Optimal Plane Change

[foamyesque]

2 minutes ago, Red Iron Crown said:

Have a look at the thread I linked, the parent body doesn't matter.

 

It does if you're listing specific orbital altitudes, like @OhioBob was

Edited August 30, 2016 by foamyesque

[Red Iron Crown]

4 minutes ago, foamyesque said:

 

It does if you're listing specific orbital altitudes, like @OhioBob was

Ah I see, of course that's right. I thought you meant the thresholds for how much of a plane change is required for raising Ap to be beneficial, which doesn't change with the parent.

[MaxL_1023]

How does this change if you allow aerobraking? Burn to SOI edge, plane change, then lower PE to ~55-60km and slowly lower your AP. Once your AP reaches your target value circularize again. 

[GoSlash27]

38 minutes ago, MaxL_1023 said:

How does this change if you allow aerobraking? Burn to SOI edge, plane change, then lower PE to ~55-60km and slowly lower your AP. Once your AP reaches your target value circularize again. 

MaxL_1023,

 It would shift the whole matrix to a lower inclination angle where it makes it worth doing. Only half the DV  in prograde/ retrograde burns until it becomes cheaper to do it at SoI instead of low orbit. All the payoff for half the investment.

Best,
-Slashy

 

[MaxL_1023]

Thanks! I am playing RSS at the moment, and I need all the help I can get to do cheap plane changes. It seems like every rock in the solar system is on a different inclination and launching into the right plane does not seem to work too well for me. 

[GoSlash27]

1 hour ago, Red Iron Crown said:

Have a look at the thread I linked, the parent body doesn't matter.

That's why I was looking at it from the perspective of "% starting orbital velocity for the prograde burn" instead of apoapsis altitude. In theory, it should all work out about the same regardless of parent body mass or initial orbit altitude. Of course... I'll need to do a lot more work before I can confirm that.

Reason being: if you are in a circular orbit, you cannot exceed 141.4% of your current velocity without leaving the SoI. Or 140.9% in KSP due to the patched conics. Doesn't matter the altitude or parent body. So the investment/ payoff shouldn't change much in any circumstance... until you involve atmosphere, interfering bodies, or elliptical starting orbits.

Best,
-Slashy

 

Edited August 30, 2016 by GoSlash27

[Wcmille]

On August 29, 2016 at 11:20 AM, Red Iron Crown said:

Relevant thread for raising Ap to change inclination:

>60 degree change, raise Ap as much as possible. 60>change>39 degrees, raise Ap somewhat less (formula given in thread). <39 degrees, don't raise Ap.

The symbols on this posts don't appear correctly for me. Am I missing a font or something?

[Red Iron Crown]

6 minutes ago, Wcmille said:

The symbols on this posts don't appear correctly for me. Am I missing a font or something?

I think they got messed up in the forum migration.