Help me refine my munar rocket/lander

[jpem]

I got it to Mun and back once, but it barely got back so i'm not putting too much faith into sending it back for more trips or further to minmus. Any tips would be helpful.

[Ojimak]

I'm pretty sure it requires less delta-V to get to Minmus and back than to get to the Mun and back due to Minmus' gravity well, so you should in theory be able to make it to Minmus and back without modifications.

However, if you want greater efficiency/more piloting leeway, I would add a nerva or two (or three, for that matter, if you don't like long burns) to the transfer stage, which would give you a much nicer fuel budget, as long as your first stage has enough oomph to bring it all to orbit, which it looks like it should. Also, piloting can make a major difference in how much fuel you use. The first Mun rocket I built landed without enough fuel to return, but upon my learning to fly at least slightly better, I later was able to return to Kerbin with some of the transfer stage and all of the lander stage's fuel left. What kind of flight plan do you usually undertake for a Mun trip?

I would personally also add a decoupler between the pod and the fuel tank, just because I'm silly and cannot imagine the entire return stage surviving reentry IRL (but hey, this is KSP).

-Ojimak (my advice probably isn't the best, but its better than none)

[PIRATEONTHERUN]

The last stage is serious overkill, and I'm surprised you were able to slow down fast enough with an LV-909 hauling all that fuel. Other tweaks will come to your preference over time.

Cheers,

PIRATE

[stupid_chris]

You're going way too overkill. I went to the moon and back with this:

The lander can be as simple as this. Now I have mods installed and I won't show you my launcher because you won't recognize the parts. But I set this on an intercept with the Mun and it did the capture burn, the landing, the liftoff and the return burn. And it still had some extra fuel. Keep it simple ^^

[Naf5000]

First off, use atomic engines whenever you need to get further than the Mun. They're weak, but they'll get you there and back again with enough fuel for a third trip.

Second, move the engine on your lander to those radial fuel tanks and replace it with a Clamp-o-Tron Sr. (add one to the transfer stage as well). This way, you can put the transfer stage into orbit, undock the lander, drop it down to Minmus, then bring it back up and refuel before heading back to Kerbin. You'll have way more thrust on the lander than you'll really need, but oh well.

Third, shift fuel capacity from the lander itself to the transfer stage. Now you can ride the transfer stage back to Kerbin using its much more efficient atomic engine.

Fourth, if you have not yet done so, consult a guide on orbital rendezvous. Should be simple enough in Minmus orbit, but it never hurts to be prepared.

[UmbralRaptor]

A simple change for extra ÃŽâ€V would be throwing fuel at the lower stages. It looks like there's a lot more thrust down there than strictly needed, and this would make use of it. Stupid_chris's craft also points to some potentially useful modifications: Consolidating from 6 radial RCS tanks to 1 half-height KSPX size 2 tank would get you significantly more RCS for marginally more mass, and ejecting the command pod on reentry eliminates most of the parachute requirements/reduces the overall mass.

[Rune]

A straight swap of the LV-909 on the transfer stage with a Nerva, as people say would probably turn this ship into a Duna/Laythe capable ship. But if you need still a bit more, you could always change the solid fuel boosters with liquid ones, and crossfeed them.

Rune. And yeah, Minmus roundtrip is easier than Mun roundtrip.