glugg23 Posted August 11, 2012 Share Posted August 11, 2012 How do I build a good three man lander? I also find it hard where to put RCS fuel and ASAS. The only mod I am using is MechJeb. Some advise would be nice. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Millst0ne MK II Posted August 11, 2012 Share Posted August 11, 2012 Make your rocket with 1m parts, but put a 3 kerb pod on top.Looks like a mushroom Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Panichio Posted August 11, 2012 Share Posted August 11, 2012 Know the rocket science maths... Which no one knows but sy-..zyg-... whatever, that guy on YouTube... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
olex Posted August 11, 2012 Share Posted August 11, 2012 You can put the 1m parts above the capsule - however the parachute will rip off if you put it above them; use smaller chutes on the sides of the pod instead, or secure the chute with struts. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ziff Posted August 11, 2012 Share Posted August 11, 2012 (edited) How do I build a good three man lander? I also find it hard where to put RCS fuel and ASAS. The only mod I am using is MechJeb. Some advise would be nice.Command pod, large decoupler, 2m half tank, the 2m LV-909 engine, 3 landing legs (4 is unnecessary added weight). Put a parachute slightly off center on the top of the command pod, this allows you to hide the parachute by putting a small stack decoupler on top of it. If you want RCS, add that to the top as well. It has around 2000m/s of delta-v, enough to land on the Mun/Minmus and return to Kerbin if you don't waste too much fuel.It looks like this.The parachute is hidden under here.If you don't want to do all the math to figure out the delta-v you can use the delta-v calculator here -> http://www.strout.net/info/science/delta-v/All you need to know are 3 things. The full mass of the ship, which I use the KICOIT plug-in to do (because struts and fuel line weight adds up QUICK!) , the weight of the ship after the fuel tanks are empty, and the specific impulse of the engines. It get's a little harder if you are using engines with different ISP's in the same stage, but there is a guide for that around here somewhere if you really want to figure it out.So in this case, with the RCS thrusters, tank, and everything else, the ship has a mass of 19.85. The fuel tank has a full mass of 9, empty mass of 1, so the fuel mass is 8. Subtract that so you have an empty weight after that fuel has been burned off of 11.85. Plug those numbers in, change it to specific impulse, and plug in the engines ISP of 390 (lander stage, so it uses the vacuum value of ISP) and you get 1973.02m/s of delta-v. MechJeb is great for telling you how much delta-v you need for things. Edited August 11, 2012 by Ziff Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vanamonde Posted August 11, 2012 Share Posted August 11, 2012 (edited) I'm kind of pleased with this ship: It's stable and steerable, and the 4 legs and wide base keep it from tipping over on sloped ground. There are linear RCS thrusters on the underside for last-second braking before touchdown. And it's got just enough fuel to get back from Mun, and so is no larger than it needs to be. Craft (if anybody's interested): http://www./?p30y8xhatfucaz7(By the way, I'm not offering that as competition with Ziff. His advice helped make my version work.) Edited August 11, 2012 by Vanamonde Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
maltesh Posted August 11, 2012 Share Posted August 11, 2012 My own superwide 3-Man lander, sitting on a 20-degree slope.It has more than three times the amount of RCS I actually needed to land it, and a bit more fuel than I needed. I could have, and probably should have raised the legs higher. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anachronda Posted August 11, 2012 Share Posted August 11, 2012 You can put the 1m parts above the capsule - however the parachute will rip off if you put it above them; use smaller chutes on the sides of the pod instead, or secure the chute with struts.I've had a bit of luck with chutes on top of stuff by attaching three chutes to an upside down tricoupler, then running struts between the tricoupler and the capsule.Ugly as sin, but it works. When you run the struts, you have to go from the capsule to the tricoupler; for some reason, you can't start the struts on the tricoupler. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
glugg23 Posted August 12, 2012 Author Share Posted August 12, 2012 I really like your design Ziff, but what sort of launch vehicle should I use? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ziff Posted August 12, 2012 Share Posted August 12, 2012 (edited) I really like your design Ziff, but what sort of launch vehicle should I use?Anything that works. Take a look at the Talos design I posted here -> http://kerbalspaceprogram.com/forum/showthread.php/16822-Rocketry-by-Ziff?p=234564#post234564Basically just a larger tank or two with the large 2m engine for the main thrust, then add some other lateral stages with more efficient engines and extra fuel, tack on some large solid rocket boosters and it's good to go! Edited August 12, 2012 by Ziff Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MET? Posted August 13, 2012 Share Posted August 13, 2012 If you don't want to put those weird looking things on top then do what I do and add lateral 1meter fuel tanks. with rcs fuel and spaceplane avionics package(works on rockets) on top of them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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