I'm looking for some new ideas on ascent stages from Kerbin to orbit and I'd love to see what folks out there have come up with.

For example, below is a shot of my mainstay, the Kerblorer 1500: 6 solid boosters wrapped around two stages of LV-T30 liquid fuel engines and FL-T800 tanks in trios push my service vehicle (one Mk1 Command Pod, an RCS tank, an FL-T400 on top of another LV-T30 engine) easily up to 100 km circular orbit.



Note the three AV-R8 winglets which I found were absolutely necessary for this design to ensure positive roll control authority immediately after launch and pitch/yaw stability during the first two stages.

The service vehicle has a mass ratio of about 1.54, which, with the 370s LV-T30, gives it a delta v capability of approximately 1500 m/s (hence the name). It's great for exploring orbital mechanics around Kerbin, such as orbit changes, plane changes, kerbostationary orbits, but really not much else, if you consider a return trip a requirement. I can technically get it to the Mun and back, but there's no real landing capability (see the return requirement in the previous sentence) and not much fuel margin for the full trip anyways.

I've got a Mun lander design I like, but I'm having trouble building an ascent and xfer stage I like. Care to share yours?

here are a couple.

The first is a type of heavy laucher i used to get space stations parts into space (its over constructed). It comprises of 4 main lift engines (jettisoned together) leaving the tug vehicle (top part) and payload (this part is the stations fuel and RCS repository - bottom part).

The four main rockets are overpowered and you have to watch your velocity initially, a bit of man handling of the tug section to ensure you enable an orbit as tug is slightly underpowered. Great for moving things in vaccum, but care needs to be applied when finishing off your initial orbit. The tug has plenty of legs to align orbits, and manouver for docking and work around a station and siphens from the fuel repository just in case you need a bucket load of extra fuel.


Below is a quick throw together for my rover launcher. Has pretty good legs.




Just basic builds, and if they do the job (mostly) then i accept a few accidents along the way.... Kerbals seem ok with it ;-)

Bogus, that first one is an SSTO eh?

Not quite. The 4 large motors are very thirsty and whilst they will kick me outside the atmosphere, the orbit will need to be finished up by the tug.

Anyway mate, hope to catch back up with you guys soon in Steel beasts.

Nice stuff, B! Both look great. That lifter is a bit beefy, but then they're supposed to be, right?

Can you walk me through the staging on your Rover stack? The four poodles and the nuke is throwing me.

i think the lifter is a little too beefy, but it does the job.

As for the rover launcher, again its a bit juxtaposed, needs a bit of changing but it can get things done. Staging goes something like this.

Main center rocket and the 6 peripheral rockets fire together for initial launch. the 6 peripheral rockets also feed fuel into the main rocket tank therefore they expend first keeping main (and very thirsty) rocket full until the periphery are jettisoned. Each periphery rocket has 2 of those little boosters each to help separate away from main rocket.

Main booster then has a bit of extra legs and has a good thrust weight ratio due to the loss of periphery boosters.

Main booster jettisons

From here the nuke and 4 peripheral rockets ignite. The 4 peripheral rockets also feed back into the main nuke tank therefore keeping the nuke full. Here you can select to have all running for quick acceleration or manually shut off rockets to keep longevity.

The 4 periphery rockets can be jettisoned once expended leaving you with (hopefully) a full tank of fuel for the nuke.

The nuke then takes the rover to a very low descent and it then gets discarded. The "skycrane" then takes over lowering the rover to the surface. (that is the tricky part - the "skycrane" needs a very gentle touch to make a safe landing as mechjeb is not connected to it.

Its definitely challenging

What planet(s) does the Rover stack go to? Mun? Duna?

Does the Main booster get you into a circular parking orbit around Kerbin, or do you need to use the nuke+4?

Would love to see a vid or at least a pic AAR on this.

What all mods do you use for the Rover stack?

TBH Einstein, I haven't checked out its max distance yet and have only done a few trips in it. All to mun for testing of the skycrane. (I destroyed quite a few rovers whilst learning to operate the skycrane with soft touches - maybe I should have saved the game, would have saved quite a bit of time) However there is a lot of fuel left over once reaching mun so I will have to check it out.

To be honest, if you are looking at long range, ION propulsion is the only way to go with a light payload, but I haven't played with ION much yet.

Its been a while as I have been super busy this month with work, but IIRC the main booster will get you a stable orbit. should leave you with full top section for planetary excursion.

I'll try and get a pic AAR up for you as I don't have video capture, but I think I will move the mechjeb module to the nose cone of the rocket for a smoother (more safer landing).

Ion powered satellites are probes are fun, but I'm looking to execute a series of manned (kerbed?) missions to external celestial bodies and safe (ha ha) returns. Ion power just won't cut it.

I'd love to see a pic AAR of a Mun trip (or two!), just to see that lander in work. What mods did you use for that stack?

I need to put some Kerbal time in.
I'm trying to make a super Voyager type Probe, but I need a bigger/better launcher.

Mind you I am strictly beginner level here.

Hello hedge !! Just keep wacking boosters on it.... you'll get results (good or bad) sooner or later. In KSP there is no problem that MOAR BOOSTERS can't fix !!!

Einstein, no mods used apart from mechjeb. ( I have the docking camera installed but that does not come into use with the rover rocket). At the moment the rover rocket is a one way vehicle as its an unmanned unit. However, with version .2 and seats, building a rover which you can sit kerbals on will be good fun.

The rover and sky crane is a stock item premade in your VAB. I just built around that and made some changes.

Here is the rover AAR. Sorry for the amount of pics. I was a little off with fuel predictions on previous post. Anyway here is the run down - its based on the fuel consumption.
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Rover on launch pad. Upon launch main engine with 6 smaller engines will ignite. The smaller engines will supply main tanks with fuel to keep the main engine at max fuel capacity upon seperation.


6 peripheral rockets jettisoned.


Main booster stage left with Full fuel tanks (not enough to establish an orbit)


Main stage jettisoned with Nuke and 4 peripheral rockets ignited to effect a 100klm orbit. 4 rocket engines and associated fuel tanks also feed into main Nuke tank to keep that at max capacity.


Established in orbit (100Klms) here you can see the fuel state. Main tanks for nuke are full and the 4 rocket motors show just over a quarter fuel left in each.


Burning prograde for Mun (in background) this test is using all available thrust from the 5 motors.


The four peripheral rockets run out of fuel extending the apoapsis approx half way to mun. For this test i allowed the extra mass penalty and kept them attached all the way to Mun (for better fuel consumption you can jettison them and loose a lot of mass).


After prograde burn complete, and encounter with Mun guaranteed. The remaining fuel on board for the nuke is almost full (still with the weight penalty of dragging dead mass from the 4 rocket motors)

Part 2 Continued
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Arriving at mun, i turn retrograde and establish an oribit. From here i start my landing, something catches my eye though so i abort the landing, re-establish an eliptical orbit and land at a new chosen site next to the object i saw. So with all those changes, the nuke engine gets me to a height where the "skycrane" can descend the rover onto the surface of the mun and still has 3/4 tank of fuel left even after dragging dead weight to the mun and changing landing site (effectively 2 landings).

Part 3 Continued.

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The remaining part of the skycrane with mechjeb attached and the anomoly that caught my eye on landing.


The little rover arriving at the foot of something big.


Really really big.

Great AAR, BHB! Nice mission! Good find on the arch, too. Thanks!

Where does one obtain this "mechjeb"?
Is it useful and worth while?

I assume you acquire installation instructions with the package?

Hedge, you can get mechjeb HERE . Its probably the most used mod in KSP

I think its a fantastic mod, its kind of like an autopilot (but won't guarantee mission success as your craft has to be up to scratch) and has a host of other functionalities plus information.

Installation is very easy. If you have any worries about installing the mod, just copy your entire KSP folder and install in there if you bugger it up, then you have lost nothing.

Once you have installed the mod, you will have new parts in your VAB and SPH. So you need to attach the Mechjeb module to your ship (there are various types to choose from) and once on the launch pad you will have mechjebs full functionality.

I have been working on something for interplanetary travel and return to my station in orbit.

Its ascent stage - Just to get docked to a station in orbit. From there i will fuel it and use the advantage of being in space to help it get to other celestial bodies.

on the Launchpad.


The craft has been docked at the station for some time and has already completed its maiden voyage to the Mun and back. It has refueled off of the stations repository and whilst planning the Minmus trip, refuelers from Kerbin have been arriving to replenish the station.

ONTO MINMUS !

With Burn complete for Minmus intercept - its time for a spacewalk. Our intrepid Kerbal clearly isn't impressed.
Due to the offset orbit of Minmus, an extra burn was effected half way to ensure we have a close to possible 90 degree orbit. (this is a reference for later)


Still not happy!!


Approaching Minmus. We will soon burn retrograde to slow down and establish a low orbit of approx 45 klms.


With the large fuel tank undocked in orbit (carries 2 large solar panels some RCS fuel and 4 large batteries) The lander section makes final descent to the surface.


From sad to happy, the intrepid explorer is very happy to be here. You can go a long way on a jet pack in minmus. Some stories tell of brave souls who have been able to use their jetpacks to dock with a low orbiting craft as the gravity here is so low. Not this little green fellow !!!!


After docking with the fuel and ancilliaries in orbit, we establish an intercept back to Kerbin. Aligning orbits with the station and eventually docking. The fuel state shows we used less than the large fuel tank to get to Minmus and back including fuel for landing at minmus, orbital operations at both minmus and Kerbin.


Crew earning a well deserved rest as they pile out of their craft into the hitchiker capsule.

Sweet stuff, B!

I think I have it pretty sorted with getting heavy stuff into orbit. But I think the interplanetary section needs quite a bit of refining. Its all a learning curve.

Whilst I made it to minmus and back with loads of fuel to spare, I think it may not yield great results heading to other planets outside of Kerbin's SOI or their associated moons. The nukes are fuel efficient but they are heavy and produce only a small amount of thrust so unsure if the current lander will be acceptable for a Duna or similar planet trip. Though moons and zero atmosphere/low gravity environments should work well.

I also think the lander section should be cut down to make it as minimal as possible whilst keeping a larger fuel repository left in orbit. But who knows. My designs definitely seem to be a bit like me at the moment, more robust than lean.... looks like I need to get the plans into a gym (like me) and cut down on some wastage.