[14.4][stock] The Bare Minimun

[Apotheosist]

This is the smallest rocket I have been able to get to the mun and back with. 3 tanks. It literally is bare. No parachute, no landing legs. A propulsive landing is necessary to land back on kerbin without killing the crew. It uses landing legs for stage separation. When the stage 0 tanks run out of fuel, cut the engines, spin the whole craft around to generate centrifugal forces, and when you think it\'s enough, press G to deploy the legs, and they will push the tanks away from the middle tank. Thanks to sjwt for pioneering seperation using landing legs and also thanks to r4m0n for further developing super light weight mun rockets over at http://kerbalspaceprogram.com/forum/index.php?topic=9729.0

The decoupling will spin the rocket a little off course, you just have to re-align and continue your burn to orbit. I believe a return trip may still be possible with a parachute, using an efficient direct descent approach, according to my delta-v calculations. However, the thrust to weight at liftoff is already below optimal, and adding the extra little bit of weight would make it worse and you\'d lose more delta-v to gravity drag. Without parachute it has 8177m/s delta-v, with parachute 7291m/s. I like to compare my munar craft to Kosmo-not\'s Koalemos II, which has about 7429 delta-v, since I mostly follow the method described in his tutorial.

Edit: Forgot to mention that upon returning to kerbin, my engine and tank blew up, which is why they\'re not there. They absorbed some of the impact.

[r4m0n]

I\'ve tried a version of this with a parachute before, but it didn\'t do too well... With a good ascent profile it may be possible, but it\'s already hard enough getting this version up there.

Extra points for surviving the reentry over land

[sjwt]

Your improvements scare not just my self, but I am sure also Jeb!

Well done!

8)

[Apotheosist]

Thank you very much both for the kind words I\'m quite pleased.

[deadshot462]

NASA - take note of this - keep it kerbal and go back to the moon.

[Kosmo-not]

First try and I was able to do a successful mission, even though I\'ve had a couple drinks.

The separation was fun. It looked as if it was going to take more than just the side tanks with it, but it turned out alright. It probably really helped me that I applied some knowledge I learned recently for the Mun landing trajectory. This was the first time I successfully landed on just an engine. The rest of the mission went just fine. Do I get some kind of rental rebate for landing the thing back on Kerbin without it exploding?

BTW, this it the first time I\'ve done it on 3 tanks of fuel.

*edit*

For some weird reason, I was wondering if NASA would let me fly a rocket to the moon and back by myself. It just seemed like a good idea at the time. lmao.

Picture to prove I landed it on the Mun.

Returned without exploding.

[Apotheosist]

Bravo Kosmo-not! I do find it quite easy, and a pleasure to fly, even though it is small. As I said, it does have plenty of delta-v, 8177. Which is like 700 more delta-v than the koalemos II. And I find the engine very suitable for landing on. By the time you reach the mun, you don\'t have much fuel mass left, and so it can actually take quite a beating. I\'ve even had succsesful mun landings with landing velocities in the region of 4 m/s. I believe the fact that it\'s a gimballing engine might help a little, too. The nozzle kinda acts as a shock absorber methinks, and it makes for a wonderful launch platform. I\'ve always been too nervous landing back on kerbin. Gravity is so much stronger there, so I fear about hovering for too long. I need more practice. Well done for that!

[Kosmo-not]

Should I make a video of flying this rocket?

[Apotheosist]

Should I make a video of flying this rocket?

You know what, I was just thinking to myself earlier, it would be awesome if Kosmo-not made a video tutorial using The Bare Minimun. I was thinking of asking you about it. You are most welcome to make a video of flying it Just remember to include the name of the rocket and credit It\'s maker (Me ) It would be so cool to be able to show my rocket on youtube to my friends .

[Kosmo-not]

I\'ll get to making the video maybe later this week. Lots of engineering school work to be done.

[Anachronda]

Goodness! I took it for a spin; it can certainly reach the Mun, but I\'m not skilled enough to fly it.

Clearly, I\'m going to have to dig my joystick out, once I remember where I put it...

[Kosmo-not]

After next week, I was thinking about doing that 'no map' challenge with one of my rockets. Then I thought 'wouldn\'t it be more awesome to do it with the least fuel possible?'

Do you think it can be done?

*edit*

Yes, I\'m implying flying this rocket.

[Guest]

Some people are really good at this. I use gargantuan Saturn V-esque rockets, dedicated two stage landers and triple parachutes to get to the Mun and back. You made it on 3 fuel tanks, two legs and an engine. Well done.

[Exovian]

The Bare Minimum

[Apotheosist]

After next week, I was thinking about doing that 'no map' challenge with one of my rockets. Then I thought 'wouldn\'t it be more awesome to do it with the least fuel possible?'

Do you think it can be done?

*edit*

Yes, I\'m implying flying this rocket.

I\'m sure it can be done. Gonna try it now. Doubt I will succeed, but I\'m sure I will learn a lot.

[Apotheosist]

While I remember, I\'m using this ship as the second ship on my 'lightest possible double mun return rocket'. So far I\'ve done it on 27 tanks. 24 to carry The Bare Minimun to the mun and back, then I seperate last few tanks on kerbin and fly to the mun and back again with 3 tanks of The Bare Minimun. I was thinking about creating a challenge to build the lightest double mun return rocket. The key to success with this challenge would be to have as light as possible a mun return ship to start with, which was partly the reason I was inspired to design The Bare Minumun.

May post something about this rocket sometime.