Having trouble understanding the "minmus tundra orbit" contract.

[Howerdlhaufa]

Well, they want me to put a probe around minmus and I do not understand even the job description:
-apoapsis 709000km that's quite clear.
-periapsis 6300km, ok.
-inclination 116.6°. What is zero, equatorial? What is 90°? Polar? But what is 116°? Does that mean going clockwise 64°?
-Longitude of ascending node: 133.5° Ascending node relative to what? I mean minmus is rotating underneath, so how can I refer to a longitude?
-And now my favorite: Argument of periapsis: 90°. I can only guess what that is supposed to mean.
Anybody can explain that to me, please? I feel like totally sphere-coordinately challenged.

[Dr Jebus]

Look on space centre, or just the zoomed out view once the contract is picked up. You will be shown an image of what the orbit should look like, with moving dot to show direction. Just match your orbit to the one shown.

[Super.Skirv]

It should have a tooltip on who's contract orbit it is, just match it with the comtract your trying to complete. Then just match the circle/oval you see around the moon, just remember to be going the correct direction.... screwed myself once or twice because of that...

[Howerdlhaufa]

Ahh, there it is. Thanks guys.
But before establishing said orbit I really have to ponder about it's weird description. Is it really that complicated...

[Melfice]

Jeeze, it's not rocket science!
... oh, wait.

Yes, it is.
I'm sure some science-bloke will come in, but I mostly just look at the map screen. ;) Rocket science.

[Howerdlhaufa]

Judging by the drawn orbit I think I get it it.
-Looking down from north (Planets rotating counterclockwise around the sun) the desired orbit really goes clockwise. And it's about 64° - more polar than equatorial.
-The longitude relative to the ascending node means ascending node kerbin-minmus. That's the "side flip"-degree of freedom.
-Argument of periapsis 90° means that the apoapsis lies straight down south. But that's still a tricky one for me. I could not've drawn the right orbit if they'd told me any odd number.

[Stangryn]

Originally posted by Howerdlhaufa:

Ahh, there it is. Thanks guys.
But before establishing said orbit I really have to ponder about it's weird description. Is it really that complicated...

It IS rocket science, just they dumb it down enough for most of us to still be able to play with it. So yes, it IS that complicated... actually far moreso than we see in this game.

[Howerdlhaufa]

Originally posted by Stangryn:

Originally posted by Howerdlhaufa:

Ahh, there it is. Thanks guys.
But before establishing said orbit I really have to ponder about it's weird description. Is it really that complicated...

It IS rocket science, just they dumb it down enough for most of us to still be able to play with it. So yes, it IS that complicated... actually far moreso than we see in this game.

Yes, you are right.
I thought about it and came to the conclusion
that the coordinates they gave me are not über-determined. You really need all these degrees of freedom in space.

[Howerdlhaufa]

What really impresses me in real space flight is their navigation ability. In ksp you just have to press the m button and you can look up your position, the space stations position and plot a maneuver node. Position, speed and direction, it's all there. But in the soyus capsule there is no m-key. Hats off to these real astronaut guys.

[Shacklestein]

https://lmddgtfy.net/?q=argument%20of%20periapsis

(apologies…)

Argument of periapsis is the angle between the reference plane – in your case Minmus equator – and your periapsis. So if it's 0°, periapsis will be at Equator. 90° means periapsis is at the moment when you are at the Northernmost point of the orbit. Which makes perfect sense for a Tundra Orbit.

[=)]

my trick is to line up for the mun/minmus as usual then have a course correction before you enter its orbit.. focus the view on the moon (or planet) you are heading to then from there you can see your projected path (orange line).. tweak the manuver node untill your path crosses the target orbit... execute this node then its a very simple matter of dropping a new node at the intersection and correcting to be in the right orbit for the contract. can do the whole thing with just 2 corrections after the transfer burn that way.

[Howerdlhaufa]

Thakns space core. I think I can get me into orbit - tomorrow. For the moment I'm just fascinated by the mathematics :-)
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/eb/Orbit1.svg