TransX Grand Tour: Execution

[Kaito]

Recently, i've been fantasizing about sending the Apollo CSM on a grand tour, like voyager. But before I do that, I first have to actually figure out the Grand tour setup. TO THE INTERNET!

*30 minutes later*

The transX tutorials on youtube have allowed me to setup the voyager trip. It's all setup, and I use the tutorial on "Earth to mars" to actually launch into orbit with an R. Inc of 0.002. TIME TO LAUNC...wait....

In "Earth to mars", flytandem sets up the plan, launches into orbit...then sets up the maneuver. So, he does the setup twice. I went through the setup on the ground, launched into orbit..and when I try to setup the maneuver..i hit a road block.

I can get to jupiter just fine, but when I try to setup my slingshot around it (get the green line to match the dashed yellow line), it's slow, and the yellow line jumps around. Plus, when I get it "close enough", and move to Saturn...i cant change any of it's parameters without changing the entire plan.

In summary:
After I setup my plan of the grand tour according to the TransX tutorial: Voyager 2 setup, how do I execute the burn once in orbit?

Thanks in advance,
~Kaito

 

[flytandem]

Nice work.

Yes I do the setup "twice" meaning the plan,... then a maneuver for the actual burn. And this is for large eject burns like going from Earth to Mars or Earth to Juipter. The reason is that the basic PLAN to eject to Jupiter gets you into a nice orbit at about the right time give or take an hour. But TransX doesn't have a very accurate direction for the burn. But the maneuver mode in TransX has that nice target to point the ship for the burn, plus it will be using a date that exactly matches that of the burn.

Doing lesser magnitude burns like leaving moon for Earth can easily be done just using the plan and aim prograde and start the burn when it says to.

And yes you are right that the plan is constantly needing to be being updated as you go. The initial plan assumed a specific date and speed of arrival at Jupiter. But depending on how things progressed and how to conducted the MCCs your arrival date and speed are not exactly on that initial plan so you must tweak the remaining part of the plan to reflect these changes.

 

[Kaito]

I think you misunderstood my problem...

I can do the setup while im on the ground just fine, but when I turn maneuver mode on, and start trying to actually do the grand tour setup...thats where i'm stuck. I can arrive at jupiter, but I cant setup the slingshots for the other planets

 

[flytandem]

I think it would be best if you post a scenario of the point where you are having trouble. I would be happy to look at it to see where you are and what would be the next step.

 

[Kaito]

This is where I am now: LEO, I should be in plane for the Trans-Jupiter injection. Thank you for all the help

 

[flytandem]

Your scenario is very good. You have the eject maneuver set up and the plan removed.
You are a bit off-plane for the first arrival at Jupiter which means probably a MCC of 50 or more m/s when half way there. But that's not a problem. I played around with trying to get a better eject burn to reduce the amount the Jupiter arrival is off but I suggest that it would be more fuel to fix it during the eject burn than with a MCC.

Re-adjusting the sling angles (outward and inclination) will have to be tweaked a bit but that is always part of flying these multiple sling trajectories.

I have flown your scenario and done the eject burn as you have it set up. Then I flew about half way to Jupiter and set up the maneuver but not burned it yet. Here is the scenario of where I am ... (note that I also readjusted the sling angles of the Jup-Sat, Sat-Ura, and Ura-Nep legs.)

BEGIN_DESC
Contains the latest simulation state.
END_DESC

BEGIN_ENVIRONMENT
  System Sol
  Date MJD 43541.2128554732
END_ENVIRONMENT

BEGIN_FOCUS
  Ship GL-01
END_FOCUS

BEGIN_CAMERA
  TARGET GL-01
  MODE Cockpit
  FOV 39.73
END_CAMERA

BEGIN_HUD
  TYPE Surface
END_HUD

BEGIN_MFD Left
  TYPE User
  MODE TransX
  Ship  GL-01
  FNumber 8
  Int 0
  Orbit True
  Vector  5442743126.57 48487976795.5 340276785110
  Vector  -16570.2046771 15.678485975 16820.7332856
  Double  1.32712439955e+020
  Double  43541.2098898
  Handle Sun
  Handle Earth
  Handle Jupiter
Select Target
 0 Jupiter
Autoplan
0 0
Plan type
0 2
Plan
0 0
Plan
0 0
Plan
0 0
Select Minor
 0 None
Manoeuvre mode
0 1
Base Orbit
0 0
Prograde vel.
 0  -40
Man. date
 0  43541.2125275
Outward vel.
 0  26.1
Ch. plane vel.
 0  -17.5
Intercept with
0 0
Orbits to Icept
0 0
Graph projection
0 0
Scale to view
0 0
Advanced
0 0
Finvars
  Finish BaseFunction
  Int 4
  Orbit True
  Vector  41846551835.8 78303836123.1 -462951502941
  Vector  -876.773900919 -1591.21634071 9464.16305511
  Double  1.26686534397e+017
  Double  43416.662861
  Handle Jupiter
  Handle NULL
  Handle NULL
Select Target
 0 Escape
Autoplan
0 0
Plan type
0 1
Plan
0 0
Plan
0 1
Plan
0 0
Select Minor
 0 None
Manoeuvre mode
0 1
Base Orbit
0 0
Prograde vel.
 0  0
Man. date
 0  43362.0456634
Outward vel.
 0  0
Ch. plane vel.
 0  0
Intercept with
0 0
Orbits to Icept
0 0
Graph projection
0 0
Scale to view
0 0
Advanced
0 0
View Orbit
0 0
Finvars
  Finish BaseFunction
  Int 3
  Orbit True
  Vector  -529516839944 9181175075.64 599707541515
  Vector  -19037.1895343 957.811959739 -10685.1636963
  Double  1.32839126489e+020
  Double  43981.5649606
  Handle Sun
  Handle Jupiter
  Handle Saturn
Select Target
 0 Saturn
Autoplan
0 0
Plan type
0 2
Plan
0 0
Plan
0 0
Plan
0 2
Select Minor
 0 None
Manoeuvre mode
0 0
Base Orbit
0 0
Prograde vel.
 0  0
Man. date
 0  43541.2128548
Outward vel.
 0  0
Ch. plane vel.
 0  0
Intercept with
0 0
Orbits to Icept
0 0
Graph projection
0 0
Scale to view
0 0
Advanced
0 0
Velocity.
 0  0
Outward angle
 0  0.392355600902
Inc. angle
 0  -0.0519713672684
Inherit Vel.
0 0
Eject date
 0  43981.5649606
Finvars
  Finish BaseFunction
  Int 4
  Orbit True
  Vector  507774548631 -23653489939.9 140615079404
  Vector  -12860.9728656 599.308284865 -3555.5253022
  Double  3.79311866084e+016
  Double  44198.7126905
  Handle Saturn
  Handle NULL
  Handle NULL
Select Target
 0 Escape
Autoplan
0 0
Plan type
0 1
Plan
0 0
Plan
0 1
Plan
0 0
Select Minor
 0 None
Manoeuvre mode
0 0
Base Orbit
0 0
Prograde vel.
 0  0
Man. date
 0  43541.2128181
Outward vel.
 0  0
Ch. plane vel.
 0  0
Intercept with
0 0
Orbits to Icept
0 0
Graph projection
0 0
Scale to view
0 0
Advanced
0 0
View Orbit
0 0
Finvars
  Finish BaseFunction
  Int 3
  Orbit True
  Vector  -1.42204215835e+012 58833317084.8 -138033498412
  Vector  2986.11636406 -451.886869651 -22719.3988045
  Double  1.32750371142e+020
  Double  44654.6022309
  Handle Sun
  Handle Saturn
  Handle Uranus
Select Target
 0 Uranus
Autoplan
0 0
Plan type
0 2
Plan
0 0
Plan
0 0
Plan
0 2
Select Minor
 0 None
Manoeuvre mode
0 0
Base Orbit
0 0
Prograde vel.
 0  0
Man. date
 0  43541.2128155
Outward vel.
 0  0
Ch. plane vel.
 0  0
Intercept with
0 0
Orbits to Icept
0 0
Graph projection
0 0
Scale to view
0 0
Advanced
0 0
Velocity.
 0  0
Outward angle
 0  -0.152155709794
Inc. angle
 0  0.0507545237139
Inherit Vel.
0 0
Eject date
 0  44654.6022309
Finvars
  Finish BaseFunction
  Int 4
  Orbit True
  Vector  3151013055.15 11841706327 501911873798
  Vector  -113.438003149 -416.879131362 -17647.8787413
  Double  5.793946952e+015
  Double  45745.6150852
  Handle Uranus
  Handle NULL
  Handle NULL
Select Target
 0 Escape
Autoplan
0 0
Plan type
0 1
Plan
0 0
Plan
0 1
Plan
0 0
Select Minor
 0 None
Manoeuvre mode
0 0
Base Orbit
0 0
Prograde vel.
 0  0
Man. date
 0  43541.2128129
Outward vel.
 0  0
Ch. plane vel.
 0  0
Intercept with
0 0
Orbits to Icept
0 0
Graph projection
0 0
Scale to view
0 0
Advanced
0 0
View Orbit
0 0
Finvars
  Finish BaseFunction
  Int 3
  Orbit True
  Vector  -768777155116 -214217529.322 -2.74534358145e+012
  Vector  14342.4819339 1066.14136324 -17925.6638103
  Double  1.32718233902e+020
  Double  46074.6944198
  Handle Sun
  Handle Uranus
  Handle Neptune
Select Target
 0 Neptune
Autoplan
0 0
Plan type
0 2
Plan
0 0
Plan
0 0
Plan
0 2
Select Minor
 0 None
Manoeuvre mode
0 0
Base Orbit
0 0
Prograde vel.
 0  0
Man. date
 0  43541.2128103
Outward vel.
 0  0
Ch. plane vel.
 0  0
Intercept with
0 0
Orbits to Icept
0 0
Graph projection
0 0
Scale to view
0 0
Advanced
0 0
Velocity.
 0  0
Outward angle
 0  0.800236952698
Inc. angle
 0  -0.0586999606006
Inherit Vel.
0 0
Eject date
 0  46074.6944198
Finvars
  Finish BaseFunction
  Int 5
  Orbit True
  Vector  -390350309912 -40116872679.6 779481941266
  Vector  8910.57451015 915.790103844 -17795.8062897
  Double  6.83652886371e+015
  Double  46715.337617
  Handle Neptune
  Handle NULL
  Handle NULL
Select Target
 0 None
Autoplan
0 0
Plan type
0 1
Plan
0 0
Plan
0 2
Plan
0 0
Select Minor
 0 None
Manoeuvre mode
0 0
Base Orbit
0 0
Prograde vel.
 0  0
Man. date
 0  43541.2128077
Outward vel.
 0  0
Ch. plane vel.
 0  0
Intercept with
0 0
Orbits to Icept
0 0
Graph projection
0 0
Scale to view
0 0
Advanced
0 0
Draw Base
0 0
Finvars
  Finish BaseFunction
END_MFD

BEGIN_MFD Right
  TYPE User
  MODE TransX
END_MFD

BEGIN_SHIPS
GL-01:DeltaGlider
  STATUS Orbiting Sun
  RPOS 5438497322.75 48487980807.58 340281095070.28
  RVEL -16570.209 15.638 16820.448
  AROT 45.29 -1.38 -108.92
  RCSMODE 2
  AFCMODE 7
  PRPLEVEL 0:0.244742 1:0.973297
  NAVFREQ 402 94 0 0
  XPDR 0
  TRIM 1.000000
  AAP 0:0 0:0 0:0
END
END_SHIPS

BEGIN_VistaBoost
END

 

[wingnut]

I'm digging up this old thread because it fits to my problem of setting up the eject burn for my Earth-Jupiter-Saturn scenario.

The TransX plan is sufficiently accurate for my needs and I'm in a parking orbit with a relative inclination of less than 1 for the ejection burn.
I enter a maneuver in stage 1 and reset the variables in stage 2. Now I have to tune the maneuver in stage 1 to be on track for the Jupiter slingshot in stage 3 again but everytime I change something in the maneuver, the R. Inc and Pe Ratio in stage 3 jump wildly for a couple of seconds until the result of the change is finally displayed.

Is there a setting that can be changed to prevent this behaviour of TransX or do you have to live with that? It makes finalizing the maneuver very tedious or maybe I am doing something wrong?

In case its needed, this is the scenario before adding the maneuver:

BEGIN_DESC
TransX plan
END_DESC

BEGIN_ENVIRONMENT
  System Sol
  Date MJD 50548.0109487363
END_ENVIRONMENT

BEGIN_FOCUS
  Ship GL-01
END_FOCUS

BEGIN_CAMERA
  TARGET GL-01
  MODE Cockpit
  FOV 50.00
END_CAMERA

BEGIN_HUD
  TYPE Orbit
  REF AUTO
END_HUD

BEGIN_MFD Left
  TYPE User
  MODE TransX
  Ship  GL-01
  FNumber 5
  Int 1
  Orbit True
  Vector  3667676.72653 1004911.88594 5556100.93098
  Vector  -6348.47647874 2087.76641284 3813.12984429
  Double  3.98600439969e+014
  Double  50548.0109486
  Handle Earth
  Handle NULL
  Handle NULL
Select Target
 0 Escape
Autoplan
0 0
Plan type
0 0
Plan
0 1
Plan
0 0
Plan
0 0
Select Minor
 0 None
Manoeuvre mode
0 0
Auto-Center™
0 0
Base Orbit
0 0
Prograde vel.
 1  0
Man. date
 1  50548.0109447
Outward vel.
 1  0
Ch. plane vel.
 1  0
Intercept with
0 0
Orbits to Icept
0 0
Graph projection
0 0
Scale to view
0 0
Advanced
0 0
Pe Distance
 1  6733000
Ej Orientation
 1  0
Equatorial view
0 0
Finvars
  Finish BaseFunction
  Int 2
  Orbit False
  Handle Sun
  Handle Earth
  Handle Jupiter
Select Target
 0 Jupiter
Autoplan
0 0
Plan type
0 2
Plan
0 0
Plan
0 0
Plan
0 1
Select Minor
 0 None
Manoeuvre mode
0 0
Auto-Center™
0 0
Base Orbit
0 1
Prograde vel.
 1  0
Man. date
 1  50548.0097458
Outward vel.
 1  0
Ch. plane vel.
 1  0
Intercept with
0 0
Orbits to Icept
0 0
Graph projection
0 0
Scale to view
0 0
Advanced
0 0
Prograde vel.
 5  8876.90345886
Eject date
 3  50551.68311
Outward vel.
 3  -945.535009744
Ch. plane vel.
 4  2906.64830929
Finvars
  Finish BaseFunction
  Int 4
  Orbit True
  Vector  -351072593628 -28022873220.3 315402889150
  Vector  5810.06788888 467.875981345 -5262.25519993
  Double  1.26686534397e+017
  Double  50522.1482031
  Handle Jupiter
  Handle NULL
  Handle NULL
Select Target
 0 Escape
Autoplan
0 0
Plan type
0 1
Plan
0 0
Plan
0 1
Plan
0 0
Select Minor
 0 None
Manoeuvre mode
0 0
Auto-Center™
0 0
Base Orbit
0 0
Prograde vel.
 1  0
Man. date
 1  50548.0109478
Outward vel.
 1  0
Ch. plane vel.
 1  0
Intercept with
0 0
Orbits to Icept
0 0
Graph projection
0 0
Scale to view
0 0
Advanced
0 0
View Orbit
0 0
Finvars
  Finish BaseFunction
  Int 3
  Orbit True
  Vector  748745190534 -17268282190.9 73797308354.5
  Vector  3389.64504025 -653.357733181 19775.0476385
  Double  1.32839126489e+020
  Double  51207.2116394
  Handle Sun
  Handle Jupiter
  Handle Saturn
Select Target
 0 Saturn
Autoplan
0 0
Plan type
0 2
Plan
0 0
Plan
0 0
Plan
0 2
Select Minor
 0 None
Manoeuvre mode
0 0
Auto-Center™
0 0
Base Orbit
0 0
Prograde vel.
 1  0
Man. date
 1  50548.0102725
Outward vel.
 1  0
Ch. plane vel.
 1  0
Intercept with
0 0
Orbits to Icept
0 0
Graph projection
0 0
Scale to view
0 0
Advanced
0 0
Velocity.
 1  0
Outward angle
 4  0.783579530317
Inc. angle
 4  0.0604512239721
Inherit Vel.
0 0
Eject date
 1  51207.2116394
Finvars
  Finish BaseFunction
  Int 5
  Orbit True
  Vector  -246809732624 29381384939.6 -479452425076
  Vector  5317.41083805 -629.444012546 10327.8690074
  Double  3.79311866084e+016
  Double  51402.9889686
  Handle Saturn
  Handle NULL
  Handle NULL
Select Target
 0 None
Autoplan
0 0
Plan type
0 1
Plan
0 0
Plan
0 2
Plan
0 0
Select Minor
 0 None
Manoeuvre mode
0 0
Auto-Center™
0 0
Base Orbit
0 0
Prograde vel.
 1  0
Man. date
 1  50548.0095626
Outward vel.
 1  0
Ch. plane vel.
 1  0
Intercept with
0 0
Orbits to Icept
0 0
Graph projection
0 0
Scale to view
0 0
Advanced
0 0
Draw Base
0 0
Finvars
  Finish BaseFunction
END_MFD

BEGIN_MFD Right
  TYPE User
  MODE TransX
END_MFD

BEGIN_SHIPS
GL-01:DeltaGlider
  STATUS Orbiting Earth
  RPOS 3667608.95 1004934.18 5556141.64
  RVEL -6348.528 2087.752 3813.052
  AROT -52.34 -72.12 90.01
  AFCMODE 7
  PRPLEVEL 0:0.553000 1:0.900000
  NAVFREQ 0 0 0 0
  XPDR 0
  AAP 0:0 0:0 0:0
END
END_SHIPS

BEGIN_ExtMFD
END

And this is the scenario after I added the maneuver (and did some fine-tuning of stage 4 again):

BEGIN_DESC
Contains the latest simulation state.
END_DESC

BEGIN_ENVIRONMENT
  System Sol
  Date MJD 50548.0140733141
END_ENVIRONMENT

BEGIN_FOCUS
  Ship GL-01
END_FOCUS

BEGIN_CAMERA
  TARGET GL-01
  MODE Cockpit
  FOV 50.00
END_CAMERA

BEGIN_HUD
  TYPE Orbit
  REF AUTO
END_HUD

BEGIN_MFD Left
  TYPE User
  MODE TransX
  Ship  GL-01
  FNumber 5
  Int 1
  Orbit True
  Vector  3538988.56998 1046647.97928 5631344.81377
  Vector  -6443.16112993 2060.81172369 3666.1439841
  Double  3.98600439969e+014
  Double  50548.0111815
  Handle Earth
  Handle NULL
  Handle NULL
Select Target
 0 Escape
Autoplan
0 0
Plan type
0 0
Plan
0 1
Plan
0 0
Plan
0 0
Select Minor
 0 None
Manoeuvre mode
0 1
Auto-Center™
0 0
Base Orbit
0 0
Prograde vel.
 3  6681.00720168
Man. date
 7  50548.0334845
Outward vel.
 1  0
Ch. plane vel.
 1  0
Intercept with
0 0
Orbits to Icept
0 0
Graph projection
0 0
Scale to view
0 0
Advanced
0 0
Pe Distance
 1  6733000
Ej Orientation
 1  0
Equatorial view
0 0
Finvars
  Finish BaseFunction
  Int 2
  Orbit True
  Vector  -140638456837 -9585091.94173 -51897004444
  Vector  14141.9808552 -2909.30066474 -35876.8911166
  Double  1.32712838556e+020
  Double  50548.0334845
  Handle Sun
  Handle Earth
  Handle Jupiter
Select Target
 0 Jupiter
Autoplan
0 0
Plan type
0 2
Plan
0 0
Plan
0 0
Plan
0 1
Select Minor
 0 None
Manoeuvre mode
0 0
Auto-Center™
0 0
Base Orbit
0 0
Prograde vel.
 1  0
Man. date
 1  50548.0137419
Outward vel.
 1  0
Ch. plane vel.
 1  0
Intercept with
0 0
Orbits to Icept
0 0
Graph projection
0 0
Scale to view
0 0
Advanced
0 0
Prograde vel.
 9  0
Eject date
 9  50548.0124163
Outward vel.
 9  0
Ch. plane vel.
 9  0
Finvars
  Finish BaseFunction
  Int 4
  Orbit True
  Vector  -356619992332 -27740907442.4 309136078337
  Vector  5792.66579416 498.693556774 -5326.33016473
  Double  1.26686534397e+017
  Double  50514.5129843
  Handle Jupiter
  Handle NULL
  Handle NULL
Select Target
 0 Escape
Autoplan
0 0
Plan type
0 1
Plan
0 0
Plan
0 1
Plan
0 0
Select Minor
 0 None
Manoeuvre mode
0 0
Auto-Center™
0 0
Base Orbit
0 0
Prograde vel.
 1  0
Man. date
 1  50548.0140676
Outward vel.
 1  0
Ch. plane vel.
 1  0
Intercept with
0 0
Orbits to Icept
0 0
Graph projection
0 0
Scale to view
0 0
Advanced
0 0
View Orbit
0 0
Finvars
  Finish BaseFunction
  Int 3
  Orbit True
  Vector  722015719387 -9041389537.97 20001486669.5
  Vector  5760.07271274 102.908898082 10182.1227669
  Double  1.32839126489e+020
  Double  51201.4659542
  Handle Sun
  Handle Jupiter
  Handle Saturn
Select Target
 0 Saturn
Autoplan
0 0
Plan type
0 2
Plan
0 0
Plan
0 0
Plan
0 2
Select Minor
 0 None
Manoeuvre mode
0 0
Auto-Center™
0 0
Base Orbit
0 0
Prograde vel.
 1  0
Man. date
 1  50548.0136953
Outward vel.
 1  0
Ch. plane vel.
 1  0
Intercept with
0 0
Orbits to Icept
0 0
Graph projection
0 0
Scale to view
0 0
Advanced
0 0
Velocity.
 1  0
Outward angle
 4  0.773606718971
Inc. angle
 4  0.0609294441871
Inherit Vel.
0 0
Eject date
 1  51201.4659542
Finvars
  Finish BaseFunction
  Int 5
  Orbit True
  Vector  -246168067881 29183608549.5 -479802654791
  Vector  5402.54815223 -635.779245541 10394.3700354
  Double  3.79311866084e+016
  Double  51399.6560745
  Handle Saturn
  Handle NULL
  Handle NULL
Select Target
 0 None
Autoplan
0 0
Plan type
0 1
Plan
0 0
Plan
0 2
Plan
0 0
Select Minor
 0 None
Manoeuvre mode
0 0
Auto-Center™
0 0
Base Orbit
0 0
Prograde vel.
 1  0
Man. date
 1  50548.0136023
Outward vel.
 1  0
Ch. plane vel.
 1  0
Intercept with
0 0
Orbits to Icept
0 0
Graph projection
0 0
Scale to view
0 0
Advanced
0 0
Draw Base
0 0
Finvars
  Finish BaseFunction
END_MFD

BEGIN_MFD Right
  TYPE User
  MODE TransX
END_MFD

BEGIN_SHIPS
GL-01:DeltaGlider
  STATUS Orbiting Earth
  RPOS 1807636.64 1512206.55 6306951.20
  RVEL -7321.440 1640.474 1705.065
  AROT -48.42 -71.12 85.02
  AFCMODE 7
  PRPLEVEL 0:0.553000 1:0.900000
  NAVFREQ 0 0 0 0
  XPDR 0
  AAP 0:0 0:0 0:0
END
END_SHIPS

BEGIN_ExtMFD
END

 

[dgatsoulis]

The TransX plan is sufficiently accurate for my needs and I'm in a parking orbit with a relative inclination of less than 1 for the ejection burn.

Your parking orbit is really good, with a very low R.Inc relative to the planned trajectory (much less than "1", actually - closer to less than 0.01).
The problem is the date.
Why are you in the parking orbit 3.67 days earlier than the planned date?

BEGIN_ENVIRONMENT
  System Sol
  Date MJD [B]50548.0109487363[/B]
END_ENVIRONMENT
...
Prograde vel.
 5  8876.90345886
Eject date
 3  [B]50551.68311[/B]
Outward vel.
 3  -945.535009744
Ch. plane vel.
 4  2906.64830929
...
BEGIN_SHIPS
GL-01:DeltaGlider
  STATUS [B]Orbiting Earth[/B]
...

To put this in perspective, this is what's going on.

The main reason that it is very difficult for your maneuver to match the planned trajectory, is this time difference. If you where much closer to the planned eject date, things would be much easier.

Once you have the date fixed, it would be better to take the time and adjust the eject plan's parameters, in order to get the approach to Jupiter as close as you can to the slingshot trajectory. (R.Inc < 0.01, Pe/Pl ratio =1)

If you have those set up properly, you will find that when you enter the maneuver, your actual trajectory will be much closer to the plan and will require a minimum amount of tweaking (and MCCs later on).

I enter a maneuver in stage 1 and reset the variables in stage 2. Now I have to tune the maneuver in stage 1 to be on track for the Jupiter slingshot in stage 3 again but everytime I change something in the maneuver, the R. Inc and Pe Ratio in stage 3 jump wildly for a couple of seconds until the result of the change is finally displayed.

A couple of seconds sounds like a lot. Yes there is some "jumping around" until TransX recalculates the trajectory for every change you make in the burn, but it is a lot faster than two seconds. What is your MFD refresh rate?
(Orbiter launchpad→Parameters→MFD refresh [sec])
The default is 1 second but that's too slow. If you haven't already, set it to a value of 0.1 secs or less. -I have it at 0.05 secs and have noticed very little impact on my frame rate.

Is there a setting that can be changed to prevent this behaviour of TransX or do you have to live with that? It makes finalizing the maneuver very tedious or maybe I am doing something wrong?

Changing the burn parameters of a maneuver forces TransX to recalculate the trajectory of the spacecraft for all the stages of the plan. The change in the MFD refresh rate should help with the time it takes to see those changes on your trajectory.

Thanks for posting the scenarios. It made it very easy to try and find what the problem was.

 

[wingnut]

Thanks for posting the scenarios. It made it very easy to try and find what the problem was.

Thank you for taking time to look at them and writing this elaborate answer!

Your parking orbit is really good, with a very low R.Inc relative to the planned trajectory (much less than "1", actually - closer to less than 0.01).

I used the scenario editor for that because I specifically wanted to try this method for the ejection burn.

The problem is the date.
Why are you in the parking orbit 3.67 days earlier than the planned date?

I'm not sure. I used Arrowstar's trajectory optimisation tool to find the general launch window and then altered the date in the scenario editor to a couple of hours or days before the calculated departure date to have sufficient time to plan the flight in TransX...
But even without the maneuver in stage 1 the ejection view tells me only about 1.7k seconds until the burn should be started.

What is your MFD refresh rate?

It was the default setting, I changed it to 0.1 s now and it is much better now.

In the meantime, I tried to do the ejection burn without a maneuver. I've seen this in one of blixel's videos for a Mars-Earth-Venus flight and didn't even know it could be done like that. It worked surprisingly well. I'm flying past Jupiter in this scenario at the moment and I had to do a MCC of roughly 460 m/s halfway to Jupiter and probably will have to do a similar MCC once I left Jupiter's SOI again.
460 m/s is no problem for the Deltaglider but with a more limited near-tech addon it likely is too much of a corretion - hopefully I can reduce that with the maneuver powered ejection burn.

 

[dgatsoulis]

I'm not sure. I used Arrowstar's trajectory optimisation tool to find the general launch window and then altered the date in the scenario editor to a couple of hours or days before the calculated departure date to have sufficient time to plan the flight in TransX...
But even without the maneuver in stage 1 the ejection view tells me only about 1.7k seconds until the burn should be started.

And after you pass the point of the burn (T. to Pe = 0) you get another ~5.3k seconds until you reach it again. It doesn't matter if you had set the date 1 century before the plan, Stage1 will only tell you when the spacecraft is near the point of the burn. It is your job to get there on the correct date.

Here is how the logic works.

In stage 2 you "say" to TransX that: "On this* date I am going to leave from Earth with this hyperbolic excess velocity (which brakes down into this much Prograde, Pl.Change, and Outward).

*this = the value you enter

TransX "replies" by telling you how close to your target you are going to get (Cl.Approach), when that's going to happen (Enc. MJD) and what your velocity relative to your target is going to be at arrival (Enc.Vel.)

TransX's job: To take the parameters you entered in Stage2 and create the hypothetical escape trajectory in Stage1.

Your job: To get into a parking orbit coplanar with the escape trajectory and arrive at the burn point as close to the date you entered on Stage2 as possible.

Does that mean that if you "miss" the window by a day or two (either before or after), you have lost the chance to get to your target? Of course not, launch windows last for days or even weeks.
But a different date means that you need a slightly different transfer trajectory on Stage2 to reach your target. If you keep all the parameters the same and simply change the date, you will see that you will miss your target by several million kilometers. So if you change the date, you also need to change the rest of the parameters in order to get a minimum Cl. Approach.
In turn that means that you will need a slightly different parking orbit, that's why it is better to get into the parking orbit as close as you can to the date you "said you would" in Stage2.

"So why do all the tutorials say to set the date ~1 day before?" (you may ask).

Depending on where you are landed on Earth, you will most probably get 2 chances per day to launch into a 90° heading and get into a parking orbit coplanar to the hypothetical trajectory. Combined with a low lattitude, this can save up to ~0.4 km/s of DeltaV for the launch. This is why you get that "one day before" advise from the tutorials. To give the planet time to rotate your launch site into the correct position for an Eastward launch.

If you are using the editor to get into the parking orbit you have no such restriction. Setting up the date ~90 min (1 orbit) before the Eject burn, will give you all the time you need to setup the burn and will be as close as possible to the Eject date of Stage2.

About the corrections: I honestly can't remember the magnitude of my MCCs when I was a newbie at TransX but I bet they were larger than ~0.5 km/s.
Nowadays, if I make a journey to Mars that uses more than 5 m/s in corrections (yes, five meters per second) I consider it a failure. With time and practise you will improve your skills by a lot.