Stranded on Duna

[ohlookabirdie]

Ok so Jeb is, as the title suggests, stranded on Duna (on the southern Ice pack, if that makes a difference) I have his new and improved return rover in orbit above Duna ready to land and bring him home (hopefully). my problem is that it needs refueled before it can do this.

My problem is this. no matter what i try i cant get a full orange tank to Duna. its as light as i can make it for what it needs to do. unmanned probe, docking port, RCS for docking manuvers, RCS fuel. Battery and power generator. all things that are needed for a simple dock and refuel.

any tips for a heavy lifter that could manage to get this full tank to Duna? im crap at heavy lifters

Thanks in advance

[flightmaster]

Moar engines!

But seriously, have a look at how much delta V you're getting out of your rocket and ensure it's more than enough to get to Duna. If it's not then you might need to look at your staging and/or the type of engines being used (try the LV-Ns for better efficiency). Are you aerobraking upon getting to Duna? Also, polar orbit cost more DV to achieve than regular ecliptic orbits.

If you put some pictures up we might be able to help you more.

[ohlookabirdie]

it is a polar orbit, but im coming in at that angle and aerobreaking the best i know how over the polar regions so. what is the best altitude fro my PE when aerobreaking at duna?

im using LV-Ns for the transfer stage from LKO to Duna intercept. (i think, are they the nuclear ones?)

i dont know the delta Vs because im playing without mods, and i dont know the calculations.

as for pics.... well what do you want pics of? my lifters are all crap heaps so i want to start from scratch

[flightmaster]

Roughly around 13km, depending on your ship. Have a look at these website to fine tune that.

http://alterbaron.github.io/ksp_aerocalc/

http://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/threads/50164-Duna-Aerocapture-Analysis

http://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/threads/21712-Aerocapture-experiences

Yeah the LV-Ns are the nuclear ones, make sure you're not wasting too much DV on excess fuel tanks, sometimes this can be more detrimental than helpful.

Well if you want to start from scratch, I'd suggest learning about asparagus staging, this, for me, has allowed me to get to most planets in the solar system.

This website is useful for the basics: http://wiki.kerbalspaceprogram.com/wiki/Asparagus_staging

There are also some...different... techniques out there like on this thread (http://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/threads/55380-Better-than-asparagus-staging)

but they can sometimes be a load of crap or just not suitable for your needs.

Edit: As for not using mods, it's very difficult to determine DV without them so it'll really just be trial and error. However, once you get a setup that works, it's a lot more rewarding and you can use it again while continuously fine tuning it.