i have NO idea what the numbers mean

[123kde]

ok, so, apparently people are getting to the new planets using math. well, i went to the calculator website, and it gave me all these numbers (i want to get to eve btw), but i dont know what they mean. i mean, i dont understand. could someone make a step by step tutorial about how to use the numbers, and how to know when to thrust and blah blah blah? i know that it probably seems like im not reading all the instructions or something, but i am. what am i supposed to do once i get my final stage out of the atmosphere?

[Person012345]

Download AdamKSP. This tells you the numbers that relate to the ones on the calculator. The phase angle is the angle between your position and the target position as measured from the dominant gravitational influence (the sun in interplanetary travel), the ejection angle is the angle between you and the prograde or retrograde of the planet/moon (in it's orbit around the sun/planet) at which you need to burn (although this can vary depending on the power to weight ratio of your vessel) and the ejection velocity is the theoretical speed you need to be going (although again it can vary).

[123kde]

ok, so wait, what about the ejection angle? thats what im having the most trouble with. so what do i do with that? i still dont know what thats supposed to be, or how im supposed to know what it is, and when i do, when to burn and how much.

[Aphox]

Your ejection angle is the angle relative to the planet your ship needs to be at in order to reach the desired destination in time.

If you zoom out in the map mode, there will be a line coming out of Kerbin. That is it's prograde. Your ejection angle is the angle from a 180 degree axis along that line that your ship needs to be at when you burn prograde, and you simply burn until you reach an encounter with your target of choice.

However, getting to the inner planets is easier if you go into retrograde orbit around Kerbin (heading 270 degrees west instead of 90 degrees east). It takes a little more fuel to get into that orbit though, but the calculator requires you to use a retrograde orbit to use the angles correctly.

As for exact angle, there's no way you can get that on your own unless you download AdamKSP, the MechJeb beta, or something of the like. I used an on-screen protractor for a couple injections. You can also just "guess" it and if you do it right you should be close enough for an encounter. Just make your screen look like the pictures on the calculator, and remember to go retrograde orbit if you're going to inner planets such as Eve, and prograde out of your ejection angle.

I'll be doing a video tutorial on this tomorrow.

[iamaphazael]

Like person0:5 said, the ejection angle is the size of the angle with it's vertex at the center of the planet you're orbiting, and rays passing through your ship and the direction of motion of the planet. The gist of interplanetary transfers is that you're leaving orbit of a body that is itself orbiting around the sun, so it has some speed that it's travelling and is pulling you alone with it. If you're trying to transfer to an outer planet, then you want to leave orbit in the same direction that the planet is already moving, but if you want to go to an inner planet, you want to leave orbit in the direction opposite that. So, the ejection angle is just the place in your orbit that you want to start your burn at.

[123kde]

ok, but when im at the ejection angle, which way do i burn? straight up? or in the direction im going (the little green circle on the nav ball without the X in it)

[123kde]

or... am i missing it completely?

[pebble_garden]

When you are at the ejection angle, you burn prograde (assuming a circular orbit). The yellow marker that's a hollow circle with three lines representing wings and a tail. (Retrograde is a circle with an X, with three lines like the fins of an arrow.)

[The Destroyer]

Also, http://www.kerbal.net/mod.php?id=36 That there, Is amazing. it tells you the current angle of all the planets, and what angle you need so that you can burn, and what ejection angle ur at. gl!