Align orbital planes

Although the Ascent processor has tried to minimize the relative inclination to the target orbit as much as possible, the remaining inclination might still be considered to large by REDSHIFT. So before synchronizing orbits, REDSHIFT tries to get a RInc of less than 0.1°.

Alignment manoeuvres can only take place on certain points of the orbit, so REDSHIFT is waiting for the next such point to bring the value below the limit.

Process definition

<Step>
  <Label>Plane alignment with ISS</Label>
  <Processor type="AlignOrbit">
    <Var name="Reference"> ISS </Var>
  </Processor>
</Step>

Reference defines the target orbit we will align with.

Align: If you are using the Reference variable, the Align variable let you specifiy which reference parameters to use for orbital alignment. It defaults to RInc (the current behaviour) but can be a comma-seperated of the following parameters: RInc, PeD and ApD. This allows you to adjust your peri- and apoapsis distance to the reference object in this processor as well.

PeD sets the target periapsis distance. If used together with the Reference variable, this will override the periapsis distance from the reference object.

ApD sets the target apoapsis distance. If used together with the Reference variable, this will override the apoapsis distance from the reference object.

Plane sets the target plane parameters as two floating point numbers (inclination and longitude of AN). If used together with the Reference variable, this will override the plane definition from the reference object.

TurnTime specifies the longest time (in seconds) that the ship will need to turn to a specified direction. Defaults to 30 seconds.

Example steps with the new variables look like:

<Step>
  <Label>Plane alignment with ISS</Label>
  <Processor type="AlignOrbit">
    <Var name="Reference"> ISS </Var>
    <Var name="Align"> RInc, PeD, ApD </Var>
  </Processor>
</Step>

<Step>
  <Label>Direct plane alignment</Label>
  <Processor type="AlignOrbit">
    <Var name="Plane"> 74.51, 169.03 </Var>
    <Var name="PeD"> 6.729M </Var>
    <Var name="ApD"> 6.741M </Var>
    <Var name="TurnTime"> 45 </Var>
  </Processor>
</Step>