Reentry - A Space Flight Simulator News

This is a little patch where a few major issues in the AGC has been fixed. In addition, the Mercury flashlight bug is fixed.

- An issue prevented P40 to work after setting it up with P30 (SPS burn). It's important to press ENTER after changing one of the registers that define the time of ignition, before proceeding with P30.

- A race condition prevented the ignition of the SPS when the countdown to ignition reached zero. An engine ignition flag was set, but for some was overridden due to a race condition, preventing it to start. This is now fixed, and R2 (dV remaining) should now reflect the planned burn, and not indicate 00000.

- The flashlight in the Mercury capsule was too weak, and is now functional again.

Thanks again to the community for reporting these issues!

The latest patch contains a lot of fixes, and some new features. The main bug-fix area is the CM RCS system and its DAP. You should now be able to translate normally again (but remember to power up the jets).

In addition, there are a lot of new systems in development, all surrounding the lunar landing. These changes includes the rendering of the Moon, sizing and transition, as well as the LM radars used to land on the surface.

Thanks for reporting issues and for playing Reentry! My main goal currently is to complete the technical implementation for performing a lunar landing. Once this is complete, it can be refined and the LGC guidance logic can be started.

I'm happy to announce that patch 0.302.EA is out!

The major part of this patch is bug-fixes from the initial 0.300 release, as well as some system placeholders for the Lunar Module.

There are 100's of fixes here and there, but here are the major changes:
- The Mercury-Atlas 6 mission has been fixed when it comes to the activity checks, and mission progress.

- Added more particles during Apollo stage sep and Saturn V ascent.

- The Lunar Module has received placeholder logic for the Rendezvous Radar and the Landing Radar. These need more work, but you can start to play around with them. A chapter on these radars has been added to the manual.

- The X-Pointer on the Lunar Module has been implemented. It's input is based on input-signals from the radars, but at least you can now change some if its modes and see these on the glowing labels on the X-Pointers themselves.

- The IMU alignment during the Apollo launch procedures as received some fixes, as well as the guidance logic.

- The Apollo and LM RCS and DAP logic has received some fixes, but is being worked on.

- Fixed typos in the Lunar Module academy lessons


Thanks for reporting issues, and helping me make Reentry better!

With the release of the Lunar Module for Reentry, I decided to create a little post regarding some of the material available so you can learn how to operate and fly the Lunar Module yourself.

Keep in mind that the Lunar Module is considered an advanced spacecraft and requires some study to operate. This post will help you navigate through all the great sources.

1) The Lunar Module Academy
The Lunar Module Academy is the in-game lessons led by an instructor, that will take you through the major components and how the Lunar Module works. There are multiple academies available, each designed to teach you the various systems available.

In addition to this, I will soon be uploading short videos that teaches you some of the systems over at the Reentry - An Orbital Simulator YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCaTAqRYeGxQRZ1CNZLJ439g

2) The Lunar Module Flight Manual for Reentry
I have create a Lunar Module Flight Manual, currently 190 pages, that takes you through it's history, major components, and system deep-dives. The manual is based on documentation created by NASA and Grumman.
Link: http://reentrygame.com/gamemanuals/

3) NASA Apollo Lunar Module News Reference
This guide is an illustrative manual that describes the Lunar Module, it's mission and all its systems.
Link: https://www.hq.nasa.gov/alsj/LM_%20NewsReference_%28267_pp%29.pdf

4) Apollo Operations Handbook, Lunar Module, Volume I, Subsystems Data
The LM Operations Handbook is the real deal, and goes into the full depths of the Lunar Module, and was the guide that was used in the real training. Volume I is describing all the different systems of the Lunar Module.
Link: https://www.hq.nasa.gov/alsj/LM10HandbookVol1.pdf

5) Apollo Operations Handbook, Lunar Module, Volume II, Operational Procedures
This is the second volume of the LM Operations Handbook and describes how each system is used by the astronauts. These are mainly checklists and procedures. Many of these checklists are available in the Mission Pad in-game.
Link: https://www.hq.nasa.gov/alsj/LM11HandbookVol2.pdf

The following link is a collection of various documents made available by NASA: https://www.hq.nasa.gov/alsj/alsj-LMdocs.html

Phew, it's been a while since the previous update, 4 months to be precise. The reason for this is the hard work needed to get the initial version of the Lunar Module into Reentry.

With that done, the rest of the bits will come through frequent updates as we move towards landing on the Moon. Keep in mind that the Lunar Modul is in a very early stage still. Landing on the Moon and musing major programs on the LGC is not yet possible.

Major changes:
- Lunar Module Preview added to Reentry, including a lot of the integration work.
- FPS Camera control: You now strafe correctly inside the cockpits
- Cockpit limits are removed. The screen will fade to black when you are out-of-bounds.
- Graphics settings screen has changed, giving you more control. This is mostly a placeholder.
- DAP control for CM and LM is available through V48E on the AGC/LGC.
- Better camera control in Apollo Orbit View.
- Apollo Orbit paths are resized based on camera zoom.
- Some initial TLI tools has been added, and the entire TLI algorithms are changed. Still far to go here, but TLI now takes you closer to the Moon. :)
- Lunar Module Academy was added.

In addition, thousands of minor features and bug-fixes has been made.

Thanks to the Test Pilots who did an excellent job testing this thing, so we could get the major issues out of the way. Still a lot left, but it's a good start!

You can get familiar with the Lunar Module through the Academy Lessons, as well as the Lunar Module Flight Manual: http://reentrygame.com/gamemanuals/