interplanetary travel question

[sjpateys]

If you select your destination planet as a target, when on the launch pad, it shows as a pink marker on the reticule. What happens if you simply burn towards it? Will you get a planetary encounter, or does the navball not take into account planetary movement and any other factors. It obviously can't be this simple, or I suppose everybody would be doing it, wouldn't they?

i would imagine you would use a colossal amount of fuel.

Edited April 23, 2013 by sjpateys

[Vanamonde]

That marker is primarily for docking, because it tells you the straight-line direction to the current position of your target. That is useless for anything more than a couple of kilometers away, because of course everything is in motion and will no longer be at that spot when you get there.

[rryy]

If you want to be practical and efficient, no. You would have to get into LKO, wait until the phase angles are correct, and burn out to escape Kerbin and get the encounter.

However, assuming the target isn't below you, you might be able to do so. However, you would need probably hundreds of km/s of delta-v to do this, would have to get EXTREEEEEEME SPEED in order to get there before it moves, and would be much less efficient than doing what a normal space program would do. I'm certain someone can do it with cheats.

Edited April 23, 2013 by rryy

[Jason Patterson]

It's possible to use the target indicator to learn a great deal of information about the planet you're moving toward and your relative velocities. Burning directly toward it from Kerbin would indeed use up huge amounts of fuel, and there are just about always better options normally.

If you accidentally enter an SOI and then mess up and burn your way directly back out of it, burning toward the planet will get you right back into the SOI without much fuss.

I also burned toward (or toward-ish) the planet target marker extensively when I did an

and back, but that's clearly a special case.

[sjpateys]

Thanks everyone, you pretty much confirmed what I was thinking.

@jason Patterson, yes Ive done exactly that too when in a planet SOI. Will watch your IVA vid with interest!.

[sjpateys]

OMFG! I nearly suffered an involountary bowel movement with joy after seeing your vid Jason! The liftoffs where like NASA footage!

Edited April 24, 2013 by sjpateys