Flight Question What's the easiest way to go to Mars?

[Killer Toilet]

It's been awhile (2 months maybe?) since I last posted here or played Orbiter. I know I can orbit Earth, go to the Moon (first time I went was a REALLY unorthodox method, by burning prograde until I reached 0 eccentricity, and I still have NO idea how I still managed to get there...) the Sun, and Mercury (by using the Sun glitch). But now I want to go to Mars, even though I have a minimal understanding of IMFD. Partly because it doesn't say what exactly to hit [ADJ] to or any values to that, so it's still confusing to me partly (I read the manuals and it's still not clear enough).

If only the "surface" of the Sun was actually on a map, then I could treat it almost if it were the Moon, but then again, I believe it would be a bad idea to land on it if possible. I know it's possible to make it to Mars, so is there an alternate tutorial?

Also, how do you delete information off of IMFD without me doing the whole thing over again?

 

[PhantomCruiser]

I've not gotten familiar enough with IMFD or TransX enough to give you any words of wisdom on getting to Mars. I've done it, but I would be able to explain it well enough... If you know what I mean.
All I can suggest it to try for Venus, it's much easier to get to than Mars (at least it seemed that way to me). Hone your skill that way, then work up to going to Mars.

 

[TSPenguin]

You might want to try one of the excellent tutorials off our Tutorials page.

 

[Killer Toilet]

I've not gotten familiar enough with IMFD or TransX enough to give you any words of wisdom on getting to Mars. I've done it, but I would be able to explain it well enough... If you know what I mean.
All I can suggest it to try for Venus, it's much easier to get to than Mars (at least it seemed that way to me). Hone your skill that way, then work up to going to Mars.

Let me guess. You synced Mars' intercept plane on Earth's map, and then created your very own Hohmann transfer by orbiting the Sun using nothing but the Surface and Orbit MFDs, massive amount of prograding and retrograding to get to Mars' distance from the Sun that way, and then waiting months before getting to the planet (it's how I went to the Moon the first time but it took me more than an hour to do so)

It's the only possible way I could think of using barely anything, but I know that IMFD will make it MUCH easier to do so, and not waste half your day.

 

[PhantomCruiser]

No, I used IMFD... But it was more luck than anything. This was prior to the "IMFD Full Manual" was released on Orbiter Hanger. I'd taken notes on what people had said here on the forum, as well as asking on IRC Chat. My notes were enough to get me to where I could intecept Mars SOI, which I called "good enough". It wasn't pretty, I quicksaved often, and cussed more.
I'd recommend the IMFD manual, there are also some TransX tutorials, but my player only gets audio (even after installing the codec).
The IMFD Full Manual has playbacks that you can watch, I often hit [R] to slow down the time so I can make notes on what's going on. I'd recommend it as a download. Well worth the time.

 

[Killer Toilet]

No, I used IMFD... But it was more luck than anything. This was prior to the "IMFD Full Manual" was released on Orbiter Hanger. I'd taken notes on what people had said here on the forum, as well as asking on IRC Chat. My notes were enough to get me to where I could intecept Mars SOI, which I called "good enough". It wasn't pretty, I quicksaved often, and cussed more.
I'd recommend the IMFD manual, there are also some TransX tutorials, but my player only gets audio (even after installing the codec).
The IMFD Full Manual has playbacks that you can watch, I often hit [R] to slow down the time so I can make notes on what's going on. I'd recommend it as a download. Well worth the time.

I have the manual, but I find it to be too confusing at some parts, so I may have to read it 3 or 4 more times maybe.

 

[insanity]

What part is confusing? The hard part about IMFD is often getting to learn the routine.

A couple of tips that made it easier for me:
Use MJD instead of GET (this can be set under the config menu in IMFD).

Don't worry too much about course corrections, one or two will do- but wait until you leave Earth's SOI until you start thinking about it.

When Mars starts to become the dominate gravity source, use the base approach program under orbit-insert mode with a PeA of about 115k targeting Olympus (if you want to land).

Always ask yourself what each option you adjust actually means and notice the amount of delta-v a maneuver requires when changing a value. You can start to hunt out better transfers by knowing what you're doing and what will happen when you do it.

For me, the hardest part about getting to Mars with IMFD seemed to be finding the right time to go so that I could get there on a reasonable fuel and time budget.

 

[Shadow Addict]

IMFD is the easiest way. Mars was my first interplanetary flight, and IMFD made it simple.

Also, I don't think Venus is any easier than Mars. I tend to find the inner planets a bit harder, but that might just be me.