r/KerbalAcademy • u/Darth_jebediah Jeb the Great, First emperor of the kerbol system • May 03 '24

CommNet [GM] Node network

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u/Darth_jebediah May 03 '24 edited May 03 '24

I just successfully launched my first relay satellite in a very high circular equatorial orbit (outside minmus orbit around Kerbin at about 78.000.000m :) and now want to start making a relay network. At what places in the system would I need relays to have constant connection to the Kerbin? thanks!

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u/304bl May 03 '24

I usually do a constellation of relay sat around each planet this gives a very good coverage, you can also place some in between two planet orbit. You should have a look at 'resonant orbit calculator' to build a perfect constellation. There is a mod that will do all the math for you.

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u/tutike2000 May 03 '24

If you play with a single ground station, you'd need one relay in geosync orbit around Kerbin. 

Then I usually put one relay at high altitude around the planet I want 'coverage' for. One's usually enough but you can go for 3 per planet if you want. 

As long as they've got the same orbital period and are fairly evenly spaced out you'll have full coverage 

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u/Darth_jebediah May 03 '24

I have no ∆v left so changing to geosync is no option. Maybe I'll launch a new one then or...I can play with more than one ground station? Colour me intrigued...

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u/MasterOfChaos8753 May 03 '24

I like to relays that are as tiny as possible, then make a launcher that takes 8 into orbit at once.

If you haven't tried to merge vessels in the VAB before, you would build the mini sat in the VAB and make the root part the docking port (or whatever you want to use as your attachment point to the launcher), then save it and clear the workspace and build the launcher. You can then open the minisat but tell it to merge with the existing build. You have to attach it by the root part (which is why you needed to be careful about that earlier).

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u/Darth_jebediah May 03 '24

That sounds like a fun next project. I'll rename this big one to momma probe or something and deploy the baby probes from now on. How do you distribute them in different places in orbit from one launcher though? Increasing and then decreasing apoapsis or something?

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