KerbalX

Changes from Block 11
1) Relocated the small fuel tank to the bottom.
2) Changed the 4 outer engines for the Mamooth module, reducing weight by 1t.
3) Added number 9 action group to activate/deactivate 4 engines, leaving 1 engine to reduce speed for landing.

4) Booster can land in water and be recovered. Changes made to the flight manual to easily achieve this. Also check the flight envelop for the limitations.

Overall changes from Block 11 are slightly weight reduction. Altought all the Kerbol 9 booster can land on water, the changes made to this block make the aqualanding easier.
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Kerbol 9 Block 12

Fully reusable booster with a payload of 17 tons to an 80 km orbit around Kerbin. Since the vanilla/stock game doesn’t allow to switch vehicles inside the atmosphere, the booster delivers the payload to a circularized orbit and then performs reentry (See Flight Manual for details). The design philosophy comes from this constrain. Inspiration came from the Falcon 9 rocket.
To stay organized, I’m using my own way of the Block designation. For me, Block 1 to 9 are prototypes. Block 10 and above are final versions. I know that the booster has room for improvement, so future version may come in the near future.
I’m relative new to KSP, but I wanted to share it and I wanted the booster to be easy to use to new players too.
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Kerbol 9 Block 12 Flight Manual

1) Press “T” to activate Stability Assist “SAS” and press “Z” for full throttle. Then spacebar to launch
2) Mantain vertical ascent, and keep speed under 200 m/s below 8 km
3) Full throttle after 8km and keep vertical ascent
4) At 16 km rotate to 45°. If the payload is giving control issues, the Reaction Control RC can be activated.
5) At 35 km or when apoapsis is 60 km, rotate to 0° (horizontal)
6) Cut engines when apoapsis is 80 km
7) Circularize orbit and release payload (Now you have 2 ships, booster and payload. Next steps will cover booster reentry)
8) Put the booster in retrograde and select a flat place to land. Perform the burn to bring the booster to the atmosphere
9) Press number “1” to deploy the airbrakes. It is recomended to do the reentry sideways at 90°. The booster will stabilize itself, without SAS active, during reentry.
10) Deploy parachutes when speed is below 300 m/s and press “G” to lower the landing gear. Before touching down, activate the Reaction Control “RC” and SAS. The landing lights can be used to check ground proximity. To activate them press number 2. When the ground starts to be iluminated with a red glow, it’s time to activate RC and SAS.
11) If landed on water: Booster empty there is no problem. Booster with fuel remaining must be landed below 6 m/s. With action group 9 four engines can be deactivated for better retroboost control.
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Flight Envelope

-Payload is set to 17 t maximum to give new players room for error
-Payload must be firmly attatched to avoid control problems
-Never Exceed Speed during reentry: 2500 m/s (tested up to 2600 m/s)
-Reentry can be done at any angle, even with the booster tumbling out of control. Assuming worst case scenario (no fuel, no RCS and low battery); with the airbrakes deployed, the booster will stabilize itself during reentry to a tail forward position for landing.
-Booster can land with fuel reserves (tested with reserves after an empty payload flight)
-Stable landing can be guaranteed in terrain inclinations up to 10° maximum (higher inclinations can be achieved by transfering all the fuel to the lowest tank, but it’s not guaranteed)
- Landing in water is possible under the next conditions: If the booster is empty of fuel there is no problem. However if there is fuel remaining, retroboost must be performed to decrease speed. For this porpouse action group 9 deactivates 4 engines and allows to fine tune the retroboost. The maximum touchdown speed is around 6 m/s, above that the booster will be destroyed.
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A stock rocket called Kerbol 9 Block 12 (Payload 17t). Built with 137 of the finest parts, its root part is HECS2.ProbeCore.

Built in the VAB in KSP version 1.8.1.

Details

• Type: VAB
• Class: lifter
• Part Count: 137
• Pure Stock