cheapcostly
Line colour is the cheapest total Δv for that route within the waiting horizon. Radial distance compressed; drag to pan, scroll to zoom, click a site.
Deep Space Strategy · Topology and Infrastructure
Transfer costs between the atlas sites change with the planets' positions. This map recomputes them for every departure date from November 2026 to 2100, ranks propellant hubs by how much Earth-launched mass they save, and searches for depot orbits that reach many destinations cheaply.
Experimental research prototype. Part of Deep Space Strategy, built on the solmaps engine. Transfers use impulsive burns and patched conics, flyby routes come from a global optimiser, and the results are validated against several real missions, so the numbers support comparisons between routes, dates and hubs. They are not mission designs. How it is built
Pick a route in the ledger. Dips are launch windows; the gap between dips is the synodic period.
Best flyby route against the direct route, per two-year launch window, from low Earth orbit. Flyby sequences use one deep-space manoeuvre per leg and up to two flybys of Venus, Earth, Mars or Jupiter, optimised with ESA pykep and pygmo. Planet positions end in 2050, so routes in late windows must arrive by then.
A hub with local water can refuel ships, so the propellant for the onward leg never leaves Earth. Leverage = average share of Earth-launched mass saved for the other sites when cargo refuels at the hub, compared with flying direct from low Earth orbit. The calendar moves the ranking.