KSLS unveiled!

[Rascal Nag]

After half an hour of design and development, I present to you KSLS, the Kerbal Space Launch System!

This new rocket sacrifices neither stability nor power, giving you a reliable rocket for even the biggest payloads or most challenging deep space missions!

12 Liquid-Fuel engines roar at full thrust to lift the rocket skyward, and have 3 tanks of fuel each. All this burn time gets you to 48km high only on the first stage!

Then, as the Liquid engines fall away after staging, 9 Solid rocket boosters flame up, intended to give the rocket some lateral velocity.

In the third stage, three Liquid fuel engines power the ship to orbital speeds, and still have enough fuel and then some for circularizing the orbit or initiating transfers for deep space missions!

Next, a single Liquid Engine is used to finish the job of whatever you were doing if the third stage is not sufficient. We guarantee you\'ll think you have too much fuel!

The last stage is very versatile! On Munar missions, it could be a lander! On orbital missions, it could be for de-orbit! On flybys it\'s perfect for adjusting trajectory!

And if you fly straight up non-stop, top speed is 5822 m/s! Sure, it doesn\'t stand up to all the 10000 m/s rockets and their speed right now, but this is on the default configuration of the rocket! Yup, the immense lifting power of this rocket almost screams for you to make a speed configuration!

Tradition is a part of the KSLS project, and so all parts are vanilla, too!

Attached you\'ll find the KSLS on the pad, the final two stages at approximately the position of the Mun (With pretty much an entire can to work with on the current stage!), and the top speed of the default configuration!

Happy flying!

Edit: Picture of orbit.

[Tim_Barrett]

'This new rocket sacrifices neither stability nor power'

Not true... you see at the top of the rocket, you have a few stages with one engine each. Engines are heavy. You might aswell join the top two stages for efficiency because the rockets create a top-heavy structure and cost more to launch into space. If it makes you feel better, rcs modules make a great last stage engine.

Also, direct ascent? Son, I am dissapoint. Hohmann transfer orbits are the way to go.

EDIT: Just realized, you didn\'t orbit because you don\'t know how RCS modules work... (none on the rocket)

[Rascal Nag]

'This new rocket sacrifices neither stability nor power'

Not true... you see at the top of the rocket, you have a few stages with one engine each. Engines are heavy. You might aswell join the top two stages for efficiency because the rockets create a top-heavy structure and cost more to launch into space. If it makes you feel better, rcs modules make a great last stage engine.

Also, direct ascent? Son, I am dissapoint. Hohmann transfer orbits are the way to go.

EDIT: Just realized, you didn\'t orbit because you don\'t know how RCS modules work... (none on the rocket)

I know how to do RCS blocks, I know about the engine and the Hohmann and Bi-elliptical transfers. The reason for the separated engines is because I have a Munar mission in mind, the first one is for getting into orbit of the Mun and slowing down, the next will be the lander once legs are out. The speed configuration would mix the two, obviously. I went straight up on the top speed bit because that\'s how I measure top speed and that\'s how the great velocity race did it too IIRC. This 12000km pic WAS an orbit, by the way. It had a Pe around 200km and an Ap of about 13000km.

I use RCS modules ALOT (docking mockups, staying with jettisoned stages, messing around with them as kinds of hovercraft jets) but not when I don\'t need them. They would be useful for lunar landers, if it proved to hard to stop all horizontal motion for landing without them (From my preliminary tests with radial decoupler legged landers it\'s not that bad without them, actually). And if docking is implemented for orbit rendezvous before heading to Kerbin, then I\'ll put them on, but I refrain from doing so until the need arises. And in the case of a final stage, same thing. Only if they prove mandatory.

Also, no need to assume I don\'t understand these things.

[Tim_Barrett]

Humans have never gone to he moon on a manned mission without some sort of orbiting mothership (like Apollo) and came back. Just thought I\'d like to point that out before you think you will reach escape velocity from the moon to come back home with one partially used fuel tank.

[Rascal Nag]

Humans have never gone to he moon on a manned mission without some sort of orbiting mothership (like Apollo) and came back. Just thought I\'d like to point that out before you think you will reach escape velocity from the moon to come back home with one partially used fuel tank.

And this is something that cannot be tested until the Mun is up there. For now, I\'ve focused on having one stage for munar orbit insertion and descent and one for landing at getting back up. If there\'s docking, I would NEVER do this, because it would be much easier to dock and plus it\'s more fun.

[Tim_Barrett]

And this is something that cannot be tested until the Mun is up there. For now, I\'ve focused on having one stage for munar orbit insertion and descent and one for landing at getting back up. If there\'s docking, I would NEVER do this, because it would be much easier to dock and plus it\'s more fun.

We have tested it... the escape velocity for the Mun, when scaled down form real life, should will have an escape velocity of 850 m/s at sea level. Gonna have to go back to the drawing board dude...

[Rascal Nag]

I will test the design myself once the Mun is there. If I run into problems, I won\'t scrap it-it would be a GREAT ship for getting satellites up. Replace the first single engine stage with a space station of some sort and it would be great. If the Mun is impossible with this then the uses for it will be re-evaluated.

[Blexie]

EDIT: Just realized, you didn\'t orbit because you don\'t know how RCS modules work... (none on the rocket)

..What?

I mean.. What?

How on earth is knowledge on the use of RCS modules relevant to orbital ability?

2+2=7, right?

[ludsoe]

..What?

I mean.. What?

How on earth is knowledge on the use of RCS modules relevant to orbital ability?

2+2=7, right?

Wrong

2+2 = fish

GET IT RIGHT!