Kerbal Panic II (Stock Duna Return)

[frenchie16]

After a long time spent not playing KSP, I went back to playing KSP! And suddenly planets! And I knew I had to go to them.

But first I had to get back to the Mun. And seeing that the stock parts were now many and varied, I decided to use them.

I found getting to the Mun to be much harder than back when I used to play. Probably this is because I refuse to build a Mun rocket which does not do two things:

1. Look like a rocket (no un-capped fuel tanks or other silliness)

2. Leave behind its descent stage on the Munar surface

In any case I eventually managed it, in a rocket dubbed the Kerbal Panic I (a play on Kernel Panic; all of my rockets being named after computer errors on this save). And then I accidentally erased the save.

So here is the Kerbal Panic II. It is capable not only of a Mun return mission, but a Duna return as well (and quite probably Ike, Minmus, and others, though I have not done this yet).

On the pad:

<img src="http://i.imgur.com/TBq4I.jpg" />

Landed on Duna:

<img src="http://i.imgur.com/L0Ios.jpg" />

The .craft file is attached.

How to fly:

Launch at full throttle. I recommend using a joystick and leaving SAS off, as this will be gentler on the rocket. It sometimes explodes (the capsule's usually fine, though.)

By the end of the first stage you should be tipped over about 45 degrees. Start the second stage and aim at the horizon (SAS works well from now on). Keep an eye on your apoapsis and remember it will go up as you burn horizontally.

The second stage doesn't last long, start the nuclear engines and burn horizontally until you are in orbit. From here, you can do whatever sort of transfer you want to get where you are going. I was able to make Mun orbit with at least a quarter of the nuclear stage's fuel left. I was able to do the same for Duna by using aerobraking to achieve orbit.

Landing:

For the Mun, reduce your orbit until you will hit the surface. Start a retrograde burn around 25km out until your velocity is <100m/s. Switch to IVA and keep your velocity at 100m/s (burning dead retrograde) until you start to see things on the radar altimeter. Keep velocity at 100m/s until the needle hits 6-o-clock and then burn full retrograde until your velocity is below 10m/s and you are just above the surface. Switch out of IVA and land. Remember to kill your engines JUST above the surface or else you will tip over.

For landing on Duna or returning to Kerbin, you are on your own; it's fairly easy, except that there is only just enough fuel for a Duna return in the ascent stage; you'll need to aerobrake to avoid escaping Kerbin.

Also, this craft lacks RCS. It works fine without it, but RCS would make a lot of things easier. I may try a mod that adds small external RCS tanks like Silisko Edition had; I can't find a good place for the normal ones on the rocket. The lack of SAS on later stages is also annoying, though less so than the lack of RCS.

[Commander Zoom]

Nice design, and I love the name. I'll give this one a shot. Thanks for posting!

[Resender]