I'm pretty good at SFS and have a mind for low mass missions, so when I saw the voyager quest challenge, I wanted to see how far I could take it. The total launch mass of the rocket is just under 200 tons. It has 3 stages, where all engines burn simultaneously and fuel is transferred to the upper stages. This saves 8 tons of engines.
Aside from the non standard staging, the rocket flies a normal, efficient gravity turn to low Earth orbit.
With 30% fuel left in the second stage, the craft waits for the right time to begin the escape burns. The burn is split in two to maximize the oberth effect. The first burn uses all of the fuel of the second stage. On the next orbit, the third stage continues to push the probe until it too runs out of fuel, placing Voyager on a Solar escape trajectory.
Aside from the non standard staging, the rocket flies a normal, efficient gravity turn to low Earth orbit.
With 30% fuel left in the second stage, the craft waits for the right time to begin the escape burns. The burn is split in two to maximize the oberth effect. The first burn uses all of the fuel of the second stage. On the next orbit, the third stage continues to push the probe until it too runs out of fuel, placing Voyager on a Solar escape trajectory.
