[0.14 Stock] Mun Lander with Return Capsule - Mark III now out!

[deadshot462]

Well 0.14 is a ton of fun to play, I built a few landers but none very efficient until the LanderX3, my current design for a stock Mun Lander with fuel to spare:

Download: http://www./?7xy3f1exr7t9rkh

It\'s very fuel efficient, so you will not be close to running out of fuel in any of the stages. Just launch at full throttle and jettison the 2 sets of boosters as they run out of fuel to get yourself above 70 km, then burn to set yourself on an 80 x 80 km parking orbit around Kerbin. The main stage has plenty of fuel to burn to the moon, and the lander has plenty of fuel to insert itself into Mun orbit and land accurately on your target.

Screenshots of the trip to the Mun:

Taking off with 2 sets of booster stages to get you out of the atmosphere quickly:

Completing our parking orbit burn with the main stage:

The ship currently in an 80 x 80 parking orbit, with more than enough fuel to fire for the Mun:

Strong Lunar Insertion burn, with plenty of fuel to spare for plan alignment if needed:

Course is set for the Mun, time to jettison the main stage for our Lunar lander:

Course correction burn ensures my lander is ready for Lunar Orbit Insertion wile my main stage crashes on its surface to prevent space junk:

After an orbit insertion burn, I align my orbit and do an initial pass over my landing target:

Our landing burn:

Precision landing with still full landing fuel tank left:

View from a previous mission lander:

Going home:

Jettisoning the service module, which still had 1/4 fuel left in the tank:

Success!

Old LanderX2 (inefficient and heavy):

Download:

http://www./?p2exp1vhof2v3k9

Lots of boosters FTW

The fuel is circulated in a manner that efficiently separates boosters so you don\'t carry empty tanks on your ascent to a parking orbit, just dump each stage as engines run out of fuel and keep the throttle up the whole time - aim for a 80 x 80 km parking orbit

You should then have enough fuel in your last booster to transfer to Munar orbit:

The lander has plenty of fuel, RCS, and SAS control to make an accurate landing, even on this highly polar landing site (and now you know why it\'s the LanderX2 and not X1)

Heading home:

Cool view of the landing site (and failed landing):

Jettisoning the service module for reentry:

Parachute deployed successfully:

Kerbals are back safe!

Enjoy!

Great job SQUAD on making an awesome game.

[Darkshadow]

Nice job with the design and mission. I\'ve seen lots of mun landers but never something with such a large return capsule.

[Kosmo-not]

How much fuel was left in the return stage before you jettisoned it? I haven\'t tested it yet.

[Tim_Barrett]

Radial decouplers are quite heavy though... 0.8 units of mass each. It\'s much more efficient to just use the legs by themselves and be careful where you land next time, since your lander is so tall.

[Kosmo-not]

Radial decouplers are quite heavy though... 0.8 units of mass each. It\'s much more efficient to just use the legs by themselves and be careful where you land next time, since your lander is so tall.

Stack decouplers have 0.8 mass. Radial decouplers have 0.4 mass.

[Redrumsalad]

I guess i should add another stage to mine. my veteran crew are stuck in an orbit around Kerbin from ~6 million to ~8 million meters.

[deadshot462]

How much fuel was left in the return stage before you jettisoned it? I haven\'t tested it yet.

My return burn put me at Mun\'s altitude with a PE of 30 km on Kerbin, I had about 1/4 tank left. So the return capsule has plenty of fuel to adjust your return trajectory.

Tim_Barrett - While I agree it is a bit top heavy, I found that the key to a stable landing on a slope is to turn OFF the RCS a few meters before landing to prevent accidental topple due to trying to adjust the ship\'s attitude.

[DrCube]

I am getting an error saying i don\'t have a fuelTANKSMALL. Are you running with any addons I need to install?

[Kryten]

I am getting an error saying i don\'t have a fuelTANKSMALL. Are you running with any addons I need to install?

Have you got the release version of 0.14?

[deadshot462]

Here is a newer and better stock 0.14 lander I made:

Download: http://www./?7xy3f1exr7t9rkh

It\'s very fuel efficient, so you will not be close to running out of fuel in any of the stages. Just launch at full throttle and jettison the 2 sets of boosters as they run out of fuel to get yourself above 70 km, then burn to set yourself on an 80 x 80 km parking orbit around Kerbin. The main stage has plenty of fuel to burn to the moon, and the lander has plenty of fuel to insert itself into Mun orbit and land accurately on your target.