[stock][.14] Nimbus MDS 3.2

[tonyri]

This is my most recent Mun Rocket. Could someone test fly it and tell me what I could improve to make it more efficient?

[antbin]

It\'s tricky to make efficient rockets that aren\'t 100% symmetric. The tri-couplers do make your stack awesome, but they\'re hard to integrate cleanly. Without a totally symmetric rocket, you need a lot of heavy SAS modules.

I\'d also recommend hard-mounting the fins to a stage that you\'re going to drop in the lower atmosphere. Radial decouplers weigh more than much a full empty fuel tank.

Happy building!

[UmbralRaptor]

It\'s complicated enough at this point, that I\'d be tempted to start from a clean slate. If you want to keep something similar, I would be partial to deleting the fins, SAS, and lowermost ASAS.

Perhaps something like this?

I\'d also recommend hard-mounting the fins to a stage that you\'re going to drop in the lower atmosphere. Radial decouplers weigh more than much a full fuel tank.

...Er? Radial decouplers weigh 0.4. Full fuel tanks weigh 2.5. Though yeah, that\'s a lot more than the .05 to .08 of stock fins.

[antbin]

Eh, my bad, I meant an empty fuel tank.

[Trekkin]

One easy thing you can do is to cut out the lower stages entirely.

Instead of a stack decoupler, tri-stack, and subsequent tanks, mount those tanks radially along your upper-stage outer engines. Four tank stacks get rocket nozzles, while the outer two have fuel lines running to your upper-stage outer engines. You cut out 4.7 mass units of dead weight that way, with no drop in fuel capacity. You can also replace those vectored engines with their non-vectored equivalent, while dropping the extra ASAS and so forth.

Like this:

EDIT: I can confirm it lands on the Mun and back, but RCS is sorely missed coming in.

By the by, what\'s the intent behind all the fuel lines already on the third stage? I can\'t figure out what they\'re for.

[tonyri]

One easy thing you can do is to cut out the lower stages entirely.

Instead of a stack decoupler, tri-stack, and subsequent tanks, mount those tanks radially along your upper-stage outer engines. Four tank stacks get rocket nozzles, while the outer two have fuel lines running to your upper-stage outer engines. You cut out 4.7 mass units of dead weight that way, with no drop in fuel capacity. You can also replace those vectored engines with their non-vectored equivalent, while dropping the extra ASAS and so forth.

Like this:

EDIT: I can confirm it lands on the Mun and back, but RCS is sorely missed coming in.

By the by, what\'s the intent behind all the fuel lines already on the third stage? I can\'t figure out what they\'re for.

I had tried to make all three engines share fuel so they would all extinguish at the same time. I don\'t think it worked out correctly though. Plus, should I use solid or liquid fuel boosters? I think the liquid ones have higher specific impulse.

[UmbralRaptor]

Solids if you\'re being silly, liquids if you want to get somewhere.

[antbin]

For example: this solid rocket booster ship can just barely make the Mun. Kosmo-not\'s ship can do the return trip on 5 tanks.

[tonyri]

For example: this solid rocket booster ship can just barely make the Mun. Kosmo-not\'s ship can do the return trip on 5 tanks.

Well, I just was talking about the one tank boosters attached to the first stage.