Looking for interplanetary ships

[Cyberdragon1]

After countless attempts of building rockets, I usually get something gargantuan, huge and so on. When I launch them, they're, well, not designed properly (I'm a newbie to this game, you see) and they end up getting blown to bits in atmosphere, or they run out of fuel etc.

The only successful extraterrestrial mission that I have completed so far is the lunar landing on the Mun, using the Munokhod I (credits to a friend of mine).

Anyways, I dream of landing on Duna, Eve, Jool and all those other cool planets, but I have no idea of how to create ships capable of interplanetary travel. Could somebody please help me out here? I could really use a good, sturdy ship.

-Cyber

[StormKat]

For me, Das explained it the best.

[tjsnh]

So here's a tip - I know it sounds cliche, but "less is more".

You can _easily_ get to eve and back with a mk1 pod, 2 fuel tanks (x200-8 + x200-16 , the two white "medium" size tanks), solar panels, and 1 nuclear engine.

I got my feet wet doing flyby missions - save the landers for when you get comfortable guestimating fuel needs. Figure out what you want to bring (career mode? capsule, chutes and such, science lab, goo, solar panels, maybe a few of the small science experiments attached to the capsule depending what you're at for tech level), and assuming it's light enough stick a medium amount of fuel and a nuclear engine. Then just make a booster to get it into orbit, and out of kerbin's SOI.

I know it's tempting to make this big huge monstrosity with 4 nuclear engines, 20 tons of fuel, and 10 solar panels - but really, when you're talking super long distance flights (jool flyby, etc) every gram of weight will cost you dearly in fuel - which then costs more fuel to move THAT fuel, etc etc.

[SpaceXray]

http://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/threads/104123-Orion-Duna-Ike-mission-pack-%282-launches%29

My double launch DUna mission with 2 identical landers, both able to land on Duna and Ike.

All the instructions and downloads are in the link.

Also, use this calculator for planetary transfers: ksp.olex.biz

[H2O.]

You can try my Kassandra, a good and small ship with a rover and a satellite. It comes with a manual.

[Vanamonde]

How about these?

[Captain Sierra]

@Cyberdragon1

From someone who has tried countless times, STAY IN ORBIT AT EVE. DO NOT ATTEMPT MANNED LANDING. Eve is unquestionably the hardest body to take off from. I have 400+ hours logged and have never made an Eve return mission. R.I.P. to the many brave kerbals that perished trying.

As for what you originally wanted, tjsnh was right. Less is more. Duna is close enough you do not need LV-Ns to go there. Eve too. Jool is a place you may want to bring the NTRs on your return stage. The LKO departure can be done with chemical rockets if you so desire, but the nukes are generally a good idea for the return transfer. My suggestion is a) find an online transfer calculator to get the dV for the transfer, and grab kerbal engineer to see your dV per stage and available once you make orbit.

Landing: for Duna, you need more dV than the Mun and about 3 times the TWR. LV909s and other vacuum engines work great in the rarified atmosphere. Bring lots of parachutes, especially drogues, and aim for lowlands if you can. Enough dV to go from Munar orbit to surface and back to LKO is enough dV for a Duna ascent.

[Red Dwarf]

I've always found it best to keep things small and simple. Ya don't need a whole lot, so long as you're clever with your flying.

The current workhorse of my fleet is the Jimmyjam. Two nukes, plenty of attachment points for modifications, and incredibly versatile. The Mk.1 had enough oomph to easily carry 25 tons to Duna. The Variant B carried a compact base and 12 Kerbals out to Gilly, which is no easy task. It got back on fumes, but it managed it.

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Really, the challenge to interplanetary flights comes from making your delta-v count. Leave during the correct window, try and get your encounter set up as early as possible, preferably while still in Kerbin orbit. I suggest setting your conic mode to zero in the config, so you can actually see you're encounter around the target planet. This really helps getting the encounter you want, it saves a lot of fuel adjusting the orbital plane later on, and it makes getting home easier. Burning for home from a polar orbit sucks. Once you get out there, you can save a lot of fuel by aerobraking around your target. This goes for coming home as well. You can also try using gravity assists, but they're finicky, and to be honest, I haven't mastered them yet.

Also, here are some handy tools for planning your interplanetary missions. This one is an aerobraking calculator. Just plug the appropriate numbers into the appropriate field, but always f5 for safety. This one is for finding out transfer windows. With these you don't have to be as exact. Once the planets are roughly in the right spot, burn when your ship is roughly where it says it should be. You can fiddle with the encounter to make it work. Good luck!

[problemecium]

As soon as I've properly gone interplanetary in the new KSP I'll be sure to come back and post something, but by then you'll probably have done the same yourself xP

[Joeypop123]

After countless attempts of building rockets, I usually get something gargantuan, huge and so on. When I launch them, they're, well, not designed properly (I'm a newbie to this game, you see) and they end up getting blown to bits in atmosphere, or they run out of fuel etc.

The only successful extraterrestrial mission that I have completed so far is the lunar landing on the Mun, using the Munokhod I (credits to a friend of mine).

Anyways, I dream of landing on Duna, Eve, Jool and all those other cool planets, but I have no idea of how to create ships capable of interplanetary travel. Could somebody please help me out here? I could really use a good, sturdy ship.

-Cyber

If you are having trouble bring up the debug menu and click infinite fuel