Economic Mun rocket

[PeriapsisPrograde]

This challenge is pretty simple. I apologize if it has been done before.

The goal is simple. Use stock parts to:

•Achieve parking orbit

•Achieve Trans-Munar injection

•Brake into Munar orbit, less than 100km apoapsis

•Achieve Trans-Kerbin injection

•Reenter on Kerbin

This is pretty easy if you have enough resources. The catch? Your rocket must be as economic as possible.

I will set the bar with my MMTCC-IV (Manned Munar Transfer Capable Craft mk4).

It weighs in at;

One command pod

One advanced SAS

Twelve fuel tanks

Five main engines, one gimballing

Three decouplers

One tri-coupler

I ended up having a third of my last tank remaining after SM separation.

Anyone up to the challenge? Remember, only stock parts are allowed!

[SteevyT]

If economic is based on part count, here is an easy way to count the parts.

1) Open the .craft file in Notepad

2) Copy paste everything into Word (or another program that has a find feature)

3) Use the find feature on {

4) The number of {\'s there are should be the number of parts in the craft

[pushingrobot]

You can easily accomplish all that with only:

1 x Parachute

1 x Command Pod

5 x Fuel Tank

1 x Standard Engine

Note that there\'s no decoupler under the capsule, so make sure to save a little fuel for re-entry as you\'ll need to use it twice: First to slow down to ~70m/s before your chute fully deploys (at about 500 meters), and then to slow down again to <10 m/s just before you land.

However, you can pare the ship down even more. You can do it with:

1 x Command Pod

4 x Fuel Tank

1 x Standard Engine

...no, I\'m not kidding. I\'ve tested it--it works reliably if you time your burns reasonably well. And you didn\'t say anyone needed to *survive* the re-entry, so I took the chute off. If you have fantastic timing, though, you can actually retro-burn at ~600m with your tiny bit of remaining fuel and land 'softly'. Air braking FTW!

Oh, and since pictures always help, here\'s a four-tank transit diagrammed out:

(slowly curve toward the horizon...bearing 90 degrees...especially once you pass 20000m)

(get to ~70km and a stable orbit...you should have about 0.75 tank left)

(boost to an apokee of ~9,500,000m, about 3100m/s...about 0.4 tank left)

(get captured by the Mun)

(brake so you enter orbit, reduce periapsis to 100km...about 0.3 tank left)

(brake again at perikee, reduce apoapsis to 100km...about 0.2 tank left)

(boost to 740 m/s to escape...make sure you end up heading the opposite direction as the Mun...about 0.075 tank left)

(get captured by Kerbin)

(hey, that continent looks familiar!)

(i\'ve seen this place before...)

(brake! brake! aieeee! crash! bang!)

(they\'re alive!)

(what are the odds...just over the hill from home!)

[Jarod]

very nice, would like to see an economic rocket for landing on the Mun and returning to Kerbin with stock parts, that\'s quite a challenge.

[NovaSilisko]

All of my rockets are economic, but you HAVE to be economic with my pack...

[TimeLapseSteve]

Nicely done!

Question - I tried getting into Munar orbit for the first time last night and did it on the first try (which was completely unexpected because I was hammered at the time)... I noticed I got captured into a retrograde orbit... is this is only way to do it?

[pushingrobot]

I noticed I got captured into a retrograde orbit... is this is only way to do it?

It\'s possible to do either. Basically, an efficient trans-Munar injection burn will fling you out to the Mun\'s altitude, at which point the Mun will be going much faster than your ship and actually catch you from behind. If you\'re 'higher' than the Mun when it catches up, it will pull you into a retrograde orbit. If you\'re 'lower' than the Mun, it will pull you behind it into a prograde orbit.

Retrograde Mun orbits have a couple advantages; they can be more fuel efficient, and a botched insertion should actually put you on course back to Kerbin. However, I\'ve found them harder to pull off so I stick with prograde orbits.

[Thaniel]

Did some modifications to the rocket. Was able to eyeball a 24km munar pass and return home. Had enough fuel to stop my chute-less descent some 150 meter above ground. But ran out, and now my kerbonauts sleep with the fishes, again.

Can\'t and won\'t claim an economic flight, but I did manage a sucessfull TMI with the 4 tanks version. Was fun. Really looking forward to some of the future abilities, like autopilot, management of kerbonauts, economy (of some sort), then minimal launches will be fun and necesary.

[Guest Flixxbeatz]

only stock parts are allowed!

I\'m outta here. ???