Landing on EVE and returning

[lilmik552]

My biggest trouble with this is fuel. By the time I get out to the Suns orbit (which is quite large) and shrinking the ring down to EVE. By the time that occurs, I have little to no fuel. So the answer is obvious. Put space station on the suns orbit. So any advice or tips on how to get to EVE and return to Kerbin?

[Mefi282]

We need more information about your craft to help you...

You need at least 2500 m/s DeltaV so get from Kerbin orbit into an Eve orbit.

Landing is pretty easy but taking of and go back into orbit is really really hard. The thick athmosphere and strong gravity wants 12'000 m/s DeltaV from you to go from the surface back to orbit.

So I propose you to land first and directly so you will need about 1300 m/s DeltaV from Kerbin orbit and parachutes...

I may help you with your ship design.

[Red Iron Crown]

Not to discourage you, but Eve is a very hard target for early interplanetary return missions (I'm assuming you're somewhat new to KSP given your join date and nature of your question). Getting up off Eve's surface is one of the games big design challenges, it takes some clever design to cram enough dV and thrust into the lander.

I would suggest trying Duna first if you haven't already. If you've done Duna, try Dres or some of Jool's moons. Once you get a bit more comfortable with interplanetary transfers and lander design, come back to Eve.

[EdFred]

Here was my Eve adventure.

http://www.sidnaw.org/kerbal/evechallenge.htm

Over in the challenges section, you'll see a couple other members' crafts as well.

[lilmik552]

We need more information about your craft to help you...

You need at least 2500 m/s DeltaV so get from Kerbin orbit into an Eve orbit.

Landing is pretty easy but taking of and go back into orbit is really really hard. The thick athmosphere and strong gravity wants 12'000 m/s DeltaV from you to go from the surface back to orbit.

So I propose you to land first and directly so you will need about 1300 m/s DeltaV from Kerbin orbit and parachutes...

I may help you with your ship design.

Yea, I need to get a consistent rocket design going. And remember the details of it to help people understand my questions better. I've gotten to EVE once but then ran out of fuel. So there lies one of my Kerbins waiting for rescue lol. The DeltaV info helps a lot though! I appreciate it.

Not to discourage you, but Eve is a very hard target for early interplanetary return missions (I'm assuming you're somewhat new to KSP given your join date and nature of your question). Getting up off Eve's surface is one of the games big design challenges, it takes some clever design to cram enough dV and thrust into the lander.

I would suggest trying Duna first if you haven't already. If you've done Duna, try Dres or some of Jool's moons. Once you get a bit more comfortable with interplanetary transfers and lander design, come back to Eve.

No discouragement. I noticed rather quickly EVE was harder compared to the rest. As far as being new, you could say that. Only been playing a few months. I learned the add a maneuver feature (should of learned of the bat) and its helped immensely. I dont think I've hit up any of those planets yet but its worth a try. Its just a little bit harder for me to maneuver a encounter in the Suns orbit instead of Kerbin for obvious reasons. Thanks for the advice!

[cantab]

Do you have to use Comic Sans

Anyway, there are two key things to do with interplanetary travel to save fuel. The first is to burn from low Kerbin orbit to eject and get on course to the target planet. You're moving faster in low Kerbin orbit than in solar orbit, and rockets give you more energy when you're moving faster. This is known as the Oberth effect.

The second is to go at the right time. The most fuel-efficient transfer has you going halfway round the Sun to meet the target planet, known as a Hohmann transfer, but obviously you need the target planet to be there when you are! You thus need to leave when the angle Kerbin-Sun-Target is about right. There are various tools to help you do this, such as http://ksp.olex.biz/

Once you know it's the right time to depart, you can set a manoeuvre node and play around with it. It also helps to have an idea of the delta-V you'll need from the manoeuvre, which you can get from a delta-V map such as http://wiki.kerbalspaceprogram.com/w/images/7/73/KerbinDeltaVMap.png

Once you're en route, I suggest setting up a mid-course correction, and using it to tweak your periapsis, bring it nice and low to the target, that will make getting into orbit round it more efficient. Make another correction using radial and/or normal burns right after entering the target's SOI if you need to. If you're going to land on Eve, Kerbin, Duna or Laythe you can just set an impact course.

Eve is IMHO a great target for a one-way landing. Enter the atmosphere, deploy chutes, float down, job done. The actual landing's the easiest of anywhere besides Kerbin. Just watch out for the high gravity, don't send a flimsy craft.

[technion]

If you need to refuel, a space station in sun orbit would be a nightmare to dock with.

Firstly, you're not trying to get from ground on Eve all the way to Kerbin are you? Although I've done it, it's certainly not the easy way. You just want to aim to get from Eve ground, to an Eve orbit, and rendezvous there.

Edit: This mission guide should help.

http://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/threads/82321-Eve-in-a-single-mission

I wouldn't recommend trying to replicate the entirety, but if you forget about that last stage and using ion power to get home to Kerbin, you'll have a much easier time.

Edited July 16, 2014 by technion

[Xavven]

Not to discourage you, but Eve is a very hard target for early interplanetary return missions (I'm assuming you're somewhat new to KSP given your join date and nature of your question). Getting up off Eve's surface is one of the games big design challenges, it takes some clever design to cram enough dV and thrust into the lander.

I would suggest trying Duna first if you haven't already. If you've done Duna, try Dres or some of Jool's moons. Once you get a bit more comfortable with interplanetary transfers and lander design, come back to Eve.

I'm going to agree with Red Iron Crown here. There are incremental challenges that can make the learning curve less frustrating while giving you the experience you need to tackle an Eve return. I would at least do a Tylo or Moho return before trying Eve. They're probably the second hardest bodies in the game to return from, and Eve is about twice as hard as Tylo from a design, mission mode, and logistics perspective. Talk about your difficulty spike!

See my Comic Sans for emphasis?

[DeepOdyssey]

13km of delta V for a lander. That is quite a challenge. I advise a lot of asparagus staging, and aerospike engines[most fuel efficient]. Dock the transfer stage to lander in kerbin orbit. Use the senior docking port!!!, not the smaller one. That's it.

[peadar1987]

Also, if you're going interplanetary, you only have limited transfer windows. Google and download Kerbal Alarm Clock, it will make your life so much easier!

[KerikBalm]

Learn Orbital Rendevous first.

Getting to orbit from eve's surface is hard enough, getting there with over 1,000 m/s of dV left is an order of magntiue harder. Leave fuel for the return in orbit (even a small ion stage with a probe core, so it maneuvers to the pod, not vice versa, as the pod will likely be very low on resources once back in eve orbit)

It can also help to make it more manageable to even get your craft to Eve.

Launching a 12,000 m/s lander to LKO is difficult, it can help if you use the landers engines (but not its staging), and then refuel the lander in kerbin orbit, and attach the transfer stage.

A single launch to eve and back is very difficult. Doing it without orbital rendevou at Eve is - in my opinion - insane.

[lilmik552]

Thank you all for your responses and advice. After reading over my question, I feel like nothing screams noob more than that HAHA.

@cantab - Wonderful advice, and honestly I noticed 95% of people on forums dislike Comic Sans... like every forum I've been on. Its humorous to me because I dont know why people dislike it. So usually I use it to see if people react.

@Xavven - Literally laughed out loud when I read your comment.

@technion - Holy crap... THIS rocket design is what makes me KNOW that I am a noob. A lot of my designs are very simple. Several tanks at the bottom to get out of Kerbins atmosphere and then a single slender looking rocket that tries to get to other planets. Which usually ends in failure due to no fuel. I guess I've never truly experimented with design. I am pretty tunnel visioned in my design, which I know isnt good. I've seen some pretty elaborate designs that look like they'd never leave the ground but low and behold hah. I guess I need to get my complex to make a good design that can actually get somewhere.... Also the who waiting for the right moment that someone else mentioned is a swell idea too.