Jool's Moons; Retrograde and Prograde Orbits

[Mr. Peabody]

So far all the moons in the Kerbal system orbit the same direction around a planet. We need some variety. I think it would be great if some moons orbited in a different direction than others. That is, some moons orbit retrograde while others orbit prograde. This would work especially well with Jool's moons, since Jool has the most moons of any planet in the Kerbal system and Jool's real-life counter part, Jupiter, has moons that orbit in opposite directions. This might complicate achieving encounters with some moons, but i think we all enjoy a challenging mission.  

                                                                                                            

                                                                                              The orbits of Jupiter's satellites (above)

[CaptainTrebor]

I'd like to see some small, asteroid like moons that orbit around Jool, so therefore I support this.

[HighFructose]

I agree @CaptainTrebor. I think Jool needs procedurally generated asteroid moons. In a retrograde orbit would be even cooler, how much more delta-v would it require though?

[CaptainTrebor]

1 hour ago, Scout1218 said:

I agree @CaptainTrebor. I think Jool needs procedurally generated asteroid moons. In a retrograde orbit would be even cooler, how much more delta-v would it require though?

I expect you could go into a retrograde Jool orbit by slingshotting around one of the large moons (such as Tylo) for alot less delta-v than brute forcing it, but you'll have to ask someone versed in gravity assists and delta-v calculations for a definitive answer.

[natsirt721]

On 8/4/2017 at 2:54 PM, CaptainTrebor said:

I expect you could go into a retrograde Jool orbit by slingshotting around one of the large moons (such as Tylo) for alot less delta-v than brute forcing it,

You can simply enter the Jool system in a retrograde hyperbolic trajectory and set up your encounter as you like - no slingshotting required. Starting from any of the big inner moons however, I don't think you could do a pure slingshot to Jool retrograde.  At the very least you'd need a powered assist.

Alternatively, slingshotting to a highly eccentric orbit and reversing direction at apo would be cheaper in terms of fuel (than a brute force approach), but would take significantly longer.

[Xemina]

Yes, good idea, and why not, Minmus is in retrograde, and in Career you've got a mission to stop it from plummeting into Kerbin??

[CaptainTrebor]

Stopping Minmus crashing into Kerbin would require an astronomical amount of fuel, and either a massively huge number of engines or a massively long period of time, and most probably both.

[natsirt721]

According to my rough calculations, a mere 10 m/s would require 300,000,000,000,000 tons of liquid fuel with the LV-N. Using 100 of them (60,000 kN thrust) would take about 430,000,000,000 seconds or ~13,000 years.

[NSEP]

How about just having asteroids in a retrograde orbit around Jool? Like Dresteroids? Or is that too boring maybe?

[CaptainTrebor]

9 minutes ago, NSEP said:

How about just having asteroids in a retrograde orbit around Jool? Like Dresteroids? Or is that too boring maybe?

That would be good, and maybe a Gilly sized object in there as well?

[NSEP]

9 minutes ago, CaptainTrebor said:

That would be good, and maybe a Gilly sized object in there as well?

That would be good too.

[Xemina]

On 8/12/2017 at 1:16 AM, natsirt721 said:

According to my rough calculations, a mere 10 m/s would require 300,000,000,000,000 tons of liquid fuel with the LV-N. Using 100 of them (60,000 kN thrust) would take about 430,000,000,000 seconds or ~13,000 years.

Ok, then. You have to push Minmus very slightly so it's in a stable not crash orbit!