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Flying the Shuttle - Launch: Difference between revisions
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[[File:Launch veci vs time.gif|600px|Space Shuttle ascent trajectory: inertial velocity vs. time]] | [[File:Launch veci vs time.gif|600px|Space Shuttle ascent trajectory: inertial velocity vs. time]] | ||
== Three, two one... ignition and... liftoff - a launch tutorial == | |||
{{WIP}} | |||
(written for the devel version of April. 2016) | |||
<i>In this tutorial, you'll learn how to program a launch into the Shuttle's guidance system, what happens during a launch and how to monitor ascent into orbit.</i> | |||
* Start Flightgear with the commandline options | |||
<code>--aircraft=SpaceShuttle-launch --lat=28.6206 --lon=-80.6133 --heading=270 --timeofday=morning</code> | |||
You'll find yourself on a pad in launch complex 39 at the cape, on a hot Florida morning. You have in fact just a few minutes to liftoff. | |||
[[File:Launch tutorial01.jpg|600px|Ready to go]] | |||
<i>If you toy with the idea that specifying a heading is silly, be warned - it's crucial for the launch guidance to find a viable solution that the tail fin of the Shuttle points into the Eastern hemisphere - keep this in mind if you want to launch from somewhere else in the world.</i> | |||
* Now, in reality the launch has been in planning for months if not years, and all guidance information is already loaded and cross checked at this point. FG doesn't (yet) support mission files or similar, so we need to tell the computer where we want to go. Open <b>SpaceShuttle -> Launch guidance</b>, select a target inclination of 51.5 degrees or so (that'd be required for a launch to ISS), leave the branch and target apoapsis as they are (you'll go to a 320 km orbit) and press <b>Activate</b>. The guidance now knows where to go. | |||
Next, tell the Shuttle that you want the flight on autopilot by selecting the PITCH AUTO and ROLL/YAW AUTO pushbuttons on the forward panel (circled in red, underneath the transparent checklist). | |||
[[File:Launch tutorial02.jpg|600px|Working through the checklist]] | |||
Flying the Shuttle manually into orbit isn't actually difficult at all - if you know what you have to do, because you need to anticipate a few things and that's what we're out to learn here. But if you want to take over from the automatic guidance at any point, push the CSS pushbutton for the channel (you can just take control of pitch and let the DAP handle yaw/roll for instance). <b> After activating CSS in-flight, do not attempt to hand control back to the AP - this will not work!</b>. | |||
[[File:Launch tutorial03.jpg|600px|And... we have liftoff. Atlantis is on her way!]] | |||
[[File:Launch tutorial04.jpg|600px|Launch tutorial 1]] | |||
[[File:Launch tutorial05.jpg|600px|Launch tutorial 1]] | |||
[[File:Launch tutorial06.jpg|600px|Launch tutorial 1]] | |||
[[File:Launch tutorial08.jpg|600px|Launch tutorial 1]] | |||
[[File:Launch tutorial09.jpg|600px|Launch tutorial 1]] | |||
[[File:Launch tutorial10.jpg|600px|Launch tutorial 1]] | |||
== Further reading == | == Further reading == | ||