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I've taken on the project of writing an interplanetary trajectory optimization tool and a comparison of algorithm efficiency for the problem at arbitrary starting points. Looking further into the problem, however, I have a question that I can't seem to answer. When you optimize an interplanetary trajectory in a patched-conics approximation like KSP, how do initial and target orbit influence the problem? Specifically, I understand how the 'interplanetary' part works. Given the position of two planets, you can calculate the orbit that will intersect one position at one time (the departure date) and the position of the other at another time (the arrival date) easily by cranking through Lambert's Problem for the solar orbit case. However, how do you account for leaving the orbit of the start planet and arriving in orbit of the destination planet? Put another way, how do you calculate ejection angle or the optimum burn to leave/enter the patched conic gravity well?
