Patched conics uaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaargh

[BeefTenderloin]

My patched conics refuse to work. I've been trying to get into a Duna intercept, but my patched conics refuse to show me the intercept!

First attempt, I didn't propel myself enough, and fell in front of the body. Ok, so the second time - I'll burn for longer! This time, I landed BEHIND Duna!

At no point in the second burn did it show a capture.I'm not sure if I should abort the mission and bring the obviously malfunctioning lander back to Kerbin - That is, if the patched conics decide to show a Kerbin intercept.

[whatisthisidonteven]

Maybe you're just not getting an intercept.

[etildard]

Are you using the interplanetary guide? if the planets aren't aligned precisely, you won't get an intercept unless you have tons of delta V.

[Aphox]

Without modifying the .cfg file to show those, you have to break from Kerbin and get into orbit around the Sun before it'll show any other encounters.

[John Bedlam]

Are you still in a Kerbin orbit while doing this burn? If so, have you upped CONIC_PATCH_LIMIT in settings.cfg? If you haven't, you won't be able to see any intercepts until you leave Kerbin's SOI.

[Ziff]

Did you modify the settings.cfg file in the KSP main directory? I recommend changing the CONIC_PATCH_LIMIT to at least 4 for interplanetary travel. It's possible it's not drawing far enough ahead for you to see the intercept.

[BeefTenderloin]

Upping the CONIC_PATCH_LIMIT helped, thanks!

[spikeyhat09]

Planet SOI's are minuscule. mun/min landings are childs play compared to reaching Duna. interplanetary travel is pretty much impossible without a higher level of precision (aka, angle measuring), or if you happen to have an incredible supply of good luck lying around.

[Aphox]

Planet SOI's are minuscule. mun/min landings are childs play compared to reaching Duna. interplanetary travel is pretty much impossible without a higher level of precision (aka, angle measuring), or if you happen to have an incredible supply of good luck lying around.

Psh naw. If you do it right you can guestimate it and make small inclination adjustments to meet your mark. By guestimate I mean just make your map on-screen look like the on on the Olex calc. Did it once or twice before I crippled and started using a protractor. And now I have the new MechJeb with the PPA and escape angle measurements, which are spot on. Makes interplanetary transfers soooooo easy.

[spikeyhat09]

Psh naw. If you do it right you can guestimate it and make small inclination adjustments to meet your mark. By guestimate I mean just make your map on-screen look like the on on the Olex calc. Did it once or twice before I crippled and started using a protractor. And now I have the new MechJeb with the PPA and escape angle measurements, which are spot on. Makes interplanetary transfers soooooo easy.

I meant without any sort of mods. To me mechjeb is like cheating.

[Stoup]

I use mechjeb and several interplanetary aid calculators and still can't reliably reach other planets. The low thrust of the NERVAs makes determining the truly proper ejection angle for a ship using them a difficult task

[Trebuchet-Launch]

I put a guide to doing interplanetary transfers without math in the How To section ("Duna for Dummies"). Quick summary, send several ships at once to bracket the planet and find where the SoI will be, and then make adjustments to the trajectories of the other spacecraft until they're all headed to the target.

[sixpackabs]

Planet SOI's are minuscule. mun/min landings are childs play compared to reaching Duna. interplanetary travel is pretty much impossible without a higher level of precision (aka, angle measuring), or if you happen to have an incredible supply of good luck lying around.

I made it to jool and duna on my first try without even thinking about things like "ejection angles" or "orbital phases"

then i had a long string of failing until i decided to use math