EXPANDED Munshine Launcher Family - 10-100 tons to orbit!

[Wayfare]

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Awesome rockets for awesome people!

THESE LAUNCHERS ARE OBSOLETE AS OF VERSION 0.23. CLICK HERE FOR THE UPDATED VERSIONS AND SUBASSEMBLIES.

Introduction

Wayfare AE&KA is proud to release the expanded Munshine launcher family. Engineer Giggleplex777 has outdone himself by adding three new designs: the 10-ton VIII, the 15-ton IX, and - wait for it - the 100-ton X. That's right! 100 tons to a 100km orbit, Munshine style. That means you get the serial staging, sleek looks and amazing parts economy you've come to expect from our designs. The X weighs in at a mere 144 parts! It's also called an SHLLV rather than a launcher. We're not sure what it means exactly but the ground crew tells us it stands for "Seriously Honking Large Launch Vehicle."

The complete Munshine family now includes the following launchers:

Munshine V: 55 tons

Munshine VI: 22 tons

Munshine VII: 75 tons

Munshine VIII: 10 tons

Munshine IX: 15 tons

Munshine X: 100 tons

Dowload launchers here:

All launchers in one handy zip file!

Important Notes

- Payload tonnage is rated by the amount of mass a Munshine launcher is able to bring to a 100x100km orbit around Kerbin.

- Larger payloads may be carried if they are able to finish circularization by themselves, tested up to 10% additional payload mass.

- Subassembly Manager friendly: just copy the .craft files into your Subassembly Manager's folder and they'll load with perfect struts.

Manual

- Action Group 0 locks gimbal on the outer engines of the Munshine V and VII first stages.

- Gravity Turn starts at 5,000 meters to 10 degrees off vertical.

- Continue turning gently until reaching 600m/s at 45 degrees, and aim to be horizontal once between 1100 and 1400m/s.

These launchers are currently serving us very well and we hope they'll to the same for you! They're reliable, rugged, simple and light on parts. Enjoy responsibly.

Edited December 23, 2013 by Wayfare

[Gojira]

Woo, release!

Sorry I wasn't able to test these, computer trouble + school + camping makes it all the more difficult

Edited September 8, 2013 by Gojira

[Giggleplex777]

I honestly didn't think the Z-100 (Munshine X) would actually be released. It had really bad structural problems in the early versions.

[GusTurbo]

I like the Munshine X. Looks formidable. I am of course a big fan of big rockets.

Edited September 8, 2013 by GusTurbo

[HeadHunter67]

This is how heavy lifters should be - I appreciate that they have low parts count and actually look like rockets, rather than dozens of jumbos in a pancake formation.

However, I do find it confusing that the version numbers don't relate to payload capacity in any way - with the Zenith launchers, for instance, the higher the model number, the greater the capacity. It makes it easier to know which one I need without some form of reference.

[Gojira]

Honestly Wayfare, I agree with Mr. HeadHunter here. The Munshine series needs a bit of an organizational change. Shoot me a PM so we can chat about it.

[Wayfare]

Yeah you guys are probably right. The Munshines are currently numbered in the order they were developed, which makes sense from a historical perspective but doesn't really translate to practical usability very well. I'll sit down soon and re-label them, probably using the MOMS convention of marking them with payload mass and parts count. It'd make for a neater picture too

[Javster]

Wow! This might be just what I need to get to Duna (with an interplanetary station/ship). Or I could see if it has enough Dv to get a probe there.

[Daishi]

Very nice - tested your 75ton Munshine VII (closest capacity to my T50 Madcat, with its 27 ton service module) and handles beautifully, not even a degree of spin Mine are so much more meandering and sluggish (though I spose that's to ensure they don't tip over too easy with gravity turns, being so tall)

Although your middle load-bearing Skipper looks quite stressed even on unloaded ascent. It might help to replace those struts with some girders to help spread the load through them and up against the tank, bypassing the engine and the decoupler Stops a ton of wobble, though yours are pretty well optimised anyway so I doubt it would matter!

You can get pretty far up the engine with those girders - the Skipper has a much smaller collision mesh than the Mainsail.

Edited October 13, 2013 by Daishi

[Zuni]

I like these rockets, I use the 22-ton VI to get my station modules to orbit/rezvendous.

[Wayfare]

Interesting technique Daishi! Our current designs work pretty well under their rated loads but I could see a reinforcement like that being used if you wanted to, say, strap some big SRBs on one of the heavier launchers to increase its payload mass.

[Giggleplex777]

The maximum capacity of the Munshine-like LVs usually depends on the second stage. even if the first stage is really powerful, the payload may not reach orbit if: 1. The second stage's TWR is too low and/or 2. The second stage does not have enough fuel.

[Wayfare]

The maximum capacity of the Munshine-like LVs usually depends on the second stage. even if the first stage is really powerful, the payload may not reach orbit if: 1. The second stage's TWR is too low and/or 2. The second stage does not have enough fuel.

So you're saying... More boosters?

EDIT: You're entirely correct by the way - the heavier Munshines tend to have a starting TWR just a hair above 1 in each stage under maximum payload, which means the rocket won't even leave the pad if you go beyond the ~10% payload leeway. Adding SRBs to the first stage will only help until the second stage takes over, at which point you may lose so much vertical velocity you won't be making orbit.

Edited October 14, 2013 by Wayfare

[Giggleplex777]

So you're saying... More boosters?

And bigger second stages.

[Wayfare]

And bigger second stages.

Well there's no law against SRBs on second stages

[Nephf]

Munshine X looks great! super non-aspargus ship!

[Daishi]

Interesting technique Daishi! Our current designs work pretty well under their rated loads but I could see a reinforcement like that being used if you wanted to, say, strap some big SRBs on one of the heavier launchers to increase its payload mass.

All good - I've just had one too many stack collapses due to those midstage engines giving out

[Giggleplex777]

The Munshine VIII was very useful while constructing my interplanetary ships. It hauled everything but the propulsion stage (hab modules, MPCVs, power modules, and payloads).

Edited October 15, 2013 by Giggleplex777

[Giggleplex777]

Family photo.

Edited October 26, 2013 by Giggleplex777

[TheSedated]

Inspired by these rockets I was able to get my space station parts into orbit. Especially the 125t ones were a bit tricky, but went great thanks to this design. I used a (self made, did not download) modified M-X with Skippers as main engines and 18 of these side-of-the-rocket-engines and additionally 2 stages with each 6 boosters to maintain a longer booster duration. Was able to get the whole thing into 150km orbit (or around 130km I think when you want a debris free orbit) with the heavy stage 1 in use. Stage 2 is able to transport the payload where I need it in Kerbin space sector. Yes! That's what I needed.

[Captain_Party]

God, I love these on my stock save

[Dakitess]

These configurations are really strange ! On the biggest ones, the upper stage will be dead mass for the first stage, asparagus might have been preferable. But they look good and are quite thin compared to the payload to orbit

[Giggleplex777]

These configurations are really strange ! On the biggest ones, the upper stage will be dead mass for the first stage, asparagus might have been preferable. But they look good and are quite thin compared to the payload to orbit

The whole point of these launchers is to avoid asparagus. As a result, they have lower part counts and are more realistic.

[Giggleplex777]

I don't think that it is a good idea to keep expanding the Munshine family...

125 tons to orbit (although I personally can get 135 tons)

168 parts

Edited October 26, 2013 by Giggleplex777

[milbournosphere]

I used the VI and it put my 22ton Jool payload right into an 80x80 parking orbit. Nice, simple design.