Plane changing and correcting?

[MET?]

I get into orbit, with near 0 inclination. I then wait until precisely the phase angle, ejection angle, and burn within 1m/s ejection velocity. Still no encounter. With Jool, It ended up being under ejection velocity and I came kind of back around and encountered after apoapsis. With Duna, I remember seeing an encounter after apoapsis, but I waited till ejection velocity and then had to correct back toward me so I wouldn't beat Duna there.

The way I correct is I burn at the center of the brown or blue so that my intersection moves forward or backward...is that the best way to do it? Problem is I never know which way to burn until I figure out that I've missed the target planet by a couple million miles! I'm looking for a bit of insight as to:

1. How correction burns ought to be done...

2. When to perform the north or south plane changes (I just missed Eve by a bit)

3. When encounters are normally reached, before or after apoapsis. Duna hit both. I stopped when I saw the one after apoapsis with Jool and got there fine.

Thanks,

MET?

[bsalis]

Because the ejection burn is not instant, you need to start the burn before the ejection angle. You also need to stop the burn lower than the ejection velocity (so just use map view instead for this). Getting your ejection angle right will involve some trial and error. It depends on the craft. Using an onscreen protractor can help here to measure the offset degree for your craft.

The way I correct is I burn at the center of the brown or blue so that my intersection moves forward or backward]

I think it's easier to just do pro-grade burns to change you arrival time, instead of the radial change you have done. This will not help if your Ap is below the target orbit, which is why it's best to bias your ejection to be a bit ahead/early of your target when going outward (eg. Duna), and a bit behind/late going inward (eg. Eve). Doing it this way lets you get a second chance with a post-Ap capture.

1. How correction burns ought to be done...]

I think pro-grade and retro-grade is best done at the end of you ejection burn.

Normal and anti-normal burns to change inclination are done at Pe, Ap, or the halfway points, depending on what you need. Think of it this way, imagine a line between your craft and the opposite side of the orbit. Normal/anti-normal burns will rotate the orbit around that line.

Radial and anti-radial burns.. i *think* these are best done halfway between Pe and Ap. However I would avoid using them except for very minor corrections once you have an SOI capture. They are wasteful.

2. When to perform the north or south plane changes (I just missed Eve by a bit)]

By this I think you mean the Normal (north) and anti-normal (south) burns. I covered that above... just to be clear, these Normal and Radial burns are to be done perpendicular to the orbit path. So you aim between the green navball markers... or do the sane thing and just use MechJeb.

3. When encounters are normally reached, before or after apoapsis. Duna hit both. I stopped when I saw the one after apoapsis with Jool and got there fine.]

Whatever works. Post-Ap captures taka a bit longer but arn't really less or more efficient. Most of my captures are post-Ap. The neat thing about post-Ap captures is that you can fine tune inclination there, and the capture in general. It's a lot easier to see what's happening with the capture from map view when your close to it.

[phoenix_ca]

So you aim between the green navball markers... or do the sane thing and just use MechJeb.

Considering that normal and anti-normal change as you continue your burn, 'tis the sane thing indeed. O.O

[Trebuchet-Launch]

Disregard people telling you not to perform radial burns. Radial burns will move your apoapsis forward or backwards along the target orbit for interceptions better than prograde/retrograde in most (not all) cases for correction. Additional prograde velocity will require more retroburning and/or correction for aerobraking at the target. Be aware that the most efficient time to perform radial burns for transfer are immediately following the ejection burn. Brown (inwards) to seek a later encounter and blue (outwards) for earlier.