Mars Extended Mission

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A **Mars Extended Mission** is a mission where you leave Earth, land on Mars, liftoff, land or flyby on both of its moons (Phobos and Deimos), and come back. For a mission like this, a **TON** of fuel is needed.

## The Rocket

The rocket used for this mission is a 3-stage rocket, weighing about 1,600 tons. It consists of:

* Six Titan Engines with a 3×3 array of 12×16 fuel fanks for the first stage, which will almost reach orbit.
* Three Frontier Engines and two stacked 12×16 fuel tanks for the second stage, which propels the craft through space and lands on Mars.
* Three Frontier Engines, one 12×16 fuel tank, three Probes, one empty 12×8 fuel tank, and one 8-wide nose cone for the third stage, which lands on Mars' moons and returns to Earth.

A stack of a 12×8 fuel tank and one 8-wide nose cone is also placed on both sides of the first stage. RCS thrusters and large landing legs are on the second and third stage, while four emergency side parachutes (two on each side) are on the third stage.

## Liftoff and Climb

Set the throttle to 100%, and turn it on. For best results, the rocket needs to fly vertically until reaching 500 meters. At around 1,000 meters, when **Max Q** occurs, it is advised to throttle down to 80%, to reduce fuel waste from drag. After passing 2,000 meters, the engines can throttle back to 100% and continue to tilt slowly, reaching an angle of 75 degrees at 15 kilometers altitude.

Turn off the engines when the apogee is above the Karman Line, and wait until the rocket reaches the apogee. After that, burn prograde until you gain an orbit completely above the Karman Line. The second stage needs to reach orbit with at least 90% fuel.

## Mars

Click on Mars and press 'Navigate To'. Wait until Earth reaches 'Transfer Window', then if so, then wait until the rocket reaches 'Transfer Window'. If Earth is in the transfer window in the right time so wait the transfer window to pop up on your rocket. (This might be done before launch.)

If the Delta-V value is above zero, burn prograde until it disappears; if it is below zero, burn retrograde until it disappears.

Once the number disappears, check Mars. Do a tiny burn to set the flight path to intersect Mars' atmosphere. Then, wait until the rocket is near the periapsis. Do another tiny burn to adjust the periapsis to 8 kilometers above Mars's sea level. When the rocket begins to enter the atmosphere, turn straight up. If it is still turning, turn the rocket with RCS thrusters. Repeat this until the rocket enters a collision course with Mars.

### Mars Landing Burn

At 6.5 kilometers, burn retrograde until the horizontal velocity reaches 0 or near that number, then slowly turn vertical (if you are landing on Olympus Mons, do the landing burn at 9.5 to 10 kilometers instead). Deploy the landing legs and land safely on Mars, completing half of the mission. The second stage should land with very little fuel.

## Fly to Mars's Moons

Liftoff with 60 – 70% throttle and at 3–4 kilometers, turn to 45 degrees. Once the apoapsis is above the Martian Karman line, burn prograde (the second stage has already been jettisoned) until the periapsis is above the Martian Karman line. Set Phobos as a target planet and do the burn when you reach the transfer window.

Since Phobos has a tiny gravity, landing is very easy. Set the flight path to hit Phobos directly. When you are around 1.5 – 2 kilometers above Phobos, perform the landing burn and land.

Liftoff vertically with very little throttle and stop the burn when you achieve an escape trajectory. Set Deimos as a target planet and do the burn when you reach the transfer window. Set a direct crash trajectory with Deimos and do the landing burn at 1.5 kilometers, and land safely.

Liftoff vertically with very little throttle and stop the burn upon achieving escape trajectory. Upon escaping Deimos' gravity, you get an elliptical orbit. Burn retrograde at the apoapsis until the periapsis is about 300 kilometers. Repeat at periapsis to gain a near circular orbit.

## Fly back to Earth

Set Earth as a target and wait until your rocket and Mars are both at the transfer window. Burn prograde until the Delta V indicator disappears, then check Earth. Set the perigee to 15 kilometers and turn retrograde.

### Re-entry and landing burn

When the rocket enters the atmosphere, keep the landing legs retracted and the rocket facing retrograde. At around 2 kilometers, perform the landing burn, deploy the landing legs, and return safely to the Earth. If the third stage runs out of fuel before landing, deploy the parachutes. They will slow down your rocket to a safe speed.

## Important notes

* Quicksave every once in a while, so you won't have to start all over if you make a mistake.
* The flight path will fluctuate when travelling from Earth to Mars and vice versa. Since this doesn't occur during time warp, time warping actually solves the minor problem.
* Make sure you don't impact anything at a velocity of over 12 m/s, as this will break the landing legs, and could cause further damage if it is on a greater speed (20+ m/s).
	+ If the rocket is greater than that speed, it could be rendered unflyable.
* If the rocket has more than 20% fuel during re-entry, try burning the excess fuel. The third stage engines consume fuel pretty quickly.