[simpits-tech] Question...

[Brian Sikkema]

>Thanks for the pics Brian!  How big is the racetrack
typically?

Ah, forgot to answer this one in the other email, sorry.

Anyway, it varies big time. And when you're talking
about refueling, there are actually two different
"racetracks" to be aware of.

First, on certain rendezvous we have an orbit that we
use while waiting for the receivers. And this can be
in an anchor or on a track, it really depends more on
the receiver than the refueling area (we do this
typically for heavies).

Then when we're actually refueling in an anchor, we
have sort of an orbit that we follow. This one REALLY
varies. Some anchor areas have specific tracks
defined in them that we can use, but really all we
HAVE to do is stay in the area. So we can fly around
anywhere we want in there, doing figure 8s or
whatever... It really depends on what's going on.

But we don't always have to do an orbit of any kind.
If we're doing an enroute rendezvous on an AR track,
we just meet up with the receiver at the starting
point at a specified time, and we truck down the
line. No spinning of any sort.

Brian