Bug #25159
The ejection angle within a node for the Maneuver Mode system is changing when it shouldn't be
10%
Description
A maneuver node when placed purposely represents one point in time.
When a maneuver node is placed the ejection angle should be a number that doesn't change
because it can only be one value at that moment in time.
Screenshot is to show where I mean.
History
#1
Updated by Anonymous almost 4 years ago
- Status changed from New to Confirmed
- % Done changed from 0 to 10
The term 'ejection angle' is an odd way to describe what it means:
the position in your starting orbit, relative to your starting planet's orbital motion, at which you need to burn.
When 'Orbit' is selected, the 'ejection angle' shows the position of the craft relative to the planet's orbit's prograde, which is fine and could be useful if you are doing an ejection burn without using the maneuver nodes.
When 'Maneuver' is selected, the 'ejection angle' acts as if it is showing the position of a ghost-craft on the post-maneuver hyperbolic orbit, that ghost-craft being placed to meet the current craft at the time and place of the planned maneuver. This ghost-craft calculation is not too surprising because that is what you do to patch a craft's orbit to another conic section in the patched-conics scheme, but it is not useful here.
The reported 'ejection angle' of a maneuver also changes when the size of the burn changes, with the speed of the ghost-craft on the post-burn orbit. We do not want the angle of that ghost craft, but rather the angle of the maneuver.
When this feature first came out, no-one could figure out what it was displaying: https://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/index.php?/topic/183554-kerbal-space-program-17-%E2%80%9Croom-to-maneuver%E2%80%9D-grand-discussion-thread/&do=findComment&comment=3592032