3 Kerbals to Moho?

[FiresThatBurn]

So just a quick question. Does anybody have some good design for a 3 man Moho rocket I don't mind if it can't land I just want to get in the Moho SOI (and attempt) to get back home. I have quite a lot of mods installed so it can be modded too and I plan to use MechJeb to do this....Yes I AM A NOOB so don't start a war about using Mechjeb.

[Guest]

Well, I encourage you to design it yourself. If you want to get to Moho I would suggest you pack along at least 5km/s of delta-V, and an extra 500m/s for corrections. I usually pack 6km/s at a minimum just to feel safe and that's usually cutting it close.

To get back you'll probably need at least 3km/s plus another 500m/s for corrections, but aerocapture removes a lot of the braking delta-V requirements for Kerbin return and you can just do a shallow dive right into landing. Your total budget is going to be around 9.5km/s, probably 10km/s for safety margin. Find a good launch window and give it a go.

[M5000]

Yes, the above information is pretty good advice, but why not go for a landing? Landing wouldn't be too much work, as Moho has about double the gravity of the Mun, but still is very low compared to Kerbin's. A small lander could be devised and strapped on the ship

[Blue]

I built this for getting to Moho but it has yet to be used for that purpose.

The nine orange tanks are asparagus-staged and have two nuclear engines each.

[FiresThatBurn]

Yes, the above information is pretty good advice, but why not go for a landing? Landing wouldn't be too much work, as Moho has about double the gravity of the Mun, but still is very low compared to Kerbin's. A small lander could be devised and strapped on the ship

Well, The main problem is getting to Moho but I can use mechjeb for that but I still need a design....

[capi3101]

A design, huh?

1 Mk16-XL Chute

3 Mk-1 Lander Cans

4 OX-STAT Photovoltaic Panels

1 Z-1k Rechargable Battery Bank

1 TR-8A Stack Decoupler

1 FL-T200 Fuel Tank (or two radially mounted FL-T100 tanks with Fuel lines running to the X200-32)

1 LV-N Atomic Rocket Engine

1 Rockomax X200-32 Fuel Tank

1 Rockomax Brand Decoupler

5 Rockomax "Mainsail" Liquid Fuel Engines

10 Jumbo 64 Fuel Tanks

5 Rockomax X200-32 Fuel Tanks

5 Rockomax X200-16 Fuel Tanks

5 Rockomax X200-8 Fuel Tanks

Struts and Cubic Octagonal Struts as necessary.

Yes, this is an SSTO rocket; your launch TWR should be in the neighborhood of 1.3. Watch you gee-meter as you ascend; when it gets out of the green, throttle back a bit. Make sure to assemble the tanks in order from largest to smallest if you don't want to watch the Mainsails explode...

The interplanetary stage oughta have over 12,000 m/s of delta-V in it unless I've got something miscalculated; definitely enough there for a manned Moho flyby and return. I make no guarantees about there being sufficient thrust with the single nuke. That part of the ship is just over 23.5 tonnes fully loaded, so I think you'll be fine.

The three lander cans saves you 0.7 tonnes over the mass of a Mk1-2 Command Pod. I haven't actually tried the configuration of three cans and a chute before, so you might want to launch just that (with Jeb in the upper can and the other two empty) up to about 3000 meters then cut it off and land; if all three cans come down safe with the chute, great, if not, try struts. The Parachute Calculator says you should come down at 5.7 m/s with the single chute. If you choose to add a Clamp-o-tron and use radial chutes (to dock with a lander in Moho orbit, maybe), you'll need two radial chutes and I can't guarantee that booster will get you into orbit.

Now, if you want to do a landing, we can talk more. But there's a design.

[FiresThatBurn]

1 Mk16-XL Chute

1 Rockomax Brand Decoupler

5 Rockomax "Mainsail" Liquid Fuel Engines

10 Jumbo 64 Fuel Tanks

5 Rockomax X200-32 Fuel Tanks

5 Rockomax X200-16 Fuel Tanks

5 Rockomax X200-8 Fuel Tanks

So I got most of the rocket done but how do I set up this part? Screenshot maybe?

[Dooz]

Well its a challenge to get to Moho alot of delta v the only problem is slowing down into orbit

I recommend high thrust lots of fuel but try probes first to see if you can get a Moho encounter very close to the surface

[Sirine]

.Yes I AM A NOOB so don't start a war about using Mechjeb.

Use HyperEdit then...teleport you to anywhere at the universe instantly. Since you don't mind using Mechjeb.

Or, you means.

Well, The main problem is getting to Moho but I can use mechjeb for that but I still need a design....

Hey! gimme a craft that can travel to Moho, I can Mechjeb it to there???

I will suggest you go to the Rocket Builders and ask a company to build you one. They are very happy to do it. Or just browse around...there are plenty of interplanetary traveling craft posted on the sticky thread at the The Spacecraft Exchange

[Tex_NL]

You could also go with something along this line:

I took this one to Gilly and back with plenty of fuel left in the tanks. Adding bigger tanks would give it much longer legs and it would be able to reach Moho with ease.

[Kasuha]

My design involved 6 LV-N engines, 3 orange fuel tanks (and one large medium-sized tank as part of engine/lander piece), the crew capsule (2-person lander can in my case) and some other minor parts to hold these together and give it some RCS power. The thing was assembled in orbit (so everything had docking port Sr on both ends). Orange tanks were dropped on the way as they became empty. I didn't wait for launch window and didn't use any mods or calculators and as a consequence I didn't quite make it back but I landed (without orange tanks; I left them in Moho orbit during landing) and got back to Kerbol orbit before I ran out of fuel. So with things like MechJeb and waiting for launch window this should be a piece of cake.

Here's a screenshot of my orbital station with the ship ready to start assembled on the right.

Lander on Moho (the crew capsule is at the bottom; note that parachutes are intended for landing back at Kerbin)

And back on Kerbin after getting some fuel delivery (view of lander from the other side)

It wasn't optimal design; for example I brought way more monopropellant than I needed. The torque piece mounted right next to engine section was also unnecessary. But I still got there and half way back with it.

[capi3101]

So I got most of the rocket done but how do I set up this part? Screenshot maybe?

Well, the chute's supposed to go on top of the lander cans; that's the bit you're bringing back to land on Kerbin.

As for the rest, it's a centerline stack with four outboard stacks. Put the Decoupler in the center, then add two jumbos, a -32, a -16 and an -8, then attach a Mainsail to the bottom of the eight. Stitch the jumbos together for extra rigidity. Then alt-click on the topmost jumbo stack (which should make a copy of the whole tank/stack assembly), turn on 4-times symmetry, and attach the new assemblies radially to the centerline. You will want to run struts between the outboard stacks as well as between them and the centerline; 60-72 struts total should do the trick.

I'll go ahead and try to build what I suggested; it may or may not work. If it does I'll put up a screenshot.

[capi3101]

Here we go; the design in action. I haven't gone to Moho with it, obviously, but the idea is to show you how it's constructed and go through the SSTO launch sequence.

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Tanks drain pretty fast in the early going, but once you start throttling back it slows down. And you do have to throttle back; all that thrust you had at launch you don't need as you get further up - and if you keep it, you'll pancake.

Hadn't actually intended to build this ship and I couldn't come up with a better name from my usual convention (i.e. a name involving fire, pain, death or some combination thereof).