3-man Landers

[Ziff]

Moderator Note: Can I please remind people to put images in spoilers.

You can use: ["spoiler=Title]image["/spoiler] (but without the quotes) to add spoilers.

Many thanks!

Sorry! I thought that was only if we were posting more than 1 image.

[softweir]

It's so that people with slow connections can look at long threads full of images quickly, picking the ones they choose without having to wait for large numbers of them to load. The occasional un-spoilered image in a wordy thread might slip through, but large numbers in post after post can cause people problems!

[colonel0sanders]

After making a few 3-man landers, I wanted to try something new. It's been designed, and partially tested, but I haven't attempted a landing with it yet. It's a design where the pod is the lowest element, with the legs attached directly to it, and everything else (descent and ascent stage, asas, rcs, etc) is above it.

I like the wider base you get from putting the legs on the pod itself.

I'm going to give a try setting this thing down sometime tonight I think...

[brhysh]

Here's my 3 Man Mun lander that fell apart during landing. Just keep trying

[Anachronda]

Using the damned aerospace crewtank I made 13 kerbal Mun lander, that has the ability to get everyone back to Kerbin under a parachute descent:

Yeah, well, here's my 18 Kerbal Mun lander. I've had it in orbit and brought it back on chutes, but haven't yet managed to build a booster that can get it to the Mun.

[socket7]

Here is my 3 man lander. It was hell to make it able to withstand re-entry and landing on kerbin, but everything was solved with more parachutes.

[brhysh]

Moderator Note: Can I please remind people to put images in spoilers.

You can use: ["spoiler=Title]image["/spoiler] (but without the quotes) to add spoilers.

Many thanks!

Oops sorry I don't often post, wont happen again.

Edited August 15, 2012 by tjoreilly

[RyanGt04]

This design had plenty of fuel for a return from the Mun. I haven't tried returning from Minmus yet but with the amount that I had leftover from the Mun return I think you would be able to make it. I slapped on a few booster for the Minmus version just to be safe and save some fuel during launch but that was probably a little overkill/fun (more flames). This design is super stable and can be landed easily without MechJeb, SAS, or RCS.

[colonel0sanders]

Success! I managed to get that thing to the mun, land it relatively close to where I wanted.

Picked up two stranded Kerbonauts 3km away, and managed a safe splashdown on Kerbin

A quick note to anyone using this design: the three engines on the half-tanks (the "ascent" engines) give zero thrust unless the landing legs are deployed. I pulled the legs up as I was leaving the Munar surface and nearly lost the ship and crew until I figured out the problem and redeployed them. Still had fuel to spare, but not nearly as much had that not happened.

[4 IN 1]

For those who like to place RCS tanks and/or ASAS under the Command pod but find that the gap impossible to pass, can try to place the retractable ladder upside down carefully to cross the gap, and kerbalnauts can move easily between the pod and the ladder.

[r_rolo1]

colonel0sanders, that concept is quite interesting ... and most likely it would hold a land touchdown with the legs open with the parachutes putting the speed at 8.1 m/s. Must try it myself.

On my contribution ... well , I'm a simple man and I normally use a variation of this lander:

This one was in fact a very fun run where I was made a Mun rocket almost by accident when testing jet engines ... see here. That explains the lack of parachutes in the capsule and the lack of decoupler separating the capsule of the rest of the ship ... it was never meant to leave the atmosphere at all

[Shades]

may I suggest you try a SINGLE stage rocket?

Para

ASAS + Struts attached to V

3 man Com Pod

Large Fuel + 4 wings

Large engine

Take off at only and i mean ONLY 1/4th Thrust and lower the thrust as you get higher and faster.

Ive been able to land on minmus and get safely back with this (and that was after a accident where i nearly went into a kerbol escape) with a sliver of fuel left

i must admit though landing it on minmus was actually easy... just get into minmus orbit (or just plain aim at it), slow retro until speed hits 0.4 - 0.1 m/s to do a straight down landing, slow (like a tiny tap on the thrust) descent to keep your speed within reasonable parameters (100 m/s) once you see the rocks of minmus get ready to give a little more juice to the engine to bring yourself to a gentle and steady touchdown.

landing back on kerbin was harder, but i managed to land (the engine blew up on ground contact, but the rest of the ship touched down safely) and laughed at the fact i managed a single stage minmus and back trip.

I highly recommend you watch this

starting at 12 min mark to see the huge difference of 100% thrust vs 1/4th

*Edit* jfx, i am aware of that, however, as it is currently in the game... I say its not a bug... it's a one off feature!

Edited August 16, 2012 by Shades
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[jfx]

This only works because of the fuel bug. You can check this by clicking the engine at 25% thrust and comparing that number with the drain your tank displays. The engine's number is the intended value.

[Ziff]

*Edit* jfx, i am aware of that, however, as it is currently in the game... I say its not a bug... it's a one off feature!

Haha! Nope, definitely a bug. You might want to learn how to build a rocket that doesn't rely on 1/4 thrust to get to orbit or you will have a rude awakening when .17 rolls around and nothing you build can get into orbit.

[segaprophet]

The Scarab HLS lander component can reach Mun or Minmus surface with at least 2000L liquid fuel to spare (Mk I pictured)

[segaprophet]

And here is the Scarab HLS lifter configuration that does the heavy work . .

[Shades]

Haha! Nope, definitely a bug. You might want to learn how to build a rocket that doesn't rely on 1/4 thrust to get to orbit or you will have a rude awakening when .17 rolls around and nothing you build can get into orbit.

I've been playing since v0.14, I am aware that this is a "one-off" thing and that the bug will be fixed (hence why I noted it was a "one-off feature"), I'm more used to building 12 stage ships that can land on both the mun and minmus and get back to kerbin with fuel to spare. and until it is fixed i shall build rockets as i see fit.

[ScramUK]

Here is a picture of my craft.

There are three small fuel tanks that are separated shortly before touchdown, depending on the mission - they can be kept on.

[Naiba]

This one works fine for me:

http://img826.imageshack.us/img826/8094/prototype17.png

[Naiba]

This one seems to work fine for me:

[Ziff]

I've been playing since v0.14, I am aware that this is a "one-off" thing and that the bug will be fixed (hence why I noted it was a "one-off feature"), I'm more used to building 12 stage ships that can land on both the mun and minmus and get back to kerbin with fuel to spare. and until it is fixed i shall build rockets as i see fit.

I just don't believe it is helpful to the community to suggest designs that abuse a bug.

Moderator Comment: This exchange is getting a bit edgy and needs to be dropped. What needed to be said has been said, and any more will be in danger of becoming an argument. It's not, actually, all that important, and certainly not worth any bad feeling that might arise.

[Edit] Edited comment to remove any harshness. Sorry Softweir.

Edited August 16, 2012 by Ziff

[Vanamonde]

Naiba, you realize you could takeoff from a neutron star with that many engines on a bare capsule, right?

[SLAMS]

My typical rescue lander has 5 3man capsules(empty pod mod). My largest lander had 5 3man pods and 4 1man pods(attached to carts) 5 3m small engines, in other words seating for 19 kerbals... It wasn't even difficult to land, plenty of fuel too.

I'm at work so I can't post screenshots

[Naiba]

Naiba, you realize you could takeoff from a neutron star with that many engines on a bare capsule, right?

I figured I might as well future-proof it for possible higher-gravity moons and some planets coming in 0.17.

For Mun-Landing, I just use 3-way symmetry ^^