandavisualrepresentation(seriesofrectangles)oftheapproachpathontheHUD.

• Movetowardstherectanglefurthestawayfromthestationandhold.• Align yourship’s longitudinalaxiswith theapproachpathdirection (align “X” indicator in

theMFD)usingattitudethrustersinrotationalmode.• Alignyourship’srotationarounditslongitudinalaxis(align“^”indicatorat12o’clockposi-

tionintheMFD).• Center your shipon theapproachpath (align “+” indicator in theMFD)using linear atti-

tudethrusters.• ExposethedockingmechanismunderthenoseconebypressingX.• Start moving towards the dock with a short burst of the main engines. Closing speed

(CVel)shouldbegradually reducedasyouapproach thedock.Finalspeedshouldbe<0.1m/s.Re-alignshipontheapproachpathwithlinearattitudethrustersasrequired.

• The docking mechanism should engage once you are within 0.3 m of the designateddock.A“Dock”indicatorwillappearintheMFDonceyourshiphassuccessfullydocked.

• Finished!


Mission1completedsuccessfully.

19.2 Mission2:ISStoMirtransferThismissionperformsanorbital transferfromtheInternationalSpaceStationtotheRussianMirstation(which inOrbiter’svirtual reality isstillhappily inEarthorbit).Note that inOrbiter,Mir isplacedinaneclipticorbit tomakeitaplatformfor interplanetarymissions.ThismeansthatISSandMirhaveaveryhighrelativeinclinationwhichmakesthetransferveryexpensiveintermsoffuelexpenditure.• StartOrbiterwiththeChecklists|ISStoMirscenario.YourgliderisdockedtotheISS.• Presstojumpintotheglider’scockpit.• SelecttargetMirinOrbitMFD:PressRight- ' ,,“Mir”.• ISSandMirorbitshaveahighrelativeinclination.Topreparefororbitchange,selectthe

AlignplanemodeintheleftMFD(SEL,Alignplanes,andLeft- ,“Mir”).• UndockfromtheISS( Q ).Onceyouareclearofthedock,closethenosecone(X).• SwitchtoOrbitHUDmode(M).• ThefirstburnwilltakeplaceattheDN(descendingnode)point.Usetimecompressionto

fast-forward there,butswitchback toreal-timewhenthe“time-to-node”(Tn)value in theAlignplaneMFDisdownto500.

• Prepareattitudefortheburn:clickthe“Orbitnormal(+)”button.Yourgliderwillnoworientitselfperpendiculartotheorbitalplane.

• Whenthe“Engageengines” indicator in theAlignMFDbegins to flash,engagefullmainengines.Therelativeorbitinclination(RInc)shouldstarttodrop.Terminatetheburnwhenthe“Killthrust”indicatorappearsandtheinclinationreachesitsminimum.

• Thisisaverylongburn(about900seconds),soyoumaywanttofast-forward,butdonotmisstheendoftheburn!

• Youprobablywon’tbeabletosufficientlyreducetheinclination(lessthan0.5°)inasingleburn. Repeat the process at the AN (ascending node) point. Remember that the glidermustbeoriented in theoppositedirection for thisburn,byclicking the “OrbitNormal (-)”button.

• Once theorbital planesarealigned, youneed toplot a rendezvous trajectoryusing theSyncOrbitMFD.Theprocedureisthesameasinthepreviousmission.

• TuneyourNAV1receivertoMIR’stransponderfrequencyat132.10,andNAV2totheIDSfrequencyofDock1at135.00.

• Once the sync maneuver is complete, switch the HUD to Docking mode (M,M), andswitchoneoftheMFDdisplaystoDocking(SEL,Docking).SlavebothHUDandMFDtoNAV1.

• ProceedwiththedockingmaneuvertoMirinthesamewayasyoudidfordockingattheISSinthepreviousmission.Don’tforgettoopenthenoseconebeforemakingcontact.


19.3 Mission3:De-orbitfromMirThis mission completes your orbital roundtrip with a re-entry to return to Kennedy SpaceCenter.• StartOrbiterwith theChecklists/Deorbitscenario.Thispicksupwhere thepreviousmis-

sion ended, with the glider docked to the Mir station. You are currently over the Pacificocean,alreadyitthecorrectlocationforthedeorbitburn.

• Undock(Q),andengageretros forafewseconds(4Numpad) togetclearof thesta-tion.

• Closethenosecone(X).• Turnretrograde(:).• When the glider’s attitude has stabilised and the retrograde direction is no longer ob-

structedbythestation,engagemainenginesat100%.• Killengineswhentheperigeeradius(PeRinOrbitMFD)hasdecreasedto5.600M.• Turnprograde(!).• Whenattitudehasstabilised,rollthegliderlevelwiththehorizon(H).• SwitchtoSurfaceHUDmode(M).• TurnleftMFDintoSurfacemode(SEL,Surface).• You should reach 100 km altitude about 4000 km from the target (Dst: 4.000M in Map

MFD).Atthispoint,aerodynamicforceswillbecomenoticeable.• At50kmaltitude, turnoffattitudestabilisation(H),disable theRCS( Numpad),and

makesurethat“AFCTRL”issetto“ON”.• Lift forces will cause the glider to pitch up. To bleed off energy you should perform left

andrightbanks.Duetotherelativelyhighlift/dragratiooftheglideryouneedverysteepbankangles(90°).

• Yourcurrent flightpathpassessouthof theKSC,soyoushould initiallybank left tocor-rectyourapproachpath(checkMapMFD).

• Thebankanglewilldetermineyourrateofdescentandairspeed.IfyoucomeupshorttotheKSC,reducethebankanglestoslowyourdescentandreduceatmosphericdecelera-tion.Ifyoucomeintoofastortoohigh,increasethebankanglestoincreasethedescentslopeandatmosphericfriction.

• Timing of the reentry path is not quite as critical as for the Space Shuttle, because theglidercanuseitsenginesforapoweredapproach.

• When thedistance to targetdropsbelow500km, tuneyourNAV1receiver to frequency112.70 (KSCX VOR), and NAV2 to frequency 134.20 (Rwy 33 ILS) using the COMMSmode(SEL,COM/NAV)intherightMFD.

• TurntherightMFDtoHorizontalSituationIndicator(HSI)mode(SEL,HSI).LeavetheleftdisplayslavedtoNAV1,andfliptherightdisplaytoNAV2(Right- L ,Right- N ).

• Use thecoursedeviationandglideslope indicatorsof theHSIdisplays foradjusting theapproachpath.Theyworklikestandardaircraftinstruments.

• Lowerlandinggear().Deployairbrakes( )asrequired.Touchdownspeedis150m/s.

• Usewheelbrakes(and)onrolloutuntilyoucometoahalt.

RolloutattheKSCSLF.


20VisualhelpersOrbiterhastheabilitytodisplayanumberofvisualcuestoprovideadditionaldatatotheuser.Theseinclude• a“Planetarium”modethatprojectsdifferentcoordinategridsontothecelestialsphereand

provides markers and labels for various simulation objects, and celestial and planetarysurfacefeatures.

• thedisplayofforcevectorsonspacecraft• thedisplayofcoordinateaxesondifferentobjectsThevisualhelperoptionscanbeconfiguredviaadialog(3).

20.1 PlanetariummodeLostinspace?Ifyouloseyourbearingsinthemiddleofaninter-planetary flight, Orbiter offers guidance in the form of an inflight“planetarium” with grids and object markers. To configure theplanetarium options, open the Visual helper dialog (3) andselect thePlanetarium tab.Ashortcut for turning theplanetariumonandoffis3.Thefollowingitemsareavailable:• Celestialgridlines(Earthequatorialreferenceframe)• Eclipticgridlines• Eclipticgreatcircle• Equatorgreatcircleofthetargetbody(ifapplicable)• Constellationlinesandlabels(fullandabbreviated)• Markersforcelestialbodies• Vesselmarkers• Surfacebasemarkers• Markersfornavigationradiotransmitterlocations• Markersforuser-definedobjectsonthecelestialsphere• Markersforuser-definedplanetarysurfacelabelsSomemarkertypeswillnotbevisibleiftheobjectisoutofrange,orfromaplanetsurfaceduringdaylight.Figure33 showssomeof thegridsandmarkersavailable in thesimulation.Planets may define their own sets of surface markers, to locate items such as naturallandmarks, points of interest, historic landing sites, navigational aids, etc. Likewise, theplanetary system may define sets of markers to identify bright stars, navigation stars,nebulae,etc.Youcanselectmarkersetsbyclickingthe"Config"button.Thisopensafurtherdialogbox,whereyoucanhighlighttheappropriatesetsfromalistbox.Additionallistsmaybeavailableasaddonsfrom Orbiter internet repositories. If you want tomodifytheprovidedmarkersetsorcreateyourown,seeSection22.6.Orbiter now stores the current planetarium settingsin its configuration file,and remembers them in thenextsimulationrun.Hardcore space simmers may spurn the planetar-iumasacheatmode,butfortherestofusitcanbea handy tool, and also helps in visualising the dy-namicsofplanetarysystems.


Figure33:Gridlines,celestial,vesselandsurfacemarkers.

20.2 ForcevectorsOrbiter canprovideagraphicaldisplayof the forcevectorscurrentlyactingonaspacecraft.Thisoption is particularly useful foreducational applications, toprovideadirect feedbackoftheeffectsofenvironmentalparameters(gravity,atmosphere)anduser input(e.g.changeofliftasafunctionofchangingangleofattack).Thedisplayof forcevectorscanbeactivatedandconfiguredvia theForce tab in theVisualhelpersdialog(3).TickBodyforcevectorstoenablethevectordisplay.Orbiterallowstoshowanumberofseparatelinearforcecomponentsaswellastheresultingtotalforce:Weight G(yellow) forceduetogravitationalfieldThrust T(blue) forcegeneratedbythevessel’spropulsionsystemLift L(green) liftforcegeneratedbyliftingairfoilsinairflowDrag D(red) dragforcegeneratedbymotionthroughatmosphere

Planetarysurfacemarkers

Vesselmarkers

Celestialmarkers

Ecliptic

Targetequator

Celestialequator

Constellations

Objectmarkers

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Total F(white) totalforceactingonthevesselNote that the total force shown may not be equal to the sum ofthe four component forces, because additional forces may beactingonthevessel(e.g.user-definedforces).Linear forces are shown graphically as vector arrows originatingat the vessel’s centre of gravity. The vector lengths are propor-tional to the force magnitudes, or logarithm of the magnitudes,dependingontheScalesetting.Thelengthscanbeadjustedwiththe provided slider. In addition, the magnitudes are also shownnumericallyinunitsofNewton[N].Inadditiontothelinearforces,Orbitercanalsodisplaytheactingtotaltorque,

×==i

iii

i rFMM .

Thetorquevector isshownw.r.t. thecentreofgravityoftheves-sel. The numerical value is shown in units of Newton × metre[Nm].Note that for forces thatarenotgeneratedat thevessel’scentreofgravity (e.g. the lift vector), the total forcedisplayed is brokenupintoalinearcomponentoriginatingatthecentreofgravity,andacorrespondingtorque.The opacity of the displayed force vectors can be adjusted withtheOpacityslider,fromcompletelytransparenttocompletelyopaque.

Figure34:Dynamicsinaction:ADelta-gliderdisplayingtheforcesactingonitsairframe.

20.3 CoordinateaxesThe orientation of the coordinate axes for the local frames of vessels, celestial bodies andspaceportscanbedisplayedwiththeAxes taboftheVisualhelpersdialog(3).Coordi-nate framescanbeuseful inparticular foraddondesignerswhowant tomakesure that theorientationoftheirspacecraftdesignwithinthesimulatoriscorrect.ThedisplayofcoordinateaxesisenabledbytickingtheCoordinateaxesbox.Axescanbedisplayedfor

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• vessels(spacecraft)• celestialbodies(planetsandmoons)• surfacebasesUnlesstheShownegativeaxesbox isticked,only thepositivex,yandzaxesaredisplayed.The length of the axis vectors can be adjusted with the Scaleslider.The opacity of the displayed vectors can be adjusted with theOpacityslider.


21DemomodeOrbitercanberunin"demo"or"kiosk"modetofacilitate itsuse inpublicenvironmentssuchasexhibitionsandmuseums.Demo mode can be configured by manually editing the Orbiter.cfg configuration file in themainOrbiterdirectory.Thefollowingoptionsareavailable:Item Type DescriptionDemoMode Bool SettoTRUEtoenabledemomode(default:FALSE)BackgroundImage Bool SettoTRUEtocoverthedesktopwithastaticimage.

(default:FALSE)BlockExit Bool SettoTRUEtodisabletheExitfunctioninOrbiter's

launchpaddialog.Ifthisoptionisenabled,Orbitercanonlybeexitedviathetaskmanager.(default:FALSE)

MaxDemoTime Float Definesthemaximumruntimeforasimulation(seconds).Orbiterautomaticallyreturnstothelaunchpadwhentheruntimehasexpired.

MaxLaunchpadIdleTime Float MaximumtimespentinthelaunchpadwithoutuserinputbeforeOrbiterauto-launchesademoscenario(seconds)

Indemomode,only theScenario tab isaccessible in the launchpaddialog, topreventusersfrommodifyingsimulationconfigurationfeaturessuchasscreenresolutionorpluginmodules.Orbitershouldthereforebeconfiguredasrequiredbeforelaunchingintodemomode.Tousetheauto-launchfeature indemomode,a folder"Demo"mustbecreated in themainscenario folder (usually "Scenarios"). Orbiter will randomly pick a scenario from the Demofoldertolaunch.Note:WhenusingOrbiterinkioskmode,itisrecommendedtorunthesimulationinawindow,or tousea fullscreenmodewhichmatches thenativePCscreen resolution, toavoidexces-siveswitchingbetweenvideodisplaymodes.

22ORBITERconfigurationConfigurationfilesallowthecustomisationofvariousaspectsofORBITER.Configurationfileshavefileextension.cfg.Theformatis

item=valueAsemicolonstartsacomment,continuingtotheendofline.Allconfiguration filesexcept for themaster file (seebelow)are located inasubdirectoryde-finedbytheConfigDirentryinthemasterfile,usually“.\Config”.To find out how to set up the configuration file of a spacecraft class, see the separate3DModeldocumentation,contained in theOrbitersdk\doc folder(youneedto install theSDKpackagetogetthisdocument).Thisdocumentalsocontainsinformationonthemeshfilefor-matforthevessel’s3Dmodel,andotherhintsonhowtocreateyourownspacecraft.Scenarios (simulation startup definitions) are located in a subdirectory defined by the Sce-narioDirentryinthemasterfile,usually“.\Scenarios”.Theyhavefileextension.scn.

22.1 MasterconfigurationfileThe master configuration file Orbiter.cfg is located in the Orbiter main directory. It containsgeneralsettingsforgraphicsmodes,subdirectory locations,simulationparameters,etc.NotethatmanualeditingofOrbiter.cfgshouldno longerbenecessary,becausemostparameterscanbeaccessedfromtheLaunchpaddialog.Item Type DescriptionConfigDir String Subdirectoryforconfigurationfiles(default.\Config\)MeshDir String Subdirectoryformeshfiles(default.\Meshes\)TextureDir String Subdirectoryfortextures(default.\Textures\)HightexDir String Subdirectoryforalternativehigh-resolutionplanetary

textures(default:.\Textures2\)ScenarioDir String Subdirectoryforscenarios(default:.\Scenarios\)DeviceIndex Int Enumerationindexforcurrent3Ddevice(donotedit

manually)DeviceForceEnum Bool IfTRUE,enumerate3DdevicesateachstartModeIndex Int Screenmodeindex(donoteditmanually)Fullscreen Bool TRUEforfullscreenmode,FALSEforwindowedmodeStereo Bool Currentlynotused.WindowWidth Int Horizontalwindowsizeforwindowedmodes.WindowHeight Int Verticalwindowsizeforwindowedmodes.Theratio

WindowWidth/WindowHeightshouldbeapproximately4/3.

RGBDepth Int Screencolourdepth(BPP)forfullscreenmodes.JoystickIndex Int Enumerationindexforcurrentjoystick(0=none;donot

editmanually)JoystickThrottleSaturation

Int Saturationzoneforjoystickthrottlecontrol(0–10000).Asettingof9000meansthatthethrottlewillsaturateoverthelast10%ofitsrangeateitherend.Default:9500

JoystickDeadzone Deadzoneatjoystickaxiscentres(0-10000).Asettingof2000meansthejoystickisconsideredneutralwithin20%fromthecentralposition.Default:2500

AmbientLevel Int Ambientlightlevel(brightnessofnotdirectlylitsurfaces).Validrangeis0-15.

NumStar Int Numberofbackgroundstars(<=15984).Default:3000StarBrightness Float Brightnessscalingfactorforbackgroundstars(0.2–2).

Default:1.0ConstellationCol RGB Colourforconstellationlines.Default:0.30.30.3UnlimitedFuel Bool Ignorespacecraftfuelconsumption.Default:FALSEFlightModel Int Flightmodelrealismlevel(currentlysupported:0and1)MFDTransparent Bool Makeonscreenmultifunctionaldisplaystransparent.

Default:TRUE

EnableShadows Bool Enable/disableobjectshadowsonplanetsurfaces.EnableSunGlare Bool Enablesunglareeffects.EnableClouds Bool Enablerenderingofplanetarycloudlayers.EnableCloudShadows

Bool Enablerenderingofcloudshadowsontheground(alsorequiresCloudShadowDepth<1inindividualplanetconfigfiles)

EnableNightlights Bool Enablerenderingofnightlightingeffectsofplanetarysurfaces.

NightlightBrightness Int Brightnesslevelofnightlightingeffects(0–255)EnableWaterReflection

Bool Enablerenderingofspecularreflectionsfromoceanicsurfaces.

EnableHorizonHaze Bool Enablerenderingofatmosphericeffectsatthehorizon.EnableSpecularReflection

Bool Enablespecularreflectioneffectsfrompolishedsurfaces.

InstrumentUpdateInterval

Float IntervalbetweenMFDdisplayupdates(seconds)

PanelScale Float Scalingfactorforinstrumentpaneldisplay.PanelScrollSpeed Float Speedfactorforpanelscrolling(pixelspersecond)PlanetPatchRes Float Resolutionfactorforplanetsurfaces.Validrangeis0.1to

10.Highervaluesproducehigherresolutionplanetarysurfacesatagivenapparentradius,butreduceperformance.

PlanetHipatchAperture

Float Scalingfactorforapplicationdistanceofhigh-resolutionplanetpatches(-0.5–1;default:0.1).Ahighervaluewillincreasethearearenderedathighresolution.

DialogFont_Scale Float Scalingfactorfordialogfontsize.Default:1.0DialogFont1_Face String Standarddialogfontface.Default:ArialActiveModules List Listofactivepluginmodules

22.2 PlanetarysystemsPlanetarysystemscontainstars,planetsandmoons.Eachplanetarysystemrequiresatleastonestar.Stars,planetsandmoonsaredefinedintheplanetarysystem'sconfigurationfile.GeneralparametersItem Type DescriptionName String AnamefortheplanetarysystemMarkerPath String Directorypathcontainingsurfacemarkerlistsfortheplanet.

Default:.\Config\<name>\Marker\SeealsoSection22.6onhowtoaddcelestialmarkerstoaplanetarysystem.ObjectlistThe object list defines the celestial bodies populating the planetary system, and theirhierarchy.Starentries:

Star=Namewhere is an index running from1upward. (note: planetary systemswithmore than onecentralstararenotcurrentlysupported).Planetentries:

Planet=Namewhereisanindexrunningfrom1upward.Moonentries:

<Planet>:Moon=Namewhere<Planet> is thenameofaplanetdefinedbefore,and isan indexenumerating themoonsofthisplanet,runningfrom1upward.Example:

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Star1=SunPlanet1=MercuryPlanet2=VenusPlanet3=EarthEarth:Moon1=MoonPlanet4=MarsMars:Moon1=PhobosMars:Moon2=Deimos

22.3 PlanetsPlanet configuration files define the planet’s orbital, physical and visual parameters. For anexampleseeConfig\Earth.cfg.GeneralparametersItem Type DescriptionName String PlanetnameModule String Nameofdynamiclinklibraryperformingcalculationsfor

theplanet(default:none)ErrorLimit Float Max.rel.errorforposition/velocitycalculations(onlyused

ifthemodulesupportsprecisionadjustment)EllipticOrbit Bool IfTRUE,useanalytic2-bodysolutionforplanet

position/velocitycalculation,otherwiseupdatedynamically(ignoredifmodulesupportsposition/velocitycalculation)

HasElements Bool IfTRUE,theinitialposition/velocityiscalculatedfromtheprovidedsetoforbitalelements,otherwisefromanexplicitposition/velocitypair(ignoredifmodulesupportsposition/velocitycalculation)

Notes:• Ifthemodulecalculatestheplanetpositionandvelocityfromperturbationterms,thenthe

valueofErrorLimitwillaffectthenumberoftermsusedforthecalculation.A lowervaluewillincreasethenumberofrequiredterms,andthusthecalculationtime.ThevalidrangeforErrorLimitdependsonthemodule,butistypically1e-3ErrorLimit1e-8.

Orbitalparameters(Ignoredifmodulesupportsposition/velocitycalculationorHasElements=FALSE)Item Type DescriptionEpoch Float Orbitalelementreferenceepoch(e.g.2000)ElReference Flag ParentEquatororEcliptic:orbitreferenceframe

(default:Ecliptic)SemiMajorAxis Float Orbitsemi-majoraxis[m]Eccentricity Float OrbiteccentricityInclination Float Orbitinclinationagainstreferenceplane[rad]LongAscNode Float Longitudeofascendingnode[rad]LongPerihelion Float Longitudeofperiapsis[rad]MeanLongitude Float Meanlongitudeatepoch[rad]

PhysicalparametersItem Type DescriptionMass Float Planetmass[kg]Size Float Meanplanetradius[m]

RotationelementsItem Type DescriptionSidRotPeriod Float Siderialrotationperiod[s]SidRotOffset Float Rotationatepoch[rad]Obliquity Float Obliquity:anglebetweenrotationaxisandnormalof

referenceplaneatepoch[rad]LAN Float Longitudeofprojectionofrotationaxisontoreference

plane[rad]Atmosphericparameters(onlyrequiredifplanethasatmosphere)Item Type DescriptionAtmPressure0 Float (Mean)atmosphericpressureatzeroaltitude[Pa]AtmDensity0 Float (Mean)atmosphericdensityatzeroaltitude[kg/m3]AtmGasConstant Float specificgasconstant[JK-1kg-1].Default:286.91(Earth

value)AtmGamma Float ratioofspecificheatscp/cv.Default:1.4(Earthvalue)AtmColor0 Vec3 RGBtripletforatmosphericcolouratgroundlevel(0-1

each)AtmAltLimit Float altitudelimitbeyondwhichatmosphericeffectscanbe

ignored[m]AtmHazeExtent Float Widthparameterforextentofhorizonhazerendering.

Range:0(thinnest)to1(widest).Default:0.1AtmHazeShift Float Shiftsthereferencealtitudeofthehazebaseline.Canbe

usedtoadjusthazealtitudetoacloudlayer.(inunitsofplanetradius).Default:0(alignwithsurfacehorizon).Shiftisnotappliedifcameraisbelowcloudlayer.

AtmHazeDensity Float Modifiesthedensityatwhichthehorizondensityisrendered(basicdensityiscalculatedfromatmosphericdensity)Default:1.0

AtmHazeColor Vec3 RGBtripletforhorizonhazecolour(0-1each).Default:useAtmColor0values.

AtmHorizonAlt Float altitudescaleforhorizonhazerendering[m].Default:0.01ofplanetradius.

ShadowDepth Float Depth(“blackness”)ofobjectshadows(0...1,where0=black,1=noshadows).Default:exp(-ρ0/2),whereρ0istheatmosphericdensityatthesurface.Thisoptionisonlyusedwhenstencilbufferingisenabled.Otherwiseshadowsarealwaysblack.

Cloudparameters(onlyrequiredifplanetcontainsacloudlayer)Item Type DescriptionCloudAlt Float Altitudeofcloudlayer[m]CloudShadowDepth Float Depth(“blackness”)ofcloudshadowsontheground(0...

1)where0=black,1=don’trendershadows.Default:1CloudRotPeriod Float Rotationperiodofcloudlayeragainstsurface[s](default:

0–staticcloudlayer)CloudMicrotextureAlt Float+

FloatAltituderange[m]forcloudmicrotexturing.Firstvalueisaltitudeatwhichfullmicrotextureisapplied.Secondvalueisaltitudeatwhichmicrotexturestartstokickin.Firstvalue≥0andsecondvalue>firstvalueisrequired.Default:nomicrotexture.

VisualisationparametersItem Type DescriptionMaxPatchResolution Int Max.resolutionlevelforsurfacetexturemaps(1...10)MinCloudResolution Int Min.resolutionatwhichcloudsarerenderedasseparate

layer(1...8)MaxCloudResolution Int Max.cloudresolutionlevel(MinCloudResolution...8)SpecularRipple Bool IfTRUE,andif“Specularripples”optionisenabledinthe

Launchpaddialog,specularlyreflectingsurfacesusea“waterripple”microtexture.Default:FALSE.

Surfacemarkerparameters(optional)Item Type DescriptionMarkerPath String Directorypathcontainingsurfacemarkerlistsfortheplanet.

Default:.\Config\<planetname>\Marker\

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SeealsoSection22.6onhowtoaddsurfacemarkerstoaplanet.Surfacebases(optional)Thislistcontainsthenamesandlocationsofsurfacelandingsites(“spaceports”).Eachentryinthislistmustbeaccompaniedbyaconfigurationfileforthecorrespondingsurfacebase.BEGI N_SURFBASE <baselist>END_SURFBASE Baselistentrieshavethefollowingformat: <name>:<lng><lat>where<name> Namewhich identifies thebaseconfig file (<name>.cfg).Theactualnameof

thebaseasitappearsinOrbiterisgivenbytheNAMEtaginthebaseconfigfile.

<lng><lat> Baseposition(equatorialcoordinates)[deg]Notethatthereisanalternativeformatforthislist,usingaNumBasesentryandBaseXXtags.Thisformatisobsoleteandshouldnolongerbeused.Ground-basedobserversites(optional)This list contains the pre-defined locations for ground-based observers (launch cameras,spectators,etc.)whichcanbeselectedintheCameradialog.TheformatofthelistisBEGI N_OBSERVER <observerlist>END_OBSERVER Listentrieshavethefollowingformat: <site>:<spot>:<lng><lat><alt>where<site> anamewhichidentifiesthesite(e.g.KSC)<spot> theparticularlocationatthesite(e.g.Launchpad39)<lng><lat> observerposition(equatorialcoordinates)[deg]<alt> observeraltitude[m](>0)TheeasiestwaytofindthecoordinatesforanewobserverspotistoopentheCameradialog(),andselectanearby locationunder theGround tab.Thenmove thecamera to thenewspot using [email protected] in thedialogandcanbedirectlycopiedintotheconfigurationfile.Navbeacontransmitterlist(optional)Thislistcontainsallnavigationradiotransmitterspecsexceptthosedirectlyassociatedwithaspaceport(seesection22.4).Thelistformatisasfollows:BEGI N_NAVBEACON <NAVlist>END_NAVBEACON Listentrieshavethefollowingformat: <type><id><lng><lat><freq>[<range>]where<type> transmittertype.currentlysupported:VOR<id> identifercode(upto4letters)<lng><lat> transmitterposition(equatorialcoordinates)[deg]<freq> transmitterfrequency[MHz]<range> transmitterrange[m](default:500km)To implementacustomDLLmodule forplanetposition/velocitycalculations,seeSDKdocu-mentation.

Toaddanewplanettoaplanetarysystemthefollowingstepsarerequired:1. Addanentry for theplanet in theplanetary systemconfiguration file (seeprevious sec-

tion):Planet<X>=<Planetname>

2. Createaconfiguration file<Planetname>.cfg for thenewplanet in the“Config”subdirec-

tory,withentriesaslistedabove.3. Createtherequiredsurfacetexturemapsuptothespecifiedresolution.4. Optionally, create a monochrome (green on black) surface outline bitmap (256x128,

BMP)tobeusedbytheMapMFD.Thefilenameshouldbe<Planetname>M.bmp.

22.4 SurfacebasesSurface bases (or “spaceports”) are launch and landing sites on the surface of planets ormoons,usuallyequippedwith launchpadsorrunways,forverticalandhorizontal liftoffand/orlanding. Each surface base is defined via its own configuration file. When Orbiter loads aplanetconfiguration, itscansallsurfacebasedefinitionsfortheplanetandcreatesthecorre-spondingbases.ThebasedefinitionfileTocreateanewsurfacebase,youneedtowriteadefinitionfileforit.Thefilenameshouldbeof the form <base-name>.cfg, and it must be placed in an appropriate folder. (see Linkingsurfacebasestoplanetsbelow).Theformatofthesurfacebasedefinitionfileisasfollows:BASE-V2.0NAME = <Basename>LOCATION = <lng><lat>SIZE = <size>OBJECTSIZE = <osize>MAPOBJECTSTOSPHERE = [TRUE|FALSE]BEGIN_NAVBEACON <NAVlist>END_NAVBEACONBEGIN_OBJECTLIST <Objectlist>END_OBJECTLISTBEGIN_SURFTILELIST <Surfacetilelist>END_SURFTILELIST

BASE-V2.0Formatidentiferthatmustbeplacedinthefirstlineofthefile.Thisitemisoptionalifthebaseisreferenceddirectlyintheplanet’sbaselist.NAME = <Basename>Definesthebase’s(logical)namewhichneednotcorrespondtothefilename.LOCATION = <lng><lat>Definesthepositionofthebaseontheplanetsurface,where<lng>islongitude(deg,West<0,East>0),and<lat>islatitude(deg,South<0,North>0).Thisitemisoptionalifthebaseisreferenceddirectlyintheplanet’sbaselist.Size = <size>Definesthebase’soverallradiusinmeters.

OBJECTSIZE = <osize>Definesthesizeofa“typical”object(building,etc.)ThisvalueisusedbyOrbitertodetermineuptowhatcameradistancebaseobjectswillberendered.Objectswillnotberenderediftheapparentsizeofanobjectofsize<osize>,locatedatthecentreofthebase,wouldbesmallerthan1pixel.Thedefaultvaluefor<osize>is100.0.

MAPOBJECTSTOSPHERE(boolean)Iftrue,theobjectsintheobjectlistwillbeautomaticallyadjustedinelevationtocorrectfortheplanetscurvature.Thismeansthatobjectswithelevation0willbemappedontoaltitude0oftheplanetsurface.Iffalse,elevation0mapsontotheflathorizonplaneofthebasereferencepoint.Default:false.Note:Currentlythisfunctionisonlyimplementedforalimitednumberofbaseobjecttypes.<NAVlist>Containsa listnavigationradio transmittersassociatedwith thebase.Theformat is identicaltothatofthePlanetconfigfile(seesection22.3).

<Objectlist>Containsalistofobjectswhichmakeupthevisualelementsofthebase.Seenextsectionfordetails.<Surfacetilelist>Anoptionallistofhigh-resolutionsurfacetilescoveringthebasearea.Eachtileisrepresentedbyalineinthelist,withtheformat<res><lng-idx><lat-idx><flag>where <res> is the tile resolution (integer ≥ 1), and <lng-idx> and <lat-idx> are the positionindices. The position indices define the location of the tile on the global planet map at thegivenresolution.<flag>isabitflag(bit0=1:rendertile;bit1=1:tilecontainstransparencyinthealphachannel).Foreachtileentry,acorresponding texture file inDDSformat(DXT1orDXT5)mustexist intheTexturessubdirectory,withnamingconvention<planet>_<res>_[W|E]<lng-idx>_[N|S]<lat-idx>.ddswhere<planet>istheplanetname,<res>isthetileresolutionasdefinedinthelist,and<lng-idx>and<lat-idx>arethepositionindicesasdefinedinthelist(zero-paddedto4digits).Note:FutureversionsofOrbitermayincorporatelocalhigh-resolutionplanetarysurfaceareasdirectly in the planet’s texture file. The mechanism of associating surface tiles with basedefinitionsviathesurfacetilelistwillthenberemoved.Usingsurfacetilelistsisthereforenotrecommended.LinkingsurfacebasestoplanetsAftercreating thebaseconfiguration file, itmustbe referencedbyaplanet to instantiate thebase.ThereareseveralwaystomakeOrbiterreadasurfacebasedefinition:• Placethebaseconfigurationfileinthedefaultbaseconfigurationfolderfortheplanet.By

default, Orbiter will scan the folder Config\<pname>\Base for base definitions, where<pname> is the planet name. For example, the default folder for Earth bases is Con-fig\Earth\Base.Thedefault folder isonlyscanned if theplanetdoesn’texplicitlydefineabaselist(seebelow).

• TomakeOrbiterscandifferent folders,createasurfacebase list in theplanet’sconfigu-

ration file, starting with the line BEGIN_SURFBASE and ending with the lineEND_SURFBASE. In this list, specify the new surface base directory with the line‘DIR<folder>’,where<folder> isthepathtothefoldercontainingthebaseconfigurations(relative to the Config folder). Multiple folders can be specified. If the same base is de-finedinmorethanoneofthescannedfolders,onlythefirstisused.Thisallowstoreplacebasedefinitionswithouthavingtodeletetheoriginalconfigurationfile.

Example:BEGIN_SURFBASE DIR Earth\MyBase

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DI R Ear t h\ Mor eBasesEND_SURFBASE

Ifthesurfacebaselistexistsinaplanet’sconfigurationfile,thedefaultbaseconfigurationfolderwillnotbescanned,unlessitisexplicitlylisted.

• Basereferencescanbeplaceddirectlyintothebaselist,usingthefollowingformat:<fname>:<lng><lat>where <fname> is the name of the surface base configuration file: Config\<fname>.cfg,and<lng>and<lat>aretheequatorialcoordinatesofthebase(longitudeandlatitude)indegrees.Whenusingthisformat,thebaseconfigurationfilemustbelocatedintheConfigsubdirectory.

SelectiveloadingofbasesToprovidemorecontrolovertheloadingofsurfacebasesinforagivensimulationscenario,twoconditionalflagscanbesetwithaDIRentryinthebaselist:• SpecifyatimeintervalwiththePERIODparameter.Thecorrespondingdirectorywillonly

bescannedifthescenariostartdate isinsidethisinterval.Thisallowstoreplacesurfacebasesonlyatspecifictimeperiods,forexampletosetuptheKennedySpaceCenterfortheApollolunarmissions.

Syntax:DI R <folder> PERI OD <mjd0> <mjd1>where<mjd0>and<mjd1>arethestartandenddatesoftheperiodoverwhichthebasefolder will be scanned, in MJD (Modified JulianDate) format.Either can be set to ‘- ‘ todisablethelimitatoneend.

• Specify ascenariocontextwith theCONTEXTparameters.Thecorrespondingdirectorywill only be scanned if the scenario specifies the samecontext string in its environmentcontextentry(seeSection22.7).Thisallowstoaddorreplacesurfacebasesonlywithinadefinedsetofscenarios.

Syntax:DI R <folder> CONTEXT <string>where<string>isthecontextstringtobematchedagainstthescenariocontext.The PERIOD and CONTEXT parameters can be used simultaneously. In that case thedirectorywillonlybescannedifbothconditionsaresatisfied.Examples:BEGI N_SURFBASE DI R Ear t h\ 1969Base PERI OD 40222 42048 DI R Ear t h\ TempBases CONTEXT Ri chScener y DI R Ear t h\ Ot her Bases PERI OD – 40000 CONTEXT Ear l yBases DI R Ear t h\ BaseEND_SURFBASENote that the list order is important to allow the custom base definitions to replacestandardbases.

22.5 AddingobjectstosurfacebasesSurface bases are composed of objects (buildings, train lines, hangars, launch pads, etc.)Theconfigurationfileforeachsurfacebasecontainsalistofitsobjects:BEGI N_OBJECTLI ST <Object0>

NEW!

<Object1> … <Objectn-1>END_OBJECTLISTEachobjectentry in the listdefinesaparticularobjectand itsproperties(type,position,size,textures,etc.).Anobjectcaneitherbeapre-definedtypeoragenericmesh.Eachobjecten-tryhasthefollowingformat:<Type> <Parameters>END

NotethattexturesusedbybaseobjectsmustbelistedinthetexturelistoftheBase.cfgconfigurationfile.

Thefollowingpre-definedobjecttypesarecurrentlysupported:BLOCKA5-sided“brick”(withoutafloor)whichcanbeusedasasimplegenericbuilding,oraspartofamorecomplexstructure.Thefollowingparametersaresupported:Parameter Type DescriptionPOS V Centreoftheblock’sbaserectangle(inlocalcoordinatesofthe

surfacebase).Notethatthey-coordinateistheelevationaboveground.Default:000

SCALE V Objectsizeinthethreecoordinateaxes.Default:111ROT F Rotationaroundverticalaxis(degrees).Default:0TEX1 SFF Texturenameandu,vscalingfactorsforwallsalongthex-axis.

Default:noneTEX2 SFF Texturenameandu,vscalingfactorsforwallsalongthez-axis.

Default:noneTEX3 SFF Texturenameandu,vscalingfactorsforroof.Default:none

(V=Vector,F=Float,S=String)HANGARAhangar-typebuildingwithabarrel-shapedroof.Thefollowingparametersaresupported:Parameter Type DescriptionPOS V Centreoftheobject’sbaserectangle(inlocalcoordinatesofthe


SCALE V Objectsizeinthethreecoordinateaxes.Default:111ROT F Rotationaroundverticalaxis(degrees).Default:0TEX1 SFF Texturenameandu,vscalingfactorsforwalls.Default:noneTEX2 SFF Texturenameandu,vscalingfactorsforfrontgate.Default:noneTEX3 SFF Texturenameandu,vscalingfactorsforroof.Default:none

(V=Vector,F=Float,S=String)HANGAR2Ahangar-typebuildingwithatent-shapedroof.Thefollowingparametersaresupported:Parameter Type DescriptionPOS V Centreoftheobject’sbaserectangle(inlocalcoordinatesofthe


SCALE V Objectsizeinthethreecoordinateaxes.Default:111ROT F Rotationaroundverticalaxis(degrees).Default:0TEX1 SFF Texturenameandu,vscalingfactorsforfrontandbackwalls.

Default:none


TEX2 SFF Texturenameandu,vscalingfactorsforsidewalls.Default:noneTEX3 SFF Texturenameandu,vscalingfactorsforroof.Default:noneROOFH F Roofheightfrombasetoridge.Default:½buildingheight.

(V=Vector,F=Float,S=String)HANGAR3Ahangar-typebuildingwithabarrel-shapedroofreachingtotheground.Thefollowingparametersaresupported:Parameter Type DescriptionPOS V Centreoftheobject’sbaserectangle(inlocalcoordinatesofthe


SCALE V Objectsizeinthethreecoordinateaxes.Default:111ROT F Rotationaroundverticalaxis(degrees).Default:0TEX1 SFF Texturenameandu,vscalingfactorsforfrontandbackwalls.

Default:none[notsupportedyet!]TEX2 SFF Texturenameandu,vscalingfactorsforfrontgate.Default:none

[notsupportedyet!]TEX3 SFF Texturenameandu,vscalingfactorsforroof.Default:none

(V=Vector,F=Float,S=String)TANKAfueltank-likeuprightcylinderwithflattop.Thefollowingparametersaresupported:Parameter Type DescriptionPOS V Centreoftheobject’sbasecircle(inlocalcoordinatesofthesurface

base).Notethatthey-coordinateistheelevationaboveground.Default:000

SCALE V Cylinderradiiinxandz,andheightiny.Default:111ROT F Rotationaroundverticalaxis(degrees).Default:0NSTEP I Numberofsegmentstoapproximatecircle.Default:12TEX1 SFF Texturenameandu,vscalingfactorsformantle.Default:noneTEX2 SFF Texturenameandu,vscalingfactorsfortop.

(V=Vector,F=Float,I=Integer,S=String)RUNWAYTexturingforarunway.Thetexturemappingcanbesplit intosegments,toallowinclusionofmarkings,overruns,etc.Thisdoesnotincludeanylighting(seeRUNWAYLIGHTS).Parameter Type DescriptionEND1 V Firstendpointofrunway(centerline),includinganyoverrunstobe

textured.END2 V Secondendpointofrunway(centerline).WIDTH F Runwaywidth[m]ILS1 F LocaliserfrequencyforapproachtowardsEND1(108.00to139.95).

Default:NoILSsupportILS2 F LocaliserfrequencyforapproachtowardsEND2(108.00to139.95).

ThiscanbethesamefrequencyasILS1.Default:NoILSsupport.NRWSEG I NumberoftexturesegmentsRWSEGx IFFF

FFDefinitionofsegmentx(x=1...NRWSEG).Parameters:1.Numberofmeshsub-segments(1)2.Fractionallengthofsegment(sumofallsegmentsmustbe1)3.texturecoordinateu0ofsegment4.texturecoordinateu15.texturecoordinatev06.texturecoordinatev1

RWTEX S Texturenameforallsegments(V=Vector,F=Float,I=Integer,S=String)


RUNWAYLIGHTSComplete lighting for a single runway, including optional Precision Approach Path Indicator(PAPI)andVisualApproachSlopeIndicator(VASI)–seesection16.6.Runwaymarkersareturnedoffduringdaytime,butPAPIandVASIindicatorsarealwaysactive.Parameter Type DescriptionEND1 V Firstendpointofrunway(centerline).END2 V Secondendpointofrunway(centerline).WIDTH F Runwaywidth[m]COUNT1 I Numberoflightsalongtherunwaycenterline(≥2).Default:40PAPI FFF PrecisionApproachPathIndicator(PAPI).Default:noPAPI.

Parameters:1. Designatedapproachangle[deg]2. Approachconeaperture[deg]3. OffsetofPAPIlocationfromrunwayendpoints.[m]

VASI FFF VisualApproachSlopeIndicator(VASI).Default:noVASIParameters:1. Designatedapproachangle[deg]2. Distancebetweenwhiteandredindicatorlights[m]3. OffsetofVASI(redbar)locationfromrunwayendpoints[m]

(V=Vector,F=Float,I=Integer)BEACONARRAYAlineararrayofilluminatedbeacons,usablee.g.fortaxiwaynightlighting.Parameter Type DescriptionEND1 V Firstendpointofbeaconarray(inlocalcoordinatesofthesurface

base).Notethatthey-coordinateistheelevationaboveground.END2 V SecondendpointofbeaconarrayCOUNT I Numberofbeaconsinthearray(≥2).Default:10SIZE F Size(radius)ofeachbeaconlight.Default:1.0COL FFF Beaconcolour(RGB)Validrange:0..1foreachvalue.

Default:111(white)(V=Vector,F=Float,I=Integer)SOLARPLANTAgridofground-mountedsolarpanels,smartenoughtoalign themselveswith theSun.Thefollowingparametersaresupported:Parameter Type DescriptionPOS V Centrepositionofthepanelgrid.Default:000SCALE F Scalingfactorforeachpanel.Default:1SPACING FF Distancebetweenpanelsinxandzdirection.Default:4040GRID II Griddimensionsinxandzdirection.Default:22ROT F Rotationofplantaroundverticalaxis(degrees).Default:0TEX S[FF] Texturenameandu,vscalingfactorsforpanels.Default:none

(V=Vector,F=Float,I=Integer,S=String)TRAIN1Amonorail-typetrainonastraighttrack.Thefollowingparametersaresupported:Parameter Type DescriptionEND1 V FirstendpointoftrackEND2 V SecondendpointoftrackMAXSPEED F Maximumspeedoftrain[m/s]Default:30SLOWZONE F Distanceoverwhichtrainslowsdownatendoftrack[m]Default:

100TEX S Texturename


(V=Vector,F=Float,S=String)TRAIN2Suspensiontrainonastraighttrack.Thefollowingparametersaresupported:Parameter Type DescriptionEND1 V FirstendpointoftrackEND2 V SecondendpointoftrackHEIGHT F Heightofsuspensiontrackoverground[m]Default:11MAXSPEED F Maximumspeedoftrain[m/s]Default:30SLOWZONE F Distanceoverwhichtrainslowsdownatendoftrack[m]Default:

100TEX S Texturename

(V=Vector,F=Float,S=String)LPAD1An octagonal bordered landing pad. Default diameter 80m (at scale 1). Landing pads arenumbered in theorder they appear in the list.Canbeassignednumbers1-9.For expectedlayoutoftexturemapseee.g.Textures\Lpad01.dds.Parameter Type DescriptionPOS V Padcentrecoordinates(inlocalcoordinatesofthesurfacebase).SCALE F Scalingfactor.Default:1ROT F Rotationaroundverticalaxis(degrees).Default:0TEX S Texturename.Default:noneNAV F frequency[MHz]ofVTOLnavtransmitter(validrange:85.0-140.0,

default:none)(V=Vector,F=Float,S=String)LPAD2Asquarelandingpad.Defaultsize80m(atscale1).Landingpadsarenumberedintheorderthey appear in the list.Canbeassignednumbers1-99.For expected layout of texturemapseee.g.Textures\Lpad02.dds.Parameter Type DescriptionPOS V Padcentrecoordinates(inlocalcoordinatesofthesurfacebase).SCALE F Scalingfactor.Default:1ROT F Rotationaroundverticalaxis(degrees).Default:0TEX S Texturename.Default:noneNAV F frequency[MHz]ofVTOLnavtransmitter(validrange:85.0-140.0,

default:none)(V=Vector,F=Float,S=String)LPAD2ASimilartoLPAD2,butusesadifferentlayoutforthetexturemap,providingahigherresolutionatthesametexturesize.Forexpectedlayoutoftexturemapseee.g.Textures\Lpad02a.dds.ThesupportedparametersarethesameasforLPAD2.MESHGenericmeshforcustomobjecttypes.MeshfilesmustbeinORBITERmeshfileformat(see3DModel.pdfintheOrbiterSDKpackage).Parameter Type DescriptionFILE S Meshfilename(withoutpathandextension).Meshfilesmustbe

locatedinthemeshsubdirectory(seemasterconfigfile).POS V Positionofmeshorigin(inlocalcoordinatesofthesurfacebase).SCALE V Scalingfactorsinxandz,andheightiny.Default:111ROT F Rotationaroundverticalaxis(degrees).Default:0TEX S Texturename.Default:noneSHADOW Rendertheshadowcastonthegroundbytheobject.

NEW!

UNDERSHADOWS Objectcanbecoveredbyshadowscastonthegroundbyotherobjects(e.g.roads,landingpads,etc.).Default:objectnotcoveredbygroundshadows

OWNMATERIAL Usematerialsandtexturesdefinedinthemeshfile.ThisoverridestheTEXentry.

LPAD Objectisalandingpad.PRELOAD Meshshouldbeloadedatprogramstart.Thiscanreducedisk

activityduringthesimulationbutincreasesmainmemoryusage.Default:Loadonlywhenused.

(V=Vector,F=Float,S=String)Notes:• If themeshonly uses a single texture it ismoreefficient to specify it via theTEXentry

than via the mesh using OWNMATERIAL, because Orbiter can merge objects with thesameTEXentriesforimprovedperformance.

22.6 AddingcustommarkersYoucandefinelistsoflabelstomarkobjectsonthecelestialsphere(e.g.brightstars,naviga-tionstars,nebulae,etc.),orplanetarysurfacemarkers to locatenatural landmarks,pointsofinterest,historiclandingsites,navigationalaids,etc.Theusercandisplaythesemarkersduringthesimulationusing3and3.Allcelestialandplanetarysurfacemarkersareplaced in theirownsubdirectories,whichde-fault to.\Config\<name>\Marker\, where<name> is thenameof theplanetary system(forcelestialmarkers)orplanet(forsurfacemarkers)theyarereferringto.Youcanspecifyadifferent location with the MarkerPath option in theplanet's or planetary system's configura-tion file (seeSection22.3).Marker filesmusthaveextension.mkr.Multiple filescanbede-fined for a single planet or planetary system, which the user can turn on or off individually.MarkerfilesareinASCII(text)format:BEGIN_HEADER InitialState [on/off] ShapeIdx [0 .. 6] ColourIdx [0 .. 5] Size [0.1 .. 2] DistanceFactor [1e-5 .. 1e3] Frame [celestial/ecliptic]END_HEADERBEGIN_DATA <lng> <lat> : <label> [: <label>] <lng> <lat> : <label> [: <label>] ...Theheadersectioncontainssomeconfigurationoptions:• InitialStatedefinesif thelabelsareinitiallyvisiblewhentheuseractivatessurfacemark-

ers under3. The user can turn lists on and off individually during the simulation.Thedefaultis"off".

• ShapeIdx:anintegerbetween0and6definingtheshapeofthelabels. 0 box(default) 1 circle 2 diamond 3 delta 4 nabla 5 cross 6 X

• ColourIdx:anintegerbetween0and5definingthecolourofthelabels.Defaultis1.• Size:Asizefactorforthemarkers.Defaultis1.0.• DistanceFactor:Definesuptowhatdistancethemarkersaredisplayed.Defaultis1.0.• Frame(usedforcelestialmarkersonly):definesthereferenceframetowhichthecoordi-

natesinthelistrefer. ecliptic:dataareeclipticlongitudeandlatitude

celestial:dataarerightascensionanddeclinationofJ2000equatorandequinox. (default)

Each item in the header section is optional. Ifmissing, the default value is substituted. Theheadercanalsobeomittedaltogether, inwhichcasethe"BEGIN_DATA" flag isalsonot re-quired.In the data section, each linedefinesa label. It consists of equatorial position: longitude (indegrees, with eastern longitudes positive, and western longitudes negative), latitude (in de-greeswithnorthern latitudespositive,andsouthern latitudesnegative),andoneor two labelstringstobedisplayedaboveandbelowthemarker.

22.7 ScenariofilesScenarioscontainallparameters required tosetup thesimulationataparticular time.Theyareusedfor loadingandsavingsimulationstates.Scenario filesareusuallygeneratedauto-maticallywhensavingasimulation.Theformatdescriptionbelowisprimarilyintendedforde-velopersofscenarioeditoradd-ons.Format:<Descriptionblock><Environmentblock><Focusblock><Camerablock><Panelblock><VCblock><HUDblock><LeftMFDblock><RightMFDblock><Shiplist>Descriptionblock(optional):Containsashortdescriptionofthescenario.BEGIN_DESC <Description>END_DESC<Description>:ASCIItextdescribingthescenario.CRisconvertedtospace.EmptylinesareconvertedtoCR.Thistext isdisplayedinthedescriptionboxoftheOrbiter launchpaddialogwhentheuserselectsthescenariofromthelist.Environmentblock(optional):Containsthesimulationenvironment.BEGIN_ENVIRONMENT <Environmentparameters>END_ENVIRONMENT<Environmentparameters>:Parameter Type DescriptionSYSTEM S Nameoftheplanetarysystem.Aconfigurationfileforthis

systemmustexist.Default:“Sol”DATE Containssimulationstarttime.Allowedformatsare:

MJD <mjd> (<mjd>:ModifiedJulianDate)JD <jd> (<jd>:JulianDate)JE <je> (<je>:JulianEpoch)Defaultiscurrentsimulationtime,butthisshouldbeavoidedifthescenariocontainsobjectsdefinedbyposition/velocityvectors,whichcannoteasilybepropagatedintime.

CONTEXT S Optionalcontextstring.Thiscanbeusedtofine-tunethesetupoftheplanetarysystem,e.g.byselectiveloadingofsurfacebases.

Focusblock(mandatory):Containsparametersfortheuser-controlledspacecraft.

NEW!

BEGIN_FOCUS <Focusparameters>END_FOCUS<Focusparameters>:Parameter Type DescriptionSHIP S Nameoftheuser-controlledship.Theshipmustbelistedin

theshiplist(seebelow).Camerablock(optional):Cameramodeandparameters. If the camerablock ismissing, the camera is set to cockpitviewinthecurrentfocusobject.BEGIN_CAMERA <Cameraparameters>END_CAMERA<Cameraparameters>:Parameter Type DescriptionMODE Flag ExternorCockpitTARGET S Cameraviewtarget.(externalmodesonly;cockpitmode

alwaysreferstocurrentfocusobject)POS V Camerapositionrelativetotarget(externalmodesonly)TRACKMODE Flag

[+String]TargetRelative|AbsoluteDirection|GlobalFrame|TargetTo<ref>|TargetFrom<ref>|Ground<ref>(externalmodesonly)

GROUNDLOCATION

FFF longitude(deg),latitude(deg)andaltitude(m)ofgroundobserver(Groundtrackmodeonly)

GROUNDDIRECTION

FF polarcoordinatesofgroundobserverorientation(freeGroundtrackmodeonly)

FOV F Fieldofview(degrees)Panelblock(optional):2Dinstrumentpanelparameters.IfneitherthisnortheVC(virtualcockpit)blockispresent,Orbiterinitiallydisplaysgenericcockpitviews.BEGIN_PANEL <Panelparameters>END_PANELCurrentlynopanelparametersaresupported.VCblock(optional):Virtualcockpitparameters.Ifneitherthisnorthepanelblockispresent,Orbiterinitiallydisplaysgenericcockpitviews.BEGIN_VC <VCparameters>END_VCCurrentlynoVCparametersaresupported.HUDblock(optional):HUDmodeandparameters.IftheHUDblockismissing,noHUDisdisplayedatstartup.BEGIN_HUD <HUDparameters>END_HUD <HUDparameters>:Parameter Type DescriptionTYPE Flag Orbit|Surface|Docking

Left/RightMFDblocks(optional):Left/right MFD type and parameters. If the block is missing, the corresponding MFD is notdisplayed.NotethatcustomMFDmodesmayhavetheirownsetofparameters.

BEGIN_MFD Left/Right <MFDparameters>END_MFD<MFDparameters>:Parameter Type DescriptionTYPE Flag MFDtype:

Orbit|Surface|Map|Launch|Docking|OAlign|OSync|Transfer

REF S Referenceobject(OrbitandMapMFDonly)TARGET S Targetobject(forOrbit,OAlignandOSyncMFDonly)BTARGET S Basetarget(forMapMFDonly)OTARGET S Orbittarget(forMapMFDonly)PROJ Flag Ecliptic|Ship|Target(forOrbitMFDonly)MODE Flag Intersect 1|Intersect 2|Sh periapsis|Sh

apoapsis|Tg periapsis|Tg apoapsis|Manual axis(forOSyncMFDonly)

MANUALREF F Referenceaxisposition[deg](forOSyncMFDinmanualmodeonly)

LISTLEN I Numberororbittimelistings(forOSyncMFDonly)Shiplist:Listofspacecraft.ThelistmustatleastcontainthevesselreferredtobytheFocusentry.BEGIN_SHIPS <Ship0> <Ship1> ... <Shipn-1>END_SHIPSShipentries<Ship i>:<Vesselname>[:<Classname>] <Vesselparameters>END<Vesselname>:shipidentifierstring<Classname>:vesselclass(ifapplicable).Ifnoclassisspecified,a.cfgfileforthevessel,

<vesselname>.cfgisrequired.<Vesselparameters>:Parameter Type DescriptionSTATUS Flag Landed<planet>|Orbiting <planet>BASE <base>:<lpad>(onlyforSTATUSLanded)HEADING F Orientation(onlyforSTATUSLanded)RPOS V Positionrel.toreference(onlyforSTATUSOrbiting)RVEL V Velocityrel.toreference(onlyforSTATUSOrbiting)ELEMENTS List Orbitalelements.ThisisanalternativetoRPOSandRVEL

forvesselswithSTATUSOrbiting.Thelistcontains7entries:semi-majoraxisa[m],eccentricitye,inclinationi[°],longitudeofascendingnodeΩ[°],longitudeofperiapsisϖ[°],meanlongitudeatreferencedate[°],andreferencedateinMJDformat.

AROT V Orientation:rotationanglesofobjectframe(onlyforSTATUSOrbiting)

VROT V angularvelocity[°/s](onlyforSTATUSOrbiting)FUEL F Fuellevel(0to1).Thisentrysetsthelevelofallpropellant

resourcestothesamelevel.Forindividualsettings,usePRPLEVELoptioninstead.

PRPLEVEL List Listofpropellantresourcelevels.Eachentryisoftheform<id>:<level>,where<id>istheresourceidentifier,and

<level>isthepropellantresourcelevel(0..1).THLEVEL List Listofthrustersettings.Eachentryisoftheform

<id>:<level>,where<id>isthethrusteridentifier(intheorderofthrustercreation),and<level>isthethrusterlevel(0..1).Thrusterswithlevel0canbeomitted.

DOCKINFO List Dockingstatuslist.Thiscontainsinformationaboutalldockedvessels.Eachentryisoftheform<id>:<rid>,<rvessel>where<id>isthedockingportidentifier,<rid>isthedockingportidentifierofthedockedvessel,and<rvessel>isthenameofthedockedvessel.Onlyoccupieddockingportsarelisted.Seenotesbelow.

Notethatindividualvesseltypesmaydefineadditionalparameterentries.DockingvesselsThereare two ways to define vessels asbeing assembled into a superstructureby dockingthemtogether:• Placethevesselssothattheirdockingportscoincide(byusingappropriateRPOS,RVEL,

AROTandVROTparametersforboth).Orbiterwilldocktwovesselsautomaticallyiftheirdockingportsarecloseenough.

• DefinetheDOCKINFOlistsforbothvesselssothattheyreferenceeachother.Orbiterwillthenattachthevesselsaccordingly.Important:TheRPOS,RVEL,AROTandVROTpa-rametersofthefirstvessel inthelistwhichbelongsto thesuperstructureareusedto ini-talisethestatevectorsofthesuperstructure.Allsubsequentvesselsdockedtothesamesuperstructuredonotneedtodefinetheseparameters.


AppendixA MFDquickreferenceNAV/COM

Orbit

HSI

Switchleft/rightHSI

LSelectNAV

receiver

NRotateOBS

left

!RotateOBS

right

:

Prev.receiver

Nextreceiver

Down0.05MHz

!Down1MHz

4Up0.05MHz

:Up1MHz

K

Selectorbitreference

Auto-select

reference

8Selecttarget

'Unselecttarget

NDisplaymode

OFrameofreference

L

Orbitprojec-tionmode

P

Alt/raddis-tancedisplay

Q


VOR/VTOL

Docking

Surface

SelectNAVreceiver

NSwitchtovis-

ualacquisition

SDirecttarget

input

SelectNAVreceiver

N

Indicatedairspeed(IAS)

0Trueairspeed

(TAS)

Ground-relati-vespeed(GS)

DOrbitalspeed

(OS)

J


Map

Alignorbitalplanes$

Synchroniseorbits

Selecttargetobject

Toggleinter-sectionpoint

OListlength

NRotateinter-sectionpoint

Rotateinter-sectionpoint

Selecttargetobject

Selectcustom

elements

T

Selectmapreference

Selecttarget

base/orbit

Toggletrackmodeon/off

BZoomon/off

)Scrollleft

!Scrollright

:

Scrollup

4

Scrolldown

K


Transfer

Ascent

TransX

Selectrefer-enceobject

Selectsource

orbit

Selecttarget

Unselecttarget

NTogglehypo-theticalorbit

UNumericaltrajectory

O

Updatetrajectory

V

Timesteps

W

Rotateejectionpoint

Rotateejectionpoint

Decrease∆V

4

Increase∆V

K

Contexthelp

Switchtonext

stage

LSwitchto

previousstage

Selectview

YNextvariable

Previousvariable

Increasesensitivity

: Decreasesensitivity

!

Increasevariable

K

Decreasevariable

4

Toggleviewmode

U

Selectdisplaypage

PAltituderange

IRadialvelocity

range

Tangential

velocityrange


AppendixB SolarSystem:ConstantsandparametersThis section contains a list of physical and orbital planetary parameters used by Orbiter tobuilditssolarsystem.

B.1 AstrodynamicconstantsandparametersConstant Symbol Val ue

Julianday d 86400 s Julianyear yr 365. 25 dJuliancentury Cy 36525 dSpeedoflight c 299792458 m/ s Gaussiangravitationalconstant

k 0. 01720209895 ( AU3/ d2) 1/ 2

Table1:Definingconstants

Constant Symbol ValueMeansiderialday 86164. 09054 s = 23: 56: 04. 09054Si der eal year ( quasar r ef . f r ame) 365. 25636 dLi ght t i me f or 1 AU τA 499. 004783806 ( ± 0. 00000001) s Gravitationalconstant G 6. 67259 ( ± 0. 00030) × 10- 11 kg- 1 m3 s - 2Gener al pr ecessi on i n l ongi t ude 5028. 83 ( ± 0. 04) ar csec/ Cy Obl i qui t y of ecl i pt i c ( J2000) ε 84381. 412 ( ± 0. 005) ar csec Mass: Sun / Mer cur y 6023600. ( ± 250. ) Mass: Sun / Venus 408523. 71 ( ± 0. 06) Mass: Sun / ( Ear t h+Moon) 328900. 56 ( ± 0. 02) Mass: Sun / ( Mar s syst em) 3098708. ( ± 9. ) Mass: Sun / ( Jupi t er syst em) 1047. 3486 ( ± 0. 0008) Mass: Sun / ( Sat ur n syst em) 3497. 898 ( ± 0. 018) Mass: Sun / ( Ur anus syst em) 22902. 98 ( ± 0. 03) Mass: Sun / ( Nept une syst em) 19412. 24 ( ± 0. 04) Mass: Sun / ( Pl ut o syst em) 1. 35 ( ± 0. 07) × 108Mass: Moon / Ear t h 0. 012300034 ( ± 3 × 10- 9)

Table2:Primaryconstants

Constant Symbol ValueAstronomicalunitdistance c× τA=AU 1. 49597870691 × 1011 ( ± 3) mHeliocentricgravitationalconstant

k2AU3d-2=GMsun 1. 32712440018 × 1020 ( ± 8 × 109) m3 s - 2

Mass:Earth/Moon 81. 30059 ( ± 0. 00001)

Table3:Derivedconstants

Notes:Dataare from the1994 IAU fileof currentbestestimates.Planetary rangingdetermines theEarth/Moonmass ratio.Thevalue for1AU is taken fromJPL'scurrentplanetaryephemerisDE-405.Reference:Standish, E.M. (1995) ``Report of the IAU WGAS Sub-Group on Numerical Standards'', inHighlights of Astronomy (I. Appenzeller, ed.), Table 1, Kluwer Academic Publishers, Dor-drecht.

B.2 Planetarymeanorbits(J2000)(Epoch=J2000=2000January1.5)

Planet(mean)

a[AU] e i[deg] ΩΩΩΩ[deg] ϖϖϖϖ[deg] L[deg]

Mer cur y 0. 38709893 0. 20563069 7. 00487 48. 33167 77. 45645 252. 25084Venus 0. 72333199 0. 00677323 3. 39471 76. 68069 131. 53298 181. 97973Ear t h 1. 00000011 0. 01671022 0. 00005 - 11. 26064 102. 94719 100. 46435Mar s 1. 52366231 0. 09341233 1. 85061 49. 57854 336. 04084 355. 45332Jupi t er 5. 20336301 0. 04839266 1. 30530 100. 55615 14. 75385 34. 40438


Saturn 9. 53707032 0. 05415060 2. 48446 113. 71504 92. 43194 49. 94432Uranus 19. 19126393 0. 04716771 0. 76986 74. 22988 170. 96424 313. 23218Neptune 30. 06896348 0. 00858587 1. 76917 131. 72169 44. 97135 304. 88003Pluto 39. 48168677 0. 24880766 17. 14175 110. 30347 224. 06676 238. 92881

Table4:Planetarymeanorbits

B.3 Planetaryorbitalelementcentennialrates(forthemeanelementsgivenabove)

Planet(rate) a[AU/Cy] e[1/Cy] i[“ /Cy] ΩΩΩΩ[“ /Cy] ϖ ϖ ϖ ϖ [“ /Cy] L[“ /Cy]Mercury 0. 00000066 0. 00002527 - 23. 51 - 446. 30 573. 57 538101628. 29Venus 0. 00000092 - 0. 00004938 - 2. 86 - 996. 89 - 108. 80 210664136. 06Earth - 0. 00000005 - 0. 00003804 - 46. 94 - 18228. 25 1198. 28 129597740. 63Mars - 0. 00007221 0. 00011902 - 25. 47 - 1020. 19 1560. 78 68905103. 78Jupiter 0. 00060737 - 0. 00012880 - 4. 15 1217. 17 839. 93 10925078. 35Saturn - 0. 00301530 - 0. 00036762 6. 11 - 1591. 05 - 1948. 89 4401052. 95Uranus 0. 00152025 - 0. 00019150 - 2. 09 - 1681. 40 1312. 56 1542547. 79Neptune - 0. 00125196 0. 0000251 - 3. 64 - 151. 25 - 844. 43 786449. 21Pluto - 0. 00076912 0. 00006465 11. 07 - 37. 33 - 132. 25 522747. 90

“ arcsecsCy Juliancenturya Semi-majoraxise eccentricityi inclinationΩ longitudeoftheascendingnodeϖ longitudeofperihelionL meanlongitudeNotes:Thistablecontainsmeanorbitsolutionsfroma250yr.leastsquaresfitoftheDE200plane-taryephemeris toaKeplerianorbitwhereeachelement isallowedtovary linearlywith time.Thissolutionfitstheterrestrialplanetorbitsto~25"orbetter,butachievesonly~600"forSat-urn. Elements are referenced to mean ecliptic and equinox of J2000 at the J2000 epoch(2451545.0JD).Reference:Explanatory Supplement to the Astronomical Almanac. 1992. K. P. Seidelmann, Ed., p.316(Table5.8.1),UniversityScienceBooks,MillValley,California.

B.4 Planets:SelectedphysicalparametersPlanet Meanradius[km] Mass[1023kg] Density[g/cm3] Siderialrotation

period[h]Siderialorbitperiod[yr]

Mercury 2440. ±1. 3. 301880 5. 427 1407. 509 0. 2408445Venus 6051. 84 ±0. 01 48. 6855374 5. 204 - 5832. 444 0. 6151826Earth 6371. 01 ±0. 02 59. 73698968 5. 515 23. 93419* * 0. 9999786Mars 3389. 92 ±0. 04 6. 418542 3. 9335±0. 0004 24. 622962 1. 88071105Jupiter 69911. ±6. 18986. 111 1. 326 9. 92425 11. 856523Saturn 58232. ±6. 5684. 6272 0. 6873 10. 65622 29. 423519Uranus 25362. ±12. 868. 32054 1. 318 17. 24 ±0. 01 83. 747407Neptune 24624. ±21. 1024. 569 1. 638 16. 11 ±0. 01 163. 72321Pluto* 1151 0. 15 1. 1 153. 28 248. 0208

Planet V(1,0)[mag.] Geometricalbedo Equatorialgravity[m/s2] Escapevelocity[km/s]Mercury - 0. 42 0. 106 3. 701 4. 435Venus - 4. 4 0. 65 8. 87 10. 361Earth - 3. 86 0. 367 9. 780327 11. 186Mars - 1. 52 0. 15 3. 69 5. 027Jupiter - 9. 4 0. 52 23. 12 ± 0. 01 59. 5Saturn - 8. 88 0. 47 8. 96 ± 0. 01 35. 5Uranus - 7. 19 0. 51 8. 69 ± 0. 01 21. 3Neptune - 6. 87 0. 41 11. 00 ± 0. 05 23. 5Pluto - 1. 0* 0. 3* 0. 655 1. 3

Allvaluesfromreference[1]exceptPlutodatafrom[2].MercurytoNeptunemassesderivedfromGMdatain[1](thankstoDuncanSharpeforpointingthisout).**Orbiternowuses23.93447h(=23h56m4.09s)whichappearstogivebetterlongtermsta-bility.References[1]Yoder,C.F.1995.``AstrometricandGeodeticPropertiesofEarthandtheSolarSystem''inGlobalEarthPhysics,AHandbookofPhysicalConstants,AGUReferenceShelf1,AmericanGeophysicalUnion.[2]ExplanatorySupplementtotheAstronomicalAlmanac.1992.K.P.Seidelmann,Ed.,p.706(Table15.8),UniversityScienceBooks,MillValley,California.

B.5 RotationelementsNorthpolePlanet

Rightascensionαααα1[°]

Declinationδδδδ1[°]

Obliquityofecliptic*[°]

LongitudeofSun’stransit*[°]

Mercury 280.99 61.44 7.01 228.31Venus 272.78 67.21 1.27 302.07Earth - 90 23.44 0Mars 317.61 52.85 26.72 262.78Jupiter 268.04 64.49 2.22 157.68Saturn 40.14 83.50 28.05 349.39Uranus 257.29 -15.09 82.19 167.62Neptune 295.25 40.63 29.48 221.13Pluto 311.50 4.14 68.69 225.19

Reference:TheAstronomicalAlmanac1990(Northpolecoordinates)(*)Derivedfromnorthpolecoordinates(MS)

B.6 AtmosphericparametersPlanet Surfacepressure

[kPa]Surfacedensity[kg/m3]

Scaleheight[km]

Avg.temp[K]

Windspeeds[m/s]

Mercury Venus 9200 ~65 15.9 737 0.3-1(surface)Earth 101.4 1.217 8.5 288 0-100Mars 0.61(variable) ~0.020 11.1 ~210 0-30Jupiter >>104 ~0.16at1bar 27 ~129

~165at1barupto150at<30°latitudeupto40else

Saturn >>104 ~0.19at1bar 59.5 ~97~134at1bar

upto400at<30°latitudeupto150else

Uranus >>104 ~0.42at1bar 27.7 ~58~76at1bar

0-200

Neptune >>104 ~0.45at1bar 19.1-20.3 ~58~72at1bar

0-200

Pluto

AppendixC CalculationoforbitalelementsSixscalarparameters(“elements”)arerequiredtodefinetheshapeofanellipticorbit, itsori-entationinspaceandalocationalongitstrajectory.a Semi-majoraxise Eccentricityi InclinationΩ Longitudeofascendingnodeω argumentofperiapsisυ trueanomaly

C.1 CalculatingelementsfromstatevectorsLetrandvbe thecartesianpositionandvelocityvectorsofanorbitingobject incoordinatesofareferenceframewithrespecttowhichtheelementsoftheorbitaretobecalculated(e.g.geocentricequatorial foranorbitaroundEarth,orheliocentricecliptic foranorbitaroundtheSun).Weassumearight-handedsystemwiththex-axispointingtowardsthevernalequinox(orotherreferencedirection)andthez-axispointingupwards.Computethefollowingauxiliaryvectors:

⋅−

−=

−=×=

−+−−=×=

vvrrr

e

hzn

vrh

)(||

1

)0,,(

),,(

2 µµ

v

hh

vrvrvrvrvrvr

xy

xyyxxzzxyzzy

where h isa vectorperpendicular to theorbital plane,n points towards theascendingnode(thez-componentofniszero),andeistheeccentricityvector(pointingtowardstheperiapsis)with GM=µ , G isthegravitationalconstantand M isthemassofthecentralbody(neglect-ingthemassoftheorbiter).Semi-majoraxis:

Ea

2

µ−= with||2

2

rµ−= v

E

Eccentricity:

|| e=e or2

221

µEh

e +=

Inclination:

||arccos

hzh

i =

Longitudeofascendingnode:

||arccos

nxn=Ω (if 0<yn then Ω−=Ω π2 )

Ω is the angle between reference direction (1,0,0) (e.g. vernal equinox) and the ascendingnode.Ωisundefinedforequatorialorbits(i=0),inwhichcaseORBITERbyconventionsetsΩ=0,i.e. it places the ascending node in the reference direction, which is equivalent to setting

)0,0,1(|| =nn .Argumentofperiapsis:

||||arccos

enen ⋅=ω (if 0<ze then ωπω −= 2 )

ω is theanglebetween theascendingnodeand theperiapsis. ω is undefined forequatorialorbitsinwhichcaseaccordingtoaboveconventionweget

||arccos

exe=ω (if 0<ze then ωπω −= 2 )

ω isalsoundefinedforcircularorbits inwhichcaseORBITERbyconventionplacestheperi-apsisattheascendingnode,i.e.ω=0.Trueanomaly:

||||arccos

rere ⋅=υ (if 0<⋅ vr then υπυ −= 2 )

υ is theanglebetween theperiapsis and object position.Note that this expression is unde-fined for circular orbits, in which case the periapsis coincides with the ascending node ac-cordingtotheconventionabove,i.e.

||||arccos

rnrn ⋅=υ (if 0>⋅ vn then υπυ −= 2 )

Ifinadditiontheinclinationiszerothenthetrueanomalyfurthersimplifiesto

||arccos

rxr=υ (if 0>xv then υπυ −= 2 )

Somedependentparameterscanbederivedfromtheaboveelements:Lineareccentricity:ε=aeSemi-minoraxis:

)1( 222 eab −=

Periapsisandapoapsisdistances:

)1(

)1(

ead

ead

a

p

+=

−=

Longitudeoftheperiapsis:

ωϖ +Ω= Eccentricanomaly:

e

aE

||1arccos

r−=

Meananomaly:

EeEM sin−= Meanlongitude:

ϖ+= ML Truelongitude:

υϖ +=l Orbitperiod:

µπ 32 aT =


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