manned returnable mun missions

[KSPNewbie]

hey guys, I need ideas for a returnable mun mission and i wanted your ideas

 

thanks in advance

[Evanitis]

Are you looking for a way to return home after a landing, or things to actually do while you are there?

The former is really not that hard. You have two possibilities. The first is to fly very efficiently. There are orbital mechanics that can save fuel (sometimes a lot of fuel) if preformed right. Namely Hohmann transfer, suicide burn and free return trajectory. I don't want to detail these methods here, mainly for I'm lazy there are plenty of guides about how to preform those, even in obscure languages. But if you have a craft that ever landed on the Mun, chances are that it could return on it's own if you utilize these tricks.

The other method is of course adding moar boosters overengineering your craft. That's failsafe and fun. The resulting rockets might look ridiculous, but in my opinion it only adds to the joy when launching them.

[Foxster]

3 hours ago, KSPNewbie said:

hey guys, I need ideas for a returnable mun mission and i wanted your ideas

 

thanks in advance

You look for a newb mission or something cute?

[MoonMan22]

4 hours ago, KSPNewbie said:

hey guys, I need ideas for a returnable mun mission and i wanted your ideas

 

thanks in advance

Check out this vid. U could do something similar. SLS booster and Apollo like upper stage. 

 

[gabesenns]

How about You build a rocket in separate launches that will go the the mun drop of 1-2 rovers, base (crew capsule, labatory, and other stuff), and a separate pod that carries kerbals. also make it so that the kerbals can get back.

[Nich]

SSTO to the mun is a good test of piloting skills

[SpaceplaneAddict]

19 hours ago, Nich said:

SSTO to the mun is a good test of piloting skills

I have one

[Gojira1000]

10 hours ago, SpaceplaneAddict said:

I have one

Me too

 

[Vanamonde]

Since this is not a challenge, the thread has been moved to Gameplay questions. 

[Kosmo-not]

On 2/2/2016 at 4:30 PM, Nich said:

SSTO to the mun is a good test of piloting skills

I wouldn't really consider that a challenge. It's very easy to design an SSTO as long as you don't overdo the upper stages.

I would say a very low TWR lander (1.5 to 2.0 with respect to Mun) with a tight delta-v budget is a good test of skill.

[Wemb]

On 01/02/2016 at 3:13 PM, KSPNewbie said:

hey guys, I need ideas for a returnable mun mission and i wanted your ideas

 

If you're a newbie, then I'd suggest avoid trying, in any meaningful way, to replicate how Apollo did it. The skills and hardware needed are difficult to get, and mostly unnecessary for Kerbin's moons - it's a good challenge, but you don't need to take the same approach.  Von Braun was an advocate for the 'Direct Ascent' method of getting to the moon because, initially, it looked to be the simplest approach - the same goes for Kerbal.

Wemb

Edited February 5, 2016 by Wemb

[Warzouz]

For a new player, "Kerbal-X" is able to go to the mun and back. Maybe adding a bit of fuel for security margin is not a bad idea.

[Snark]

A crewed Mun return mission is pretty straightforward... if you build enough dV into the relevant stages.

And getting enough dV is pretty straightforward... if you have learned how to determine what the dV is for a rocket, and for the various stages in it.

For pretty much any mission you want to do in KSP, the planning process goes like this:

1. Figure out how much dV you need
2. Design a rocket that has that much dV
3. Fly it!

If you're new to KSP, all of the above can be challenging, and you need to knock them down one by one.

For the simplest Mun mission (which is what you should do if you're new):  you'll need dV like this:

• Around 3500 m/s to get to LKO (low Kerbin orbit).
• From LKO to the Mun, you need around 850 m/s.
• Upon arrival at the Mun, you need around 1000 m/s to land.
• Having landed on the Mun, you need around 1000 m/s to go home to Kerbin.

The above numbers are actually slightly higher than the ideal case, but you're likely to waste some fuel if you're new to piloting, and it's good to have some safety margin.

Next, teach yourself about dV and how to calculate it (or get a mod that does the calculation for you, like KER, but understand what it's doing so you know how to interpret it).

So, the next step is to design your mission.  You start with the end of the mission and work your way backwards to the start.  So you'll design your mission like this:

1. A lander that has 2000 m/s of dV (or more; you're likely to be sloppy on your first attempt, it's good to have safety margin).  This is enough to arrive from Kerbin, land, take off, and go home.  So as long as you have this lander with full tanks after making your ejection burn from LKO, you're good to go.
2. Then give it a transfer stage below it that has at least 850 m/s.  That's enough to boost you from LKO and send you to the Mun.
3. Then stick the whole shebang on top of a booster stage that has 3500 m/s.  That's enough to get the lander + transfer stage from the launchpad up to LKO.

...And then fly it!

Edited February 5, 2016 by Snark