What if we catch a gravity assist off Jool, and do the retrograde burn at perijool to gain some free Oberth Effect DV?
Jebadiah is always so happy to spend 52 years only to find himself stranded on Bop.
I actually sent a rescue mission to save one of my kerbals and the science they had on board, and ended up needing to launch a mission to save the rescue mission…
Had to break it up into three launches, two to build the larger ship in orbit and one to fuel it up.
I learned a lot about orbital mechanics that day…
Total time in space was probably about 20 years…
And I may have forgotten about a kerbals in one or two plays…
Gravity assist with one of the larger planets to make a very narrow orbit seems to be the most efficient way. But you need the planets to align correctly to have an efficient route.
“I’ll launch you into the sun once there is an appropriate transfer window to Jupiter” just doesn’t have the same ring to it.
