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Unfortunately, while it is possible to attain orbit, the first stage is left on a suborbital trajectory that falls short of the next continent, and would therefore require either a wasteful boost-back burn, or a laborious drone ship landing. Pictured here is the stage required to take this to orbit. This showcases the limitations of these type of reusable upper stages in that for an expected LKO burn, the corresponding size of payload often necessitate an excessively large first stage. The fuel tanks being used here, are, admittedly, much more than I need for the 10-15,000 kg payload range however, they are what would be necessary for interplanetary transfers of such payloads.įor going on to low Kerbin orbit (LKO), then, using a more powerful second stage motor such as the Skipper, we can see larger payloads onto the typically 900-1300 m/s range orbital insertion burns. Normally, the Poodle or the Wolfhound (DLC) are up to the job. In terms of engine choice, it depends mostly on the intended payload. Probably the simplest way to do this is to throw some parachutes on it, and make sure to leave enough fuel in the upper stage for it to deorbit. Now that we know that we need a tapered upper stage, we can start thinking about how we might go about recovering it. For ease of recovery, parachutes could be used.īecause most payloads are not large enough to allow for the fairing to be pulled over it without staging the fairing (and losing it), the trunk section where the fairing meets the vehicle needs to be tapered outwards. The solution to this problem is to invert the fairing so that it extends downward over the payload, and therefore can be yanked off once the vehicle leaves the thicker part of the atmosphere. Considering that in normal missions, the fairings are completely discarded (except for the relatively inexpensive root part), this seems a bit of a waste. With larger payloads, this becomes a serious contributor to the cost of the rocket. With an example fairing extended forward, we see the price rises to 1378. Instead, it is the fairing extensions themselves. Looking at the cost in KSP of the 2.5-meter size, it is not readily apparent why this would also be a concern in-game.Īs we can see above, the cost is only 600 while this is not exactly cheap compared to many other parts on rockets at the 5th tech level, what really makes the fairings expensive is not the root part. In the news recently has been reporting about SpaceX’s recovery of payload fairings. Previously, this had been a problem, because it resulted in large oscillations and eventual loss of control of the vehicle during the launching phase. Fortunately, this solves the problem of weakness in the interstage area. As we see here, in building the rocket, we would need to clip the probe core and battery along with the strengthening struts into the first stage. Unlike before, in my previous guide, this requires either part clipping or use of the structural tubes that come with the Making History expansion DLC. Alternatively, we could have used a Probodobodyne OKTO.īesides the significant reduction in price, the decreased mass of these last two options will serve to open up more margin in order to accommodate heavier payloads, etc. Not only that, but it is more achievable in a career mode world. Here, we see that the cost can be reduced to 3,368, and the mass to 0.650 metric tons.This is a relatively large difference in mass, and the smaller assembly is definitely cheaper. If we forego the reaction wheels, decrease the battery size, and use a smaller probe core, we can slash this significantly. Looking at the probe core from the first stage of the rocket I made for the previous guide on the subject, we can see that it and the other components required for reuse of the vehicle lend a combined mass of over two metric tons, and a net cost of over 16,000. Impacts of Reduced Control Authority on First Stage Vertical Propulsive LandingsĬonfiguration of the Probe Core and Related Peripherals.Configuration of the Probe Core and Related Peripherals.