Voyager Mission Attempt(s) (WIP)

[CST-100]

Here is my 1st attempt (Failed)

My launcher is exactly at the weight limit with my recreation of the supplied probe. 3rd stage is slightly under fuelled in order to adhere to the 250 tonne limit.

On the launchpad.

Circularization burn.

Made it to orbit, just barely.

First stage and fairing seperation.

3rd stage ignition.

Aaand didn't make it.
Any advice on how I can improve is appreciated.

 

[Altaïr]

You're quite far, but I would say your launcher is an interesting basis.

First advice I would give is to merge the second and the third stage. Remove the Kolibri, and give the fuel to the second stage. The Kolibri is a good engine for small ships (20 tons and less), but for the Voyager quest it's not very good. The Valiant is way better in this case. And removing a Kolibri will allow you to re-add the fuel you had to remove.

Then the boosters and the first stage. You have a reasonable thrust at lift-off, but the boosters and the first stage have the same size, so finally they behave as a whole stage, they all run out of fuel at the same time. You should make the boosters shorter and move some fuel tanks from the boosters to the first stage. That way the boosters will assist your first stage at lift-off, and when your launcher becomes light enough a single engine is enough, so you can discard the boosters and some dead weight with them. I usually drop my boosters when I'm around 15 km of altitude. Then ideally your first stage should run out of fuel shortly before you reach orbit, and your second stage will finish the satellization.

From there you're ready to explore the stars.

Your trajectory to reach orbit is good, don't hesitate to be even more agressive on your trajectory to save a little fuel. With all this you should be good, I managed to do it myself by modifying your launcher

 

[CST-100]

Thanks Altair, I'll make the modifications and post my 2nd attempt here.

 

[CST-100]

SUCCESS!

The new rocket is a couple hundred kilograms below the limit.

We're back on the pad.

Circularization burn.

And we're done.

FIREEEEEEEEEEEE!

Yes.

And the situation at Mars level.
Seems like it should check out.

 

[Pink]

I see that you clipped some fuel tanks to fit the rocket in the build grid, that's totally fine but could you please post a picture of the clipped fuel tanks shown beside the rest of the rocket? Just would like a 100% clear picture.

 

[CST-100]

Alright

 

[Altaïr]

The launcher in itself looks good, but the Voyager probe itself lacks a fuel tank:

You sent the one below.

 

[CST-100]

My bad, appears to be a mistake recreating the probe. V3 coming right up

 

[Altaïr]

My bad, appears to be a mistake recreating the probe. V3 coming right up

No prob, I'm sure you're on a good way

 

[CST-100]

Welp, I can't seem to get it to work with the 5 tonnes of extra weight. Gonna need a bit of time with this attempt.

 

[CST-100]

Meanwhile I'll be doing the Space Station challenge in another thread to get some progress.

 

[Pink]

Remember that there's no rush.

 

[Blazer Ayanami]

Welp, I can't seem to get it to work with the 5 tonnes of extra weight. Gonna need a bit of time with this attempt.

No rush.

 

[CST-100]

After roughly 3 months since my last attempt, here is my final and victorious attempt at defeating this mission.

Here's my launcher, I took a healthy dose of inspiration from Altair's tutorial launcher but I tried my best to not outright copy his rocket.

We're on the pad.

Just after jettisoning the side boosters and fairing seperation.

I did not take any screenshots of the second stage but here's my third stage in orbit. I transferred a bit of fuel to it from the second stage.

Begun the escape burn.

And we have payload seperation and a look at our escape trajectory.

Here's the situation at Mars level. Slightly above the 7250m/s required for success.

 

[Pink]

Altaïr , what do you think?

 

[Altaïr]

Altaïr , what do you think?

There's more fuel and an additional stage, but that's still very close to my launcher to be honest. I would prefer a more original launcher, you already proved you were able to do it, you were already very close to the goal when the limit was still 250 tons. With those additional 15 tons it should be easy

 

[Pink]

So therefore, CST-100 please try make a rocket configuration that isn't inspired by the tutorial rocket.

 

[Orion belt inc]

No offense but this make my brain done hurt do to inefficiency but it’s still good next to some rockets