Planning a Mun mission (rocket design basics)

[bewing]

5 hours ago, MPDerksen said:

Before I close this out (mission was successful), a general question about creating Mun/Minmus encounters:  should I have done my burn a little later and had the same effect?  Once I create the node, I can slide it around my current orbit, but I see so many different colored lines and encounter circles, I can't really tell what i'm shooting for.  So I end up just settling for getting on my way, then refine halfway along.  Doesn't seem a very efficient way to do this.

Your efficiency is determined by 1) the time it takes to get there, 2) the dV you spend getting there, 3) personal aesthetics.

So, burning a little later is bad for 1), you have to look at your dV numbers for 2) (but it's usually worse to wait too long), and for 3) you have to decide for yourself.

Just getting an intercept and then tweaking it en route is actually a perfectly fine way to do it. The only times you need to be really careful about your intercept are when you are doing a gravity slingshot, and not just a simple capture.