[r109]

I hate all the fluff in this article.

TL;DR: Ballistic Capture aka "Low-energy transfer" is being rekindled by NASA, Boeing, Belbruno, Topputo and colleagues. Fly the spacecraft ahead of Mars in formation of the planets orbit relative to the sun allowing gravity to gradually slow the spacecraft down. This saves on fuel/weight for entering orbit at high velocity.

[iwwr]

Unfortunately, Belbruno's work may stay unused because he has a penchant for patenting it. The idea of low energy transfers aren't new and Belbruno didn't invent them, but you can apparently patent individual trajectory strategies. That also means any commercial venture would shy away from talking to him for fear they may be litigated against (which has happened).

Another thing to notice is these trajectories are no good for manned travel as they can take years or decades extra, they are even slower than the more traditional multi-planet slingshot maneuvers.

[disputin]

"I hate all the fluff in this article." Glad to hear it, because if that's considered clever and impressive then the rocket industry needs me.