Mercury mission

Altaïr

Space Stig, Master of gravity
Staff member
Head Moderator
Team Kolibri
Modder
TEAM HAWK
Atlas
Deja Vu
Under Pressure
Forum Legend
#26
For my future missions , do you have any advice on getting larger payloads to the Graveyard? Since I'm launching from the moon , could I use an assist from Earth? Are there any other assists that could be effective?
Yes, there is a relatively easy and very effective gravity assist opportunity you can use with Venus. I detailed the procedure recently in this post:
Graveyard challenge.

If you launch from the Moon, technically you can't use the Earth for a gravity assist, but you may use it for its Oberth effect. In simple words, an injection burn from Earth will be more efficient than if it's done from the Moon. I've made a post a while ago about how to use this effect to your advantage: Advanced Techniques: the Oberth maneuver

In this case you would have to burn from the Moon to make a close fly-by of Earth, the same as if you wanted to get back from a Moon mission. Which is a bit more tricky is that you have to do it so that your ellipse is correctly oriented for a Venus injection burn. Then with a burn at periapsis you can cheaply go to Venus from there. As your apoapsis is already at Moon level, there's not much effort left to do.
 

Soyuzturtle

«★★★» Grand Admiral «★★★» // PT
Swingin' on a Star
Atlas
Fly me to the Moon
Registered
#27
Yes, there is a relatively easy and very effective gravity assist opportunity you can use with Venus. I detailed the procedure recently in this post:
Graveyard challenge.

If you launch from the Moon, technically you can't use the Earth for a gravity assist, but you may use it for its Oberth effect. In simple words, an injection burn from Earth will be more efficient than if it's done from the Moon. I've made a post a while ago about how to use this effect to your advantage: Advanced Techniques: the Oberth maneuver

In this case you would have to burn from the Moon to make a close fly-by of Earth, the same as if you wanted to get back from a Moon mission. Which is a bit more tricky is that you have to do it so that your ellipse is correctly oriented for a Venus injection burn. Then with a burn at periapsis you can cheaply go to Venus from there. As your apoapsis is already at Moon level, there's not much effort left to do.
Much appreciated. Now I just have to do this for every single module.