Hercules Superheavy Lifter [stock]

[Analogy]

37 tanks of fuel on the launch pad

15 tanks to 200x200km Kerbal orbit

12 tanks to trans-Minmus injection

Will probably be able to easily explore the entire Kerbin system, land on Murs, whatever.

Inspired by the real-life Falcon 9 heavy, only with more boosters. The concept with Falcon 9 Heavy is taking their existing Falcon 9 rocket and adding two more of them as boosters, the boosters crossfeed fuel into the main rocket, so when the boosters drop off, the main rocket is still at full fuel. This lets it get more cargo to orbit by essentially placing a fully loaded Falcon 9 at a higher altitude and speed.

In my design, I have 8 boosters, and they are dropped in pairs. All engines except the upper stage are firing constantly, so unlike a multi-stage design your lower stages aren\'t pushing up too much dead weight in engines, and you\'re always getting maximum thrust.

The second stage is just a generic lander... Land on Mun or Minmus with it, it has enough fuel to take back off and splash down on Kerbol. Or swap it out for your own lander or cargo for your own missions.

If you need less payload to orbit and want more fuel efficiency, just remove either pairs of boosters from the front (i.e. the first ones to drop off), or fuel tanks from the back (from the last stages to drop off).

[MaverickSawyer]

Pics are usually recommended, so we can see what we\'re talking about...

[Analogy]

Pics are usually recommended, so we can see what we\'re talking about...

Very well.

First shot: In the editor

Second: Just after launch, you can see that it is only burning fuel from two tanks

Third: After first booster separation, you can see how the boosters fall off in pairs, leaving the other boosters burning and still full of fuel

Fourth: On orbit of Kerbal with 15 tanks of fuel

Fifth: On orbit of Minmus with about 11.5 tanks of fuel

It\'s probably possible to beat these numbers for efficiency, I haven\'t experimented much with launch trajectories. I don\'t doubt that you could get the delta-v for launch to a 200km circular orbit down to 4500 or so, especially if you launched with less fuel.

[HenryL]

I like it !

Looks perfect for lofting huge objects into place. Can\'t wait for 'official' ability to put SkyLab into orbit.

[LJ28795]

How do you bring up all the autopilot etc. Is it a mod or a new feature?

[Analogy]

That\'s the Mechjeb addon. Okay, the .craft is not strictly stock, but mechjeb\'s not necessary for the rocket to function either, you can fly it just fine without it. I just use it to test what my rockets are optimally capable of, since it can do things a lot more efficiently than I can.

[SunJumper]

Is it capable of returning from solar orbit?

[Analogy]

You can escape the solar system with plenty of fuel to spare. You\'ve got 15 tanks of fuel to play with once you hit orbit, and solar maneuvers are incredibly cheap.

Right now I\'m realizing that it\'s hauling a lot of weight in engines around with it in orbit... You want lots of thrust in the atmosphere where you\'re countering air resistance, but on orbit you want the least weight possible to get the most delta-v out of your fuel... Ideally I think you want to stage it so that it\'s down to a single engine by the time it\'s out of the atmosphere. The exact nature of the staging is highly dependent on the load you\'re carrying to orbit on the top stage (a heavier load means more gravity losses and time spent in the atmosphere), but I think efficiency will be improved by moving fuel tanks between the stages.

[Klopchuck]

Great system. I like the cross-feeding of the fuel; any rocket design without cross-feeding is really leaving delta-v on the table, so to speak. Good job. I think I\'ll add some RCS for kicks, but this is a great starting designs.