Help with interplanetary ships

[chadgaskerman]

hey,

I'm new to the forums and I need some help with interplanetary ships

Any help would be obliged.

thanks

chadgas

Edited December 24, 2015 by KasperVld
Removed text size & coloring

[Jetski]

Hi chadgas, 3 things to help with interplanetary:

1) use the NERVA engines. Nothing gets anywhere close to the ISP for interplanetary.  A NERVA, a lander can, and 2 of the 400 LF tanks can get back to Kerbin from pretty much anywhere, then start adding fuel from there. More fuel means slower burns but who cares? You have months to burn.  Add another NERVA, or a few more if you are impatient.

2) make sure you are using a launch window when you burn, and your main prograde burns (the big burn to get your Ap or Pe even with the planet you are going to) close to a big planet (eg Kerbin). Plane adjustments and small corrections do as far from any planets (gravity wells) as possible.

3) Keep your payload light.  You'll hear this everywhere on the forums as the answer for every possible question, but seriously the less junk you are hauling around, the more dV you get.  Like orders of magnitude more.  Even an extra strut will increase fuel comsumption.  Get KER or Mechjeb for the math.