The Basic Example Rocket may appear to be exactly what the name says, but it has quite a bit more performance than you would expect. So what can it do? With a good ascent, there's enough performance to go beyond LEO, so go see where you can take it.
For my mission, I attempted to maximize the number of landings while making it back to Earth. I may leave my astronauts in minuscule capsules for decades, but I always bring them back eventually
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I begin with the unmodified Basic Example rocket, taking it on a very shallow ascent profile because it ends with high TWR. I reach orbit with 19% fuel remaining.
The target is the easiest place to land, the captured asteroid. To save fuel, a lunar gravity assists is used to reduce the transfer burn, taking the rocket to an intercept at the asteroid's apoapsis. This encounter location reduces the insertion burn cost. After a burn to encounter the asteroid, I perform the landing.
Without delay, I take off from the asteroid. The gravity is so low that I didn't even need to use the engine, using the reaction wheels to push off the ground was enough to escape. But with all this fuel margin, we're not heading back to Earth yet. Instead, I wait in this orbit for almost a year more. Once the orbits align, I lower my periapsis to get a lunar gravity assist that sends the rocket flying out to a higher orbit. This maneuver brings the aphelion nearly to Mars, but it's not quite enough. Therefore I do a small powered assist frighteningly close to the moon to increase my velocity the last bit.
Lining this all up with Mars in the right place would mean centuries of wait, so instead I wait a few years in solar orbit for a free Mars encounter. I set up an aerobrake to slow down without fuel, but in the retrograde direction.
While it was as toasty as possible, the aerobrake pass was not enough to enter Mars orbit. Most people would settle to use the engine to finish the orbit, but I'm not most people. Instead, I perfected the aerobrake to put the rocket on a resonant orbit with Mars, so it would get another encounter in exactly one Martian year. This orbit alignment needed the first pass to be retrograde. On this second pass, another aerobrake is enough to capture into Martian orbit without any fuel use. After that, I perform a third aerobrake, which takes the rocket directly to a good Phobos encounter.
After a quick engine burn, I complete the second landing of the mission. There isn't much fuel left, but it's enough to get back. I use a small engine burn to head back to Mars orbit. However, having enough fuel is not the astro way. To prevent the travesty of having even the tiniest fuel margins, I gamble a third destination, Deimos.
Once I encounter Deimos, I directly land like I did on Phobos and the asteroid. Now the fuel is really tight, but I am in a higher orbit of Mars, so escape will be slightly easier. After taking off into Mars orbit, I attempted the Earth transfer. I was able to get all the way to an Earth encounter, but I ran out of fuel before I could bring the periapsis to the atmosphere. Even worse, Mars was already near it's aphelion, so the transfer burn was as small as it could get. But luckily, there is another way to get back which is just barely better than a direct transfer. I load my last quicksave to make a bi-ecliptic transfer. By counterintuitively lowering my Mars periapsis, I make the burn back to Earth cheaper since it maximizes the Oberth effect. This method is just barely better for returning from Deimos, but it is just enough to head home.
For my mission, I attempted to maximize the number of landings while making it back to Earth. I may leave my astronauts in minuscule capsules for decades, but I always bring them back eventually
.I begin with the unmodified Basic Example rocket, taking it on a very shallow ascent profile because it ends with high TWR. I reach orbit with 19% fuel remaining.
The target is the easiest place to land, the captured asteroid. To save fuel, a lunar gravity assists is used to reduce the transfer burn, taking the rocket to an intercept at the asteroid's apoapsis. This encounter location reduces the insertion burn cost. After a burn to encounter the asteroid, I perform the landing.
Without delay, I take off from the asteroid. The gravity is so low that I didn't even need to use the engine, using the reaction wheels to push off the ground was enough to escape. But with all this fuel margin, we're not heading back to Earth yet. Instead, I wait in this orbit for almost a year more. Once the orbits align, I lower my periapsis to get a lunar gravity assist that sends the rocket flying out to a higher orbit. This maneuver brings the aphelion nearly to Mars, but it's not quite enough. Therefore I do a small powered assist frighteningly close to the moon to increase my velocity the last bit.
Lining this all up with Mars in the right place would mean centuries of wait, so instead I wait a few years in solar orbit for a free Mars encounter. I set up an aerobrake to slow down without fuel, but in the retrograde direction.
While it was as toasty as possible, the aerobrake pass was not enough to enter Mars orbit. Most people would settle to use the engine to finish the orbit, but I'm not most people. Instead, I perfected the aerobrake to put the rocket on a resonant orbit with Mars, so it would get another encounter in exactly one Martian year. This orbit alignment needed the first pass to be retrograde. On this second pass, another aerobrake is enough to capture into Martian orbit without any fuel use. After that, I perform a third aerobrake, which takes the rocket directly to a good Phobos encounter.
After a quick engine burn, I complete the second landing of the mission. There isn't much fuel left, but it's enough to get back. I use a small engine burn to head back to Mars orbit. However, having enough fuel is not the astro way. To prevent the travesty of having even the tiniest fuel margins, I gamble a third destination, Deimos.
Once I encounter Deimos, I directly land like I did on Phobos and the asteroid. Now the fuel is really tight, but I am in a higher orbit of Mars, so escape will be slightly easier. After taking off into Mars orbit, I attempted the Earth transfer. I was able to get all the way to an Earth encounter, but I ran out of fuel before I could bring the periapsis to the atmosphere
. Even worse, Mars was already near it's aphelion, so the transfer burn was as small as it could get. But luckily, there is another way to get back which is just barely better than a direct transfer. I load my last quicksave to make a bi-ecliptic transfer. By counterintuitively lowering my Mars periapsis, I make the burn back to Earth cheaper since it maximizes the Oberth effect. This method is just barely better for returning from Deimos, but it is just enough to head home.
