Getting to Mars

[Candre]

Lately I have been testing launch vehicles that can get a medium-sized lander on Mars, so I\'ll be ready for the maiden voyage when the new planet is released. I\'m wondering, has anyone else been preparing? Does anybody have a suitable launch vehicle? Are you using a certain flight plan? (assume that Mars will be about twice the distance from Kerbol than Kerbin)

So far I have a vehicle that I think is capable, along with a lander, but it\'s not exactly elegant and uses a generous number of long 3m fuel tanks. It\'s also wobbly, unfortunately.

Update: I managed an aphelion of 27GM, even after I screwed up and jettisoned the Kerbol orbit insertion and martian orbit insertion stages. It\'s probably not the most efficient, so if anyone has a better design, I\'d love to see it.

The parachutes are not there for testing only. I plan to deploy them for aerobraking in the martian atmosphere

[sirguinea]

I like your style! I have a few ships that can certainly get out that far but I\'ve never thought to prepare a landing vehicle. Kudos! ;D

Is this a one way trip or do you intend to make it back to Kerbin with this design?

[Cepheus]

Interesting. You sure this isn\'t overkill?

Let\'s say that you aren\'t planning a return trip (seriously, don\'t do that. Get mechJeb, and send an unmanned probe.), and there\'s no need to have an asent stage (you\'re going to want to keep your first couple missions relatively simple.) Another important thing to consider is fuel efficiency, and conservation. MechJeb is one of the most fuel-efficient ways to get into a Low Kerbal Orbit. From there, you\'re going to want to perform a maneuver that\'s similar to a TLI, but in such a way that you are flung away from Kerbin\'s sphere of influence. From there, rendezvous is a relatively simple thing to implement, in concept.

Of course, there is a more efficient way to do things, but we don\'t currently have the tools to accurately time when to launch so that we are captured by the moon, and flung out into a solar orbit in such a way that we don\'t have to perform very many course corrections. Hell, it\'s hard for NASA, and they\'ve been doing it for 50 years.

[FourTee2]

What if you fall into another planet\'s SOI and it bends your trajectory?

[togfox]

Is it as simple as

1) Enter Kerbin orbit (using mechjeb)

2) Do long burn to enter Mun orbit (using mechjeb)

3) When enter Mun SOI, do a \'whip around\' the Mun and fling into escape trajectory

4) When at the correct Mars altitude then burn so that you\'re in an orbit around the sun, at an altitude similar to Mars

5) Reduce/extend orbit to sync with Mars

6) Enter Mars SOI and land.

See. Simple. ???

I\'m not sure if I\'ve over simplified step 4.

[imnotacanadian]

Relatively simple steps, although you would also have to account for adjusting orbit if \'Mars\' happened to be orbiting Kerbol on a different axis than Kerbin.

[Zephram Kerman]

@imnotacanadian: That plane-change adjustment could be done at step 3, by passing Mun north or south of its equator.

@togfox: You forgot two steps,

7) ?????

8) Profit!

[Nibb31]

The hardest part will be timing your launch. In real life, Mars launches have a window of a couple of weeks only once every 2 years.

Also, There isn\'t much point in building a mars ship now, because new planets aren\'t planned for until at least 2 more release cycles and there will be a pretty substantial parts overhaul (and probably a rebalancing effort) in 0.15 and 0.16.

[maltesh]

Is it as simple as

1) Enter Kerbin orbit (using mechjeb)

2) Do long burn to enter Mun orbit (using mechjeb)

3) When enter Mun SOI, do a \'whip around\' the Mun and fling into escape trajectory

4) When at the correct Mars altitude then burn so that you\'re in an orbit around the sun, at an altitude similar to Mars

5) Reduce/extend orbit to sync with Mars

6) Enter Mars SOI and land.

See. Simple. ???

I\'m not sure if I\'ve over simplified step 4.

Get rid of steps 2 and 3, and do your burning into [Mars] intercept from Kerbin Orbit. The directional setup (and slow speeds) you need to get a gravity assist from the Mun obliterates the significantly larger benefits you get from the Oberth Effect by doing all your burning in low Kerbin orbit.

If the Mun was much smaller, but with the same mass, such that you could get a significant trajectory bend by scraping its surface at ~ 4km/s, things would be different. And the Mun certaintly can turn an object in orbit of Kerbin into an object on an escape trajectory.

But if your aim is, and has always been, to head for something in Kerbol orbit, you\'re wasting fuel by attempting a Munar gravity assist.

[sss]

Ive made a rocket that was originally for the mun, but i think it can go to mars because by the time i had to jettison my stages, i still had 1 halft full stage and one full stage left so im sure it make it to mars.

(actually not that big)

[chillman1212]

Ive made a rocket that was originally for the mun, but i think it can go to mars because by the time i had to jettison my stages, i still had 1 halft full stage and one full stage left so im sure it make it to mars.

(actually not that big)

Is it a stock rocket?

[sss]

Is it a stock rocket?

Nah, its made up of IFE engines and C7 tanks (but still, its not like im cheat (AKA dosent have super-amount of thrust or fuel)

[chillman1212]

Nah, its made up of IFE engines and C7 tanks (but still, its not like im cheat (AKA dosent have super-amount of thrust or fuel)

I\'m just asking since it would be pretty amazing if it was stock. Also can you show some pictures of it?

[mc8888]

I\'m not sure you\'ll need all those parachutes, as Mars\' atmosphere probably won\'t be thick enough, or were they just for use on Kerbin?

[Candre]

I\'m not sure you\'ll need all those parachutes, as Mars\' atmosphere probably won\'t be thick enough, or were they just for use on Kerbin?

I figured that the parachutes would have enough drag to slow it down on the way in, so I wouldn\'t have to use a lot of landing fuel for that. They perform very well on Kerbin, I get max. speeds of ~25 m/s right before touchdown, so all I need is to throttle up slightly for a smooth landing. Mars\' atmosphere is substantially thinner than Kerbin\'s, though.

[vexx32]

I suggest we also have an alternate key to deploy any parachutes in the current stage, as otherwise it could get rather confusing (a slight mishap in staging would cause a stage to separate rather than deploy parachutes, and THAT could end in disaster.

[Apotheosist]

A good rocket for geting to mars could be one that was designed to get to the Mun and back twice. A few people have made such rockets. I have made one, using 27 tanks of fuel (all stock). The first return stage to kerbin has two parachutes, that could be used to assist in slowing down the craft in the Martian atmosphere. The second Mun return stage should then have enough fuel to return to Kerbin. This is, of course, assuming that the delta-v needed to get to or from Mars is not greater than the delta-v needed to fly to and land on the moon, and return and land back on kerbin again. (I personally think it would be plenty)