• Which the release of FS2020 we see an explosition of activity on the forun and of course we are very happy to see this. But having all questions about FS2020 in one forum becomes a bit messy. So therefore we would like to ask you all to use the following guidelines when posting your questions:

    • Tag FS2020 specific questions with the MSFS2020 tag.
    • Questions about making 3D assets can be posted in the 3D asset design forum. Either post them in the subforum of the modelling tool you use or in the general forum if they are general.
    • Questions about aircraft design can be posted in the Aircraft design forum
    • Questions about airport design can be posted in the FS2020 airport design forum. Once airport development tools have been updated for FS2020 you can post tool speciifc questions in the subforums of those tools as well of course.
    • Questions about terrain design can be posted in the FS2020 terrain design forum.
    • Questions about SimConnect can be posted in the SimConnect forum.

    Any other question that is not specific to an aspect of development or tool can be posted in the General chat forum.

    By following these guidelines we make sure that the forums remain easy to read for everybody and also that the right people can find your post to answer it.

FSX Spaceflight dynamics module for FSX

Yes Bjoern, that did make your comment clearer.
At first I thought you were referring to the sim "Space Orbiter", which as far as I know doesn't include moon missions.

Then I thought you might mean that I was talking about moon missions in the context of Misho's project, which doesn't support moon missions either, only Earth orbital flights.

If you had written "Orbiter Space Flight Simulator", I probably still would have initially thought "Space Orbiter", but the extra title info would have prompted a red flashing light in my brain initiating a quick Internet search leading to enlightenment.

OSFS looks interesting, yet I cannot recall hearing it mentioned, and in fact, searching here at FSD brought up only one thread where it was discussed. Other than Hovercontrol, I don't frequent many other flight sim forums. I will have to give OSFS a go when I get a chance.

Thanks for the heads up Bjoern, sorry for my ambiguous comments, it all makes perfect sense to me now.

Cheers
Gman
 
Heretic said:
You don't need a remote command. Just leave it up there and microgravity will do the rest.
Click to expand...

Not microgravity, but orbital decay. Orbital decay is due to the traces of atmosphere that are present all the way up to 10,000 km (Exosphere) providing resistance to the orbiting body, and slowly but steadily slowing down the object and making it eventually fall back to Earth.
 
Gman said:
Without the option to fly to and orbit the moon in Misho's sim, I guess the Saturn V and its Apollo CSM will be "all dressed up with nowhere to go."
Click to expand...

Not so fast :D... Who said there will be no option to orbit the Moon? Agreed - FSX has an upper orbital limit of 30480km, a bit short of geostationary orbit (35786 km). But, it would be possible to:

- Perform a TLI (Trans Lunar Injection) burn while still in LEO
- Let spacecraft coast to the FSX limit altitude.
- Calculate trajectory vector, and Lunar orbit entry vector, assuming non-powered coast to Moon (which Apollo did after TLI).
- Save this info into a data file and prompt user to re-start the FSX. Rename a few directories and on re-start, FSX loads a lunar scenery (a re-skinned Earth with lunar textures)
- data file is read and the spacecraft is placed into the lunar orbit trajectory, as per TLI parameter and projected coast.

Bingo - you have spacecraft in Lunar orbit. I have previously managed to re-skin the whole Earth with Lunar textures: (And yes, this is my own Apollo CSM :) )
upload_2016-10-1_2-1-46.png

upload_2016-10-1_2-2-14.png



... but the right approach would be to, instead of textures, re-define landclasses and create lunar surface using landclasses. This would allow for a much much better resolution.

The ONLY wrinkle I haven't tested yet is, is it possible to shrink the Earth sphere using terrain resampling. I know there is a way to lower elevation values using "Bias" parameter but I'm not sure how far the Earth can be shrunk.
 
Also - A while ago, in 2008, I created a Lunar Rover add on for my TerraBuilder:Moon add-on for FS9... It didn't have the benefit of SimConnect, but I tweaked cfg and air files until I got a pretty convincing Lunar Rover "Drive model" ;) From there, I created custom gauges and a simple thermal model, just like the real LRV... check out the video here:

 
Ok, now you have my deepest respect forever! How did you manage to get these tracks? Effects?
 
Gman said:
OSFS looks interesting, yet I cannot recall hearing it mentioned, and in fact, searching here at FSD brought up only one thread where it was discussed. Other than Hovercontrol, I don't frequent many other flight sim forums. I will have to give OSFS a go when I get a chance.
Click to expand...

Since Orbiter is freeware, it won't even hurt your wallet. It will take some reading to get it up and running though.



Misho said:
Not microgravity, but orbital decay. Orbital decay is due to the traces of atmosphere that are present all the way up to 10,000 km (Exosphere) providing resistance to the orbiting body, and slowly but steadily slowing down the object and making it eventually fall back to Earth.
Click to expand...

Oops. Yep, drag it is. You didn't implement that already, did you? :D
 
Heretic said:
Oops. Yep, drag it is. You didn't implement that already, did you? :D
Click to expand...

Not yet... but I do have the framework in place. All I need to do is derive a formula (altitude vs. air density), calculate the friction force based on speed and spacecraft general cross section, and apply it in direction of motion. (We need a nerd emoji :rotfl:)
 
Im using orbiter as I can't wait for Misho's addon, but....I prefer FSX :P Misho, waiting is painful, please release a public beta, :P
 
Marc L said:
Im using orbiter as I can't wait for Misho's addon, but....I prefer FSX :p Misho, waiting is painful, please release a public beta, :p
Click to expand...
It will definitely be an alpha release... Most of the features are NOT in yet.
 
well, just give what is already done, and update it when ready :)
Btw, how its going with the video? if you need, I can do this for you (I have Fraps, OBS, ShadowPlay and, of course, free time)
 
Marc L said:
well, just give what is already done, and update it when ready :)
Btw, how its going with the video? if you need, I can do this for you (I have Fraps, OBS, ShadowPlay and, of course, free time)
Click to expand...

Marc, think of it, a video isn't made in one day generally and a developer might have other priorities ;)
 
Heretic said:
Since Orbiter is freeware, it won't even hurt your wallet. It will take some reading to get it up and running though.
Click to expand...

Yes, as a loyal member of PA, (Paywareaholics Anonymous) I was impressed by the fact that OSFS was free. I will have to check it out, and I don't mind the reading. Thanks again for the heads up. :)

Misho said:
Not so fast :D... Who said there will be no option to orbit the Moon? Agreed - FSX has an upper orbital limit of 30480km, a bit short of geostationary orbit (35786 km). But, it would be possible to:
Click to expand...

Hi Misho,
That all sounds great, I didn't know it would do all of that, PLUS much much more.

Misho said:
Also - A while ago, in 2008, I created a Lunar Rover add on for my TerraBuilder:Moon add-on for FS9... It didn't have the benefit of SimConnect, but I tweaked cfg and air files until I got a pretty convincing Lunar Rover "Drive model" ;) From there, I created custom gauges and a simple thermal model, just like the real LRV... check out the video here:
Click to expand...

Oh my gosh, as a loyal member of PA, (Paywareaholics Anonymous) I am truly shaken by your video, that's got to be one of the most amazing simulations I can recall seeing.

And your Apollo CSM is a work of art, in fact I think it just about to become my desktop background.
You sir, are a steely-eyed missile man. ;)

Cheers
Gary
 
Misho said:
Not yet... but I do have the framework in place. All I need to do is derive a formula (altitude vs. air density), calculate the friction force based on speed and spacecraft general cross section, and apply it in direction of motion. (We need a nerd emoji :rotfl:)
Click to expand...

Maybe these will help:
http://cosmos.phy.tufts.edu/~zirbel/laboratories/Satellite.pdf
http://www.braeunig.us/space/orbmech.htm#perturbation
http://www.sws.bom.gov.au/Category/...Effects/SatelliteOrbitalDecayCalculations.pdf


Can't wait to take Enterprise on a Skylab boost mission! :D
 
Interesting reflections on the Apollo CSM. We finally have the evidence: there's life outside earth :rotfl:
 
Gman said:
Yes, as a loyal member of PA, (Paywareaholics Anonymous) I was impressed by the fact that OSFS was free. I will have to check it out, and I don't mind the reading. Thanks again for the heads up. :)



Hi Misho,
That all sounds great, I didn't know it would do all of that, PLUS much much more.



Oh my gosh, as a loyal member of PA, (Paywareaholics Anonymous) I am truly shaken by your video, that's got to be one of the most amazing simulations I can recall seeing.

And your Apollo CSM is a work of art, in fact I think it just about to become my desktop background.
You sir, are a steely-eyed missile man. ;)

Cheers
Gary
Click to expand...
Thanks, you are very kind! :D
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top