An easier way to reach planets?

[Hanyuu]

I started playing about a week ago, and I've just started to branch out and start sending probes to other planets. (My ship!)

And plotting a correct course is kinda hard. Getting away from Kerbal and into an orbit that kind of meets up with the planet I want to go to is easy, but from that point I'm just randomly plotting maneuvers into the map and seeing if one gets close enough to enter the planet's gravity. Which is kind of just like precision guessing, really. Is there a better way to be doing this? The closest approach indicator is some help, but it's still hard.

[RawChicken]

Well.. Do you dully understand orbital mechanics? Watching a couple videos on plantary approach should be enough. Of course, this will get easier for you after practice. I remember I coudnt even get to Mun and now thats not even a challenge. Dont worry, you will get better at it.

There is no other method than how you mention, of course, you can download mods that help with this. One is called Engineering redux, gives you tons of info, maybe it it useful. Also, using this website could help you making your burns http://ksp.olex.biz/

[Gniuz]

Phase angles are what you need to learn about. Use the link RawChicken posted and find when you need to do the burn.

Example is Duna at about 42 degrees. If you burn at that point then you should hit its SoI and hey presto your orbiting around Duna.

Tools/Mods can be useful as well, try mechjeb and see how it does it then try again on your own. Protractor is good for giving details about the phase angles of each planet at any given time.

Good luck

G.

[Jason Patterson]

One very useful thing to do is once you have the phase angle set up (using the info from the link RawChicken provided) is to use a maneuver node on you Kerbin orbit to plan the ejection. Even though the calculator also provides an ejection angle, it assumes an instantaneous burn, which you're just not going to have, especially if you're using an efficient interplanetary transfer stage. By planning a node you can see roughly how long the burn should take and begin burning early accordingly.