Most efficient way to insert into orbit

[K^2]

4 hours ago, Spricigo said:

(1) still relevant,  for practical purposes, to ask: why capture in such high parking orbit? There are "reasons",  but are those reasons good enough?  

(2a)SoI size (relative to celestial body radius)  is a important limiting factor.  Take the Mun as an example,  to a bi-elliptic transfer be more efficient your parking orbit need to be close to the SoI edge. 

(2b)In a similar vane,  leaving the SoI and  recapturing later in a lower orbit will often be more fuel-efficient than a bi-elliptic transfer within the SoI. 

High parking orbit might be desirable if you want to have a common way station to be used by landers and cargo ships coming from outside the system. It's a good compromise, especially if you have low TWR tugs doing the interplanetary leg. Another consideration is if you plan to drop comms/survey sats on your way to the surface, and high orbits are frequently desirable for these.

SOI limitation is a factor, and answer to 2a is often to basically do 2b. There is nothing wrong with exploiting the artificial cutoff of the SOI to take a "shortcut" in bi-elliptic transfer maneuver. You basically get savings of raising apoapsis to infinity without having to wait to get there.

 

[Spricigo]

12 hours ago, K^2 said:

High parking orbit might be desirable if you want to have a common way station to be used by landers and cargo ships coming from outside the system. It's a good compromise, especially if you have low TWR tugs doing the interplanetary leg. Another consideration is if you plan to drop comms/survey sats on your way to the surface, and high orbits are frequently desirable for these.

SOI limitation is a factor, and answer to 2a is often to basically do 2b. There is nothing wrong with exploiting the artificial cutoff of the SOI to take a "shortcut" in bi-elliptic transfer maneuver. You basically get savings of raising apoapsis to infinity without having to wait to get there.

 

Well,  the discussion about ideal altitude for a station is something I prefer to not delve into for the question at hand.  IMHO is enough to know it will be a practical concern. It may be a reason to  capture in high orbit but it also may be the case for putting the station in a lower orbit to begin with. 

Similarly dropping a satellite before landing seems to be more efficiently handled by capturing the satellite and the lander independently.  

About leaving the SoI and recapturing in a lower orbit.  You may consider it a shortcut in a bi-elliptic transfer or just a detour away from it. Essentially you are going back to a better position you had before capturing this high. 

[tranenturm]

Wow, I didn't have a chance to immediately check after posting.  You folk are amazing!