are you able to build an orbiter for Laythe, lighter than this?

[antipro]

From Laythe sea level to Lathe eq orbit target = 120Km
KSP Stock, no DLC, no mods parts, no parts clipping.

Payload = about 6.22t






are you able to build an orbiter for Laythe, lighter than mine?
Mass with heat shields = 23.47t

Laythe sea level flat launch site coordinates:
Slope 1.1°

Edited March 31, 2021 by antipro

[king of nowhere]

depends on what you're aiming at, really. my ssto laythe orbiter was around 13 tons, but it only had 1 passenger. there's people doing it with much less with a last stage consisting of a baguette tank, an external seat, and a single ant engine.

 

i have to say, if you are looking for efficient, then those solid fuel boosters are not. solid fuel boosters are cost-efficient, but they are not weight efficient, and carring them all the way to laythe is not the best strategy. they only work well in the first stage from kerbin because then nothing has to lift them

[antipro]

4 hours ago, king of nowhere said:

depends on what you're aiming at, really.

I'm aiming at take off from Laythe Sea Level to a LLO at 120Km with those parts as payload.
 

4 hours ago, king of nowhere said:

my ssto laythe orbiter was around 13 tons, but it only had 1 passenger.

interesting, it would be more if I could see it.
The contract is to plant a flag, RV and dock.
I'm not very inclined at the moment on placing a plane on top of a rocket, do an Apollo style mission
and then go back to Kerbin with a cockpit instead of a Pod.
but you never know, maybe inspiration comes to me.

I would also be quite inclined to bring 3 Kerbals.
I thought about going down to Laythe with the MK2 Lander Can, which weighs 1.1t less, leaving a Kerbal in orbit
but this involves redesigning the rocket in a fairly complicated way.
and by eye without being sure that the third stage would be lighter.
 

4 hours ago, king of nowhere said:

there's people doing it with much less with a last stage consisting of a baguette tank, an external seat, and a single ant engine.

Seriously, would you go into orbit, sitting on a seat?

 

4 hours ago, king of nowhere said:

i have to say, if you are looking for efficient, then those solid fuel boosters are not. solid fuel boosters are cost-efficient, but they are not weight efficient, and carring them all the way to laythe is not the best strategy.

of course I'm looking for efficiency that it usually coincides with lightness, which is what I'm really aiming for.
well, that the SRBs are not very efficient is well known, but I had to put them on, in order to increase the initial TWR and get oxygen for the jet engines as quickly as possible.
these SRB, complete with cone, separator and shield, have the 10% of the mass of the launcher and obviously I don't want to carry them, but I have to.
I'm looking for a lighter design, do you have one without SRB?
 

 

4 hours ago, king of nowhere said:

... because then nothing has to lift them

I do not know what it means

Edited March 31, 2021 by antipro

[king of nowhere]

1 hour ago, antipro said:

I'm aiming at take off from Laythe Sea Level to a LLO at 120Km with those parts as payload.

interesting, it would be more if I could see it.

well, here it is. but it's nothing fancy. just something i made to be cheap, to fit within a 30 parts limit in a challenge, and to be reusable on tylo afterwards.

most of the cost was science instruments.  the solar panels are retracted inside the cargo bay during ascent.
 

Quote

 

Seriously, would you go into orbit, sitting on a seat?

 

well, there's those guys who compete for lowest mass to do anything, and they do entire missions on nothing but external seats....

Quote

of course I'm looking for efficiency that it usually coincides with lightness, which is what I'm really aiming for.
well, that the SRBs are not very efficient is well known, but I had to put them on, in order to increase the initial TWR and get oxygen for the jet engines as quickly as possible.
these SRB, complete with cone, separator and shield, have the 10% of the mass of the launcher and obviously I don't want to carry them, but I have to.
I'm looking for a lighter design, do you have one without SRB?

well, those srb look like thumpers. 250 KN, 7.6 tons. for a similar weight you could use a reliant  + FL-T800 fuel tank, it saves a couple of tons, it has the same thrust (actually a bit less, but compensated by being lighter), and it should burn longer. i can't make experiments right now, but as a rule of thumb liquid fuel is more efficient than solid fuel; solid fuel's advantage is that there is virtually no cost for the engine, while engines are the most expensive parts of a liquid fuel rocket