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Showing results for tags 'slingshot'.
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Hey, all. I never tried a slingshot maneuver and was looking for some tips on how to even begin thinking about it. While the definition seems simple enough -- using another planetary body's gravity to propel me further towards my target, saving fuel/Delta-V -- I'm totally clueless on how to put it into action. Using only stock tools (as I'm playing on the Xbox), what's the best way to plan for a slingshot with the Mun to reach Duna for example? How do I even figure out how much Delta-V I'll require beforehand? I was thinking the best way to plan it would be by trial and error in the Orbit screen, plotting burns until it gets to where I want. But if this is the best way to do it, it means I must have my craft already in orbit to begin with, right? Is there no way for me to plot this from the ground before launching my craft? And - only 1 more question, I promise xD - how do I know when is the best time to launch my craft - is it when my target planet is closest to Kerbin, or when the planet is a bit retrograde so it will be closest to Kerbin by the time my spaceship gets there; or am I'm overthinking way too much and the Delta-V difference is just negligible in both cases? Thanks! -
So I am trying to get to duna with as little delta v usage as possible. Is there an efficiënt and doable way to use gravity assists to get to duna? I know of the oberth effect (sorry if I misspelled it). I just need to know how i can do an efficiënt gravity assist to duna. thx Edit: thanks for the comments so far. But to clarify, I do not want to refuel. An idea: would it in theory be possible to get myself in a 10% slower orbit than kerbin and then use a kerbin gravity assist. And would this even be feasable .
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This doesn't really come up with the stock game, as the only place to "get to" beyond Jool is Eeloo, but with OPM it would be really nice to know when to launch so-as to plan a Voyager type fly-by of all the outer planets. Now we can predict one transfer window with a planner, and it wouldn't be *too* hard to guess at positioning to hit a second planet, but doing 3 or 4 would be ridiculously hard. Even if we knew the "clock dates" for auspicious alignments, navigation would still have a huge fudge factor at each world due to inherent imprecision in flights. I bet if I knew the window precisely, I'd still need a ~ 200 dV burn at each world to ensure I encounter the next, as opposed to Voyager's very small attitude adjustments. Has anyone every seen found, or created a list of such "keyhole" dates that has been published here? -
Sending an ISRU to Vall because AGAIN I have completely underestimated the fuel it takes to get to Laythe and back. I think I saved about 1000 D/V with this slingshot maneuver. This save I have decided not to use MechJeb, only Engineering Redux (I consider the ability to calculate D/V absolutely essential to playing the game). I have MJ installed, but only because some of my old craft from other saves have MJ modules on them and I can't load them unless it's installed. I actually hardly ever used maneuver nodes before, but now that I understand them better, they're a lot of fun to play with.
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The challenge: Once in low-Kerbin orbit and you've matched planes with Minmus, position a maneuver-node to allow you, with only one burn, to put your spacecraft on a free-return trajectory around minmus, BUT! also get an encounter with the Mün between escaping from Minmus and Kerbin periapsis. Bonus points if you can have the Mün encounter slingshot you in a way that allows even more gravitational assist maneuvers. Basically, start in low Kerbin orbit matched with Minmus' orbital plane. From that plane-matched low-Kerbin orbit, perform ONE engine-burn with as many gravitational encounters/escapes as possible without any extra engine-burns.
