Anyone still travel to Mun ye olde fashioned way?

[SkyHook]

I never use M-Nodes...never. They are useful, but I never think to use them! SO the answer is yes, its eyeballing for me!

[Brabbit1987]

I honestly can't find a reason not to use them. For me planning ahead of time is always important. The M-Nodes only help in that area for me.

However, I started KSP with M-nodes being available.

[Akalaël]

just set conic patch mode to zero, focus mapview on the Mun and watch your periapsis.

What do you call "conic patch mode" ????

[Activity]

I always want the transfer stage to impact on the mun, so i tend to use the node system, unless it's a the transfer stage is also the command module.

[Francesco]

What do you call "conic patch mode" ????

basically, "conic patch draw mode" means how your future orbit will appear in mapview when you change sphere of influence.

this is quite important for interplanetary travel.

personally, I like to set it to 0.

I was going to link this simple yet useful plugin but Spaceport is down for maintenance. try later!

http://kerbalspaceprogram.com/maneuver-node-improvement/

[koshelenkovv]

I not use nodes when getting to LKO, rarely use when travel to Mun or Minmus.

Nodes are very good for interplanetary travels, most useful part is that I can place 2-3 of them. Such way I can predict corrections in advance, not one after another as before. Also, they show amount of delta-V will be spent.

Though I almost never do burns looking at blue mark and yellow dV gauge - I could not do it right anyway, it gets only worse.

Also, nodes calculate some maneures wrong and suboptimal way. Try to change inclination from 0 to 45 degrees by node and by hand and see.

I burn old way by eye - in main direction on Navball and then several final corrections till my trajectory will be in line with predicted by node.

So I use maneuver nodes almost exclusively as prediction tool for interplanetary travels.

Edited May 22, 2013 by koshelenkovv

[royying]

LOW KERBIN ORBIT period is too short

if using maneuver nodes

sometimes will miss the node after adjust the node

[Flixxbeatz]

I've learned how to navigate by eye recently, but still I use maneuver nodes for pinpoint encounter accuracy.

But I do miss launching retrgograde to have my self a 100% Munar encounter before... Good times

Edited May 22, 2013 by Flixxbeatz

[Arran]

I started just before Mnodes (v0.14) where in the game, but i had big problems in getting anywhere, so Mechjeb was back then my saviour (guess without it, i never gotten as hooked too KSP as i'm now), but when the MNodes where patched in, i started too try stuff by hand, and nowerdays i hardly use mechjeb anymore.

[IvanTehFennec]

I've always felt using the maneuver nodes at such short distances was always a waste - I only use them to get onto a direct impact course with other planets.

[Nuke]

i discoverd somewhere that the best time to go for munar injection you usually have the mun directly in front of you while in lko and pointing prograde. if you launch when the mun is on the other side of the planet, you usually wind up facing right at it as soon as orbit is achieved. so with those two things i can usually do the munar injection from the surface to intercept with just one burn. though a second burn is required if i want any kind of predictable inclination when i get there (most of the time i dont care). it has the added bonus of ensuring that any spent stages will hit kerbin so space debris is at a minimum.

sometimes i wonder if its orbital parameters weren't selected for this very reason.

[AnalogAddict]

I use the mnodes for timing and estimating how much ÃŽâ€v is needed for certain maneuvers. I agree with many of the posts in this thread, I use visual cues to know when I need to burn and use map mode to see the encounter happen.

[Tw1]

I first did it by judging the position that the Mun would be at when I got to it on the map view, and burning at the appropriate point.

Now I do whatever I feel like. If I'm feeling lazy, and have brought MJ along, I sometimes let it do the burn for me. Mostly maneuver nodes though.

[paulram16]

Sadly I don't know how to get to the moon so usually I just wait until I am like 60 degrees in front and blast off directly

[Richy teh space man]

I still do it the old fashioned way

[Rage097]

I kind of do a hybrid between the two. I will launch, orbit, and circularize my orbit by eye. Then I will place a manuver node about where it would look like the Mun is rising. I will use a manuver node to circularize my Mun orbit and go by eye for landing.

[Vespasianus]

Maneouver nodes for the mun? No way

I've been here since 0.14. I can't get out of the habit to eyeball the mun

[Panzerbeard]

I use nodes for the most part, but sometimes I do it by eye, depending on how I'm feeling. I originally learned to do it by eye (I wasn't actually using a tutorial for getting there, I was just mucking about and decided to point myself at the Mun and go full burn) before I knew about maneuver nodes, but now I just use the nodes for more or less everything except launching and circularizing. It's the exact same process, you still need to know when and where to burn, it just lets you be a bit more precise and efficient.

[PakledHostage]

I'm not sure I'm following you here, do you mean using negative gravitational assists to minimize the delta-v required to brake into orbit around the Mun?

Yes, exactly. Use the first munar gravitational assist to insert into an orbit about Kerbin having a periapsis as high as possible, with an apoapsis that sets up for subsequent Munar encounters. Those subsequent Munar encounters are then used to match orbits with the Mun, thereby reducing delta-V required to enter Munar orbit.

[Francesco]

Yes, exactly. Use the first munar gravitational assist to insert into an orbit about Kerbin having a periapsis as high as possible, with an apoapsis that sets up for subsequent Munar encounters. Those subsequent Munar encounters are then used to match orbits with the Mun, thereby reducing delta-V required to enter Munar orbit.

hmmm, I guess that will require a lot of orbits to achieve, won't it?

not to mention a lot of patience

and how much delta-v would that save, the usual 250+ m/s?

[PakledHostage]

how much delta-v would that save, the usual 250+ m/s?

About that, maybe a smidge less. It does take some patience to achieve, but some of us like that sort of challenge...

[aceassasin]

I use the "burn at mun rise teqnique" however I do use nodes to plan my munar orbit

[Eric S]

I don't get why people say using nodes is more efficient: I always spend ~860 m/s for a Mun transfer, I don't know how you can get more efficient than that.

The transfer isn't where you save delta-v from getting a precise transfer orbit, it's the capture. If your transfer is accurate enough that you don't need to adjust your periapsis, then you save all the fuel you would have spent wrangling your periapsis where you want it.

[katateochi]

Interesting to see the various approaches yet also how similar a lot of us are in our Mun outings. I think of going to Mun being like nipping down to the shops, so why use the sat nav! I find the by eye method a v. reliable way to get the approach I want, plus I can do it faster if I don't spend time setting up Mnodes. My preferred approach, if I have junk to jettison is to set a collision course with Mun, then when I enter Mun's SOI I drop the junk and adjust my Pe to desired height. I sometimes use M-nodes to circularise but most of the time I do that without them. I use M-nodes more with craft with low TWR which require more planning ahead, and I use them to plan my de-orbit burn with new craft that are unfamiliar or if I need a very accurate landing.

A few of you have mentioned using different conic draw modes. The extent of my understanding about these is that I know they exist, but otherwise I'm clueless about them! Could someone explain them in more details plz.

[xclusiv8]

I use the Maneuver nodes, especially because i set my conics to that mode that shows the line over the actual planet for extreme accuracy.

How do you do that?