How will you get to one of the planets?

[Bluejayek]

Just a note, we\'ve not decided on names just yet. Right now it\'s just 'Desert planet', 'Gas planet', though this will change before release.

I hope Desert Planet has a Des somewhere in it\'s name ???

Or just blatantly plagiarise and call it Arrakis.

[Minty_Fresh]

Hmm. That\'s a tricky one... Probably something involving lots of boostarhz.

[togfox]

If any of the dev\'s can give an indication of how much delta V we\'ll need to reach the planets then we can start designing rockets - with confidence - right now. 8)

A trip to the Mun and back currently requires less than 10000 dV. Is it safe to assume we need ... 4 ... times that dV for a planet trip? 6 times?

[Arrowstar]

If any of the dev\'s can give an indication of how much delta V we\'ll need to reach the planets then we can start designing rockets - with confidence - right now. 8)

A trip to the Mun and back currently requires less than 10000 dV. Is it safe to assume we need ... 4 ... times that dV for a planet trip? 6 times?

Nah, won\'t be that much. Look up numbers for Mars dV and Moon dV here in real life. Getting out of Earth atmosphere/orbit requires the vast majority of your dV budget. Everything else is comparatively small.

[maltesh]

My plan would probably fail miserably (I\'m just basing it on a Kerbin-to-Mun mission), but here goes:

• First, boost into Kerbol\'s orbit. From that point, maneuver into a relatively low circular orbit around Kerbol.

• Next, wait (Looots of waiting, probably on highest warp) for the planet to show up at the edge of Kerbol.

• Then burn prograde until I reach the planet\'s SOI.

• Circularize, deorbit.

• Finally, deploy landing legs and landing engine and land. If landing on Murs, attach lots of parachutes to make use of its atmosphere.

Getting close enough to Kerbol that you can circularize and use the Planetrise burn method is ridiculously fuel-expensive. You\'d be looking at circularizing at about 10,000 km altitude over Kerbol, and you\'d need a spacecraft capable of over 120km/s of delta-V to circularize that low, and burn out of that orbit again.

[Bioman222]

Pictures are worth a thousand words:

[jake118533]

This would be a huge performance for me and i mean HUGE!!!!

1 put fuel in orbit of kerbin

2 dock land on fuel pods

3 dock pod with kerbals onto fuel

4 fly to planet of choice

5 transfer kerbals to lander and land

6 rendevous with ship in orbit

7 go back to kerbin

8 drop fuel pods, and re-entry

[Da_Dumples]

I would just make a shuttle with enough Delta V\'s to get into a solar orbit and from there just burn my way into the planets orbit and speed up time until I get into its SOI. From there I would do a number of things depending on the planet type. either a powered descent or a parachute or a combination of both. I don\'t think a space station or refueling depot will be necessary, but it would be very fun.

Anyways, I\'ll be looking forward to it for sure!

[SkyHook]

I DESPERATELY want a planet with an atmosphere/gas giant. SO many possibilities for landings and what not with an atmosphere. Landing on plain rocks might get a tad boring after awhile. You may run out of bland colors lol.

[NovaSilisko]

I DESPERATELY want a planet with an atmosphere/gas giant. SO many possibilities for landings and what not with an atmosphere. Landing on plain rocks might get a tad boring after awhile. You may run out of bland colors lol.

So far I think, counting Kerbin, there are 5 objects with atmospheres.

[SkyHook]

Woohoo! my parachutes will have use! Can\'t wait for lakes on other planets as well. Sorry for causing everyone so much trouble with my big dreams!

[Maxed-Rockets]

So far I think, counting Kerbin, there are 5 objects with atmospheres.

So can you give us a vague map or are we just going to uncover the truth 20 questions style?

I would like a map.(please(pretty please))

[UmbralRaptor]

Initial analysis:

[table]

[tr][td][/td] [td]Hades[/td] [td]Kerbin[/td] [td]Murs[/td][/tr]

[tr][td]SMA (m)[/td] [td]6,832,620,128[/td] [td]13,599,840,256[/td] [td]27,134,280,512 m[/td][/tr]

[tr][td]SOI (radius, m)[/td] [td]3.2e7[/td] [td]8.4e7[/td] [td]1.46e8[/td][/tr]

[tr][td]Speed (0 eccentricity, m/s)[/td] [td]15,881.4[/td] [td]9,284.5[/td] [td]7,969.4[/td][/tr]

[tr][td]1000 km SMA orbital speed (m/s)[/td] [td]1328.5[/td] [td]1879.2[/td] [td]1571.9[/td][/tr]

[/table]

Continuing with the 0 eccentricity, 0 orbital inclination, and no math errors assumptions:

KSC -> LKO 4500 m/s

LKO -> Murs flyby 2625 m/s

Murs orbital insertion 130 m/s?

Spiral in ÃŽâ€V guess 3500 m/s (~2x circular velocity)

Σ = 10,755 m/s (likely rather lower, given an atmosphere)

KSC -> LKO 4500 m/s

LKO -> Hades flyby 940 m/s

Hades orbital insertion 235 m/s?

Spiral in ÃŽâ€V guess 2650 m/s (~2x circular velocity)

Σ = 8,325 m/s

Someone with a different mission profile will get different results. In particular, their landings would be much easier, but they would have to fly home. Anyone feel like checking my work?

edit:

A trip to the Mun and back currently requires less than 10000 dV. Is it safe to assume we need ... 4 ... times that dV for a planet trip? 6 times?

I expect <2x, at least for the easier worlds. Also, it should be possible to do a mun mission with as little as 7.3 km/s. Edited August 8, 2012 by UmbralRaptor
fixed characters that got b0rked with the forum move

[VincentMcConnell]

Orbital Mechanics is how to do it.

You\'ll need to understand phase angles and all kinds of crazy algebra stuff. It\'s very complicated, but the calculations can be done and interplanetary transfers is WELL within the current possibilities of KSP.

[Bekiekutmoar]

Well, a simple hohmann-transfer should be sufficient to reach a relative nearby planet. A transfer to a celestial body closer to the sun would ofcourse require more fuel compared to a trip to a planet further from the sun ... !

[bsalis]

Well here is my plan. It\'s my usual approach to new things in KSP...

1. Build big rocket

2. Make a plan based on looking at the map view and guesswork

3. Execute plan and FAIL miserably

4. Wait for someone who knows what they are doing make a tutorial

5. Read/watch tutorial

6. Do what I saw in the tutorial and (most likely) FAIL

7. Repeat step #6 until SUCCESS

Also, much thanks for those numbers UmbralRaptor.

I actually think I have a rocket that I can modify and get to Murs or Hades and return to Kerbin.

[samstarman5]

Flying by the seat of our pants requires no calculations!

I declare that within the first 8 hours from release of 0.17 that the first fly-by-eye method of getting to the nearest planet is posted on this forum.

Gravitationally slingshotting around the Mun is not worth it for interplanetary travel. To get the best velocity increase benefit for a gravitational slingshot you have to be moving very slowly relative to the Mun, because the velocity you get from a gravitational slingshot comes from the Mun bending your travel direction closer to its travel direction when you pass through its SOI.

If you are moving slowly enough to get a decent gravitational boost from the Mun, you\'ve also let Kerbin\'s gravity drag rob you of a heck of a lot of the velocity that you could have carried out of the Kerbin SOI by doing all your burning in LKO and taking advantage of the Oberth effect there. As a result, you\'ll wind up using more fuel by going for the Munar slingshot.

Munar slingshots are good for getting to points in the Kerbin SOI or in very nearby Kerbol Orbit when on a razor-edge fuel budget, and not much else.

Unfortunately, with the SOI system as it is for KSP, slingshotting around the Mun only puts you in Kerbol orbit, something we can do quite well on our own with very little more fuel used. Unless Kerbol\'s SOI and gravity is going to get removed from the equation, we are going to have to think outside the box as far as interplanetary transfers.

[Paprika]

Are planets likely to be on a similar plane to Kerbin? I don\'t know enough about orbits to know if things eventually move to the same plane. Are our solar system\'s planets on a similar plane? I can\'t remember. Although getting to one on a different plane wouldn\'t make it much harder I suppose.

[maltesh]

Flying by the seat of our pants requires no calculations!

I declare that within the first 8 hours from release of 0.17 that the first fly-by-eye method of getting to the nearest planet is posted on this forum.

I would not be surprised if at least one of the planets in the update is perfectly placed at UT = 0.0 for a Hohmann Transfer from Kerbin.

Are planets likely to be on a similar plane to Kerbin? I don\'t know enough about orbits to know if things eventually move to the same plane. Are our solar system\'s planets on a similar plane? I can\'t remember. Although getting to one on a different plane wouldn\'t make it much harder I suppose.

All the planets of the solar system orbit very close to the ecliptic plane. Significant plane changes at several km/s velocity are /extremely/ fuel-expensive.

[Spiruel]

Can we expect new parts for landing on new planets? For example, the inflatable ball that protected previous Mars rovers upon landing.

[Richy teh space man]

Barring docking being introduced or using \'cheat\' parts..

I would firstly do try it like this..

1. Clear Kerbins atmosphere

2 Burn out of Kerbins orbit into Kerbols, moving into the new planets gravity

3 Enter orbit and land

4 Take off and enter orbit (the tricky part depending on gravity)

5 Rendevous with an interplanetary craft that takes my crew home (EVA across)

Without using stock parts.. assemble a rocket in orbit using the orbital assembly mod, use one of the ion engines/solar power mods for the interstellar flight.. land.. EVA.. take off.. then rendevous with the interplanetary craft and EVA over..

Failing that.. just make an engine that doesn\'t use fuel and use it to visit all the upcoming planets

I suspect I may have to use the solar panel/ion engine design for ferrying my crew from planet to planet.. the only challenge is getting them back down to Kerbin

[Markus Reese]

Myself, I would use slingshot to get myself out of orbit, or be lazy and straight burn. With the new components, getting to a planet will be the easier part. Getting back will be a bit tougher. I have made one that has the power to escape kerbin, land again, then once more take off, but it is so large, nearly impossible to fly due to lag. A really efficent design I liked consisted of a plane capable of escaping kerbin. The way I do it, is I vertical launch the plane, and glide it back down. I then would be able to take off once more theoretically using space plane if the planet has atmo.

[OtherDalfite]

For my mission to a planet, I would definitely have to send at least 2 pods. The first, being a lander and descent stage, the second, being a orbiting module with the fuel to get home. Though, I\'d have to make the lander have only 2 kerbals and have the orbiter stage with only 1, unless some kerbal volunteers to hang on to a ladder all the way home! (which I doubt)

[Napaeozapus]

My plan is to build a rocket to get there. If that one doesn\'t work then I will keep building bigger rockets until I do get there.

[Vostok]

I just completed a mission using totally stock parts to send a 3-man capsule into a higher orbit around kerbol (the sun) and then return them safely. A simple hohmann transfer was used, although I had no target orbit so \'any orbit\' was my target. I returned them to the planet with 4 full large fuel tanks, and half a full giant fuel tank, all of which I had to ditch. If I\'d wanted, I coulf have landed on minmus on the way back with the amount of fuel I had left after re-entering Kerbin\'s SOI, so interplanetary missions are certainly within our scope at the moment.

Mission:

The transfer orbit:

Returning to Kerbin, shortly after jettisoning the solar maneuvring and rendezvous stage, which still had over half a tank of fuel left.

Decoupling from the emergency stage, I never really had any plans for this stage, since I didn\'t know how much fuel I would use. I could have used it to land on minmus on the way back, I suppose.

Decoupling the flight control stage.

The rocket itself made my computer sad, It fires all but one of its engines on take-off, so there\'s a bit of lag. (A bit = A metric ton)

The highlighted tank was half full when I re-entered kerbin\'s SOI. I chucked it and the remaining stages away, after burning next to no fuel from them.

The worst part was waiting, all the planet rendezvous (kerbin) and things like that were not a problem. However, the mission took several years game time, so my astronauts would have grown at least beards, if not run out of food.

Although, two pods will be a must-have. (and therefore, so will crew modules!) I\'d hate to find a way to attach a lander and return stage to this, especially for a large planet. The fuel would simply not fit. As it was, the launch of this thing brought my computer to its knees.

Overall, I was pretty happy, since this was my first attempt at a \'proper\' interplanetary mission (instead of accidentally sending them out of kerbin\'s SOI )