Getting to Duna with the least amount of fuel?

[Daniboo]

Hey

I've been playing KSP since the free Alpha version, and since they made Duna, I've always tried to find an efficent way to get there.

But utntil now, I haven't really been able to do it right, I guess.

I got a few rovers on Duna, but they were sent with huge rockets, and I barely had any fuel left over.

Can anyone post a picture of a simple rocket design (SIMPLE) that can take rovers to Duna? :D

[Synapse]

http://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/showthread.php/43909-Stock-Hermes-Jet-Delivery-System-Duna-on-80-tonnes

This gets to Duna for about 400 liters of fuel. You'd need more to take a rover though.

[Synapse]

Or if you don't want to use jets, use mainsails to get out of orbit and then an atomic engine to burn to Duna. Atomics are very efficient.

[Daniboo]

Nice

Yeah, I'd imagine I need something alittle bigger than that xD

[Daniboo]

Or if you don't want to use jets, use mainsails to get out of orbit and then an atomic engine to burn to Duna. Atomics are very efficient.

Yeah, I'm using 3 of those 1500 thrust engines to get me out of orbit + like 4 boosters.. and from there I'm using 4 atomic engines, but I think the design is very heavy, so I want to see if someone has any ideas.

I saw some videos on YouTube where people used simple rockets.

[annallia]

My standard tugs can make the trip, fairly small (compared to the lifters that put them in orbit...) Key is the nuke engines. Assuming I make my burns just right they have enough fuel to return as well, though I usually end up burning too much of that extra fuel off due to bad course planning.

[Synapse]

You don't need 4 atomic engines, just 1 and a large fuel tank. My standard interplanetary rig (one way) is 5 of the 1500 thrust engines in asparagus staging, and 1 atomic engine with a x-3200 fuel tank

[Daniboo]

My standard tugs can make the trip, fairly small (compared to the lifters that put them in orbit...) Key is the nuke engines. Assuming I make my burns just right they have enough fuel to return as well, though I usually end up burning too much of that extra fuel off due to bad course planning.

Do you have any screenshots of it ?

But at the same time, do you guys have any good rover designs? I'm weird when it comes to rover... I think flat rovers look more like rovers that kerbals sit on, but I mean rovers that is abit bigger, almost like curiosity design. any tips, screenshots?

[SRV Ron]

I have easily placed probes on Duna with small multistage rockets. The key to efficiency is waiting for the most efficient orbital encounter window and hitting Duna's influence prograde. The key here is just touching the Duna orbit at apogee and find the intercept. Plan in a couple of small course corrections to fine tune the intercept. Just a couple of seconds of thruster translation burns midway to Duna can make a huge difference on such intercepts.That might take a year or two in Kerbal time to get the ideal window. You can then parachute to the surface while using a small burn for landing. That same design has reached the Jool system and landed probes on Laythe.

Practice this intercept on Mun from Kerbal before trying it on the other planets in the Kerbal system.

[annallia]

My standard tug.

Aside from mechjeb completely stock, if I were building this to go interplanetary though I would ditch the trip engines in the middle and just go off the side mounted ones (but keep the fuel tank). Fully loaded it weighs in at 60 tons.

From the top down:

2x clamp-o-tron

1x Bi-coupler

1x RC-L01

1x FL-R1 RCS tank

1x X200-32 Fuel tank

3x Small hardpoints (attatched near base)

3x FL-T800 fuel tanks

1x atomic engine per FL-T800

1x Tristack coupler on the X200 tank with 3 more atomic engines

Additionals:

6x RCS thrusters

3x Z400 batteries

12x solar panels (the single panels)

Fuel lines feed from the big tank to the FL tanks and struts between the big tank and FL tanks to keep it together though not sure if those are needed.