Eve and Kethane base Q

[Lohan2008]

Just realized that I am going to need a kethane base on Eve if I want Kerbal/s to return ...

How much fuel do I need ? Do I need to get to 60 km to reach orbit ??

[Ittiz]

90km if I recall. I've done missions with a Laser Catalyzed Fusion drive I modded into the game, never with conventional stuff.

[Dangerous_Beans]

Just realized that I am going to need a kethane base on Eve if I want Kerbal/s to return ...

How much fuel do I need ? Do I need to get to 60 km to reach orbit ??

97-ish km according to the wiki. a quick google search suggested you need ~11-12km/s of Dv.

my approach would be to check Gilly for Kethane.

trying to use kethane at the bottom of a 16m/s/s gravity well with a 100km thick atmosphere seems like a horrible task. based off the Dv subway chart, it would be cheaper to ship in fuel from Eloo.

if there is no useful kethane on Gilly, then i would launch a series of automated tankers from Kerbin.

as for putting kerbins on the ground, a purpose built asparagus staged rocket could be parachuted down. Jeb can get out and plant his flag, as the actress said to the bishop, before leaving and never coming back.

[regex]

You don't need a kethane base to get back from Eve, just a lifter with roughly 9~10km/s of delta-V and a landing site at above 2500m. Aerospikes and asparagus staging are the way to go. Here's my returning lander, others have done similar. You can do one with a pod but it'll mass some 100+ tons.

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E: In fact, it's worth noting that even if you have a kethane refinery/mining base on Eve, you still need a lifter with 9~10km/s of delta-V to get off the planet.

Edited September 3, 2013 by regex