Heavy lifters.....Why don't they work??

[Presidente450]

Hey everyone,

I need a Heavy lifter to get me to the Mun- all of mine are too heavy to get to orbit.

Any ideas on Heavy lifter design?

Thanks guys!

[Turbojohn]

You need to find a balance between the weight and and the thrust.

If you put too much weight it will have more fuel, but it won't be worth it because it's too much weight on the engines.

I find that 2 red tanks and a 1/4 of the red tank is the ideal size, and then put 5 of these in a rocket, it can take a rather big payload to orbit.

Enough to go to Duna and back

[Francesco]

you need to define "heavy lifter" in terms of the weight of the payload. what is it, 50 tons?

also, 50 tons to orbit or 50 tons landed on the Mun?

You need to find a balance between the weight and and the thrust.

If you put too much weight it will have more fuel, but it won't be worth it because it's too much weight on the engines.

I find that 2 red tanks and a 1/4 of the red tank is the ideal size, and then put 5 of these in a rocket, it can take a rather big payload to orbit.

Enough to go to Duna and back

"2 red tanks" and stuff doesn't mean anything by itself: to give an accurate description of you lifter, you should also tell which engines you are using.

[Canopus]

This is a small 3 Kerbal lander:

Booster seperation:

Munar deorbit:

Macski Kerman enjoys his stay on the Mun:

Reentry:

[Turbojohn]

I agree, by 2 red tanks I mean the mainsail, which is the engine normally used in heavy lifters.

The main point of my coment was to mention that there is a point of special equilibrium in each rocket between low fuel, and too much weight.