How do you set up an encounter with Hale? (OPM)

[Draconiator]

Well, Outer Planets Mod is now a staple of MY KSP and I was wondering what kind of ship would be able to intercept this EXTREMELY tiny rock around Sarnus in the rings. The SOI is only 16KM, so there will not be enough time to slow down and circularize. I pretty much have an issue with that with Gilly already so, no clue how I would do it at a body which is 6KM wide...

[tychodin]

i don't know what that is, but it sounds like you would do it the way you encounter asteroids. just do a rendezvous and then match velocities at nearest approach.

[mikegarrison]

Well, Outer Planets Mod is now a staple of MY KSP and I was wondering what kind of ship would be able to intercept this EXTREMELY tiny rock around Sarnus in the rings. The SOI is only 16KM, so there will not be enough time to slow down and circularize. I pretty much have an issue with that with Gilly already so, no clue how I would do it at a body which is 6KM wide...

Rendezvous with a moon or a planet is no different than rendezvous with anything else, really. First get co-planar. Then burn in some kind of a transfer orbit to get your ship into the same place at the same time. Then match velocities.

[Snark]

Also, the SoI size isn't any sort of limitation. There's nothing that says you have to do your whole burn while inside the SoI.

1. Set up your approach trajectory so that it passes near Hale (admittedly, this is very finicky since it's such a tiny target)

2. BEFORE you get to Hale, go to map mode, focus on Hale, and drop a maneuver node at periapsis that will circularize

3. Now you've got your maneuver node in place, long before you get to Hale. You can start your burn whenever's appropriate. If that means you need to start burning before you actually enter the SoI, no problem.

My biggest problem with Hale is that it's so lumpy (and has a SoI so tiny) that its higher "hills" poke right up close to the SoI boundary. I find that if I have a ship in circular Hale orbit, and I switch away from it to something elsewhere, very often the ship just vanishes before I come back-- I suspect the game is eating it because it decided there's a collision (even though, eyeballing the path, it looked safe to me).

So if you're inside Hale's SoI, proceed with caution, and be wary of switching away while you're in orbit. (If you actually land, then you're safe.)

Edited June 12, 2015 by Snark