BepiColombo launch window?

[MAFman]

Ever since I heard about the 1.10 update I've been trying to do a BepiColombo recreation, but I just can't get the gravity assists right. What's a good time to launch so that I get the right gravity assists at the right times?

[Aniruddh]

Are you playing the developer created mission (on the main menu- 'ESA missions), or are you trying it on your own? The dev created mission is a lot easier to do gravity assists, they have pre-picked the launch window. I just did this right now.

[MAFman]

1 minute ago, Aniruddh said:

Are you playing the developer created mission (on the main menu- 'ESA missions), or are you trying it on your own? The dev created mission is a lot easier to do gravity assists, they have pre-picked the launch window. I just did this right now.

I'm doing it on my own.

[Aniruddh]

The 'perfect' launch window would be in year 190-ish, (you can edit the savefile to do this without waiting for timewarp), or you can get an external application, or do the mathematics.

Are you trying to do a single Eve gravity assist, or are you going for full realism? Full realism isn't plausible in stock though.

Edited July 2, 2020 by Aniruddh

[MAFman]

Just now, Aniruddh said:

The 'perfect' launch window would be in year 190-ish, (you can edit the savefile to do this without waiting for timewarp), or you can get an external application, or do the mathematics.

Are you trying to do a single Eve gravity assist, or are you going for full realism? Full realism isn't realistic in stock though.

I'm wanting to do the Kerbin-Sun-Kerbin-Eve-Moho route.

Just now, MAFman said:

I'm wanting to do the Kerbin-Sun-Kerbin-Eve-Moho route.

Basically full realism

[Aniruddh]

Ok, this is complicated:

1. Get into normal equatorial orbit (timing doesn't actually matter, unless you want perfect efficiency)

2.  Escape kerbin to drop periapsis to some amount below, then wait in solar orbit, until you get another kerbin encounter (skip forward on a manuver node to see future encounters.)

3. Use manuver nodes to adjust kerbin encounter close enough so the outcome solar orbit intersects eve orbit (also use kerbin gravity to reduce relative inclination to eve to close to 0)

4. Wait many more solar orbits and use manuver nodes to plan until you actually get an eve encounter.

5. Use the eve encounter to lower solar periapsis as close to Moho's orbit as possible, use an engine burn to get it to intersect moho orbit.

6. Wait some more time orbiting the sun in timewarp and use manuver nodes to plan and bring a potential encounter with moho closer until you're in the SOI.

This could take upto 20 years doing trial & error with the game's limited planning, I'd recommend the Transfer window planner mod for this kind of thing if you can get it to work  in 1.10

EDIT : I misremembered. Transfer window planner only is useful for single gravity assists, Flyby finder is useful for planning multiple gravity assists and mostly used by RSS users, but can also be used in the stock system. As @s_gamer101 said, it is an external application, not a mod, so works in any version.

Edited July 3, 2020 by Aniruddh

[s_gamer101]

14 hours ago, Aniruddh said:

I'd recommend the Transfer window planner mod for this kind of thing if you can get it to work  in 1.10

To be honest, I'm not very experienced with flybys for interplanetar travel, but I think there is a tool called Flyby Finder (It's not a mod) that could help you. But that's all I know about it.