capi3101

The only way I've heard of is to not attach the top of any subsequent part to the girder (i.e. don't attach it via the green node ball in the VAB); if you can attach it to the side, you should be alright.

It might be how I'm trying to place them. Last night I got them attached to the sides of the X200-32 tank and the game didn't want to let me put the next tank on top. I had to turn on parts clipping to get it to finally work, and that's probably what ultimately caused the third stage meltdown I had. I plan to try again and put girders on the central stack this time around, just to get a little more space in between the tanks this time. Some Sepratrons too; they're part of the original Supernova design and it turns out they're necessary...

So.......I need to ask about the notion of a "Cargo Altair". I was planning on putting the pressurized rovers with the habitat, but had problems finding a good mounting point (the habitat follows the same design as the two-stage lander, which utilizes the same hex symmetry as the Scorpio Crew Module, and its actually fairly compact lengthwise). I did ultimately get them attached, but I'm looking at it and saying to myself "there's no way in hell that thing is going to survive a launch". Even if it does, the part count is hellacious at this point. Main question: does the Cargo Altair have to at least resemble the other Altair variants? Or could I just re-utilize the Storax Sedan idea from the Mars Challenge (i.e. dangle two rovers off the sides of a fuel canister)? So far the challenge of career mode is to do the stuff with smaller parts that you're used to doing with the bigger parts. I unlocked enough stuff to recreate my first demo Mun lander just last night. Made about 500 science in the process. Got my eyes on unlocking the Mk1 Lander Can next...

Sent Jeb to the Mun for the first time in 0.22. Unlocked all but one of the 90-cost science technologies. Will be going for Mk1 Lander Cans in the near future. Attempted to build a lower Tech substitute for Temstar's Supernova booster. Would've worked had I not had parts clipping through one another. The third stage separation was pretty spectacular. Worked on adding descriptions to all the designs I brought over from 0.21. I've got quite a bit of a collection of craft at this point. Plan to build the Munar/Dunar habitat for the Constellation Challenge before I go to bed.

Tried to put together a proof-of-concept Supernova-substitute booster this evening. Had some parts clipping through one another, so it didn't survive the third staging event, but things were going reasonably well up to that point.

NavyFish's Docking Alignment Indicator Mod can help you out with roll. Other than that, I'm not aware of any special technique for aligning roll; you just have to eyeball it.

Hmm...that's doable. Tail connector's available with Aerodynamics - a 90 sci tech, so OP should be able to build the same. I've had problems with the Tail Connectors before, though...how do you keep the top end from coming loose? Parts clipping or struts? I'll have to re-calculate at 1510 kN thrust per booster. The Isp would be impoved too... 140 tonnes is within the capabilities of Temstar's Supernova asparagus booster, so yes this is doable. Still going to be tricky, but not as tricky as before. Good suggestion, el_coyoto. EDIT: Looking at the Supernova, it's 12 stacks at 4 X200-32 tanks equivalent. 4STOa with three stacks in the center and the outboard boosters released in triplets. There's a stack of 1.25 meter tanks in the center feeding into the triple stack. Rebuilding it exactly would be tricky but you could set up something similar. It would definitely get you into orbit.

I'd put some higher efficiency engines on that transfer stage. The Skipper's a good engine but for interplanetary travel you need efficiency, not thrust. And the Mk-55 just plain sux. Wiki even says "It is recommended to not be used in atmospheric landings." You also need MOAR FUEL. Remember I suggested 23-24 Skippers this morning? Well, I meant that. Five of those need to comprise your core stage, so you're looking at a nine-stage to orbit asparagus booster, and for the mass you're lifting, you're going to need Jumbo 64s. And unfortunately, the Skippers won't provide enough thrust. Yeah, I'm sticking to my original suggestion; you're going to have to dock the lander to a transfer stage. Or reduce the mass of the lander somehow - 70 tonnes is a hell of a lot of payload to be taking to Duna without Mainsails.

You can do this stock; probably the first practical probe core that comes up is the Probodobodyne OKTO with Advanced Flight Control on Tier 4 (90 Sci). You'll need batts to keep it running, of course, but once it's in a free return trajectory it won't use up any power unless you leave SAS on. So once you're in the free-return trajectory, switch SAS off, activate the chute and then decouple it from the payload. Easy peasy. As for having the delta-V to do a Munar flyby - that's going to depend on the mass of your payload, of course. But it's easily doable with Tier 3 tech (doable with starting tech too, just harder). RGUs...neither one are available until Tier 7 (last tier), which is a damn shame.

Still in this - I've just been getting over the shininess of 0.22 and will be back to work soon. Munar/Dunar habitat was designed yesterday; due to the mass of the rovers, the habitat will be as massive as the lander despite the lack of an ascent stage.

70 tonnes for Duna, sans nukes. Tricky, yes... Fortunately you've got the Poodle, Skipper and the X200-32, so that's something...I've made it to Duna before without Nukes. Okay, so you've got your lander. Delta-V map says 1,788 m/s is 125% of the delta-V needed to get to Duna. Let's go with a Poodle for that job...it has a 390 Isp in space. Add the decoupler. You need 70 tonnes of fuel for the job; four X200-32s will cover you. Set one up in the center, three outboard, strut them together and run fuel lines from outboard to center. That oughta do that. Now you've got 142.5 tonnes of payload... Oof. You need somewhere between 14,911.2 - 15483.15 kN of thrust to lift that, assuming asparagus. You'll need 23-24 Skippers for that job (or 23-24 three-motor clusters of LV-T30s/LV-T45s). Okay...if you were to lift the two separately and dock them in orbit...but you don't have Specialized Construction yet. You'd only need 12 Skippers, though, and that would be doable. You could get away with nine skippers asparagus if you can accept a 1.28 TWR (bit low for asparagus but it'd still get you into space). All that hinges on being able to dock. Not sure what to tell you in this case. Large Control and Specialized Construction need to be your next tech tree priorities; with large control and Heavier Rocketry, you unlock Very Heavy Rocketry and the Mainsail Engine. 1110 Science total to unlock those techs.

Migrated my 0.21 savegame over to 0.22. Lost the Echidna 7 parked on the Mun from my Gemini mission in an attempt to get its landing legs deployed again (successful gravity hack but the legs pushed it off the Munar surface before I could unhack gravity again, and it tipped over. Oh well - I never really liked the Echidna anyway. Will need to do the same for the Castle Romeo descent stage and the Tranquility Base lander, no doubt. Had my first successful Minmus landing in 0.22 career mode. 625 science for the trip. Finally have all the tech I need to recreate the Apocalypse 7 lander, so the Mun's next. Anybody know if you get any additional science for taking samples near an anomaly? Hacked KER to make it work with 0.22. Surprisingly, KER is still taking a break in the VAB just like it was doing in 0.21. Makes me wonder if my install has been corrupted. Designed the habitat lander for the Constellation Program Challenge. Now that I've gotten comfortable with 0.22, I'll be picking that up again soon. Got my pressurized rover saved as a subassembly, so now the issue is getting that nine tonne monstrosity attached to the lander... Drove the pressurized rover around the new KSC. Only ran into one building. Found out it floated pretty well.

I use three and set them sideways along the base. Has the added bonus of keeping your capsule upright on splashdown and it kinda looks like those funky airbags the Mercury/Gemini/Apollo craft used.

Total stage thrust (i.e. total stage power) is simply the sum of the thrust of all of your engines at full throttle (where most folks run them anyway). For example, an LV-T30 has a thrust of 215 kN and an LV-T45 has a thrust of 200 kN (kilonewtons, 1000 Newtons, 1,000 kgm/s2 - again we're metric, and that's a unit of force). If your booster has one -45 and two -30s, your stage thrust is 630 kN (200+215+215). From that you can get the total maximum allowable mass of your rocket for a certain thrust-to-weight ratio. TWR = T/Mo*go, where T is your thrust, Mo is your initial mass and go is the surface gravity of the world you're taking off from; for Kerbin, that's standard gravity at 9.81 m/s2. Simple algebra therefore indicates that Mo = T/TWR*go So you just plug in the numbers: At Thrust = 630 kN TWR = 1.9, Mo=33.80009657 Mg 1.8, 35.67787971 1.7, 37.77657852 - generally considered optimal for asparagus. 1.6, 40.13761468 1.5, 42.81345566 - minimum you want for asparagus, good for onion. 1.4, 45.87155963 1.3, 49.40014114 1.2, 53.51681957 - optimal for a one stage-to-orbit (SSTO) rocket 1.1, 58.38198499 1.0, 64.22018349 - the limit; that thruster set can lift no more more than this.

The Cheat Sheet is a good resource for mission planning. I'd also suggest looking at the Advanced Rocket Tutorial; it's a bit heady but supplements the Cheat Sheet nicely. And the general Stock Parts table contains crucial information.

The Mass of the Mk 1 is .8 metric tonnes = 800 kilograms. You'll sometimes see this also as 0.8 megagrammes; correct but hard to wrap your head around if your country doesn't regularly employ the metric system. All the units in the game are metric. Except for temperature - nobody knows what scale is being utilized there. Thrust-to-Weight Ratio: this equals your total stage thrust divided by the quotient of the mass of the rocket and the gravity of the world from which it is being launched. If TWR is greater than one, your rocket can take off; if not, it won't. Delta-V is determined via the Tsiolkovsky Rocket Equation: dV = ln(M/Md) * 9.81 * Isp, where dV is delta V, M is the total mass of your rocket, Md is the dry mass of your rocket (how much it weighs after it runs out of fuel), and Isp is the specific impulse of the rocket's motors (i.e. their efficiency). The equation works on a stage-by-stage basis, so for a multi-stage rocket you just add up the delta-V of all the individual stages.

What you're going to be capable of doing is going to be highly dependent on the level of tech you've unlocked. That said, if all you're trying to do is get into Kerbin's orbit, I can tell from the Science Jr that you've got the tech. Shoot for 4650 m/s of delta-V; 4550 for the ascent and a mere 100 to deorbit (yes, it doesn't take all that much to land). Here's what I'd do: switch pack to the Mk1 Command Pod - it's less massive. Two radial chutes and an antenna on the pod, your sci junior underneath and lets go with three goo pods. That's your payload; 1.755 tonnes. Three fuel stacks - an LV-T45 in the center and two LV-T30s outboard (or all three LV-T30s if you don't have the -45 for some reason). Stick a decoupler under your payload and then add the center stack - three FL-T800 tanks to make things easy, or two FL-T800s, one FL-T400, one FL-T200 and one FL-T100; whatever tank combo you select, you want the same combo outboard. That's all you need to get into orbit. Straight up to 10k, 45 degrees at 090 to 20k, follow the navball after that, and at 50k burn along the horizon until your apoapsis is where you want it. Watch your gee meter as you go; if it climbs out of the green zone, throttle back to avoid telescoping your stack. Cut your thrust when the ap is where you want it, coast above 70k, then set your orbital insertion maneuver node. Burn when you're ready (generally I burn at one-third thrust for three times the amount of time indicated by the node; that helps with precision). When your periapsis is above 70k, you're in orbit. Cut your thrust, do your science, turn retro and burn. When the periapsis goes below 30,000, you'll come in for landing. Wait until you're flying, then cut loose the booster - that will help with cleanup. Chutes out when you're ready (I usually go at 5k or so). Land and reap the science. EDIT: To mark a thread as answered, you have to edit your first post; there's a box there that will let you switch the thread's status.

I.e. it's serial staging with MOAR BOOSTERS.

If you're still not set on your design and you have access to BZ-52 Radial Attachment Points, and assuming you're using the large parts, plop a couple of those on the bottom of the fuel tank and attach your nukes to them. Alternatively, a bi-adapter or tri-adapter could do the same job. EDIT: Ninja'd.

Some information, as Mr Shifty indicated: what technologies have you unlocked, and what have you tried so far? Short answer: 5410 m/s of delta-V for a Munar flyby and free-return, 6480 to go into Munar orbit and later return, 7760 for a Munar landing. Greater than 1 TWR at launch. Too much is dependent on the mass of your payload, so we do need some details. What exactly are you trying to do?

If you're calculating it by hand, what you do is treat it like serial staging - all that asparagus does is add extra thrust from the other stages as you go. How many stages you treat it as depends on the number of boosters you want to include - if you use a six booster design, it's four stages to orbit; eight boosters, it's five stages to orbit. Temstar talks about how to build a good asparagus design here; its the basis he uses for his Zenith booster series. Follow his guidelines to get a good engine mix for your payload. What you then can do is set up each stage equation so you account for the total mass of the previous stage (including fuel). Your target aggregate delta-V for any booster design is 4550 m/s, so you divvy up how much delta-V you want with each stage. For a four stage booster, I usually go with 10% for the first stage, 20% for the second, 30% for the third and 40% for the fourth. For five stages, it's 6.7% for the first, 13.3% for the second, 20% for the third, 26.7% for the fourth, and 33.3% for the fifth). You have your payload, you add the mass of the decouplers and the engine for the stage, and calculate how much fuel you need to achieve your target delta-V by running Tsiokolvsky backwards (keeping in mind the wet-to-dry mass ratio of almost all fuel tanks in the game is 9:1, i.e. M = 9Md). Do this for each stage. Then for an asparagus design, add up all the fuel you need for all the stages, average for the total number of stacks you're employing (7 for a six booster stack, 9 for an eight booster stack), and then select a set of tanks that get you as close to the indicated amount of fuel as possible.

I'm not all the way through the tree yet, but my strategy so far has been to acquire the tech necessary to rebuild my Apocalypse 7 rocket, the first really successful Mun lander design I built in previous versions of the game. That's dictated my progress so far. After Basic Rocketry, my next priority was Survivability for the LV-909 (which let me do reasonable efficiency Mun flybys), General Rocketry (for the LV-T45 - which can steer, which means I can build heavier boosters) and Stability (for TT-38-Ks, enabling basic onion staging at least). After that was General Construction (struts! and the TT-70 didn't hurt; I've never really liked the 38-K), Science Tech (for the Z-100 Battery packs, moar power of course) and Advanced Rocketry (for the FL-T800; not really essential but fewer parts is a consideration when you've got a low-end box like mine). Electrics (for OX-STAT panels) is my next priority, and once I have Fuel Systems (for fuel ducts), I can rebuild the Apocalypse (which uses true onion staging; having RCS at that point may also open up some more possibilities). I may have picked up Flight Control somewhere along the way; I want to say I have access to the Stayputnik but haven't used it yet.

Katateochi's got the basics down for rover designs on other worlds (build them wide, build them low, SAS on, use docking controls). As for widening and lengthening the wheelbase, Modular Girder Segments work well for that purpose (and those are Starting Tier parts). They also have the advantage of having high impact tolerance. Brings up another piece of design - encase your critical parts in other parts with high impact tolerance, like girder segments and structural panels; slamming them into the ground at 20 m/s won't be nearly as catastrophic as slamming that probecore or RTG into the ground at the same speed. If you can't encase them, at least build an outer shell that covers most of the angles at which that stuff could impact. RCS as brakes...never considered doing that before. I wonder if ion thrusters could do the job too... Obligatory Hellhound screenshots:

Yeah, that one's going to be hard to top...out of curiosity, how difficult was that thing to fly? I imagine it wobbled pretty good on takeoff... Updating the leaderboard momentarily.

I designed a ship capable of Munar flyby for someone a few days ago at about the same level of the tech tree as you're at. Built it for my own save game and I can tell you that it works exceptionally well. All 1.25 m parts.