Orbiter 2010 - Deorbit and Reentry on Mars with the XR2 Ravenstar

Channel:

David Courtney

Subscribers:

3,450

Published on November 15, 2012 1:30:24 AM ● Video Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5MjdUKReiR4

Game:

Orbiter (2000)

Duration: 32:42

1,079 views

13

This is a video response to TinFoilChef's video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dqsax_Z4VQU

At 11:55, what I wanted to say was that when you're trying to land on Mars, you need to get down very low in order for the atmosphere to do its job. When you're up around 10km or higher, the atmosphere is so thin that it would take FOREVER to slow down.

The atmosphere at and below 30km does a Great Job of eliminating the bulk of your Orbital Velocity, but it's not until you get Way, Way down near the surface that the atmosphere becomes thick enough to slow you down to a few hundred meters per second. (Whereas on Earth, the atmosphere is much thicker and will slow you down to subsonic speed when you're still very high above the ground.)

So in short, when trying to land on Mars, if you don't come in very low, then you will end up at the base with a velocity that is still far too fast to manage.



Add-on MFD's that I tend to use the most:

AeroBrakeMFD: http://orbithangar.com/searchid.php?ID=2139
BaseSyncMFD: http://koti.mbnet.fi/jarmonik/Orbiter.html (scroll to the bottom of the page)
Burn Time Calculator: http://orbithangar.com/searchid.php?ID=4530
Launch MFD: http://orbithangar.com/searchid.php?ID=2802
Glideslope MFD: http://orbithangar.com/searchid.php?ID=2763

Other Add-on MFD's that I don't use often, but I like them for their specific purpose:

Attitude MFD: http://orbithangar.com/searchid.php?ID=3165
Interplanetary MFD 5.5: http://koti.mbnet.fi/jarmonik/Orbiter.html
Rendezvous MFD: http://orbithangar.com/searchid.php?ID=1199
LunarTransferMFD: http://koti.mbnet.fi/jarmonik/Orbiter.html

Note, the version of TransX that comes bundled with Orbiter 2010 has a known bug that causes it to draw the graphics improperly. (The graphic appears as a solid white circle.) You can read about the problem here:

http://www.orbiter-forum.com/project.php?issueid=564

To work around this bug, I am using TransX 3.13.1.2, which I downloaded from here:

http://orbiter.quorg.org/releases

Orbiter is a free space simulator by Martin Schweiger. Visit the main Orbiter website here:

http://orbit.medphys.ucl.ac.uk

Download Orbiter here:

http://orbitersimulator.com/orbiter-2010-downloads/

XR2 Ravenstar / XR5 Vanguard by Doug Beachy

http://www.alteaaerospace.com

Be sure to visit the Orbiter online community:

http://www.Orbiter-Forum.com

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