Flipped the launch window

[mavric1298]

I was playing while only partially paying attention, and just launched my first duna mission exactly opposite the launch window (Duna was about -60 to Kerbin in planetary phase, I was all turned around).  I JUUUUST the burn to get escape (currently only 200km from Kerbin), and slingshotting around the Mun on the right side.  I have quite a bit of dV left, but not sure what my best approach would be to save the mission (one way science lab lander).  Should I just put it slightly higher then Duna, circularize, then wait for years?

[Reactordrone]

It's going to depend very much on how much delta-v you have left. If you raise your apoapsis to Duna's orbit you can make a small adjustment there to adjust your orbit so that in a few orbits time you'll get another intercept with Duna. This will take a lot of time but use very little delta-v. On the other hand you can raise your apoapsis well beyond Duna's orbit in order to slow down and let Duna catch up. This will take more fuel on the way out and more fuel when you capture at Duna as well. The third option is to raise the apoapsis to roughly the same as Duna and then circularize and adjust to get an intercept further around the orbit. This will take a fair amount of delta-v for the circularization but your capture burn at Duna will be fairly cheap.

[pincushionman]

Pictures! Always pictures! Centered on sun. Show current orbit, where you are now, where Duna is now! If you have KER, include the vessel readout for all stages too. Then we help more.

[Superfluous J]

This is if you don't care how long it takes (in Kerbal time) to get to Duna.:

1. Get your Sun orbit to have a Pe at Kerbin (which it just will by virtue of leaving it) and an Ap at Duna. Just like if you were going to transfer directly.
2. Time warp so you're in Sun's SOI. The game can get a bit wonky with markers if you're not in the same SOI as your target.
3. Target Duna so you see encounter markers. Your ship's will be near Duna's orbit and Duna will be somewhere else.
4. Place a maneuver node on your orbit JUST AFTER your encounter marker. Duna's marker will jump to a new location. This new location is where duna will be on the NEXT orbit.
5. Pull on the Prograde marker. If this makes Duna go toward you, great. Keep pulling until it gets close enough to get an encounter, unless that burn will take a LOT of dV. You don't want your Sun orbit to go higher than Duna's, either. If you'd have to do that, cancel the node and make a new one and continue below.
6. If you can't get an encounter in the above step, right click your maneuver node and click the "+" button. This will move your maneuver node one orbit into the future, and the indicator for Duna will also jump just like it did above.
7. Repeat the previous 2 steps until you get an encounter.

Not the most ideal way to do it, but it works every time for every planet (and ship) and will fix your problem.

Edited June 16, 2016 by 5thHorseman

[mk1980]

i guess i would use the remaining fuel to get back to LKO (maybe also try using a mun gravity assist to slow down), refuel the mission in orbit and wait for the correct launch window