Will Swing-by Technique (aka Gravity Assist) work in KSP?

[CSX_Ind]

Don't know if anyone tried this before, but.

So, Voyager 1 & 2 changed direction and increased their speed by performing swing-by technique in real life.

Then, if I were to launch a satellite to put it on escape trajectory from the sun, first I need to calculate minimum delta-v to escape from Kerbin, then calculate Hohmann transfer to nearest planet, in this case, Duna, then let it travel so the satellite can catch Duna's gravitation then perform swing-by.

Though I can't just let the satellite to perform only one swing-by, because that is still not enough speed for the satellite to escape from Sun's gravitation, which means I need to calculate (or use minimum thrust) next Hohmann transfer to a next celestial body and so on.

However, even if I successfully make this satellite to enter other celestial body's gravitation, will swing-by technique work in KSP?

[SkyRender]

Yes, you can do gravity assists in KSP. The fundamental concept behind gravity assists is well within the physics model used by the game. Actually having a good idea of where your gravity assist is going to send you, on the other hand, can be a lot harder to discern unless you do the calculations by hand ahead of time.

[Fyrem]

"will it work" yes. mostly.

"can I figure out in advance how much my swing by Duna will effect my path so that I can exactly target my approach to Jool while still sitting at the launch pad on kerbin?" no.

"why not?" Floating point calculation presission error.

[CSX_Ind]

"will it work" yes. mostly.

"can I figure out in advance how much my swing by Duna will effect my path so that I can exactly target my approach to Jool while still sitting at the launch pad on kerbin?" no.

"why not?" Floating point calculation presission error.

Is that mean even if I attach ion thruster on the satellite to perform minimum maneuver, my satellite cannot travel to next celestial body?

(Assuming that I calculated Hohmann transfer from Duna to next body)

[SkyRender]

You can still do mid-course maneuvers to adjust your intercept. Mostly the problem is that there's no way in-game just now to calculate the appropriate launch windows to get the most out of gravity assists.

[CSX_Ind]

Well, just found out that Voyager 1 & 2 was possible because of the "Grand Tour" alignment of planets.

I guess it means I need to wait until all planets are aligned in KSP

[Temstar]

A single powered slingshot from Jool is more than enough to sent a ship into interstellar space:

Seen here, an unpowered slingshot will already put this probe very close to Kerbol escape velocity. When we add another 5256m/s around Jool PE by firing the engines we'll be zooming out or Kerbolar system.

In fact in KSP we can put spacecraft into orbit with so much delta-V that you can actually reach Kerbol escape velocity by simply escape prograde in Kerbin's solar orbit and then just accelerate with plain old rocket power to Kerbol escape velocity.

[AmpsterMan]

As stated before, Gravity Assists are completly possible within the game. In fact, I have used Jool to get me into a Polar orbit around the sun