Planning my first interplanetary mission, anything I should know?

[xzxvrx]

So, I have had this game since February, I have pretty much stayed inside Kerbin's SOI, and I intend to change that during my few extra days off from school. I am mainly intending to first visit Duna. My plan so far, is to do my standard lander/orbiter combo unmanned mission to scout for a landing area, followed by a manned landing. What I am asking here is, are there any tips of any sort that would have helped you on your first interplanetary mission along the lines of the transfer burn itself, aerobraking, the lander design, etc. Thank you for your time reading this, any help appreciated.

Edit: Thanks for the suggestions everyone, its much appreciated.

Edited October 24, 2013 by xzxvrx

[Sirine]

Learn the angle of entering respective SOI. Specially useful if you plan to visit the pole.

[briansun1]

F5 a lot

also make sure before you leave that you have all the stuff you need ie. power(RTGs and batteries and solar panels), parachutes, science stuff,ETC.

and make sure that the parachute and engine stage are correct.

most important make sure that you have enough D/v and TWR

(all very standard but you do not want to know how many times it has happened to me )

[Alistone]

Power supply.

Downward facing lights for night landings.

Make sure your ladders work; gravity is enough to strand kerbals on Duna if they don't.

Before the manned mission, get good at docking and leave your "return" fuel in orbit. No sense wasting a bunch of fuel to send a big tank down to the surface just to come back up.

[SRV Ron]

You can use an Apollo style lander leaving the command module with its return fuel in orbit.

Do plan on using engines for the final descent with parachutes since parachutes alone won't be enough to slow down to a safe landing speed. Parachutes can do most of the work otherwise. Try to land in a low spot to get the maximum effect from the parachutes.

Small probes with parachutes can use thrusters alone for landing.

Gilming got stranded when his lander came in too fast. I was unable to test if this lander could have returned to Kerbal without refueling.

[MrPopcup]

Learn about phase angels, Delta v required to get there, parachutes ( put many ), F5 & F9.

Last but not least, even with parchites do a powered landing!

[KvickFlygarn87]

Launch at a window. Seriously, if you don't, you'll end up with little to no fuel.

Also, NUKES. Use them, they have sucky thrust but awesome Isp, only superseded by the ion engines (which is powered by kerbals breathing.).

[Oddible]

Though you don't need the LV-N nukes to get to Duna, Eve or Dres with a small lander.

Some links to Interplanetary transfer help in my sig...

[KerbMav]

What you should do every time:

Put your ship on the launch pad - or every module of it if you assemble it in space, then do this in space again! before you set out - and test EVERYTHING. See that every RCS pod is there (VAB symmetry resets during test launches ...), that every engine gets fuel from where you planned, lighting is placed where it is useful and not overly brightens the craft ...

[Skorpychan]

Nuke engines are good. I suggest using two attached to a jumbo tank by way of a small fuel tank and a girder segment each as your interplanetary stage. With use of windows, it should get you there and back again.

With the lander, standard Mun landers will get you down, but not up. I've not done a return mission yet. Dock it to the transfer stage, and re-use it for landing on Kerbin, though. You can probably get away with leaving the nuclear transfer stage in kerbin orbit and just refuelling it later.

[tyrant264]

I cannot stress this enough, PLAN FOR ANYTHING!! It never hurts to be over prepared! I have also learned to equip small space tugs to my mother ship. The tugs make reattachment of landers much easier. Also too much fuel is never a bad thing. Also good luck!

[WafflesToo]

My advice, download and learn to read a Delta-V map. Most useful thing on Kerbin. This and the rocket equasion will make planning much easier.

Nukers and koolaid tanks are nice... but probably overkill for a Duna or Eve mission. I'll post a link to my Duna mission video later when I have access to a computer (my phone hates my attempts at links). That mission package is only 31 tons, including 16 tons of fuel. My original mission plan called for a nuke and it only saved 4 tons off the fuel load and a scant 2tons off the mission package.

And off course, as has already been stated, learn about phase angles. There's a really good calculator out there already that does most of the work for you already. I think someone else already linked it but if not I'll post it later.

Good luck!

Edited October 24, 2013 by WafflesToo

[phunk]

Make sure your ladders work; gravity is enough to strand kerbals on Duna if they don't.

Yesterday, I found out two things the hard way.

1) Test your ladders before you leave, just because it looks climbable doesn't mean it is.

2) Gravity on Duna is low enough to jetpack around and get back into a ship without using ladders.

[WafflesofMassDeliciousnes]

Don't forget RTG's, I lost a ship enroute to Duna because it ran out of power mid-way and I had no power to jump start the engines with. Thankfully no Kerbals were on board.

[Skorpychan]

My advice, download and learn to read a Delta-V map. Most useful thing on Kerbin. This and the rocket equasion will make planning much easier.

Nukers and koolaid tanks are nice... but probably overkill for a Duna or Eve mission. I'll post a link to my Duna mission video later when I have access to a computer (my phone hates my attempts at links). That mission package is only 31 tons, including 16 tons of fuel. My original mission plan called for a nuke and it only saved 4 tons off the fuel load and a scant 2tons off the mission package.

And off course, as has already been stated, learn about phase angles. There's a really good calculator out there already that does most of the work for you already. I think someone else already linked it but if not I'll post it later.

Good luck!

There's no such thing as overkill, only spare fuel and a reusable engine.

Don't forget RTG's, I lost a ship enroute to Duna because it ran out of power mid-way and I had no power to jump start the engines with. Thankfully no Kerbals were on board.

Alternatively, solar panels work too.

[SandMan13]

Don't worry about getting your perigee low enough to areobrake while still orbiting Kerbin. Just get the encounter and adjust in deep space. A few m/s delta V will do wonders there. Also normal and the other thing (blue one) will be used to adjust. Prograde and retro won't do too much but can still be used to assist. Try to get rid of you perigee so you are on a crash course with the planet when you enter it's SOI. Once in, adjust to 12-14km for Duna areobrake. Lots of factors in areobraking so there is no set height to get an orbit.

Don't forget to pull the low side of your orbit out of atmosphere once done. Also I'd recommend getting as big an orbit as possible (45km x 200km) or something like that so you can land on Ike if you so choose. You don't want to waste all that delta V areobraking just so you can burn to get your orbit out to Ike again.

[phunk]

Alternatively, solar panels work too.

Just make sure you have a couple facing in different directions. On a trip to Jool, I had one small emergency panel just in case I forgot to extend the folded ones and ran out of power. Of course, I forgot to extend the folded ones before I hit time warp, and the batteries drained right away, and I realized the one panel was facing away from the sun... several months later when the ship came around the other side of the orbit, it finally woke up again.

[Skorpychan]

Just make sure you have a couple facing in different directions. On a trip to Jool, I had one small emergency panel just in case I forgot to extend the folded ones and ran out of power. Of course, I forgot to extend the folded ones before I hit time warp, and the batteries drained right away, and I realized the one panel was facing away from the sun... several months later when the ship came around the other side of the orbit, it finally woke up again.

Yeah. 4-8 of the little non-deploying ones is enough for emergency power on even the biggest craft. At the very least, it's power to get the bigger panels extended.

[Vanamonde]

What you should do every time:

Put your ship on the launch pad - or every module of it if you assemble it in space, then do this in space again! before you set out - and test EVERYTHING. See that every RCS pod is there (VAB symmetry resets during test launches ...), that every engine gets fuel from where you planned, lighting is placed where it is useful and not overly brightens the craft ...

This is the ONLY way to build ships, and it never ceases to amaze me that some players don't do it this way. Run a test launch for each stage you add. It may take time, but you won't get halfway to Jool before you realize your staging is borked, nor smash your engine into the surface because your landing legs aren't long enough.

[WafflesToo]

Yeah. 4-8 of the little non-deploying ones is enough for emergency power on even the biggest craft. At the very least, it's power to get the bigger panels extended.

I find two are plenty. I just point the vehicle either north or south when I'm not maneuvering so one or the other are sort of aligned properly. I prefer them to RTGs, but I tend to build really light so the extra 60-120 kgs makes a difference.

[AlamoVampire]

your best friend: ksp.olex.biz it is a phase angle calculator site