Jool isn't letting me get back to Kerbin [Updated]

[Clockwork13]

So, using a rocket I have built myself, I managed to get a Jool encounter, my first career mode one, without cheating. I actually got the encounter, which went smoothly except for the fact that windows 8 started acting up which pretty much drained a good amount of fuel. Luckily, I got to Jool, and I think I will be able to get back. I have just under half a tank left of my main capsule and the last set of boosters. Now the hard part is getting back, getting into orbit and landing. I'm not entirely sure that is possible with the fuel I have, but I am gonna try. So, the problem is, how can I get a Kerbin encounter without using too much fuel? All I am getting is Jool encounters, and it's pretty frustrating but somewhat amusing. My orbit entends slightly beyond Jool and the Periapsis is slightly under Kerbin. How am I supposed to get back without crashing into Jool again? Or should I just give up and add transmitters next time?

EDIT: I got within Kerbin. Now I just need to get into orbit. But how? I have 108 fuel left and the maneuver to get into orbit is 2945.5 m/s. If I can get into orbit, I want to send out a rescue ship to go after the Joolian Ship and use my rescue ship to get the kerbal to evacuate.

Edited February 16, 2014 by Clockwork13

[Superfluous J]

Never give up. What you want to do is burn at apoapsis (use a maneuver node!) to get your orbit to just come along near Kerbin's orbit at periapsis. Set Kerbin as a target and when you get close enough, you'll get "near encounter" markers. Fiddle with your maneuver node until that "near encounter" becomes an actual encounter. Then, focus on Kerbin but rotate the camera so you can see the maneuver node in the background. Keep twiddling until your flyby becomes a very near collision. Like, 30km over the surface. Don't play with the node too much if you can't get an actual encounter. You'll have plenty of time to tweak it when you actually do the burn.

Go to Apoapsis, do the burn you set up with your maneuver node, and then using the smallest burns you can (RCS works great for this if you have it. You can do very precise bursts) get that really nice 30km brush of Kerbin.

DO A QUICK SAVE NOW.

Fast forward to Kerbin but make sure you slow down when you get close. If you are going really fast when you pass into Kerbin's SOI, it'll muck up your approach or you could even fly right past it. If you do, restore from the quicksave and try again, going a bit slower this time

Even from that far out, 30km should be enough to aerobrake you in for the landing. Keep the engines and fuel though just in case. Once you're sure you're coming in for a landing, ditch them and pop the chute.

This is all assuming you don't have Deadly Re-entry installed. If you do, I have no idea what to do.

[Clockwork13]

Never give up. What you want to do is burn at apoapsis (use a maneuver node!) to get your orbit to just come along near Kerbin's orbit at periapsis. Set Kerbin as a target and when you get close enough, you'll get "near encounter" markers. Fiddle with your maneuver node until that "near encounter" becomes an actual encounter. Then, focus on Kerbin but rotate the camera so you can see the maneuver node in the background. Keep twiddling until your flyby becomes a very near collision. Like, 30km over the surface. Don't play with the node too much if you can't get an actual encounter. You'll have plenty of time to tweak it when you actually do the burn.

Go to Apoapsis, do the burn you set up with your maneuver node, and then using the smallest burns you can (RCS works great for this if you have it. You can do very precise bursts) get that really nice 30km brush of Kerbin.

DO A QUICK SAVE NOW.

Fast forward to Kerbin but make sure you slow down when you get close. If you are going really fast when you pass into Kerbin's SOI, it'll muck up your approach or you could even fly right past it. If you do, restore from the quicksave and try again, going a bit slower this time

Even from that far out, 30km should be enough to aerobrake you in for the landing. Keep the engines and fuel though just in case. Once you're sure you're coming in for a landing, ditch them and pop the chute.

This is all assuming you don't have Deadly Re-entry installed. If you do, I have no idea what to do.

Thanks for the advice, although I might restart it because Windows 8 partially ruined it for me. I will try what you said though

[MartGonzo]

You can get back even if your fuel is very low by using the Oberth effect, explaining how is tricky though, especially as my understanding of the subject is very limited.

I'd recommend watching this:

mess around with maneuver nodes to show you what path you would follow after encountering various Joolian moons, when you find an encounter that throws you out into roughly the right orbit, set up another node near the Joolian moon encounter and you should be able to get down to a Kerbin orbit with very little fuel.

hope that helps.

[technion]

getting into orbit

Let's just be clear.. did you actually land on Jool?

it's a gas planet and there's no escaping from its surface.

[Clockwork13]

Getting into orbit around Kerbin, not Jool

[SSSPutnik]

How did windows 8 stuff things?

[DonLorenzo]

I hear it's resource hungry, must've drank some fuel while the OP wasn't paying attention

[Clockwork13]

Nah, I was doing a burn and the search menu popped up as I was doing a burn then I began spinning out of control and started burning in the wrong direction

Edited February 15, 2014 by Clockwork13

[technion]

Getting into orbit around Kerbin, not Jool

Thanks - now I get it.

You still won't need to get into that orbit though. Unless you have deadly re-entry installed, just plough into Kerbin directly. You could run out of fuel a third of the way around the sun and, if you had a close enough encounter with Kerbin, still land on it.

[Clockwork13]

Thanks, I set Kerbin as my target and I found an encounter after about 5 minutes. Although I am a bit worried I won't have enough fuel to crash down at Kerbin.

[SSSPutnik]

When you get closer, tweak the encounter for direct impact.

Shouldn't take much fuel.

[Clockwork13]

Yep, I'm screwed. I can't get into orbit without 3200 m/s of fuel

[Superfluous J]

Yep, I'm screwed. I can't get into orbit without 3200 m/s of fuel

Why do you want to orbit Kerbin? Your goal is to land. Get your periapsis 30km off the ground and let the atmosphere slow you down.

[Clockwork13]

Why do you want to orbit Kerbin? Your goal is to land. Get your periapsis 30km off the ground and let the atmosphere slow you down.

How am I supposed to land without getting into orbit first?

[Tw1]

How am I supposed to land without getting into orbit first?

Adjust your orbit so it has a periapsis in Kerbin's lower atmosphere. Or, just aim it straight at the planet. The atmosphere will slow you down, and assuming you have enough parachutes, you should be able to land safely.

[technion]

How am I supposed to land without getting into orbit first?

Imagine an intercept, where the Pe is "5km" (anywhere under roughly 30km really). Since you have no chance of getting down that low, and turning back around and leaving the planet, you'll keep going down until you land.

[SSSPutnik]

Ramming speed!

Edited February 16, 2014 by SSSPutnik

[Superfluous J]

How am I supposed to land without getting into orbit first?

Adjust your orbit so it has a periapsis in Kerbin's lower atmosphere. Or, just aim it straight at the planet. The atmosphere will slow you down, and assuming you have enough parachutes, you should be able to land safely.

One addition to Tw1's post. Adjust your orbit AROUND SUN so that it intercepts Kerbin's SOI and has a periapsis in Kerbin's lower atmosphere.

At no point will you be in a proper orbit around Kerbin. You'll be falling at 10 or so km/s when you hit the atmosphere.

[Clockwork13]

So you want me to go around the sun AGAIN? Whatever, I'm terminating the mission.

[Superfluous J]

So you want me to go around the sun AGAIN? Whatever, I'm terminating the mission.

We cannot explain it any further or any clearer. You are probably better off at this point doing just that.

[TheDarkStar]

So you want me to go around the sun AGAIN? Whatever, I'm terminating the mission.

While in solar orbit, adjust your orbit so that when you end up in Kerbin's SoI, you're on a course where you impact Kerbin. If you are not in a solar orbit, either try to lower your periapsis into the atmosphere by burning perpendicular to prograde or go back into a solar orbit and adjust there if you don't the the fuel to to do it from Kerbin's SoI.

[technion]

I just returned from Duna with < 15 points of fuel at the time I entered Kerbin's SOI, and managed to land fine. Very rarely do people tug 3200m/s worth of fuel on an interplanetary mission with a plan to perform a non-aerobrake capture at Kerbin. I dare say the majority of my missions wouldn't have been workable in this configuration. I don't get where the issue is here - just fly straight into the planet.