sjpateys

Here's my effort, an Easy Rider style chopper. http://i.imgur.com/R71zYNP.png

I knocked this up, handy if you want to assemble your station twice as fast.. http://i.imgur.com/XWSH8Dn.jpg

Wow! wish I'd known this before!

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

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!.

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.

Thanks for the prompt replies everyone. That clears that up. I have a stayputnik in Mun orbit, I had assumed that when the rcs fuel ran out on the LOX stage, i would be screwed regarding my retrograde burn when in Mun SOI, how happy I was (but confused) when the little silver ball turned on a sixpence. I then proceeded to do a (slow) burn as my ion engine only has enough juice for 1/10th throttle! I was even able to reduce my Pe for a Mun landing!

I have a stayputnik equipped with The PB-Ion Electric Propulsion System and a xenon fuel tank. Absolutely nothing else is fitted, no ASAS,RCS,nothing, yet it can turn around quite happily as if either RCS equipped or engine has thrust vectoring. How can it do this? Does the ion engine have thrust vectoring? according to the wiki it thrusts one way only.