To the Mun! a few questions needed to be answered

[Aescwulf]

Right I understand that this topic has been done to death by nearly everyone, and i have searched through mostly Mun topics to try and find my answer but haven't had much luck.

Basically i want to go to the Mun, I've done it before through the in-game training Mun mission but i haven't built my own Mun rocket.

My plan is to go to Mun and land on it and drive about using the Carts mod retract the wheels and then come back. To my understanding the information in the mod states that with 2 propane tanks and nozzles to go with it its able to leave Mun and make a return trip back to our home on Kerbin is this true? also is it possible to land on the moon with the cart ?

Another thing I'm unsure about is how many stages would i need i know i need a stage to initially leave Kerbin's atmosphere but after that I'm unsure. With my orbiter rocket it has 3 stages and a final remove capsule from spacecraft to return home.

Any other information and advice would be appreciated

Yours Faithfully

Aescwulf

[Kosmo-not]

I usually design my craft to have 2 stages to get it into orbit or nearly there (depends on the size of the rocket). The next stage is a transfer stage. From there, it's the landing and return stages (1 stage if just going to the Mun or Minmus). Of course, the last stage is just the capsule.

Here is my most recently designed Mun rocket for example:

[EndlessWaves]

I can't comment on the carts mod because I don't use it but it's fairly popular so you may get an answer here rather than having to ask in the carts thread.

Speaking more generally though, anything capable of taking off from the moon and getting back (which doesn't require much thrust or fuel) can also land on the moon from munar orbit (although not neccessarily from kerbin orbit as you don't have to stop yourself on the mun to kerbin trip).

Stages are up to you, it's perfectly possible to land on the mun with the same rocket that you fired off from the pad. Generally more stages are easier though - you're dumping dead weight so you get more total thrust out of the rocket giving you more room to maneuver - with the big increase coming from the first few stages.

Three or four is probably the easiest to start with but don't worry if you need more.

Generally the thing to avoid is making your munar lander too big, I don't know how much the cart weighs but I'd generally try and keep the whole of the mun stages under 50 tons or your launching rocket will be huge. Ideally half that or less for a sensible sized rocket.

[John F. Kerman]

Here's a cart lander / general transport vehicle I made in 0.16 (needs the remote control, cart & probodobodyne mods). I assume you're using 0.16 - the cart mod isn't working in the new version for me.

It will land 4 remote relay controlled carts on the Mun or Minmus with enough fuel for reaching multiple landing sites. You could probably land more, the limiting factor was size rather than weight as the carts are quite light.

0.16 - [ATTACH]33754[/ATTACH]

That said, since 0.17 a lot of my old designs can't even make it into orbit any more, so I dunno if this is actually any good might be useful for reference though.

Edited September 27, 2012 by John F. Kerman
dodgy attachment

[The Destroyer]

Well, Lemme see...

Cart: Yes it can land on mun on its own

i put 4 thrusters and 4 tanks and a parachute on top. rover+capsul landed safeley (0.15)

rocket:

Cart

------------(--=STAGE)

Fuel tank

909 engine

--------------

tricopular

3 fuel tanks under it (aka 9 in total)

3 thrust gimballing engines

=-=-=-=-=- (-= = radial stage)

3 big fuel tanks

3 big engines

--------------------------------

that should work.

[draeath]

I have one big stage to get me into Kerbin orbit. This stage is left in orbit (though I'm trying to figure out a way to de-orbit it so I don't litter). I have the next stage which can inject me into Mun orbit, and circularize. I've enough fuel in it to put me back to Kerbin with room to spare. The final stage is just a capsule, but I don't see why I couldn't insert a lander stage in there.

[Aescwulf]

I'll try out these suggestions later on.

I used Aphox 's rocket ( one on his tutorial videos ) and got to Mun was going to de orbit and land tried to separate the piece I didn't want and ended up separating everything up to my capsule so I gave up trying for the time being.

Thanks everyone