Deep Space Rendevous?

[Sauron]

Because hitting a planet is so passe, I want to figure out the best way to rendezvous with a kerbonaut-sized object in a wide Kerbol orbit. (Planning for the inevitable worst case scenario--nobody gets left behind, and my bodycount this save is still zero )

I could test this out with probe targets, but since I suspect that this is exactly the job for an ion engine or RCS (and I'm not keen on making a ten hour burn to see which), what's the best way to approach this?

[stupid_chris]

This is going to be long, but it isn't impossible.

Basically you want to place yourself in a phasing orbit. If your target is in a highly epileptic orbit, then try matching this eccentricity and putting your poapsis/periapsis approximately at the same place. But that might be hard, so it's better if your target is in a near circular orbit. Then, get an orbit a few hundred kilometers above or below the one of your target, depending on where it is compared to Kerbin. Then you do as you would for a normal rendez-vous:L you wait for the orbits to align for a Hohmann tansfer. That might be long because orbiting the sun is rather ong. But just be precise and place your maneuver nodes correctly and you should be able to get a rather acceptable rendez-vous

[Uberick]

^^^ The mechanics are going to remain the same as normal docking, you're just dealing with much greater distances.

[Sauron]

I suppose, the big question I had was whether it'd be more productive to use RCS or an ion engine to make the ridiculously tiny corrections that are going to inevitably pop up.

[The Destroyer]

I suppose, the big question I had was whether it'd be more productive to use RCS or an ion engine to make the ridiculously tiny corrections that are going to inevitably pop up.

Probably Ion engine. RCS is actually quite powerful.

[stupid_chris]

Yep, RCS will be too powerful and set you off un such great distance. Maybe a combo of both will be perfect.

[Uberick]

Oops, didn't read the ion vs RCS OP. (sorry!)

I should think that RCS would be fine; if you turn on "fine controls"(default capslock I think), then the RCS operates at reduced power, allowing you to make finer adjustments without overshooting. You could use an Ion engine, but it might be a bit of a pain to keep spinning your ship around to fire the ion engine in the appropriate direction(assumine only one Ion engine). Still, it would give you more delta-v, and the ability to make very fine adjustments.

[strongest_2hu]

http://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/showthread.php/27819-Docking-oddities-in-Kerbol-orbit

It looks like you'll want RCS for ease of use to make the rendezvous reasonably close, unless you want to set up a cluster of ion engines into an ion-RCS block with action groups to toggle them or something. In addition, you'll want a lot of high thrust delta-V to match speeds with your target once you get a decent encounter and then to drive in to the target from there.

[Pixel of Life]

^^^ The mechanics are going to remain the same as normal docking, you're just dealing with much greater distances.

This. Just get a similar orbit to the craft you're trying to catch and vary your orbit altitude depending on whether you are ahead or behind it. It works exactly the same way as it does in some planet's or moon's SOI, I've tried it and it was not that difficult. The only difference is that planets may get in the way. That is very unlikely, though, especially if your target is in an elliptical Kerbol orbit.

[bigdad84]

When trying to dock in Kerbol orbit, it is very difficult because of the way the "On-Rails" system works... Because of the great distances in Kerbol orbit, when you time warp your target will shift around sometimes up to 0.5KM... So just watch it