r/KerbalSpaceProgram • u/Evan1016 Alone on Eeloo • May 26 '26

KSP 1 Suggestion/Discussion Gravity Assists Simplified, Ive never seen it explained like this

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u/verixtheconfused May 26 '26

I feel like this only makes sense to those who already understand basic orbit physics

12

u/dkyguy1995 May 26 '26

This somehow made everything make less sense 😅

All I know is throwing a ship in the direction of a body and letting it pull you the same way you're going is an assist.

And throwing it at the body and letting it throw you the opposite direction that the body is travelling is a brake.

The body will give you free delta-V if you're going the same direction as its travel, and it will take a ton of delta-V away if you're going against it.

Idk how to make it make sense in the train analogy tbh

4

u/verixtheconfused May 26 '26

The lesson in the train assist is that the train only gives out a tiny fraction of its momentum but it boosts the foreign object a lot. The collision analogy only adds confusion if you haven't got the grasp of the idea itself.

5

u/Ouaouaron May 26 '26

The collision analogy only adds confusion if you haven't got the grasp of the idea itself.

That's a wild statement to make.

If you already understand a topic, an analogy is just an inaccurate and unfamiliar way to think about that topic. Of course that could cause confusion.