Planning Low Thrust Interplanetary Flight

[ATymeson]

Hello Everyone, I have a question regarding planning flight plans in orbiter for low thrust drives. Specifically ones like Ion, VASIMER (High Isp Low Thrust Gear) and others. I have been trying to find a way to be able to tell when to start the engines in order to eject at the desired orientation, and estimate the altitude I will be at when this occurs. I have found the delta v capabilities of these highly efficient drive fascinating since they allow us access to the solar system with current technology. I'm not shy about math, so feel free to throw equations my way. I have found IEAT MFD to be essential in keeping the spacecraft oriented during the burn under high time compression and I developed a spreadsheet that shows delta v for high thrust low thrust missions to go from one orbit to another. Now I want to go to the next step and actually fly and interplanetary mission from spiral out to spiral in. Any suggestions?

 

[jedidia]

There's the beta of Orbiter Navigator, which handles these drives quite well (and is lots of usefull otherwise, although it has a few bugs).