How do i build an interplanetary rocket?! Not how to get to the planet.

[Robbii6]

Hi people,

Been playing for a week now and i have managed to get to the mun and Minmus and set up a pretty good base on the mun , but i just cant get to other planets and back. im sure i can get to a planet, but its the getting back i want to do aswel. i don't want to get to another planet and find i cant get my Kerbals back;.;. What rocket design should i use? i already know about the asparagus staging. i think that's how you spell it.

Pictures would be helpful

[Twilights favorite quill]

For large interplanetary vessles, you should try in-orbit assembly. With the new big docking ports you just have to build a propulsion+command module with a sufficient ammount of fuel and dock a standard lander to it. Don't forget to use the atomic rocket engines for they have a very high specific impuls. If you are nit familiar with how docking works, check out some docking tutorials on youtube.

Cheers

[Robbii6]

Ahh right, thankyou ill will try that

[Umlüx]

my small IP ship contains an X200-16 center fueltank and four FL-T800 with atomic engines on the side. ASAS, RCS and the payload/pod on top. launched to orbit with a standard asparagus style lifter.

nothing out of the odinary, but it was enough to reach EVE and Duna for a short EVA or Rover/Probe deployment and return, and enough to reach Jool with some spare fuel (didn't try to get back so i dont know if it was enough..). even with my bad navigating skills

for landings and bigger payloads you may need something bigger..

[Robbii6]

Thank you i will take that into account

[Johnno]

Getting to another planet and back is no different than going to the Mun and back. In short I advice people to start from the other end of the journey and plan backwards. What do you need to get home from said location's orbit? What do you need to get off the surface? What do you need to land? What do you need to get into its orbit? What do you need to transfer there? What do you need to get into Kerbin orbit? Then turning it all around, you can get into kerbin orbit, you can transfer, you can get into orbit of said location, you can land on it, get back up and get back home.

Multiple launches and docking helps quite a bit but with some careful planning you can do quite amazing stuff even with a single launch.

[haltux]

Even if you want to use a single launch, I strongly suggest you to use a separate lander which, once its mission is over, go back to its orbiter before going back home. On the Mun, it is not really helpful (going back to Kerbin from Mun orbit being very cheap), but from other planets it helps a lot.

Anyway, after having spent quite some time playing KSP, I think orbital assembling is both more fun and more satisfying. Massive rockets (required for single launch interplanetary return missions) are ugly, unstable, painfull to manoeuvre and put your PC on its knees.

[capi3101]

Tug-lander combo is a pretty common solution. My own tug design incorporates a large RCS fuel tank, either one or five X200-32 tanks and a group of five LV-Ns (one attached directly to the center fuel tank, the other four attached to the same end of the fuel tank via BZ-52s). For longer range missions (i.e. to the moons of Jool), I have an attachable five X200-32 tank service module available - so far I've used that to resupply a mission to Eve and Gilly. I have yet to experiment with the seniors - so far I've been using a "heavy docking port" which utilizes a quad of standard clamp-o-trons.

Getting fuel for interplanetary missions up into orbit is tricky - the heavy tug I mentioned (the one that uses five tanks) weighs 117 tonnes by itself. You'll need a pretty hefty booster to get something like that into orbit. I have a TSTO booster rated for 130 tonnes - but she's an ugly beast of a ship (and has never flown as intended - discarding the second stage while the third stage is lit usually results in catastrophic mission failure, though leaving it attached works for some reason...).

[Vanamonde]

Getting a rocket into space requires a lot of thrust and the minimum fuel-weight that will get the ship up there, but travel once you're already in space is VERY different. There, fuel efficiency is the critical factor, so you want a lot of fuel and the minimum thrust that will get the ship to the destination. Build your mission payload, dock it in orbit to some fuel tanks, and add just a few LV-Ns, because those are the most fuel-efficient engines.

[Snooze]

Modular ships, built in orbit, are very handy for this kind of thing.

The lander and the drive stage were sent up in different launches and docked in orbit. It allows for awesome utility. Not only can that tug push my landers around but with the way I designed my orbital fuel depots I can push them around different planets as well.

Fun stuff, but practice docking first.

Edited June 18, 2013 by Snooze

[Robbii6]

wow thankyou all i have had much success. i have managed to land a probe on duna i didnt return it though just because i didnt want to and i am now on my way to laythe!!!