Launch Inclination for ARM?

[Caelib]

So, the one thing I don't quite get is how to determine the launch inclination for asteroids -- is it all guesswork? Is there any way to create a maneuver node from the launch pad yet?

[LethalDose]

There's a trick Scott Manley provides in

video to launch into a co-planar orbit (I think around 12:00). Set the target on the pad, and then keep your target prograde vector between your prograde vector and "pole" of the navball.

I don't think this will work, though if your target is in a separate SoI.

[qromodynmc]

I dont know,looks like we need to guess where will it come.. Anyway I will put a craft to polar orbit too.

[Vanamonde]

It seems that asteroids will be little moving objects. What are also little moving objects? Ships! Practice rendezvousing with ships at different inclinations, and I suspect the skills you hone will transfer over to asteroid captures. (Also, moved to gameplay questions.)

[Caelib]

It seems that asteroids will be little moving objects. What are also little moving objects? Ships! Practice rendezvousing with ships at different inclinations, and I suspect the skills you hone will transfer over to asteroid captures. (Also, moved to gameplay questions.)

I know how to rendezvous with ships at different inclinations -- it would be really nice if the inclination were listed as a number on the patched conic of the asteroid when you're viewing it from the space center.

[Kasuha]

You can try my MAR Challenge for some practice.

As far as I know, after the patch is out you will be able to see projected trajectory of selected object in the active SOI even if the object is still out of the SOI. That is useful if you intend to intercept the object after it enters the SOI. From my experience with the challenge though, the inclination you want to use if you want to intercept it while it's still outside the SOI is different and you need to follow the inclination of the object's current position relative to Kerbin.

What I did was that I put the ship on launchpad, then opened the map, selected the object as target and switched the view to Kerbin (by pressing Tab). Then I placed the object right over the Kerbin center and timewarped until my ship on launchpad appeared on horizon. Then I launched and followed the inclination suggested by target position on navball. It was not 100% accurate but it was good enough within a few degrees.

[diomedea]

If you want a precise, perfect inclination reading for an asteroid orbit (still, only valid once within the same SoI of your ship), you may want to use mods like MechJeb or VOID, then launch to match that reading. However, those mods are not strictly needed (I'm doing ARM testing without any, and intercepted successfully everything I wanted). My trick is, once the asteroid is within SoI (Kerbin's, unless you're launching from another body), to move the camera so that you're looking from one of the nodes (where the asteroid orbital plane and the ship orbital plane intersect - for the ship plane, I actually use Mun's orbital plane that has the same 0° inclination). Both orbits will then draw as straight segments, and you may easily judge the relative inclination (or, you can use a protractor on your screen for increased precision). Of course you know that you may be aiming from either AN or DN, and the inclination of one is just the opposite of the other: both are good, you have to use the one going according to the position of the launch site (if it is directly below the path of the approaching asteroid, or at the antipode, in which case the inclination to use is the opposite). I always wait to launch when the launch site is almost exactly aligned with a node, so to already be in the correct orbital plane, and take care of doing so that my initial LKO will be oriented in the direction the asteroid is coming from (you don't want to meet an asteroid head-on, actually, so the direction has to match).