Very Small Interplanetary Rocket

[TheDarkStar]

This is the smallest rocket I've made that can get to another planet. It totals only 56 parts. It gets to Eve with some fuel to spare, even without an efficient method to get there, and could probably land on some of the smaller moons throughout the solar system with good piloting.

http://imgur.com/a/zdyVu#0

(The second and third images should be in opposite spots)

http://imgur.com/a/qJSCQ#0

The first stage is made of 6 of the stronger air-breathing engines get it to about 10000m. The second stage is three large solid boosters that get it from 200 m/s to 2000 m/s. The third stage is the interplanetary stage with a nuclear engine and 2000 l of fuel, and the fourth is the parachute.

Edited October 1, 2012 by TheDarkStar
Forgot stuff

[Maxed-Rockets]

Very nice job, I have dabbled in minimalism before as well.

http://imgur.com/a/e8stn#0

However, I would advise putting this in the spacecraft exchange, not general discussion.

[souza]

awesome ! even my mun rockets are bigger lol xD

[sjwt]

Very nice job, I have dabbled in minimalism before as well.

http://imgur.com/a/e8stn#0

However, I would advise putting this in the spacecraft exchange, not general discussion.

Back in my day, we could get to the Mun and back with 3-5 tanks....

[TheDarkStar]

Back in my day, we could get to the Mun and back with 3-5 tanks....

Nice, I remember a Mun rocket that had 3 tanks. However, it used the fuel bug.

[EndlessWaves]

Hmm, you've got a high part count there - you could achieve the same thing with just 16 parts - but it's probably pretty fuel efficient so one of the lighter machines possible.

Your jet stage seems to be much larger than it should be. Half that number of turbojets should be sufficient to lift it and I'd suspect you have lots of fuel left in those tanks when you jettison them. Try 3x mark 2 fuselages and 3x turbojets.

I'd also replace the interplanetary stage with 1x 1600L and 1x 400L. It won't affect flight performance but it will make mounting the lower stages much easier as you can stick them directly on the big fuel tank without the need for all those extra struts.

Well, actually I'd dump the 400L entirely, a 1600L fuel tank, ASAS, capsule and chute is still 7500m/s DeltaV which is a huge amount.