The Grand tour.

[Vaporized Steel]

Hi,

In our own solar system we have had a mission to take the so called "grand tour" of our own planets (voyager 2)

The Grand tour is a planetary alignment of all the planets in our own solar system. This alignment could use the gravity assist of Jupiter to slingshot towards any of the other outside planets.

The Grand tour in the Sol systems case was first brought to attention by a aerospace engineer of JPL in the early 1970s.

It was estimated that this Alignment occured every 175years (roughly) and could send an object to any of the planets Jupiter, Uranus, neptune and dwarf planet pluto. Maybe even a assisted flyby of mars with the least amount of required delta V.

My question is. Does such a launch window also occur in the Kerbal (Kerbol system) Preferably to reach Duna, dres, Jool and Eelo in one mission only to use delta V for small slingshot course corrections as voyager 2 did.

Ofcourse the Kerbol system doesn't have 4 large gas Giants as gravity well. But to my theory any planetary system has a window for a grand tour to be made possible. In a system with bodies of lesser gravity the scenario would only be less likely to occur but instead take place every multiple hundred years.

What I don't know yet is which Kerbal year is the perfect alignment. And how long would it take for each cycle to return for a perfect grand tour alignment.

Has anybody learned the perfect planetary alignment in his KSP experience throughout play.

If so my question is what is the year, month, day, hour, minute or maybe even the very second for the optimal launch window to succeed in a Grand tour of the Kerbal system?

EDIT: Accidentally posted this in general ksp discussion. But I ment it to be posted in questions and tutorials. I think I might get much more support right there. Could this Thread be moved please?

Edited April 25, 2014 by Vaporized Steel

[MrOnak]

I'm not sure if that rules the Grand Tour as a whole out but the wiki says this about Eeloo: "It [Eeloo] is the seventh and farthest planet from Kerbol most of the time, though its orbit intersects Jool's, passing in front of it for a minority of its revolution period. The two planets are locked in a 3:2 resonance, which, coupled with their different inclinations, ensures they cannot collide. "