[production-notes] Episode 6.9 (Patreon)

Phew, today's episode was TOUGH. As I mentioned here yesterday, my first recording on Saturday got trashed by CPU issues while recording, and I'd only just been able to get it all all out today on time! 

Today's signal music was similarly rushed. I'm delighted with how it came out, given the constraints, but it's a bit more raw than I'd usually like. I'm listening to it now: Very spice.

LUNA's attempts at orbital manoeuvring are indicative of how counter-intuitive it is to think about orbits. In space, you never travel in a straight line, you move between orbits, and you MUST think about it like that to have any chance of accuracy. LUNA tried to lower her satellite towards earth, but it's orbiting around the moon. So all she was able to do was make her orbit more elliptical - less circular. Eventually, this would have made her orbit intersect with the Earth, and she would have been successful. But more understanding, not to mention more power, would be needed.

To grok orbital mechanics, honestly the closest thing is to play Kerbal Space Program! My Orbital Consultant (hi Karl!) recommend this as good training.

SEE YOU NEXT WEEK FOR THE FINALE!