Orbital rendezvous

An Orbital Rendezvous is a series of maneuvers which result in a craft achieving a stable condition of close proximity to a target object orbiting the same parent body.

In general, an orbital rendezvous involves two steps - encounter and velocity matching.

Encounter

The process of creating an encounter with a target object requires the player to meet two conditions. The first is that the orbit of the craft must intersect the orbit of the target (this is usually tangential for efficiency). The second is that both craft and target must be at the intersection at the same time.

Velocity Matching

Once the craft is in close proximity to the target, a maneuver is made to match velocity with target, thus matching orbits. When relative velocity is null, a more or less stable situation exists. The player can then EVA to the target, dock with the target (if craft and/or target are properly equipped), or perform any task which requires the craft to remain in close proximity to the target.

Tutorials

Several tutorials exist which can help the player learn the process of orbital rendezvous.

• Orbital Rendezvous
• Orbital Docking with the Kergena Target Vehicle
• A detailed discussion on how to meet objects in orbit, including how to synchronize orbits/phases
• In depth tutorial for an orbital rendezvous and docking by It's Just Rocket Science

A summary of how to do a rendezvous:

1. Go to the map view and use the maneuver tool.
2. Begin by matching your orbital inclination as described above. During the procedure below occasionally check to ensure that the inclination is exactly zeroed and make correction burns as necessary.
3. Bring one point on your orbit (ideally an apsis) tangent to the target orbit. You will see an orange/purple pair of arrows. Each colored arrow corresponds to the relative position of you and your target. The orange is the nearest encounter, and the purple is the next encounter after that.
4. At the point of nearest encounter maneuver to make:
   1. your orbits as close as possible to each other.
   2. the next encounter (probably right back here) to within 0.5 km or so.
5. On reaching that encounter, burn to match velocity. To do this, go back to the staging or docking screen. Click on the "point of reference" on the navball until it displays the relative target velocity. Rotate the "Level indicator" (which indicates the direction your vehicle is pointing) until it is aligned with "Retrograde" marker and burn until you bring the relative target velocity (displayed at the top of the navball) close to zero (ideally less than 1–2 m/s). At this point you have brought your vehicle close to the target and almost stationary relative to the target - your orbits and velocities should now be nearly identical, and position separated only by a fraction of a kilometer.
6. Now, rotate so that the "Level indicator" is aligned with the "Target Prograde" marker . This points the nose of your vehicle towards the target. You should keep these markers aligned as you approach the target until you are within a few metres and ready to make the final docking maneuvers. Using the SAS may help with this.
7. Activate your RCS system, this gives you the finest control of your approach.
8. Press the "H" key to start moving towards the target (using RCS thrusters to thrust forward). You should keep the relative velocity low as you approach (less than 10 m/s when more than 500m away, slower as you approach). You should see the "Prograde" marker line up with the "Target Prograde" marker (check that you navball is still has the "Target" as its "Point of Reference"). Use the lateral thrust keys ("I","J","K" and "L") to adjust the "Prograde" marker as you approach, and keep it lined up with the "Target Prograde" marker.
9. As you get closer, use the "N" key to slow your approach. Slow down gradually to ~1 m/s by the time you are within 50 meters or so. Eventually come to a stop (0 m/s relative velocity) close to the target.