Flight

class SpaceCenter.Flight

Used to get flight telemetry for a vessel, by calling SpaceCenter.Vessel.flight(). All of the information returned by this class is given in the reference frame passed to that method. Obtained by calling SpaceCenter.Vessel.flight().

Note

To get orbital information, such as the apoapsis or inclination, see SpaceCenter.Orbit.

g_force: number

The current G force acting on the vessel in \(g\).

Attribute:

Read-only, cannot be set

Return type:

number

mean_altitude: number

The altitude above sea level, in meters. Measured from the center of mass of the vessel.

Attribute:

Read-only, cannot be set

Return type:

number

surface_altitude: number

The altitude above the surface of the body or sea level, whichever is closer, in meters. Measured from the center of mass of the vessel.

Attribute:

Read-only, cannot be set

Return type:

number

bedrock_altitude: number

The altitude above the surface of the body, in meters. When over water, this is the altitude above the sea floor. Measured from the center of mass of the vessel.

Attribute:

Read-only, cannot be set

Return type:

number

elevation: number

The elevation of the terrain under the vessel, in meters. This is the height of the terrain above sea level, and is negative when the vessel is over the sea.

Attribute:

Read-only, cannot be set

Return type:

number

latitude: number

The latitude of the vessel for the body being orbited, in degrees.

Attribute:

Read-only, cannot be set

Return type:

number

longitude: number

The longitude of the vessel for the body being orbited, in degrees.

Attribute:

Read-only, cannot be set

Return type:

number

velocity: Tuple

The velocity of the vessel, in the reference frame SpaceCenter.ReferenceFrame.

Attribute:

Read-only, cannot be set

Returns:

The velocity as a vector. The vector points in the direction of travel, and its magnitude is the speed of the vessel in meters per second.

Return type:

Tuple

speed: number

The speed of the vessel in meters per second, in the reference frame SpaceCenter.ReferenceFrame.

Attribute:

Read-only, cannot be set

Return type:

number

horizontal_speed: number

The horizontal speed of the vessel in meters per second, in the reference frame SpaceCenter.ReferenceFrame.

Attribute:

Read-only, cannot be set

Return type:

number

vertical_speed: number

The vertical speed of the vessel in meters per second, in the reference frame SpaceCenter.ReferenceFrame.

Attribute:

Read-only, cannot be set

Return type:

number

center_of_mass: Tuple

The position of the center of mass of the vessel, in the reference frame SpaceCenter.ReferenceFrame

Attribute:

Read-only, cannot be set

Returns:

The position as a vector.

Return type:

Tuple

rotation: Tuple

The rotation of the vessel, in the reference frame SpaceCenter.ReferenceFrame

Attribute:

Read-only, cannot be set

Returns:

The rotation as a quaternion of the form \((x, y, z, w)\).

Return type:

Tuple

direction: Tuple

The direction that the vessel is pointing in, in the reference frame SpaceCenter.ReferenceFrame.

Attribute:

Read-only, cannot be set

Returns:

The direction as a unit vector.

Return type:

Tuple

pitch: number

The pitch of the vessel relative to the horizon, in degrees. A value between -90° and +90°.

Attribute:

Read-only, cannot be set

Return type:

number

heading: number

The heading of the vessel (its angle relative to north), in degrees. A value between 0° and 360°.

Attribute:

Read-only, cannot be set

Return type:

number

roll: number

The roll of the vessel relative to the horizon, in degrees. A value between -180° and +180°.

Attribute:

Read-only, cannot be set

Return type:

number

prograde: Tuple

The prograde direction of the vessels orbit, in the reference frame SpaceCenter.ReferenceFrame.

Attribute:

Read-only, cannot be set

Returns:

The direction as a unit vector.

Return type:

Tuple

retrograde: Tuple

The retrograde direction of the vessels orbit, in the reference frame SpaceCenter.ReferenceFrame.

Attribute:

Read-only, cannot be set

Returns:

The direction as a unit vector.

Return type:

Tuple

normal: Tuple

The direction normal to the vessels orbit, in the reference frame SpaceCenter.ReferenceFrame.

Attribute:

Read-only, cannot be set

Returns:

The direction as a unit vector.

Return type:

Tuple

anti_normal: Tuple

The direction opposite to the normal of the vessels orbit, in the reference frame SpaceCenter.ReferenceFrame.

Attribute:

Read-only, cannot be set

Returns:

The direction as a unit vector.

Return type:

Tuple

radial: Tuple

The radial direction of the vessels orbit, in the reference frame SpaceCenter.ReferenceFrame.

Attribute:

Read-only, cannot be set

Returns:

The direction as a unit vector.

Return type:

Tuple

anti_radial: Tuple

The direction opposite to the radial direction of the vessels orbit, in the reference frame SpaceCenter.ReferenceFrame.

Attribute:

Read-only, cannot be set

Returns:

The direction as a unit vector.

Return type:

Tuple

atmosphere_density: number

The current density of the atmosphere around the vessel, in \(kg/m^3\).

Attribute:

Read-only, cannot be set

Return type:

number

dynamic_pressure: number

The dynamic pressure acting on the vessel, in Pascals. This is a measure of the strength of the aerodynamic forces. It is equal to \(\frac{1}{2} . \mbox{air density} . \mbox{velocity}^2\). It is commonly denoted \(Q\).

Attribute:

Read-only, cannot be set

Return type:

number

static_pressure: number

The static atmospheric pressure acting on the vessel, in Pascals.

Attribute:

Read-only, cannot be set

Return type:

number

static_pressure_at_msl: number

The static atmospheric pressure at mean sea level, in Pascals.

Attribute:

Read-only, cannot be set

Return type:

number

aerodynamic_force: Tuple

The total aerodynamic forces acting on the vessel, in reference frame SpaceCenter.ReferenceFrame.

Attribute:

Read-only, cannot be set

Returns:

A vector pointing in the direction that the force acts, with its magnitude equal to the strength of the force in Newtons.

Return type:

Tuple

simulate_aerodynamic_force_at(body, position, velocity)

Simulate and return the total aerodynamic forces acting on the vessel, if it where to be traveling with the given velocity at the given position in the atmosphere of the given celestial body.

Parameters:
Returns:

A vector pointing in the direction that the force acts, with its magnitude equal to the strength of the force in Newtons.

Return type:

Tuple

lift: Tuple

The aerodynamic lift currently acting on the vessel.

Attribute:

Read-only, cannot be set

Returns:

A vector pointing in the direction that the force acts, with its magnitude equal to the strength of the force in Newtons.

Return type:

Tuple

drag: Tuple

The aerodynamic drag currently acting on the vessel.

Attribute:

Read-only, cannot be set

Returns:

A vector pointing in the direction of the force, with its magnitude equal to the strength of the force in Newtons.

Return type:

Tuple

speed_of_sound: number

The speed of sound, in the atmosphere around the vessel, in \(m/s\).

Attribute:

Read-only, cannot be set

Return type:

number

mach: number

The speed of the vessel, in multiples of the speed of sound.

Attribute:

Read-only, cannot be set

Return type:

number

reynolds_number: number

The vessels Reynolds number.

Attribute:

Read-only, cannot be set

Return type:

number

Note

Requires Ferram Aerospace Research.

true_air_speed: number

The true air speed of the vessel, in meters per second.

Attribute:

Read-only, cannot be set

Return type:

number

equivalent_air_speed: number

The equivalent air speed of the vessel, in meters per second.

Attribute:

Read-only, cannot be set

Return type:

number

terminal_velocity: number

An estimate of the current terminal velocity of the vessel, in meters per second. This is the speed at which the drag forces cancel out the force of gravity.

Attribute:

Read-only, cannot be set

Return type:

number

angle_of_attack: number

The pitch angle between the orientation of the vessel and its velocity vector, in degrees.

Attribute:

Read-only, cannot be set

Return type:

number

sideslip_angle: number

The yaw angle between the orientation of the vessel and its velocity vector, in degrees.

Attribute:

Read-only, cannot be set

Return type:

number

total_air_temperature: number

The total air temperature of the atmosphere around the vessel, in Kelvin. This includes the SpaceCenter.Flight.static_air_temperature and the vessel’s kinetic energy.

Attribute:

Read-only, cannot be set

Return type:

number

static_air_temperature: number

The static (ambient) temperature of the atmosphere around the vessel, in Kelvin.

Attribute:

Read-only, cannot be set

Return type:

number

stall_fraction: number

The current amount of stall, between 0 and 1. A value greater than 0.005 indicates a minor stall and a value greater than 0.5 indicates a large-scale stall.

Attribute:

Read-only, cannot be set

Return type:

number

Note

Requires Ferram Aerospace Research.

drag_coefficient: number

The coefficient of drag. This is the amount of drag produced by the vessel. It depends on air speed, air density and wing area.

Attribute:

Read-only, cannot be set

Return type:

number

Note

Requires Ferram Aerospace Research.

lift_coefficient: number

The coefficient of lift. This is the amount of lift produced by the vessel, and depends on air speed, air density and wing area.

Attribute:

Read-only, cannot be set

Return type:

number

Note

Requires Ferram Aerospace Research.

ballistic_coefficient: number

The ballistic coefficient.

Attribute:

Read-only, cannot be set

Return type:

number

Note

Requires Ferram Aerospace Research.

thrust_specific_fuel_consumption: number

The thrust specific fuel consumption for the jet engines on the vessel. This is a measure of the efficiency of the engines, with a lower value indicating a more efficient vessel. This value is the number of Newtons of fuel that are burned, per hour, to produce one newton of thrust.

Attribute:

Read-only, cannot be set

Return type:

number

Note

Requires Ferram Aerospace Research.