To Mercury and Back

[TheLocalWeaponsDesigner]

This mission is fairly simple but takes a lot of fuel. All you need to do is land safely on Mercury and come back, can't be too hard, right?
Infinite build space is allowed, no other cheats though.
Part clipping is allowed, but engine stretching and no engine heat are not.
All engines are allowed.
Intentionally damaging parts to slow down is allowed, as long as you can get to Mercury and back with the capsule intact.

 

[Catalyst_Kh]

With gravity assist navigation plan it takes only little amount of fuel.

At Normal level of game difficulty a small rocket from Earth can deliver lander to Mercury and lander will have enough fuel to get back to Earth.
At realistic level of difficulty it would require at least two launches from Earth with big rockets, connected in Earth's orbit before departure. And if launcher is not that big, then 3 or 4 launches connected in orbit.

 

[TheLocalWeaponsDesigner]

With gravity assist navigation plan it takes only little amount of fuel.

At Normal level of game difficulty a small rocket from Earth can deliver lander to Mercury and lander will have enough fuel to get back to Earth.
At realistic level of difficulty it would require at least two launches from Earth with big rockets, connected in Earth's orbit before departure. And if launcher is not that big, then 3 or 4 launches connected in orbit.

I didn't even think about gravitational assists, I just went straight from Earth to Mercury. That is a good idea though, I should try it next time.

 

[Catalyst_Kh]

Try it in every journey, if there is a way for this in your particular mission, it is just very fun at least, besides fuel saving.

This will help you to stage navigation for multiple gravity assists:
[BETA] ANAIS: Advanced NAvigation Innovative System
Closest approach line

It works only in steam version. But for mobile version you can do manual calculations with any calc sheets like Excel.

 

[Altaïr]

Infinite build area allowed? Why, I didn't need that much!
Mercury mission

 

[Catalyst_Kh]

Infinite build area allowed? Why, I didn't need that much!
Mercury mission

That was wonderful mission!

Though i would optimize farings and connectors mass and would decrease drag in this way:

Fairings are lighter than connectors and separators, so this variation allows to fit almost +1 ton of fuel in the same <100 weight limitation. Plus pushing less weight to Mercury (fairing instead of connector) would save some more fuel along the way.

 

[SHΔRD Aerospace]

That was wonderful mission!

Though i would optimize farings and connectors mass and would decrease drag in this way:

View attachment 101880

Fairings are lighter than connectors and separators, so this variation allows to fit almost +1 ton of fuel in the same <100 weight limitation. Plus pushing less weight to Mercury (fairing instead of connector) would save some more fuel along the way.

Altaïr's rocket was built before fairings could adapt to fuel tanks

 

[Altaïr]

Altaïr's rocket was built before fairings could adapt to fuel tanks

That wouldn't have been such a problem, but that rocket was also built before the reentry update. Now that ship could not return.

 

[SHΔRD Aerospace]

That wouldn't have been such a problem, but that rocket was also built before the reentry update. Now that ship could not return.

that as well

 

[Catalyst_Kh]

Even not adapted fairing still can replace connector port or separator.

 

[Catalyst_Kh]

That wouldn't have been such a problem, but that rocket was also built before the reentry update. Now that ship could not return.

There is no problem at all - now you can just replace parachute with heat shield and that is all. Parachute is not needed at all for such high twr lander after descent on the ground of Earth. 1% or 2% of feul left replaces parachute easily.

 

[SHΔRD Aerospace]

There is no problem at all - now you can just replace parachute with heat shield and that is all. Parachute is not needed at all for such high twr lander after descent on the ground of Earth. 1% or 2% of feul left replaces parachute easily.

NASA definitely won't hire you if you do things that risky XD

 

[Catalyst_Kh]

NASA definitely won't hire you if you do things that risky XD

But Elon Musk might.

 

[Altaïr]

Ok, I've attempted the challenge:

That should be enough, we are far from needing infinite build area.

First step is to burn to Venus as usual. I used ANAIS, but it was not that easy in fact, ANAIS isn't optimized for this: when I target Venus it also tries to minimize the cost of insertion in Venus orbit, but it's not the purpose. But I still managed to find an interesting configuration:


Then the burn itself:


With the first Venus encounter, I have the opportunity to destroy the second stage (shame on me, it still had plenty of fuel!) and drop a probe on that hellish planet:


During this time, the first gravity assist is adjusted to chain a second gravity assist:


Then with the second gravity assist, I'm on my way to Mercury:


Now it's just a matter of chaining the gravity assists with Mercury:


A perfect gravity assist is when you nearly scratch the paint


After several assists...


And landing:


To be continued on the next post for the return trip!

 

[Altaïr]

Now the return trip! First step, join back the ship left in orbit:


Then the lander is detached and deorbited:


But I thought I would have more fuel left, so I'll have to chain some gravity assists again. This is painful, but I finally manage to reach Venus:


The green line allows me to get easily an encounter, then a single fly-by is largely enough to reach Earth level:


Last step is to find a cheap encounter with Earth because I don't have much fuel left, but it's easily doable:


Finally...


And the loooong mission log:


Mission accomplished

 

[Catalyst_Kh]

That was very beautiful mission!
And ship's designs are very beautiful!