Quick vocab question

[Kilmeister]

I've been hunting around Google and can't find an answer. I'm curious as is there is a definition for a transfer orbit from one body to another from a 90 degree inclination. I figured this was possible in my head and messed around with an maneuver node for a few minutes and came up with an intercept.

I was in a polar orbit around Laythe and burned mostly prograde to intercept with Vall which I intercepted into another polar orbit.

Just curious to as if there's a definition for this.

[nhnifong]

I don't think it has a name (because there are more efficient ways to accomplish the goal)

Feel free to call it the Kilmeister maneuver

[Camacha]

Yeah, obviously this is a possibility. I have been toying with this, but it has certain distinct drawbacks, some notable being that you do not take advantage of the speed of the body you are on (for the same reason most rockets launch east) and that intercepts are a bit harder to achieve, as you do not 'chase' your target along a trajectory but only briefly cross them.

It offers some advantages too, most notably that no other bodies are in the way. You can argue about the practicality of that though, considering space is predominantly empty.

[hawkinator]

Yeah, I've used that one several times in KSP. It seems to work especially well in the Jool sytem, probably because of the Laplace resonance of the moons and whatnot, although this is pure speculation. As for the name, I like the Killmeister transfer manuever. I've never seen any official name for this, though.

[Superfluous J]

I transferred from Mun to Minmus but I left the polar orbit going in a prograde (to Mun's orbit around Kerbin) direction and not "over the top" of Kerbin. Worked pretty well.

I also (with the same ship) left a polar Minmus orbit on an interplanetary transfer to Duna. That also worked with no problems.

Other than the fact that you have to be orbiting in the right way relative to the moon's orbit, these aren't that much different from regular transfers.

[Kilmeister]

I don't think it has a name (because there are more efficient ways to accomplish the goal)

Feel free to call it the Kilmeister maneuver

Ha, I'm sure I'm not the first to come up with this, and I don't think the name will stick. (But I'll go with it for now )

And how would you do a more efficient transfer? Since this is a mapping satellite, I wanted it to be in a polar orbit around Vall. So instead of doing 4 burns (change inclination on Laythe, ejection from Laythe ,insertion on Vall,change inclination on Vall) I just did 2 (Ejection and Insertion).

[Nibb31]

Plan changes are more efficient when done at a high apoapsis. You are going slower, so you need less delta-v to rotate the inclination.

You would need to run the numbers, but it might be more efficient to raise your ap (best for it to coincide with the equatorial AN or DN), rotate your inclination, perform your Hoffman transfer, and rotate inclination again when you enter the SOI of your destination.