Off to Mun

[Andrew_C]

So I've finally made it out of Kebin's orbit and I'm off to Mun. Only problem is it took a lot more fuel to get into and out of orbit than I expected and I've only got 2/3rds a FL-T200 tank left. I'm not going to try land on Mun, but is that enough to get into and out of Mun's orbit, and back onto Kerbin?

EDIT: While this post was sitting in moderation I decided to see if I could make it and missed the rendezvous by fast forwarding to much. I narrowly avoided going into solar orbit and am on the way back to Kerbin with just over 1/3rd of a tank. So I think I could have orbited mun. Still, got some nice view of it and no kerbils have died on this mission (yet).

EDIT: unfortunately Joelas Kerman deceased in an Uncontrolled Flight Into Terrain after deploying the 'chute at too high an airspeed.

Edited October 6, 2012 by Andrew_C
missed mun

[(An Original Name)]

So I've finally made it out of Kebin's orbit and I'm off to Mun. Only problem is it took a lot more fuel to get into and out of orbit than I expected and I've only got 2/3rds a FL-T200 tank left. I'm not going to try land on Mun, but is that enough to get into and out of Mun's orbit, and back onto Kerbin?

What engine is using the tank?

[Vanamonde]

The Apollo program also orbited the moon before attempting to land, so your program is doing fine. How much a tank of fuel can do depends on the engine and mass of the ship, though, so there's no single right answer to your original question. Often it helps to post a picture of your ship.

[AlexL]

If you want to take a screenshot in game, as Vanamonde suggested, press F1 and the shot will be saved in the screenshots folder in your KSP folder. Happy Mun-ing!

[Andrew_C]

Hi, thanks for the advice.

As I said above I missed the munar rendezvous and I'm on way back to Kerbin.

The lander has an LV-909 engine. I don't think post pictures yet, but it's like this:

module,

decoupler

ASAS

RCS tank & 4 RCS

FL-T200 tank

LV 909 engine

4 LT-2 legs

and 3 sets rungs and a Telus LV ladder

[mustwinfull]

Welcome to the forums Andrew_C.

Well Done with your achievements so far, getting to orbit and nearly orbit of the Mun, just keep on trying and you can get to an eventual Mun landing.

Remember that you can press F1 in the VAB to show us a picture, which is better than the words you have posted above about the order.

Have fun playing KSP and go blow up some rockets!

[Andrew_C]

Thanks! I played the demo for a bit and never made it out of Kerbin orbit. I decided to celebrate purchasing KSP by trying for a Munshot, so I'm running 0.17.

I think the rocket I built needs a bit if revision. Should I replace the boosters with liquid fuel rockets?

I'm not sure if I can post images yet, If it's OK here are a couple of picture of it:

just the lander:

the whole rocket:

EDIT: Also I'm having a issue with parachutes failing sometimes. I usually open about 25000m. Is that too low? Too high?

Edited October 6, 2012 by Andrew_C
spelling & parachutes, smaller jpg

[(An Original Name)]

Thanks! I played the demo for a bit and never made it out of Kerbin orbit. I decided to celebrate purchasing KSP by trying for a Munshot, so I'm running 0.17.

I think the rocket I built needs a bit if revision. Should I replace the boosters with liquid fuel rockets?

I'm not sure if I can post images yet, If it's OK here are a couple of picture of it:

just the lander:

the whole rocket:

EDIT: Also I'm having a issue with parachutes failing sometimes. I usually open about 25000m. Is that too low? Too high?

Here are a couple of suggestions: 1. Use a full tank for the lander, not a half one, it always helps for beginners to carry a little more fuel than needed, and it wont affect your rocket much. 2. Get rid of the middle stage, just have the main core of 3 LV-45 engines with 4 tanks above each plus 3 boosters also with 4 tanks and LV-30's (or aerospikes if they fit) under them. You can also add the big SRBs on the outside as needed, (I have 12 and I made it fly, but that's probably overkill ) but they aren't integral. Hope this helps!

[henryrasia]

Also I'm having a issue with parachutes failing sometimes. I usually open about 25000m. Is that too low? Too high?

They are not failing the parachutes' logic is this (according to their symbol on the staging):

1. Unused (white) ex: Ready to roll, but won't do anything until activated through staging.

2. Activated, but not open (blue) ex: in space they won't open, however once they can open they will

3. Open first stage (yellow) ex: at a certain altitude off the ground, much less than 25000, (not off sea level, so be careful in mountains) they wil open but will not slow you down as expected.

4. Fully open (green) ex: at 500 m off the ground the parachutes will open totally. If they still don't slow you down enough, you don't have enough parachutes.

5. Discarded (gray) ex: If you are slow enough, parachutes will disappear, it's no bug, so careful on parachutes+rocket landings

6. sometimes broken (red) the parachute is broken and won't help at all.

[sal_vager]

Hi Andrew_C, welcome to the community

Bit of a belated welcome I know, but anyway, you can get to the Mun and back with a smaller rocket, surprisingly, weight reduction is key, oh and reducing throttle on the ascent so you aren't suffering from too much atmospheric drag.

Rule of thumb, throttle down as soon as you get over 100m/s, and keep your G meter in the green.

[JeanHavoc]

Your lander configuration is very similar to what I used when I first tried to reach Mun. The primary difference is that I made use of the full sized FL-T400 tank and I omitted the S.A.S. Module. I actually found landing upon Mun with such a slender footprint to be quite difficult and I've since changed my lander design to something a bit easier to handle. Still, I'm glad to see I'm not the only one who had the idea to go with that kind of design:

I used quite a bit different rocket design however. What I put together allowed me to get into Kerbin orbit with 1,400 Liters of fuel in my second stage, which proved to be more than adequate to get my command module up to Mun and to put me into a descent trajectory. I'll post a pic here as well as it will be a bit easier than trying to explain the whole thing in words:

I can't speak to how efficient that design is, but I've found it to be reliable and quite suitable for the purposes of getting me to the Mun. Basically I use Rockomax tanks on the first stage and cluster eight 4.5 segment liquid boosters around that - the boosters don't just provide thrust, they also feed fuel into the central engine such that the primary tanks don't get drained until well into flight. I calculated that my first stage utilizes about 22,400 Liters of fuel and provides enough velocity to almost reach orbit by itself.

Frankly, my main issue with landing on the Mun was that such a slim lander design leaves a very narrow footprint and its all too easy to crash, fall over or just fail miserably when it comes to affecting a landing. To be honest the keyboard layout and controls are not optimal for doing a manual landing, from what I can see, as it's no easy feat to use the mouse, the left control/shift keys and hit WASD all at the same time. Of course I might just be very uncoordinated - anything is possible.

At any rate, I'm pretty new to all this landing and orbit stuff myself so it's nice to see what other people are experiencing. Getting that first landing down without dying was quite the simulated experience to be sure.

[Andrew_C]

Thanks for all the suggestions and advice, everyone. I'm going to try a few designs based on the suggestions.