Clockwise or ani-cloclwise orbiting new body

[Lopez de la Osa]

How can I know, after leaving Low Kerbin Orbit and entering in other body, if that new orbit will be clockwise or anti-clockwise?

Or, How must I do the maneuver in order to get the new orbit in the sense I want, either clockwise or anti-clockwise?

I suppouse that It can be sugest by how the lines are drawn, but I am not able to interpret that.

Thanks.

Edited November 3, 2015 by Lopez de la Osa

[mhoram]

When you focus the view on the other body you can see two markers on the new orbit:

- a Pe (Periapsis)

- a circle denoting where you leave the SOI of the other body.

So you travel in the direction Pe -> SOI-Exit.

From this you can easily see if the orbit is clockwise or anti-clockwise.

[eddiew]

Assuming you can see the predicted course around the target*, then that's exactly the information you need

One end of that line will have a circle - hover over it and you'll find it's associated with a time at which you'll exist the SoI of that body. Which means the other is your inbound line, and from that you can see whether it'll come out as a prograde (anti-clockwise) or retrograde (clockwise) orbit.

You can easily adjust whether you end up pro or retrograde at about the mid point of your transfer; very small adjustments to your velocity here will have big impacts on where you pass by your target. Unless you have a really good reason to go retrograde (such as a rescue mission on a pod that is also retrograde), always go prograde, as your motion relative to the surface will be less, and landings will be easier.

* if you don't see the predicted course, then zoom out. Either you're intercepting something else en-route, or your course is wrong and you're not going to pass close enough to get into the body's SoI.

[Wemb]

When you focus the view ...

I played KSP for about a year before i found out you could do this - yes, once you're on your way toward your intended target, put in a manoeuvre node somewhere along the way, and then right click and 'focus view' on your target - assuming you've upgraded your tracking station enough you'll see the dotted line indicating your predicted path toward that target.

You shoudl then be able to (gently!) tweak the node to change the resultant trajectory and approach to your target.

Note - a manoeuvre node sufficiently far away from the target will only need very, very tiny changes to have a huge effect on your resultant path - I'd suggest using a mod to do a fine tune of the node if you find doing it with the mouse is too tricky - or, if you have plenty of fuel, an even easier way is to severely thrust-limit your engine and play with slow, short burns in the pro-retro/normal-antinormal/radial-antiradial vectors and watch what happens. As long as you're not ham-fisted and are far away, you can do this very safely.

Wemb

[Warzouz]

As other said, focus on the target body. Look at it from to top. Set the projected hyperbolic orbit coming from you (the line without circle). If the PEriaps is on the right of the body, you in counter-clockwise (you're good). If the PE is on the left, you are on clockwise orbit (you're usually not good).

[KingPhantom]

How can I know, after leaving Low Kerbin Orbit and entering in other body, if that new orbit will be clockwise or anti-clockwise?

Or, How must I do the maneuver in order to get the new orbit in the sense I want, either clockwise or anti-clockwise?

I suppouse that It can be sugest by how the lines are drawn, but I am not able to interpret that.

Thanks.

im not sure if i understand you correct...

when i start on kerbin i chose a inclanation of 0° (counter-clockwise). that's a start in east direction (to the sea).

then i transfer to Mun. if i go in front of the Mun his gravitiy will slow me down. so i dont need much deltaV do do an orbit. This orbit is 180° (clickwise)...

my rule is:

transfer to a moon? -> i go from 0° to 180° inclanation.

transfer to a other planet? -> it try to change inc to 0° before warping to the object and orbit it. so i orbit it like the moons of the planet and i can transfer easly to the moons. also its better for randevouz in low orbit because with 0° inc i start in eastern direction what is easier.

edit: like the apollo program flight path

upper part: return

lower part: go to moon

[Wemb]

i go in front of the Mun his gravitiy will slow me down. so i dont need much deltaV do do an orbit. This orbit is 180° (clickwise)...

Dumb question, perhaps - if you do this to slow down, you'll be orbitting in an opposite direction to that of the rotation of the Mun - so landing will require more dV to become stationary wrt. the Mun's surface - does this cost more or less dV than use lose by coming in that direction.

Wemb

[mhoram]

then i transfer to Mun. if i go in front of the Mun his gravitiy will slow me down. so i dont need much deltaV do do an orbit. This orbit is 180° (clickwise)...

This is not quite correct.

You are talking about a gravity assist by the Mun. This gravity assist (with a retrograde-Mun-Orbit) has the effect that after leaving Mun's SOI, your orbit around Kerbin has usually less energy compared with before you entered Mun's SOI.

In order to get into an orbit around the Mun, it does not matter if you get into a retrograde or an prograde orbit around the Mun. Both variants costs an equal amount of fuel.

One difference is that for landing on the Mun, you will need less dV if you are in a prograde orbit because of the rotation of the Mun.

The reason why the Apollo mission used a retrograde orbit, is explained here:

http://orbiter-forum.com/showthread.php?p=251198&postcount=2

[vixr]

gotta love subliminal phallic symbols from NASA

[Weywot8]

This is not quite correct.

You are talking about a gravity assist by the Mun. This gravity assist (with a retrograde-Mun-Orbit) has the effect that after leaving Mun's SOI, your orbit around Kerbin has usually less energy compared with before you entered Mun's SOI.

In order to get into an orbit around the Mun, it does not matter if you get into a retrograde or an prograde orbit around the Mun. Both variants costs an equal amount of fuel.

One difference is that for landing on the Mun, you will need less dV if you are in a prograde orbit because of the rotation of the Mun.

The reason why the Apollo mission used a retrograde orbit, is explained here:

http://orbiter-forum.com/showthread.php?p=251198&postcount=2

Gasp! Posting that link here and the NASA follow up reminded me of this

http://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/1244:_Six_Words

[moronwrocket]

You can also use the Tab key to switch between all the SoI in the solar system when in Orbit mode.