vildar87

1) okay, so just keep it as 9.8 no matter what 2) hmm all right, I understand what you mean by stages and that, just not sure how to apply it specifically to my ship, but i can get to that later. 3)All right, I followed along with that, and assuming I understood it correctly; 4 LV 909 and 4 Aero spikes; ([175*4]+[50*4]) / ([(175/390)*4] +[(50/390)*4]) = 900 / 2.3077 = 390? huh.....all the engines have the same ISP....so.....if all the engines have the same ISP, is the ISP for the entire craft the same regardless the thrust, as in this case? or was that just a fluke with these ones? and Sierra; yeah I know there are delta v calculators and maps and such, but I want to be able to do this so I can figure out the delta V my ship has once its assembled in orbit, and from that, figure out other things, such as how much fuel I will need.

okay, so i have switched my target from Moho to Duna. right now though I am trying to figure out the Delta V and fuel required for the trip. Math never has been my strong point, so sorry for being basic, but... Looking at the formula, it is; delta V = ISP*g*ln(total mass / dry mass) I first want to make sure I understand each part of the formula; 1) from my research into other threads, G is often used as 9.8, which is the surface gravity of Kerbin as on the wiki. so that changes depending on what planet your launching from. just want to make sure i am correct about that in case I want to play with that later... 2) ln(total mass / dry mass) is the total mass of the ship, minus the liquid fuel of the ship, multiplied by some math magics called Natural logarithm. I assume that the liquid mass subtracted is only liquid fuel and oxidizer, and not monopropellant and such. 3)ISP....well, its simple if its just one engine...but i have multiple engines, and two different type of engines....so...makes my brain hurt. I have 4 LV-909 and 4 areospikes. I would like to understand how to to calculate the ISP for delta V, when using multiple engines like this. I know one of you guys could just tell me, but I would appreciate it more if someone could explain how to figure it out so i could do it myself later. I have looked it up, and all the different terms and such just confuse me, so if you could explain any terms and such used. the main reason I want to know this is because I figure that once I understand how to calculate the delta v, I can swap the equation around to figure out the fuel needed in order to get the delta v i need in order to make the trip. if this makes any sense, please let me know

wow, surprised at all the support, compared to posting to Reddit for help, lol. So yeah, I will try Duna instead, only chose moho since it was the next transfer window. federicoa; I remember reading up on the Delta-V formula before, and what confused me was how to figure ISP and such when you have multiple engines, and different types of engines as well. Celem; I knew you could transfer science between command pods and such, and I thought that surface samples were included in that? as for using rover wheels, well i am not against the idea, will need to figure which are best

So I am planning on visiting Moho for my first manned interplanetary trip, and have part of it planned, and could use some help figuring out the rest. I have planned on assembling a ship in Kerbin orbit of the various parts that I will need for the trip, so far I have figured I will need these modules; 1) Return Craft - For returning from Moho's orbit with crew and science on board. 2) Moho Lander - to detach from the craft in Moho's Orbit, land on Moho, then return to the craft 3) Science Lab - self explanatory really 4) Fuel ring - to hold the main fuel tanks for the trip. For engines, I was planning on just using the engines on the lander and return craft, instead of adding more to get to Moho. so I currently have these questions; 1) is there a tutorial for the most delta-v efficient way to transfer to other planets 2) While the individual sections have enough Delta-V for their tasks, I have no idea how to figure out the Delta-V for the entire craft in orbit. So just trying to figure out how to figure out the Delta-V for the entire craft to make sure it can complete its Mission. any other help would be greatly appreciated

all right thanks for the info, that will give me something to start with. going to add a lot more reaction wheels since the fuel tanker is rather large. just noticed I have some from a mod, so I will do some math and see what ones I have are the most efficient. so thanks for all the info and answering my questions

I am trying to make rendezvousing and docking easier for my large tanker, so I have some questions. So I understand that SAS is used to keep the ship on a specific heading, or going straight and such. on small ships, when approaching, flipping around and such to move the ship, it moves around rather quickly in space. I assume that is from the torque of the pod. you can also use RCS for this as well, though that wastes mono propellant. is there a way to make larger and heavier crafts easier to flip around as well? such as would adding more SAS modules, which I assume means more torque, help with that, or is there really a way to do it? any help would be greatly appreciated, thanks!

yeah i am realizing that, and so i am redoing my calcs and seeing what i can figure out.

yeah I am starting to realize that the size of the ship is rather prohibitive, might try to redesign it to be more efficient. but thanks for all your tips and info guys

awsome guys, love all the support here! Kegereneku and capi3101; thanks for the info about the COM, I will play around with things and add counter weights if needed. worse comes to worse I think adding extra fuel between one craft and the station would off set it. maltesh; I was just using a normal delta-v map, and calculated all the escape delta v needed from one, to the capture and orbit of another planet. didn't realize that the delta - v maps were just to/from kerbin I will check out the launch window calc and run my numbers again, thanks for that Idea Capi. Nhnifong; I do use quantum struts, so that has some strutting capabilities once docked, will check out docking strut as well though. and thanks very much for Metaphor's grand tour, that is exactly what I was looking for. gives me something to go off of. and so far have gotten the impression that it is a lot more difficult than i think, which is good. to me this kind of trip is kind of the end game of ksp, one of the hardest things possible. so it is definitely something I am going to keep on aiming for. at the moment I have a design for the station its self that I like for now. weight is 1, 105 tons, with 9312 m/s delta v. of course the delta v will decrease when the ships are added on, but i will be adjusting the designs later. while this thing is massive, not sure if i am going to stick with it for the final design. here are some stats at the moment. this of course is just the station its self, not the launch mechanism. Parts; 468 Weight; 1,105 tons ISP; 800s Thrust; 4200 Delta-V; 9312 Solar Wing Electrical charge; 400/s Fuel tanks, 20 large orange tanks plus misc smaller ones. Liquid Fuel; 69120 Oxidizer; 84480 Mono propellant; 15,000 Electric charge capacity; 80205 crew capacity; 3 Engines; 28 LV-NB Atomic rocket motor (large Nuclear rocket, 150 max power, 800 ISP 5 tons) I am sure i will have some difficulty getting it into space, but I will manage somehow. at the moment one thing I am debating is whether to stay as this, a fuel station time, or trim down most of the fuel and go as minimal as possible.

Hello peoples. I have a goal in mind that i have had since I first started playing KSP about a month ago, and have slowly been working towards it ever since. before I get to my questions, let me outline what I want to do to make it easier to understand; First, to build a Satellite orbiting kerbin that is also a good sized refueling station. From this, i want to attach several other crafts. once I have it all assembled in orbit, I want to fly the entire station, and the attached crafts, to each and every celestial body, land, refuel using kethane, and then head on to the next. I intend it to be one long trip around the entire solar system, before returning safely to Kerbin, with all Kerbals safe. so first, question I have; does Center of Mass affect thrust in space? think i worded that right. if not, what i mean is does the station have to be balanced for interplanetary travel? second question; Not sure if this has been done before, but I have gone through the Delta-V map and figured that the highest Delta-V that the station would need to go from one planet to the next before it could refuel is 9250 m/s. that is figuring about 100m m/s for aerobraking when possible and such. I just calculated this over an hour or two so not sure just how accurate it is, I don't have any experience with interplanetary travel atm, so if someone that has more experience could look over my numbers for me? thanks so this is the route I figured quickly, and the delta-v for it; kerbin > Gilly = 3000 Gilly > Moho = 4630 Moho > Duna + Ike = 3500 Ike > Dres = 1500 Dres > Pol = 3400 Pol > Bop = 6800 Bop > Tylo = 6600 Tylo > Vall = 5900 Vall > Laythe = 4500 Laythe > Eeloo = 9250 Eeloo > Kerbin = 3400 so thats what i figure so far, if anyone has any tips or anything to add, it would be appreciated.