[Invention] The Mars Program

[HOC]

The means to get to 'Mars' and back

Not entirely sure where to post this thread, so I\'m doing it here. I am creating a space program intended to establish the capabilities to land on another planet in the Kerbol system that has atmosphere, and return home intact.

Basically, we need to think up and run a load of missions to prove we are capable of achieving this. I have thought of a few- getting progressively more ambitious, of course.

• 
  [li]Reach 50kms, safely land, reach 50kms, safely land.[/li]
  [li]Get into orbit around Kerbin, land on Kerbin, get into orbit once more, and finally land once more. (Kerbin- 'Mars'- Kerbin)[/li]
  [li]Slingshot past the Mun and back to Kerbin, land on Kerbin, slingshot back past the Mun, and once again land safely. (Getting to 'Mars'- extra challenge[/li]
  

If anyone would like to contribute more missions and/or thoughts I\'d appreciate them, as well as ship proposals and discussion. I encourage others to start up their own similar program, I can feel my own anticipation growing...

Even if you guys decide you don\'t want to post anything, I\'ll likely be posting my own mission logs on this thread for those who are interested.

Missions Undertaken so far:

Lander Test- land safely from a near free fall, achieve orbit, land.

[Rocketscience101]

Love the idea. I am working on a rocket to get me to 50 kilometers and return right now. I will put the download right on here.

[HOC]

In the first Mars mission I threw together a Lander design intended for use of de-orbiting from LMO, landing on planet, and rendezvousing with engine module in LMO.

CRAFT: Mars I Lander

MISSION: Lander Test- Reach 4 kms, land, orbit Kerbin, land.

CREW: Bill, Jebediah and Bob Kerman

LAUNCH DATE: 20-06-12

NOTES:

Successful landing, but engines required for final touchdown. 3 parachutes alone bring craft down to around 24m/s.

Ship used ascent fuel to reach altitude required, resulting in insufficient fuel to achieve orbit.

EVALUATION: More parachutes may remove need for semi-powered descent, and attach launch stage to lander to start simulation at the correct altitude without using ascent fuel.

[dogon11]

I launched a station into orbit, and then landed it on the south pole in one piece.

[Pluto100]

I am building a Murs/Mars orbiter right now. It will be deploying the Kubble Space Telescope and then return to Kerbin.

[Commander Zoom]

May I suggest the'Challenges' subforum? Seems slightly more on-topic to me.

[HOC]

Yeah, it is turning into a Challenge thread isn\'t it? Okay, how do I move it? Uh... I think we require moderator assistance over here.

[HOC]

There we go!

[Phoenix Aerospace]

This\'ll be much, much easier once we get docking. That way, we can have comparatively tiny landers for surface exploration at the destination, while leaving the 'heavier' propulsion/transit habitation modules in orbit. Also, this would open up the idea of assembling the craft in orbit; using lighter (ssto?) craft to shuttle crew between the orbiting transit vehicle and KSC.

An orbiting fuel depot, which I plan to put into LKO for purposes of refuelling my translunar ferries, aren\'t out of the question either. Dock full tanks to a 'spine' composed of Kosmos/BACE nodes, and swap empty ferry tanks with full ones when needed. For resupply, my idea is to use reusable heavy-lift vehicles to lift the replacement tanks, swap them out, and bring the old ones back for 'refuelling'.

I\'m sure that there are many other ways of going about this, though, and I\'d love for other people to give me suggestions.

Edit: Remember that IRL Mars\' atmosphere is extremely thin, and that the body has only about 1/3 the gravity of Earth. Thus, it\'ll probably be a LOT easier to get orbit on a Mars-type body than an earthlike one.

[DonLorenzo]

Here\'s a craft that can do the 50km -> land -> 50km -> land challenge.

It\'s quite straightforward, launch, ditch SRBs when empty. Keep burning till apo = 50, fall back down till about 1km and powerland. Ascend again, ditching side tanks when they drain, fall back down and land. half a tank of fuel to spare.

[DonLorenzo]

And here\'s one that does kerbin orbit -> land -> kerbin orbit -> land.

Fairly straightforward to fly, stage first SRBs at 22 seconds MET to make them explode.

[HOC]

I\'ll take a look

And yes, Phoenix, the addition of docking makes all this much more worthwhile. However, this is more challenging as it is!

[DonLorenzo]

Good morning! Here\'s a ship I made that does mun slingshot -> land on kerbin -> mun slingshot -> land on kerbin.

There\'s room for a bit more optimization, the last stage returned with over a full tank of fuel remaining, easily enough to powerland so the decoupler and chute can be ditched. That\'d lead to more savings making room to ditch a fuel tank or perhaps one or two of the radial boosters on the second trip stage. On my go I didn\'t actually land the after the first slingshot, I came in over the ocean so I dipped the bottom of the last stage in the water and took off again instead

[Apotheosist]

I have already been through this whole design process, but I decided to make the craft able to land on the mun, not just loop around it. I started off with the smallest Mun craft I could get, my ship, 'The Bare MiniMun II', http://kerbalspaceprogram.com/forum/index.php?topic=13953.0

I then attached enough tanks with parachutes to get from LKO to the mun and back to land on kerbin. I did some suborbital tests to test the parachute landing, and when I was satisfied with that stage, I added enough bosters to get it into LKO, or just about. So I ended up with this craft, which can get to the mun and back twice, and should have more than enough fuel to land on and return from a mars like planet. I called it 'Double MiniMunshot': http://kerbalspaceprogram.com/forum/index.php?topic=14805.0