Perfect Return Craft for 0.17 update!

[cocomoe1002]

This thread is about how to land on the new planets in 0.17. I've been working on some really good designs and i finally created the perfect all planet 3 man pod craft to do the job. This craft is able to land on Eve. Parachute landing will set us down nice and easy also good when Eve's thick atmosphere is helping too

Duna- Mars planet. It is also capable of doing to same thing on Duna and would also be much easier and using of less fuel. Since Duna has less gravity. IM not sure how it will work on the new lava planet Moho? but we will see when 0.17 comes out. This craft has 6 tanks and 6 airospike engines to do the trick every time! I have tested this spacecraft over and over again and it does it perfect every single time! I believe this craft is capable of Returning The 3 Brave Kerbals back to Kerbin. This craft alone was able to Escape Kerbin just like it would when it needed to escape the other planets. And return home safely I have all my faith in this return stage. Post your test crafts?

Here is the Return stage.

[Arkasai]

Six aerospikes seems like overkill, do you need all that thrust?

[EndlessWaves]

Six aerospikes seems like overkill, do you need all that thrust?

Eve currently looks like it'll have 1.7g so you will need 70% more thrust than on Kerbin.

If Eve has a dense oxygen atmosphere then Jet engines may be the way to go.

[RedDwarfIV]

Do the aerospikes factor air yet?

[Nibb31]

For the sake of realism, I prohibit myself from using aerospikes on non-atmospheric vehicles.

I also suspect that your core stage might not have enough Delta-V to take you from Eve orbit to Kerbin orbit (which should be the same Delta-V as it took you to bring you there). It might be enough to achieve Eve orbit and rendez-vous with a larger return spacecraft.

Edited September 1, 2012 by Nibb31

[Tommygun]

I made this as my version of the Roton rocket just for fun, but now I think of modding it with an arospike engine at the bottom for and Eve lander.

I'll have to add more arospike engines as side boosters, but I think it could be a fun project to work out.

[cocomoe1002]

For the sake of realism, I prohibit myself from using aerospikes on non-atmospheric vehicles.

I also suspect that your core stage might not have enough Delta-V to take you from Eve orbit to Kerbin orbit (which should be the same Delta-V as it took you to bring you there). It might be enough to achieve Eve orbit and rendez-vous with a larger return spacecraft.

This craft does have the power but is only made to get from Eve to Kerbin as a return stage. I am currently making a stage that will get me to Eve and then land. this craft u see here is only the Eve to Kerbin stage for returning. And this craft does have the ability to do this because I have tested this over and over again. and it takes off of Kerbin and then has enough fuel to escape Kerbin Just like it would escape Eve. The fact that Eve will only be slightly bigger doesnt make the gravity that much of a diference so i think this return craft part of the rocket will do just fine

[Werwolf]

[John Bedlam]

This craft does have the power but is only made to get from Eve to Kerbin as a return stage. I am currently making a stage that will get me to Eve and then land. this craft u see here is only the Eve to Kerbin stage for returning. And this craft does have the ability to do this because I have tested this over and over again. and it takes off of Kerbin and then has enough fuel to escape Kerbin Just like it would escape Eve. The fact that Eve will only be slightly bigger doesnt make the gravity that much of a diference so i think this return craft part of the rocket will do just fine

I'm sorry, but if the surface gravity that's currently in the wiki (1.7G) is correct, the six engines in the first stage together only get you a TWR at lift-off of 1.02, which is barely enough to start rising. Most of your fuel will be going to fighting gravity for a good part of the ascent. If you feed the six ascent tanks into the center tank and add that engine, you get an initial TWR of 1.2, which stands a better chance of to getting orbit, but I still doubt you'll have enough delta-V to get back to Kerbin, especially considering there should be more drag due to the thicker atmosphere.

[Nibb31]

I'll add that just putting yourself on an escape trajectory won't be enough to get you back to Kerbin. You'll need to do some correction burns and get yourself into Kerbin orbit, which will require a lot of Delta-V or you will just do a fly-by and end up in Kerbol orbit.

[ReNe]

just a quick question, you guys are talking about new planets, how do you know them?

[John Bedlam]

After playing around with an aerospike modified to simulate Eve's gravity: If Eve's gravity really is 1.7G, there is no way for that amount of fuel, and that amount of lift, to even break Eve's atmosphere, let alone get into orbit.

just a quick question, you guys are talking about new planets, how do you know them?

The devs have dropped some information on them. The numbers I've been using come from here.

[Rickenbacker]

I'll add that just putting yourself on an escape trajectory won't be enough to get you back to Kerbin. You'll need to do some correction burns and get yourself into Kerbin orbit, which will require a lot of Delta-V or you will just do a fly-by and end up in Kerbol orbit.

Actually, you can aerobrake, or even do a direct reentry. I know NASA has plans for aborting Mars trips that rely on a direct reentry, with correspondingly beefed up heat shields. Not sure if we'll have different heat shields in KSP, but I assume we'll have something similar.

[nibula]

but isnt perfect return craft capsule and shute?