Munar Chicken - No conics visiting

[WanderingKid]

So in my career game, as usual, I'm holding off on upgrades as long as possible because I hate running grind missions for cash and later missions are worth more.  This makes me incredibly selective as to what, and when, I upgrade.

Because of that, I've gotten reasonably handy at free return missions for Mun flyby's with tourists and the like.  You can even pull off some stunts like doing a really really high orbit for cheap then pushing it back out to where you started if you've got 3-400 d/v left over when you slip past.

However, I find myself wanting some low orbit science, so my little science visitor, quicksave, and myself decided to play some Munar chicken.  I figured I'd share for those who'd like to know.

Some caveats: This was done by hand, no conics, from a roughly circular orbit at 70.3k above Kerbin.  Burns are pure prograde burns starting at Munar rise, which means there's some slight variance as to when I got the time warp back to zero.  Thus, YMMV, but this should give some rough help for those interested:

10 million: ~2.1kk 
 - ~23k Peri (Escape to Kerbin)

11 million: ~135k 
 - ~18kk apo, ~4.8kk peri

11.08 million: 30-55k Peri 
 - ~25.4 - 30kk apo, ~6.7- 7.4kk Peri (lower you go higher these get)

11.1 - 11.9 million: Welcome to Mun
 - You're not coming home.

11.95 million: ~40k retro
 - ~7.5kk Peri

12 million: ~80k retro
 - ~7kk Peri

12.5 million: ~535k retro
 - ~1.5kk Peri

13 million: ~950k retro
 - ~415k Peri

13.5 million: ~1.3kk retro
 - ~77k Peri

14.0 million: ~1.5kk retro
 - Landing on Kerbin

Because of this, For a low orbit flyby I've found that the best general method is to aim for the 11.08 million line and get retro'd out into deep Kerbin orbit.  At the high apoapsis drop periapsis down to your typical 30-35k re-entry height (bring a heat shield) and head home. MET goes way up (9 - 12 days) but it's efficient, as it only takes around 150 d/v to get yourself back to re-entry.  Just watch out for heat.

Edited October 23, 2016 by WanderingKid
Clarity