brettuzzi

Interesting approach, very specialized and not what I was anticipating (I meant a simple rocket) but I definitely didn't clarify that... nice work. I'll give Gaarst a couple weeks to see if he can duplicate it, if he doesn't then you win. edit: Regardless of the results of this: "Indeed. MJ is showing 2999m/s of vacuum dV for Val's rocket on the pad, KER gives me 3067m/s of vacuum dV in the VAB." I'll honor it if Gaarst can't, but I can't donate to everybody's charity and the challenge was initiated at Gaarst.

I don't mean to be a jerk, but I'm so sure that 2800 is as equally unrealistic as 2500, that if you can demonstrate a stock parts rocket reaching LKO for under 3k ÃŽâ€V (vacuum) I'll donate $50 to a charity of your choice. (edit; $50 Cdn)

It's likely that your limiting factor will be electricity, not drills -- at least, if you want to mine through the night. The drills use 15 electricity per second and a Minmus night lasts 6 hours.

My bad.. Duh, contents under pressure! I think my original point is still (but only) relevant if you have multiple tanks in your main stack then.

edit; see next page

Using asparagus-style staging (fuel lines) will do wonders for keeping your rocket more stable -- your main stack rocket won't drain (keeping the majority of your vessels mass balanced front-to-back) until the very last atmospheric stage, and the radial tanks won't all drain from the top at the same time. Your center of mass will stay way closer to the front of the rocket for the entirety of the ascent, which will do wonders in preventing flipping AND give you better delta V to boot. ~3200 is the lowest amount of delta V that I've heard of people reaching orbit, but I usually plan on somewhere between 3400 and 3700 depending on how awkward the payload is.

You're correct, it's 5kg/unit for LF/OX (it's 4 for monoprop). I was working from memory, my bad!

You need 3 things: ISP - Specific Impulse - how efficient your engine turns propellant into thrust M0 - Current or fueled mass (kg) M1 - Dry mass dV = 9.80665 * ISP * log(m0/m1) LF/OX both weigh 4kg/L. If your ship has 90 LF, 110 OX, weighs 2,000kgs, and is powered by a LV909 Terrier... 90 + 110 = 200 units 200 * 4 = 800 kg 2000 - 800 = 1200kg M0 = 2000, M1 = 1200, ISP = 345 9.80665 * 345 * log(2000/1200) = 1728dV

It must be an incompatible mod or a strange bug for you; my keybindings are working fine on 1.0.4 (and I'm running 28 other mods).