Interplanetary Minimalism, the IP-12 [0.17 Stock]

[Maxed-Rockets]

Hello and welcome to the latest M.A.X. AEROSPACE product unveil! After crashing a few too many massive rockets we were pretty low on money, but in order to stay on top we had to go interplanetary. This is what we came up with.

I got to Laythe using 11.5 of the twelve tanks, but had to abort the powered landing due to a lagspike. It even has fancy features like an ASAS. I have not figured out the best launch profile yet, my orbits keep getting lop-sided.

Here is the full Laythe mission album: http://imgur.com/a/e8stn#0

Try it out today!

[Jeebs24]

Nicely done but I'd hate to be the person on this mission. Being a one-way ticket and all.

[Maxed-Rockets]

Nicely done but I'd hate to be the person on this mission. Being a one-way ticket and all.

Let it be known to all; that though they may be lost to us on Kerbin; their sacrifice was not in vain; but for the good of Kerbal-kind. Thank you.

[deadshot462]

Nicely done, pretty impressive trip.

I like how the capsule has a decoupler, as if to give hope to the kerbals that they could parachute home one day.. somehow..

[Maxed-Rockets]

Nicely done, pretty impressive trip.

I like how the capsule has a decoupler, as if to give hope to the kerbals that they could parachute home one day.. somehow..

It was put to good use after I forgot to quicksave while landing on Laythe...

I could see potential in using this to do a manned planetary fly-by and return.

[Luxmaster-CZ]

I dont know how you did it, but eve when I did 2 gravitational slingshots around Mun (so I got Kerbin escape velocity), I wasn't able to reach Jool. So I adjusted my direction a little bit to slingshot around Duna, but I did it in different direction and got my Pe lowered instead.

Could you please explain how you got to Laythe with that?

[r_rolo1]

With 12 fuel tanks it is definitely possible to do a fly-by and back .

Well, on the rocket, it is a nice one ( good call on the canards as supports for the legs ) but I'm reticent on the use of the nuke engine on a such small ship, since it is probably between 1/3 and 1/4 of the mass of the landing stage ( I'm eye balling it via screenshot ). I wonder if replacing it for a small LV or a aerospike would not increase performance ...

[Maxed-Rockets]

With 12 fuel tanks it is definitely possible to do a fly-by and back .

Well, on the rocket, it is a nice one ( good call on the canards as supports for the legs ) but I'm reticent on the use of the nuke engine on a such small ship, since it is probably between 1/3 and 1/4 of the mass of the landing stage ( I'm eye balling it via screenshot ). I wonder if replacing it for a small LV or a aerospike would not increase performance ...

According to my calculations I get 4667.87 m/s of delta V from the upper stage in the current configuration, whereas with the lv-909 I would get only 3201.57 m/s of delta v. It is probably still do-able with lv-909, especially with the lower takeoff weight.

I dont know how you did it, but eve when I did 2 gravitational slingshots around Mun (so I got Kerbin escape velocity), I wasn't able to reach Jool. So I adjusted my direction a little bit to slingshot around Duna, but I did it in different direction and got my Pe lowered instead.

Could you please explain how you got to Laythe with that?

The nuclear engine is crazy efficient, especially when it isn't carrying anything. I have not seen your design, so I can't answer about yours, but if you want to upload pictures I can give you some pointers. If you want to try out my design you can do that too. Designing is a practiced science, I was no good for a long time, but practice makes perfect.

Edited September 28, 2012 by Maxed-Rockets

[r_rolo1]

Yeah, I meant the smallest LV . I keep forgetting that there are the 2m LVs after .16

[Maxed-Rockets]

Yeah, I meant the smallest LV . I keep forgetting that there are the 2m LVs after .16

That is with the smallest LV.

[r_rolo1]

Lol , that is what you get by not having the game in front I was confusing the LV-909 with the LV-45 *facepalm* . Anyway the difference in mass is significant ( 0.5 mass units from the LV-909 and 2.25 from the nuke engine ( from memory, feel free to correct ) ), so it might make a great difference if you want to do your ship the actual return vessel to Kerbin ( and IMHO it is well suited for that )

[Maxed-Rockets]

Lol , that is what you get by not having the game in front I was confusing the LV-909 with the LV-45 *facepalm* . Anyway the difference in mass is significant ( 0.5 mass units from the LV-909 and 2.25 from the nuke engine ( from memory, feel free to correct ) ), so it might make a great difference if you want to do your ship the actual return vessel to Kerbin ( and IMHO it is well suited for that )

Considering I used about 75% of my fuel and I only get about 75% of my delta-v with the LV my fuel budget might be a bit slim. I do want to do a Duna and back trip by adding a booster stage to this rocket.

[draeath]

I can't see in the screenshot how your fuel feeds are set up (and the album is down. silly imageur) - can you describe or show another launcher screenshot?

[Maxed-Rockets]

I can't see in the screenshot how your fuel feeds are set up (and the album is down. silly imageur) - can you describe or show another launcher screenshot?

Not too complex, the two outer tanks feed to the inner tanks, and a fuel line goes from a small hardpoint directly to the aerospike before that gets dropped off. This is the only picture with aerospike still attached.