Going To Moho--The Jedi Master 2000 Post Special

[MalfunctionM1Ke]

Moho ship, enjoy and expect long burns

[The Jedi Master]

Moho ship, enjoy and expect long burns

http://i.imgur.com/40T9iUu.jpg

Please give me .craft and show me links to mods I may need!

[The Jedi Master]

This is the initial lander. I plan to bring two kerbals (as I like to do on interplanetary missions) and this configuration turned out to be lighter than the regular two-man pod.

And here it is on the Mun. The test showed a couple problems. First an foremost, the fuel lines are not set up properly--I'll have to fix that. Second, it kind of struggled during descent, meaning that it is too heavy and there is no way it will handle Moho. Overall, I call this a successful test flight, in that it gave me useful information. Back to the drawing board!

[PLAD]

Using the Kerbin-Eve-Eve-Moho route can get you from Kerbin's surface to Moho's surface for well under 8000m/s total. For details on the route check out this challenge. Even skipping the Mun flyby and Metaphor's Messenger-style braking passes can still get you there for around 8000.

Using Moho-Eve-Eve-Kerbin can get you home for under 2500m/s but it's a rare window, I only know of one that leaves Moho on Y2 D339 (Earth-time).

[allmhuran]

Using the Kerbin-Eve-Eve-Moho route can get you from Kerbin's surface to Moho's surface for well under 8000m/s total. For details on the route check out this challenge. Even skipping the Mun flyby and Metaphor's Messenger-style braking passes can still get you there for around 8000.

Using Moho-Eve-Eve-Kerbin can get you home for under 2500m/s but it's a rare window, I only know of one that leaves Moho on Y2 D339 (Earth-time).

Yep, and you don't have to wait for launch windows for the multiple-slingshot approach. Just eject into the necessary solar orbit to cross your target and then adjust your period at the intersection point for an encounter one or more orbits later. These kinds of encounter adjustments usually take less than 20 m/s depending on your patience.

[EdFred]

I wait until Kerbin is at one of the -scending nodes, and do a Hohmann transfer (with inclination change) from there. I don't worry about getting an encounter, I just make sure both orbits are tangential at that transfer point. Then when at my Kerbol periapsis,(and where the orbits meet) lower my apoapsis until I get an encounter. When all is said and done, I probably use a bit more dV, but it makes the insertion burn much, much easier.

If I don't do it that way, and go for optimal dV, I use nuclear engines and a hitchhiker module for the transfer burn (both directions) and braking stage composed of 3-4 Poodles. 2 Kerbals then EVA to the 2 man lander stage, do their thing on Moho's surface and then rendezvous with the nuclear stage. Poodles are discarded (this was pre 0.24 - but they probably would be discarded by me in 0.24 anyway), and the lander stage redocks with the HH/Nuke module, and it's back to Kerbin at the next transfer window.

Moho really isn't that difficult provided you intercept it correctly.

[Redshift OTF]

This is the initial lander. I plan to bring two kerbals (as I like to do on interplanetary missions) and this configuration turned out to be lighter than the regular two-man pod.

And here it is on the Mun. The test showed a couple problems. First an foremost, the fuel lines are not set up properly--I'll have to fix that. Second, it kind of struggled during descent, meaning that it is too heavy and there is no way it will handle Moho. Overall, I call this a successful test flight, in that it gave me useful information. Back to the drawing board!

That design looks like you are going to land it on Moho and then return the lander to Kerbin. I think a better design would be to have a smaller lander land on Moho, dock it with a mothership and then return home.

This is my current design, (although I haven't fully tested it yet).

It is mostly fuel, has 4 LV-N's on each tank so burn times aren't too long, the outer tanks drain first and are stageable and then you are left with the centre tank. There's a little lander strapped on to the front, (only holds one Kerbal). The lander decouples, lands on Moho, re-orbits, docks with the main ship again and the remnants of the lander are decoupled from the capsule leaving the capsule and the main ship to fly home. Simple, yet effective.

[The Jedi Master]

On gravity assists: I plan to do a Mun assist and an Eve assist. These will be my first ever gravity assists, so yay!

Redshift OTF: That is a nice design! Got a .craft?

Question: Any good tourist attractions on Moho?

[Redshift OTF]

Here's the craft file.

I haven't included the launcher to get this thing into LKO although with SLS parts it shouldn't be too hard. One of the landing legs gets in the way of the ladder so you might need to adjust that, (I can't remember if Moho's gravity is light enough for the Kerbal to EVA into the capsule when landed, it probably is). Also there is no parachute on the capsule so when you get back to Kerbin you'll have to launch a pickup craft to get the Kerbal back to the KSP. Other than that it should work fine. The drive section, (everything but the lander), has 15.5k DeltaV pushing the lander and 17.5k pushing the capsule so you should have loads of margin for error if you want to practice the journey.

[Highlad]

On gravity assists: I plan to do a Mun assist and an Eve assist. These will be my first ever gravity assists, so yay!

Redshift OTF: That is a nice design! Got a .craft?

Question: Any good tourist attractions on Moho?

May I ask why you are going to be using a mun assist? It will almost always be more efficient to burn normally without any mun interaction.

[The Jedi Master]

According to Alarm Clock, next transfer window is in two hours kerbal-time. No time for a gravity assist, time to go!

[Landge]

On gravity assists: I plan to do a Mun assist and an Eve assist. These will be my first ever gravity assists, so yay!

Redshift OTF: That is a nice design! Got a .craft?

Question: Any good tourist attractions on Moho?

The Moholes are the only "attractions" that I'm aware of Sorry I couldn't "resist"! Dangit I did it again!

[Tw1]

The Moholes are the only "attractions" that I'm aware of Sorry I couldn't "resist"! Dangit I did it again!

I found a really cool ridge with a view in my first ever (cheat powered) visit, but I'll have no idea where to find it.

[MalfunctionM1Ke]

Please give me .craft and show me links to mods I may need!

I dont think that I still have the craftfile but the only mod in there is Kerbal Engineer.

[The Jedi Master]

My first real attempt was a slightly modified version of Redshirt's ship with an SLS launcher. It seemed to be going well until SLS fuel ran out well before orbit. Since the nuclear engines didn't have nearly enough thrust to do it, I decided to abort mission. I detached the lander and opened the parachutes. I kept the entire lander, in an attempt to save money. Unfortunately, this somehow caused the entire thing, including the capsule, to explode on splashdown despite no time warp being in effect. Danhun Kerman is dead.

Back to the drawing board!

[The Jedi Master]

I'm back and more determined than ever! I'll just wait for the next launch window. That will allow more testing.