Tips for Eeloo transfer.

[Motokid600]

My first trip to the farthest planet didn't go too well. I used way to much fuel. I know there's gotta be a more efficient way. With Engineer redux I waited for the proper phase angle when Eeloo came closest to the sun. I'm not for gravity assists so I build ships capable of burning straight out. I follow the burn data given by that website that does the math. ( forget the name..its late. On a phone.. ) And it says I need over 2k d/v to make the burn.

So I shoot straight out of the SoI. At the descending node I make a correction burn to intercept Eeloo. Success..except I ended up in a polar orbit. Then the landing craft flames out after the deorbit burn. No fuel..forgot to cut the crossfeed. Anyway they all died so besides that I'm basically looking for general tips for the next trip out. How do you go about the ejection burn? When to compensate for Eeloo's inclination? ( before SoI, after, midway? ) and how can I shoot for a nice prograde equatorial orbit?

[painking]

I'm a little curious myself. I make a point to carry more fuel than I need since I don't know how to fine tune my intercept inclinations, only how to get closer. I got in a about 50Mm orbit around Eeloo that was also polar but polar was exactly what I was aiming for so it was ok, but I had enough to fuel to go equatorial if I wanted. My guess would be to make sure your intersect is behind Eeloo, and start the inclination changing burn as you get close to it, so you can line up it equatorially. Maybe.

[ComradeGoat]

These days I often aim for a very low periapsis when going to the outer planets (well, Jool. Haven't got as far as Eeloo yet), and make sure I get the relative inclination as low as possible at the ascending/descending node. Then I can fix the orbit up to be equatorial with very little delta V just as I change SOI.

Probably need a bigger burn with Eeloo, as it has a smaller SOI, but the planet is much smaller too, so you won't have to go as far.

This all relies on you changing SOI near to the equatorial plane of the planet, but that tends to fall out if you concentrate on utterly nailing that inclination burn, which Engineer Redux can really help with.

[tomf]

I normally use launch window planner

Ejection burn - I normally start by creating a burn with the required DV then dragging it around the orbit until it ends up in the right direction, escaping Kerbin parallel to Kerbin's direction of travel. I also normally do some tweaking with the pink handles to see if I can reduce the plane change required.

Then you can do a plane matching burn at the next AN/DN node.

Finally I place another node about 4/5 of the way around the semi circle of my Hohmann orbit. I use that to fine tune my approach to the target in order to get an equatorial, prograde orbit. If you are traveling to a planet outside your start point you should be aiming to pass on the inside of your target, as close to the equator and surface as possible.

[Tw1]

The trick it is fine tuning the side of the planet your orbit passes when you enter its SOI.

With a bit of cleverness, you can get to any orbit you want this way, if you've got the Delta V.

[Boffinbox]

yeah try to do some kind of burn close to the inclination nodes

make use of phase angles, but instead of just burning at the next phase angle, examine where Eeloo is and then determine whether it's worth your time. if not, go to the next window

do not just go for the periapsis, you'll have to change your inclination quite a bit

to avoid getting into a polar orbit and get as close to equatorial as possible. i find conic mode 0 to be very helpful. you can make your orbit equatorial at SOI change by checking where the periapsis around Eeloo is before you get there, and then burn normal or anti-normal to adjust.

obligatory motivation

aiming for Eeloo periapsis isn't the best move.