Often when I feel like Orbiting and am too lazy to create a scenario, I just run the "Solar System -> Today" scenario and see if I can find something interesting to do. Here's the latest one.
I got in the GL-01 Delta Glider, lit up IMFD, and planned a flight to Mercury at the next optimal launch window. I flew this and landed on Mercury. This was a stretch in and of itself, leaving only a few % of fuel remaining.
Through the magic of scenario editor and time accelleration, I refueled GL-01 and planned a flight from Mercury to Jupiter. I launched for this, but ran out of main fuel before I got enough speed to reach Jupiter. Fortunately the Delta Glider has a lot of RCS fuel, so I tried to see if I could use linear RCS to reach Jupiter. Much to my surprise, it worked.
No way would RCS be enough to enter Jupiter orbit or especially rendezvous with one of its moons, so I flew by Jupiter, gravity assisting into a solar system escape hyperbola.
I then got in the SH-01 Shuttle-A, which was on the moon, and used IMFD to plan a flight from Earth to intercept GL-01. I chose a time of flight which required 15 km/s of heliocentric delta-V. I guessed when to leave the moon and escape into solar orbit, then followed IMFD's direction. I intercepted GL-01 at a distance of 12.6 AUs, matched speeds, and docked. I had about 19% fuel remaining in SH-01.
I then used IMFD to look for a flight plan to any planet. The easiest (least delta-V) was to intercept Saturn in several years. Surprisingly this was low enough that I could do it with the ships still docked together, though it was difficult since any thrust caused some rotation as well. I was even able to use TransX to plan a Saturn flyby that killed off most of my heliocentric speed and put me nearly into an intercept course to Earth.
Unfortunately encounter speed after mid-course corrections was about 20 km/second! I tried a gravity assist, which greatly reduced my apohelion, but also reduced my perihelion. When I next reached Earth about 3 years later, encounter speed was again 20 km/second. I've never been able to do effective resonant gravity assists. I managed to recreate the flight of Galileo to Jupiter once, but have never been able to repeat that, much less Cassini or especially Messenger.
I got in the GL-01 Delta Glider, lit up IMFD, and planned a flight to Mercury at the next optimal launch window. I flew this and landed on Mercury. This was a stretch in and of itself, leaving only a few % of fuel remaining.
Through the magic of scenario editor and time accelleration, I refueled GL-01 and planned a flight from Mercury to Jupiter. I launched for this, but ran out of main fuel before I got enough speed to reach Jupiter. Fortunately the Delta Glider has a lot of RCS fuel, so I tried to see if I could use linear RCS to reach Jupiter. Much to my surprise, it worked.
No way would RCS be enough to enter Jupiter orbit or especially rendezvous with one of its moons, so I flew by Jupiter, gravity assisting into a solar system escape hyperbola.
I then got in the SH-01 Shuttle-A, which was on the moon, and used IMFD to plan a flight from Earth to intercept GL-01. I chose a time of flight which required 15 km/s of heliocentric delta-V. I guessed when to leave the moon and escape into solar orbit, then followed IMFD's direction. I intercepted GL-01 at a distance of 12.6 AUs, matched speeds, and docked. I had about 19% fuel remaining in SH-01.
I then used IMFD to look for a flight plan to any planet. The easiest (least delta-V) was to intercept Saturn in several years. Surprisingly this was low enough that I could do it with the ships still docked together, though it was difficult since any thrust caused some rotation as well. I was even able to use TransX to plan a Saturn flyby that killed off most of my heliocentric speed and put me nearly into an intercept course to Earth.
Unfortunately encounter speed after mid-course corrections was about 20 km/second! I tried a gravity assist, which greatly reduced my apohelion, but also reduced my perihelion. When I next reached Earth about 3 years later, encounter speed was again 20 km/second. I've never been able to do effective resonant gravity assists. I managed to recreate the flight of Galileo to Jupiter once, but have never been able to repeat that, much less Cassini or especially Messenger.
How many degrees should the planet have for a head start? I've never figured it out! I t0ld y0u I w45 4 t0t4l n00b.
