Orbiter 2010 - Learn With Me #2 (Part 6) - Titan Orbit Insertion

Channel:

David Courtney

Subscribers:

3,450

Published on October 14, 2012 5:33:08 AM ● Video Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=84dCDqjkZNE

Game:

Orbiter (2000)

Duration: 37:29

884 views

20

In this video, I am picking up a short while after reaching Saturn's periapsis. My goal is to get back over to Titan, and try to come in with a better approach so that I can achieve a stable orbit this time.

Playlist: Playlist: http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLPu_SHPaJzs6btFofXYSS_Hh73RIJzcAG

If you want to follow along, you can download the scenario here:
http://db.tt/ao48VtSW

After a bit of additional experimentation, I've found that I can in fact use the atmosphere of Titan to eliminate all 9km/s of velocity. It feels like the vessel is right on the edge of failing, and the amount of g-force is so high that it feels like a very unrealistic approach, but within the parameters set by Orbiter and the XR5, it does in fact work.

At that 9km/s velocity, the low point at Titan seems to be around 135km. If you go any lower than that, you won't survive. But what I assume is due to the relatively low gravity of Titan, the upper altitude limit isn't much further up. If you come into Titan at 9km/s and have an altitude of 160km, you won't have as much overheating danger, but you won't reduce your velocity enough to get captured either.

Without doing a ton of testing, I kind of think the best approach (best as in safest / most practical for human flight) would be similar to what I do in my upcoming Learn With Me #3 series. That is, establish a high orbit around the major body first, and then rendezvous with the target body. By doing it that way, your encounter velocity with the target body is much lower.


After recording this series of videos, I started a thread on Orbiter-Forum to find out how I could add a landing pad on Phobos. You can see that thread here:

http://orbiter-forum.com/showthread.php?t=29129

After a bit of discussion, "dgatsoulis" created an amazing base which has 3 landing pads and a loading area on top of an elevated platform. The landing pads make it quite a bit easier to find your target and land on Phobos because you can use the VOR/VTOL MFD. And the elevated platform makes landings look a lot nicer because you don't have half of your vessel disappearing into the mesh.

It's a great add-on. If you plan to visit Phobos, I highly recommend checking it out:
http://orbithangar.com/searchid.php?ID=5867


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. 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 by Doug Beachy

http://www.alteaaerospace.com

Be sure to visit the Orbiter online community:

http://www.Orbiter-Forum.com

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