globals.mkd

Globals

Kerbulator aims to supply the user to all readings provided by the various instruments in the cockpit and the map view of vanilla KSP. I feel it strikes a good balance between giving not to little and not too much precalculated information. This balance is important to keep the game fun.

This document describes the various variables that are defined as 'global', meaning you can use them in any function without having to initialize them yourself. You can however at any point in your function overwrite them with your own value and they will keep this value for the remainder of the current function (but not in other functions: the scope is local.) For example, Kerbulator provides the mass of the planet you are currently orbiting:

out: x "The original value of Parent.M"
out: y "A new value for Parent.M"

x = Parent.M # The mass of the parent body we're orbiting
Parent.M = 10 # Overwrite the value with our own
y = Parent.M

Some useful constants

Name	Description
pi	Mathematical constant Pi: 3.14159265359
π	Same as pi
e	Mathematical constant e: 2.71828182846
G	Graviational constant: 6.67384 × 10^(-11)
Inf	Positive infinity
∞	Same as Inf

Information about the world

Name	Description
UT	Seconds since epoch (AKA universal time)
MissionTime	Seconds since vehicle launch (AKA mission time)

Information about various orbits

Kerbulator has globals that correspond to all the information KSP gives the player about orbits for the following bodies. In the table below, replace {body} with the name of the body you wish to obtain information about.

Name	Description
{body}.Ap	Altitude (to sea-level of parent body) of the apoapsis
{body}.Pe	Altitude (to sea-level of parent body) of the periapsis
{body}.Alt	Altitude of this body above sea-level of parent body
{body}.ArgPe	Argument of periapsis (angle between the periapsis and ascending node)
{body}.ω	Same as {body}.ArgPe
{body}.LAN	The longitude of the ascending node
{body}.Ω	Same as {body}.LAN
{body}.TimeToPe	Time (in seconds) until the body will reach its periapsis
{body}.TimeToAp	Time (in seconds) until the body will reach its apoapsis
{body}.Vel	Current orbital velocity of the object
{body}.TrueAnomaly	True anomaly (angle between the current position of the body and its periapsis)
{body}.θ	Same as {body}.TrueAnomaly
{body}.Inc	The inclination of the body

If there is a SOI change occuring in the orbit, these are defined as well:

Name	Description
{body}.SOI.dt	Time (in seconds) until SOI change
{body}.SOI.Δt	Same as {body}.SOI.dt
{body}.SOI.TrueAnomaly	True anomaly of the SOI change
{body}.SOI.θ	Same as {body}.SOI.TrueAnomaly

Orbits are defined for the following bodies:

Name	Description
Craft	The craft you are currently flying
Target	The body currently selected as your target
Kerbol	The Sun, Kerbol
Moho	Planet Moho
Eve	Planet Eve
Gilly	Moon Gilly
Kerbin	Planet Kerbin
Mun	Moon Mun
Minmus	Moon Minmus
Duna	Planet Duna
Ike	Moon Ike
Dres	Planet Dres
Jool	Planet Jool
Laythe	Moon Laythe
Vall	Moon Vall
Tylo	Moon Tylo
Bop	Moon Bop
Pol	Moon Pol
Eeloo	Planet Eeloo

Information about celestial bodies

Apart from the orbits of the celestial bodies, some other information is provided as well. Replace {body} with the name of the celesial body you wish to obtain information about.

Name	Description
{body}.R	Radius of the body (in meters)
{body}.M	Mass of the body (in kilograms)
{body}.mu	Gravitational parameter (G*M) of the body
{body}.µ	Same as mu
{body}.day	Time (in seconds) it takes for the body to rotate around its axis
{body}.SOI	Size (in meters) of the sphere of influence of the body
{body}.Vel	Current orbital velocity of the object
{body}.AtmosHeight	Height (in meters) of the atmosphere of the body (0 if it doesn't have one)
{body}.AtmosPress	Pressure (in pascal) of the atmosphere of the body at sea level (0 if it doesn't have one)

Your navball

Name	Description
Navball.Heading	Your current heading of your vessel in degrees
Navball.Pitch	The current pitch of your vessel in degrees
Navball.Roll	The current roll of your vessel in degrees
Navball.OrbitalVelocity	The current orbital velocity of your vessel in m/s
Navball.SurfaceVelocity	The current velocity of your vessel relative to the surface of whatever you're orbiting in m/s
Navball.VerticalVelocity	The current velocity of your vessel in the vertical direction, i.e. "up", i.e. away from whatever you are orbiting, in m/s

Information about a target

When a target is selected, some extra information about it is provided:

Name	Description
Craft.Inter1.dt	Time (in seconds) until the first time we cross the target orbit
Craft.Inter1.Δt	Same as Craft.Inter1.dt
Craft.Inter1.Sep	Distance (in meters) between our craft and the target at Craft.Inter1.dt
Craft.Inter1.TrueAnomaly	True anomaly of the first time we cross the target orbit
Craft.Inter1.θ	Same as Craft.Inter1.TrueAnomaly
Craft.Inter2.dt	Time (in seconds) until the second time we cross the target orbit
Craft.Inter2.Δt	Same as Craft.Inter1.dt
Craft.Inter2.Sep	Distance (in meters) between our craft and the target at Craft.Inter2.dt
Craft.Inter2.TrueAnomaly	True anomaly of the second time we cross the target orbit
Craft.Inter2.θ	Same as Craft.Inter2.TrueAnomaly
Craft.Rel.AN	True anomaly of ascending node relative to target
Craft.Rel.DN	True anomaly of descenging node relative to target
Craft.Rel.Inc	Inclination relative to target