What is the best way to go to Minmus and back?

[AyZix]

Should I do an upgraded version of my Mun rocket or something totally different?

[kbmodigity]

If you can go to the mun you should be good to go to minmus as far as d/v. Even more so if it is a mun lander.

[Axe]

It depends on how much fuel u have when u return from mun. U need a bit more fuel to get tu minmus, but orbit and escape velocities on minmus are lower.

[maculator]

An eliptical orbit arround kerbin in the right orientaiton. At AP you change inclination to match the one of minmus and at PE you accelerate out to minmus.
(Thats too complicated to do it everyday so skip it)

Try to com infront of minmus to let it do a bit of the breaking for you.

Then change you AP and inclination to desired values while beeing far away from it.

Complete your orbit, land, do stuff.

Go back to a ~6km orbit and "drop" behind minmus when going back. With aerobreaking it should not take more than 200-something DV to get back home.

[AyZix]

minmus has an atmosphere???

[alan85224]

Aerobraking on KERBAL!

[Elementus]

AyZix původně napsal:

minmus has an atmosphere???

no

[☭Woodsman☭]

I tend to pack a little extra fuel in case of trouble and have always been able to get to Minmus with anything I built for Mun missions. If you can't you shouldn't need to add much to yours to get the extra DV

[Gralzeim]

Compared to the Mun, Minimus is much easier to land on due to its much lower gravity. Should need far less fuel to land than you would need for the Mun.

[Venusgate]

Also, you might not even need the same landing gear/stable design on minmus. It takes a lot more to tip. So if you have some pesky lander legs, consider leaving them at home and trusting your SAS :P

[RoofCat]

a) check Minmus orbital time. Ingame info, google. Twice in ~50 days Minmus is in an equatorial position in respect to Kerbin. Flight to Minmus takes ~8 days. Just compare that to Minmus orbital period, "divide" the orbital circle and launch 8 days before Minmus gets to that equatorial spot. Spend some time on LKO to wait for the best moment. Use test nodes.

b) twice a day you can launch from KSC with like 8°(?) angle N or S (depends on side) and have an orbit around Kerbin with roughly the same inclination Minmus has. Which allows you to target Minmus at any given moment. You may still need a small inclination adjustment on orbit due to time/angle inaccuracies, but it will be really cheap, like 1..2° and give you much wider window even if you would decide to go without adjustments.

Minmus flight is much "cheaper" than Mun if you do it right. Same Mun lander can do 2..3 landings on different biomes on Minmus without refuelling because of the ridiculous low gravity. Eva astronaut can land from orbit and get back to ship there just using his jetpack.

[Lunacy]

You'll use a LOT less fuel landing on minmus than the Mun, and not that much more to get to it in the first place. As long as you can get to orbit in kerbin with a decent tank leftover to thrust out to Minmus then you should be good.

[Toastie Buns]

RoofCat původně napsal:

a) check Minmus orbital time. Ingame info, google. Twice in ~50 days Minmus is in an equatorial position in respect to Kerbin. Flight to Minmus takes ~8 days. Just compare that to Minmus orbital period, "divide" the orbital circle and launch 8 days before Minmus gets to that equatorial spot. Spend some time on LKO to wait for the best moment. Use test nodes.

This is what I do. I use the Mun's orbit line as my 0 degree (equatorial) reference, spin the map until I find the two points at where Minmus's orbit line intersects that and then all you need to know is where Minmus is to start burning in which direction is favourable. Nodes be damned, this is level 1 tracking station tips :D

[Trixi]

every rocket that can land on mun, can land on minmus easily. you take some more delta-v to get there, but as Minmus has less of gravity, orbiting and landing is much easier.

maybe you should put some heatshield back for your return to kerbin, as you get much higher speed from falling to the earth.

[TurdBurglar]

Set it as your target. Burn so the acending node reads nearly 0. Prograde when it looks as if minmus is just above the horizon. Retro grade minmus. Land.

[RoofCat]

Toastie Buns původně napsal:

RoofCat původně napsal:

a) check Minmus orbital time. Ingame info, google. Twice in ~50 days Minmus is in an equatorial position in respect to Kerbin. Flight to Minmus takes ~8 days. Just compare that to Minmus orbital period, "divide" the orbital circle and launch 8 days before Minmus gets to that equatorial spot. Spend some time on LKO to wait for the best moment. Use test nodes.

This is what I do. I use the Mun's orbit line as my 0 degree (equatorial) reference, spin the map until I find the two points at where Minmus's orbit line intersects that and then all you need to know is where Minmus is to start burning in which direction is favourable. Nodes be damned, this is level 1 tracking station tips :D

there's actually the third option too to go to Minmus since we are talking serious business here :)
I initially omitted it due to more advanced approach. So, this is what I have done a few times:

c) Mun slingshot to Minmus. So far nothing special. The usual reach Mun, get propelled to Minmus for free. The main thing though - Mun not just adds to the velocity. It can also considerably boost your inclination, shift from equatorial - just in a mirrored direction. So in case Minmus is higher, just target Mun slightly below equator and it will throw you up. You need just a slight offset to get much higher jump at Minmus orbit.
The bad thing is that trajectory may take almost twice as much time to reach Minmus and is a bit hard to set up. But it saves some fuel and often lets you get to Minmus sooner than waiting for equatorial position without wasting too much on inclination.
While for me - I just considered it entertaining.