## The Launch

Load the scenario "DG_Launch" from the REDSHIFT scenario folder. This scenarion puts you into a DeltaGlider at Habana Spaceport. The mission is to launch from Habana, dock to the ISS and deliver new experiments, undock about one day later and re-entry to earth with a final landing at Baikonur - all on autopilot.

From the main menu in the REDSHIFT MFD select "Missions" and then "DeltaGlider to ISS". Start the launch processor by selecting the process "Launch from Habana Spaceport". The Launch process screen appears:

The upper part of a process screen is shared among all processors. It contains the title of the MFD, the currently selected mission / branch, REDSHIFT uptime (UT) and process time (PT).

If you have selected a mission (as in our case), the sequence list is displayed below the time bar. The currently selected step in the FOP is highlighted in yellow. If you have started a stand-alone process, this list it not displayed.

Next on the Launch processor screen is a status log. While the process is running, messages will scroll through that give you information about what is going on, e.g. what activities are started (or stopped) by the process and so on…

While waiting for launch the lower part of the screen shows the remaining time to lift-off (if this clock goes below 15 seconds, the process prepares for launch and more and more messages will show up in the log window).

Some processor (like thze launch processor) can also show a running graph of flight parameters. The launch processor is showing the curve of aerodynamic forces (stress) on the vessel as it passes through the atmosphere (The peak in the graph on the left is actually not maxQ but a local maximum during launch. The "real" maxQ is encountered during the ascend phase.

Whenever a process is currently running, REDSHIFT will control the time acceleration (even if the MFD is not visible). The process automatically decelerates the time acceleration towards real-time before it starts any other activity. This is helpful if you have to wait a long time for launch, on transfer orbits or when intercepting another object. You can accelerate time and don't have to care about switching back at the right time. The scenario is set up with plenty of time to wait, so you can try out this feature now. You will notice that REDSHIFT will not allow you to accelerate over a limit which ensures that REDSHIFT is never missing a critical point in the flight plan. In case of the launch processor it will reach real-time around 17 seconds before lift-off.

If you have lift-off of the vessel, you have to retract the landing gear yourself by pressing the G key (although not necessary, it looks nicer to have the gear retracted).

### Process definition

    <Step>
      <Label>Launch from Habana Spaceport</Label>
        <Processor type="Launch" mode="Hover">
        <Var name="StartAt"> T = 51982.6525 </Var>
        <Var name="Wakeup">	T - 200s </Var>
        <Var name="Base"> Earth:Habana:2 </Var>
        <Var name="Heading"> 90.00 </Var>
        <Var name="HoverAt"> 300 </Var>
        <Var name="Thrust"> 100 </Var>
        <Var name="Orientation"> 70.0  143.5 0.0 </Var>
        <Var name="CompleteAt"> H = 2000 </Var>
      </Processor>
    </Step>

mode="Hover": This setting tells the launch processor that the vessel will take off with its hover engines. As we are flying a Deltaglider, this is the favorite take-off mode. The other supported mode for a launch processor is "Rocket" which is used in the Ariane5 example. If you write a mission for the SpaceShuttle, you would also use "Rocket" as launch mode.

StartAt defines the launch time and is used with both modes. As you can see the launch time must be set in advance and is not calculated by the launch processor itself (at least not now). You may use Orbiter and the Map MFD to find a good launch time or any other program doing launch window calculation.

HoverAt is only defined for the "Hover" mode; it defines the altitude the vessel will climb, before it starts its heading correction and accelerates. (Since the vessel will drop quite a bit during the first phase of acceleration, it makes sense to set hover altitude to at least 300 meters).

Thrust sets the main engine thruster level during launch. This normally always set to 100 (meaning 100%).

Orientation defines the launch attitude and is a vector of three numbers all in degrees (0° - 360°). The first number defines the pitch, the second number sets the heading during launch and the last is the bank angle (currently only 0° as bank is handled; a SpaceShuttle would require 180° since it is going upside-down during launch). CompleteAt defines a altitude where the launch phase is considered complete. In our example this is set to 2km above ground.