Align large orbits or small orbits?

[giddonah]

I'm about to come back from Minimus and I realize I have two options here. I can align the plane of my next orbit with Mun (to hopefully take advantage of some gravity assisted slow down?) or I can leave Minimus orbit, then do a second burn later to align orbits. Or I guess a third option to make both the orbit burn and the inclination burn at the same time?

OR, which I just thought of, screw it, and just leave Minimus orbit and just burn to orbit Kerbin directly and skip Mun.

Thoughts? Is one method preferred over the other depending on the situation?

Edited July 30, 2014 by giddonah

[Alshain]

The further you are from Kerbin, the cheaper the inclination change will be.

[kfunk]

are you just trying to get back to Kerbin? alignment is kind of unnecessary in that case. if you're trying to get into Mun orbit it would be ideal to time your departure so you're already aligned with Mun. Good luck!

[giddonah]

Thanks for the tips!

Ok, I did wait until Minimus was at the point of being even with Mun's orbit, figuring that'd take some of the calculation away (as well as save fuel). At this point, I'm really just headed to Kerbin after a fly-by for science points, so if it's less energy to just skip Mun, I'll just do that.

This is the farthest I've been out, so I'm still getting a handle on orbit dynamics.

[giddonah]

Heh. So I skipped the inclination change and headed straight for Kerbin. Check out this Mun sling-shot. It'll do the inclination for me by coincidence: