How to plot a course from the munsurface to a station in mun orbit?

[Pappus]

I thought about like parking a science lab in low mun Orbit and create a re-useable lander, but I have no idea how I would even get close to plot a course to that station.

To be honest I already fail launching from mun in a fashion that would get me in an orbit pointing directly to kerbin. So enlighten me. I have no problems getting to the mun and I made it back (with a bit of luck and catapulting), but for me it seems impossible to plan a return correctly, because the maneuver markers aren't accessible at all until the damage is already done. My rockets, although asparagus staged, aren't that efficient nor are my landing skills in terms of conserving fuel so I am hoping, that I could try and brush up my plotting skills.

For example I was on the southern pole of mun, no problem since course plotting works. Now I am sitting there and I want to make the orbit directly in a fashion that would keep me out of any inclination so that I could launch myself to kerbin. I failed and ended up with a strong inclination and it killed my return.

So playing stock, how would the ascent look? How do I correctly use that navball is probably the real problem.

Thanks for helping a beginner out

[DeMatt]

There's two questions that need to be answered before you plot a rendezvous: first, what's the orbital inclination of the space station; and second, what's the latitude of your lander's touchdown site? In order for your lander to be able to boost directly into the station's orbit, it must be at a lower latitude than the orbital inclination of the station.

The easiest setup for this is to A) orbit the station above the Mun's equator (orbital inclination = 0 degrees), and land your landers only on the equator (latitude = 0 degrees). Then all you have to do is tilt straight east, boost into an equatorial orbit, and adjust apoapsis/periapsis as necessary to catch up to the station.

[Vanamonde]

I'm afraid it's not clear to me what you are asking. To return from Mun, just get into orbit and then plot your return burn. Any orbit will do, though the closer to equatorial you can be, the less fuel you'll use.

[SkyHook]

There are two things that we need to know to help you:

1. Your starting position on the Mun (Are you near the equator or the poles?).

2. Your target or target orbit, and around which body you plan to orbit.

Please let us know these things!

[Monger]

So playing stock, how would the ascent look? How do I correctly use that navball is probably the real problem.

Well, maybe let's start here, because the navball is really essential. The navball is actually an Attitude indicator combined with a Gyrocompass. It is always oriented towards its gravitational body, including its axises. This means that while the ball is fixed in space, your ship is rotating around it. If your ship is oriented towards the artificial horizon, it means you are parallel to the ground (assuming the ground is flat). On the artificial horizon there are markings from 1 to 360 degrees: 360 (or 0) degrees is always north, 90° is east, 180° south, 270° west.

Since the mun lies pretty perfectly on the east-west axis of kerbin, you should launch from the mun either to the west or to the east to achieve orbit. Obviously this only works if you actually landed on the equator. When you launch from the north pole, obviously every direction you fly to will bring you south into some north-south orbit. Therefore, if you want to achieve an east-west orbit from anywhere else than the equator, you actually have to fly to the equator somehow and then to the east or west.

Edited January 10, 2014 by Monger

[Pappus]

Well, maybe let's start here, because the navball is really essential. The navball is actually an Attitude indicator combined with a Gyrocompass. It is always oriented towards its gravitational body, including its axises. This means that while the ball is fixed in space, your ship is rotating around it. If your ship is oriented towards the artificial horizon, it means you are parallel to the ground (assuming the ground is flat). On the artificial horizon there are markings from 1 to 360 degrees: 360 (or 0) degrees is always north, 90° is east, 180° south, 270° west.

Since the mun lies pretty perfectly on the east-west axis of kerbin, you should launch from the mun either to the west or to the east to achieve orbit. Obviously this only works if you actually landed on the equator. When you launch from the north pole, obviously every direction you fly to will bring you south into some north-south orbit. Therefore, if you want to achieve an east-west orbit from anywhere else than the equator, you actually have to fly to the equator somehow and then to the east or west.

So that means that if I am landed on the absolute southpole and I chose to ascent in a nothern trajectory I will end up in an orbit that goes north/south without any inclination? How would I go about for example if I was neither on the equator nor the exact pole to get as cheaply as possible into such "perfect" orbits without inclination? I feel like I am lacking the tools to do that properly.

Would it be sufficent from wherever I start onthe moon to head for e.g. 90° navball and wait until my prograde circle lies nicely alligned on that 90° aswell?

[Trueborn]

If you start at a pole and burn in any direction you'll end up in an orbit with 90 degrees of inclination.

So if you want to get from a pole to an equitorial (0 inclination) orbit, you will need to burn sideways. The easiest way to do this is:

1) Launch from the moon, and turn immediately to almost horizontal (heading is your choice).

2) Burn until you have an orbit that goes at least 1/3 of the way above the equator, then let it coast.

3) Build a maneuver node on your orbit where it crosses the equator. Use the triangle on the side to pull your orbit down until it matches your target orbit. You will probably have to add some retrograde to avoid escaping the mun's SOI.

4) After you get your orbit matching inclination, burn to circularize or set up for your rendezvous.

For non "perfect" orbits, set your target and build your inclination changing burn at the ascending or descending nodes.

[Jay7sun]

If you start at a pole and burn in any direction you'll end up in an orbit with 90 degrees of inclination.

So if you want to get from a pole to an equitorial (0 inclination) orbit, you will need to burn sideways. The easiest way to do this is:

1) Launch from the moon, and turn immediately to almost horizontal (heading is your choice).

2) Burn until you have an orbit that goes at least 1/3 of the way above the equator, then let it coast.

3) Build a maneuver node on your orbit where it crosses the equator. Use the triangle on the side to pull your orbit down until it matches your target orbit. You will probably have to add some retrograde to avoid escaping the mun's SOI.

4) After you get your orbit matching inclination, burn to circularize or set up for your rendezvous.

For non "perfect" orbits, set your target and build your inclination changing burn at the ascending or descending nodes.

Nice response! Thank you very much for the steam gauges btw, love em!

[Trueborn]

My pleasure.

[CaptainArchmage]

If you have a space station in an equatorial orbit, you will need to launch from the Mun's surface as the station is approaching your location. It doesn't take that much to get into orbit. If your landing site is at a significantly high latitude north or south, however, you will need to do a plane change to match your orbit with that of the space station once they intersect.