Flight Question please help with travel to mars

[DGMP]

the problem is, that when i do allign planes with mars after i've launched the glider to plane of the moon(cause i dont have 'ecliptic' or 'celestial bodies' at the options for TGT in map MFD) & i have some feeling that i waste too much fuel for that. do you have some good advice to save fuel?

 

[garyw]

There is no need to align planes with Mars. Instead do an off-plane intercept and half way to Mars do a mid-course correction.

 

[Loru]

For interplanetary trips you should use either TransX or IMFD (I prefer the latter). Although Transfer MFD with Map MFD can do the job done it's uch more difficult.

 

[garyw]

You also need to make sure they you've got sufficient dV to do the trip, that's why probes from Earth can only be sent to Mars once every 26 months.

 

[Urwumpe]

Also, you can reach ANY interplanetary transfer orbit from ANY Earth orbit. There is no need for a plane alignment at all. You only need to know when you have to leave your Earth orbit. Even if you are in lunar orbit, the same phenonema applies - you just need to calculate an ejection burn into an hyperbolic orbit in lunar frame, that goes into an hyperbolic orbit in earth frame, that goes into a solar orbit. Much more complex math, but not impossible for a MFD.

 

[DGMP]

For interplanetary trips you should use either TransX or IMFD (I prefer the latter). Although Transfer MFD with Map MFD can do the job done it's uch more difficult.

i have galacticMap3D MFD add-on. thats what you mean to?

You also need to make sure they you've got sufficient dV to do the trip, that's why probes from Earth can only be sent to Mars once every 26 months.

i just need to be sure that im in alignment with the ecliptic plane?

so what are the states that i can travel to mars? these that occurs every 26 months...

 

[Loru]

i have galacticMap3D MFD add-on. thats what you mean to?.

Nope - MapMFD is deafult orbiter's MFD.

for interplanetary travel it's easiest ot use either transX (comes with orbiter's install but has to be enabled in "modules tab" on launchpad) or IMFD (which you can download from here: http://users.kymp.net/p501474a/Orbiter/Orbiter.html.

Both are great tools for planning and executing interplanetary trips, slighshots etc.

I prefer IMFD as it easier to use but from what I know transX allows more complicated manuevers.

both are relativelly complicated to use so read some manuals and watch some tutorials available.

 

[garyw]

so what are the states that i can travel to mars? these that occurs every 26 months...

with our current real-life technology the rockets only have enough fuel to get to Mars every 26 months. That is why the launch date for Maven is November of this year and not say, March of next year.

This will help -> http://clowder.net/hop/railroad/sched.html

 

[blixel]

The version of TransX that comes bundled with Orbiter 2010 has a known bug that causes it to draw the planet graphic improperly when you bring up the Escape Plan View.. (The graphic appears as a solid white circle.)

You can read about the problem here:

http://www.orbiter-forum.com/project.php?issueid=564

To work around this bug, you'll want to use TransX 3.13 “enter button graphics fix”, which can be downloaded from here:

http://orbiter-forum.com/showthread.php?p=237068&postcount=1

Also, if you find it easier to learn by watching, I have a video series on my youtube channel where I make the trip from Earth to Mars. I don't consider it a "tutorial", but you can still learn by watching.

Playlist: http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL8A48A56E322B5F0D

 

[Tommy]

i have galacticMap3D MFD add-on. thats what you mean to?

No, that add-on shows you where things are, and is useful (I use it to eyeball launch windows) but it isn't a navigation tool.

Your two best options are, as mentioned above, TransX and IMFD. TransX is like a VERY advanced TransferMFD, and you will need to know how trajectories work to really use this tool. It is the only one of the two which can be used to plan a slingshot or multi-sling trajectory such as the Voyager or Cassini flights. IMFD can be used to perform those flights, but you will need to have some information first (launch and swing-by dates, etc You can use TransX to find that, or use historical data, etc.

For TransX tutorials, check out the ones by FlyTandem, the community guru for all things TransX (use the forum search function to find those).

For IMFD, I shamelessly plug "IMFD Full Manual and Playbacks" by MarkL316 (with some help from myself). It can be found on Orbithanger. This comprehensive guide is the most thorough treatment of IMFD available, and shows the correct set-up to most possible flights in Sol system. Also, it includes a simple, repeatable process that can be used to find a launch window, and complete just about any single flight without any "external" data - and it doesn't even require you to know what you are doing.

 

[Enjo]

Very frequently overlooked, if you plan to do it with TransX:

4th page of LaunchMFD manual ("Target inclination"), subsection d), describes LaunchMFD's integration with TransX, which would put you into the correct parking orbit without alignment burns.