Traveling Around the Kerbol System
Want to travel around the Kerbol system but don't know how to start? No worries! I will teach you how to go to another Celestial Body while being efficient at the same time. Let's jump in!
This page assumes that you have already traveled and landed on the Mun and Minmus. You can find some tutorials here if you haven't:
- Mun For Dummies: Travelling to the Mun and Back by nicnacnic (For Version 1.0 to 1.2)
- Traveling to Minmus by craigmt1
Contents
Specifications
- Length: 15 minutes - 1 hour
- Difficulty: Moderate
- For Version: 1.0 to 1.2
- Recommended Delta-V: ~3,500
- ~1,500 to ~2,500 for Interplanetary Transfer
- ~1,500 to get into orbit
Additionally, you will need an understanding of orbital mechanics (see Tutorials section), maneuver nodes, angles, and a lot of patience.
Planning Your Trip
Where to go First?
It is best to first go to Duna because of many reasons. It has an atmosphere similar to Kerbin's which is suitable for aerobraking and parachutes. It is also Kerbin's nearest neighbor and possess a moon similar to the Mun: Ike.
You can find a tutorial to go to Duna here.
Rocket Requirements
To go to another Celestial Body, there are some essential requirements that you should have on EVERY interplanetary rocket.
- Parachutes (required for a return to Kerbin)
- Solar Panels and Batteries (especially for probes)
- An Efficient Engine (The Poodle engine or the Nuclear engine should do just fine)
- Fuel (Use AT LEAST a Rockomax Jumbo fuel tank or equivalent)
- Reaction Wheels (The ones in each capsule would work also)
- An Antenna (For communications (ESPECIALLY for probes in Version 1.2))
- Docking Port (This is not required, but is strongly recommended in case you get stranded in orbit)
Planetary Alignment
Make sure your target planet is ALIGNED with Kerbin. Or else, you could be drifting for years and wasting fuel until they happen to match up.
- Phase Angle
- The angle from Kerbin to Kerbol to your destination planet. This could be in front or behind you.
