[14.2] Super light weight Mun return, Thanks Kosmo-not!

[sjwt]

As a note, this is a super light weight attempt, only 5 tanks of fuel for a Mun return, no RCS, SAS or ASAS!

Once more, a big thanks to Kosmo-not over at http://kerbalspaceprogram.com/forum/index.php?topic=8278.msg120302#msg120302 for his super light weight mun lander and return craft, I was looking at it and decided to incorporate two mistakes I have made with my current attempts at a mulit-part space station (isn\'t science always full of mistakes that go right!)

1) The ability to place tanks directly onto tanks with nothing holding them on

2) the ability to use lander legs to push away said tanks like you can with a stage.

And if you are reading this Kosmo-not, I would love to see a vid of your return trip from the Mun with Koalemos II, I think I need to copy your style!

I have fixed the bug with the lander legs not throwing off the fuel tanks, but have been unable to get it to drop one stage and then another, if you could cancel the legs dropping or only activate ones in a specific stage, then the weight could be dropped even more!

By realising two mistakes I have added 114kms to the range of the first 4 tanks,

one that you should fire all tanks and engines on a small craft like this but keep the tank for your final stage full and that a little extra weight is good if put to use, ie dropping tow of the tanks earlier.

Still, I am unable to return from the Mun, I goto 300m/s this time, much better than the 50m/s last time..

Weight Drag Apoapsis*

Koalemos II 20.7 3.38 210kms

Faraday VI 16.6 2.90 286kms

Faraday IIX 18.1 3.78 400kms

*Manualy controlled by myself, stright up for the first 4 full tanks of fuel, leaving just the final stage I am sure you pro flyers can do better.

Craft file is located here.

http://ksp.sjwt.org/2012-03-31/Faraday Mk IIX.craft

On the launch pad

Happy little Vegemites on the Mun!

[Kosmo-not]

And if you are reading this Kosmo-not, I would love to see a vid of your return trip from the Mun with Koalemos II, I think I need to copy your style!

I\'ve been trying to find a replacement for MSI Afterburner (it expired), but have not found anything yet that works with my computer. Maybe someday, though.

You need to reach around 850m/s from a low Mun orbit with an escape trajectory that will end up perpendicular to Kerbin in the opposite direction of the Mun.

*edit*

Okay, nevermind. I was able to download MSI Afterburner again and it works. I guess I\'ll start making videos next week.

[sjwt]

I\'ve been trying to find a replacement for MSI Afterburner (it expired), but have not found anything yet that works with my computer. Maybe someday, though.

You need to reach around 850m/s from a low Mun orbit with an escape trajectory that will end up perpendicular to Kerbin in the opposite direction of the Mun.

*edit*

Okay, nevermind. I was able to download MSI Afterburner again and it works. I guess I\'ll start making videos next week.

Looking forwards to it!

[r4m0n]

So, I\'ve taken a look at your craft and how much fuel left you had, and thought to myself: 'Hum... I wonder if I can do away with some extra weight?'

Turns out I can:

This isn\'t for the faint of heart, the trip to the Mun and back was HARD.

Getting in orbit and to the Mun was easy, but I couldn\'t land upright due to the lack of landing legs

I was afraid I had lost them, but trying to move around I\'ve noticed I could flip the tank over the pod, and the vessel pointed slightly up when the tank hit the ground on the other side, so I tried igniting the engines just after hitting the ground and Bingo!, I\'ve had managed to take off again!

We are going back home guys!

I\'ve had just a sliver of fuel left, so the landing still worried me...

Fortunately, I\'ve managed to slow down enough so that the pod was able to survive!

That was a hell of a trip, I would love to see someone making a video of an attempt to do this again...

Here is the craft file, I\'ve named it the Insanity, for obvious reasons ???

Use at your own risk, this WILL kill your Kerbonauts if you aren\'t very careful.

[sjwt]

So, I\'ve taken a look at your craft and how much fuel left you had, and thought to myself: 'Hum... I wonder if I can do away with some extra weight?'

Turns out I can:

This isn\'t for the faint of heart, the trip to the Mun and back was HARD.

Have you tried it with the radial decouplers? I found I got extra distance with that bit of extra weight added to drop the first two tanks..

And I just cant bring my self to try landing with out legs on a single engine.. Maybe I should <G>

[Kosmo-not]

Here is the craft file, I\'ve named it the Insanity, for obvious reasons ???

Use at your own risk, this WILL kill your Kerbonauts if you aren\'t very careful.

And that\'s why I named my ship Koalemos (the Greek spirit/god of stupidity and foolishness).

[r4m0n]

Using what I\'ve learned from the Insanity, I\'ve tried doing something with less tanks...

I\'ve called it the Insanity Too:

And the results? SUCCESS!

Got to the Mun with pretty low fuel, was afraid that too little to get back home, but tried anyway (I\'m calling the launch after falling sideways the 'r4m0n maneuver')

Managed to get just enough speed to get in a direct reentry path, and left a single pixel of fuel to assist in the landing...

On which I started burning too early, lost the parachute as I zeroed the speed, and almost killed the Kerbonauts, but the pod managed to survive the impact.

Here is the craft file, and the usual warning: This will kill your Kerbonauts if you make any small mistake, use at your own risk.

[sjwt]

Using what I\'ve learned from the Insanity, I\'ve tried doing something with less tanks...

I\'ve called it the Insanity Too:

I like it, very similar to my first one, but I found the detaching was buggy, though I was using the lander legs to detach and also to land! It worked, just not often enough.

http://kerbalspaceprogram.com/forum/index.php?topic=9191.msg135225#msg135225

[Luxmaster-CZ]

Oh dear.. I cant go to moon and back with less than 10 tanks.. please make vid how you do this..

[sjwt]

Oh dear.. I cant go to moon and back with less than 10 tanks.. please make vid how you do this..

I cant get back, but I can lift off!

I just go for a time warp and launch when the Mun is 45 off straight up via the map!

[Ninja possum32]

So u made it to the mun and back with only THAT rocket

[sjwt]

So u made it to the mun and back with only THAT rocket

I only got 350m/s off the Mun, but others should be able to, having made it with the same tanks on heavier ships.

[Ninja possum32]

I

I cant get back, but I can lift off!

I just go for a time warp and launch when the Mun is 45 off straight up via the map!

I can\'t get there with 15!!

[sjwt]

I I can\'t get there with 15!!

That\'s very Kerbal of you! ;D

But, I have asked Kosmo-not if he would post a Vid of his trip to and back, i am hoping to pick up some tips!

[Kosmo-not]

And if you are reading this Kosmo-not, I would love to see a vid of your return trip from the Mun with Koalemos II, I think I need to copy your style!

You\'ll not only get a video of the return trip, but the whole mission uncut. I\'ll be posting a link to the video on the Koalemos II page, as well as in the How To section of the forum. I made it into somewhat of a tutorial video as well. The video should be up in a few hours.

[sjwt]

You\'ll not only get a video of the return trip, but the whole mission uncut. I\'ll be posting a link to the video on the Koalemos II page, as well as in the How To section of the forum. I made it into somewhat of a tutorial video as well. The video should be up in a few hours.

You champ!

[Apotheosist]

I have been playing around with super lightweight mun return craft recently, (thanks to Kosmo-not\'s excellent video tutorial I now consider myself a professional) I reduced the weight of kosmo-not\'s design, to 5 tanks, 5 small engines, 4 radial decouplers, fuel lines. I also removed the landing gear. I succesfully landed on the mun, and returned. Then I thought to myself. Who need\'s a parachute? So I took it off, did another mun trip, and landed back on kerbin with 3 perfectly healthy Kerbals. You can do a propulsive landing. The amount of fuel you save from not having 0.3 extra parachute mass is more than enough to allow complete propulsive landing. It is more difficult, yes, but the tank and engine can act as an impact absorber by being crushed below the crew capsule if you\'re going too fast . So I challenge you all, Y u no use no parachute?

[Hans_Olo]

Those craft are lighter than my lander stage alone! May best lander has 4 small tanks and 3 big, a tristack, ASRS, three radial decouplers, a stack decoupler, 6 of those little engines, 9 legs and some fuel lines...

[Apotheosist]

A mun return is possible with 3 tanks, so long as you\'re comfortable with doing a propulsive (and often explosive) landing back on kerbin. http://kerbalspaceprogram.com/forum/index.php?topic=11407.0

[noneyabidnis]

So, I\'ve taken a look at your craft and how much fuel left you had, and thought to myself: 'Hum... I wonder if I can do away with some extra weight?'

Turns out I can:

This isn\'t for the faint of heart, the trip to the Mun and back was HARD.

Getting in orbit and to the Mun was easy, but I couldn\'t land upright due to the lack of landing legs

I was afraid I had lost them, but trying to move around I\'ve noticed I could flip the tank over the pod, and the vessel pointed slightly up when the tank hit the ground on the other side, so I tried igniting the engines just after hitting the ground and Bingo!, I\'ve had managed to take off again!

We are going back home guys!

I\'ve had just a sliver of fuel left, so the landing still worried me...

Fortunately, I\'ve managed to slow down enough so that the pod was able to survive!

That was a hell of a trip, I would love to see someone making a video of an attempt to do this again...

Here is the craft file, I\'ve named it the Insanity, for obvious reasons ???

Use at your own risk, this WILL kill your Kerbonauts if you aren\'t very careful.

I\'ve been trying to understand fuel line strategy, and noticed that you changed the fuel line arrangement in your craft vs the original. Can you explain why?

[r4m0n]

I\'ve been trying to understand fuel line strategy, and noticed that you changed the fuel line arrangement in your craft vs the original. Can you explain why?

The original craft had 3 stages total: First it used the outermost tanks and activated the decoupler, then the now outermost and ejected them with the landing legs, leaving the middle one alone.

My craft uses only 2 stages: It drains all 4 external tanks at the same time, and then ejects them all with the landing legs, just leaving the middle one as before.

It works because I could get it lighter than the original by leaving one pair of decouplers out (they weight a lot) and the landing legs used for actual landing.

[noneyabidnis]

The original craft had 3 stages total: First it used the outermost tanks and activated the decoupler, then the now outermost and ejected them with the landing legs, leaving the middle one alone.

My craft uses only 2 stages: It drains all 4 external tanks at the same time, and then ejects them all with the landing legs, just leaving the middle one as before.

It works because I could get it lighter than the original by leaving one pair of decouplers out (they weight a lot) and the landing legs used for actual landing.

Ahhh. I get it, I think... So, that center tank under the CM - it\'s not still completely full when you decide to eject the outer stages, correct?

Btw, I\'ve downloaded the craft and am going to spend some time playing with the fuel line config so I ensure I understand the advantages of one config vs another.

[noneyabidnis]

The original craft had 3 stages total: First it used the outermost tanks and activated the decoupler, then the now outermost and ejected them with the landing legs, leaving the middle one alone.

My craft uses only 2 stages: It drains all 4 external tanks at the same time, and then ejects them all with the landing legs, just leaving the middle one as before.

It works because I could get it lighter than the original by leaving one pair of decouplers out (they weight a lot) and the landing legs used for actual landing.

Ahh ha - I just noticed your pictures with the rocket laying on its side on the moon, and the fuel level remaining. Makes perfect sense (light bulb moment!).

Thank you so much!