The search for flat spots on bodies

[Justin Kerbice]

Hi everyone, not kind of easter find eggs play but close, could you post pictures here and location (from Mechjeb, VOID or other) of any flat spot you have found on Kerbin and also all others bodies (when it's relevant).

I'm playing with Kerbtown plug-in and want to add some runways/airfields here or there but flatness of the area is very critical to avoid to make big foundations to build thing on with either straight walls or big slope like the stock runway.

Flat doesn't mean low altitude, it could be on a 4000m high plateau too if it's wide/long enough.

For example, the "hand shaped" island near the south pole is (I guess as I've just explored a small part of it after flying over) perfectly flat yet.

I'm also looking for good spots on Mun for a (few) launchpad(s).

Thank you.

[Highlad]

I tend to fid some of the flattest spots on the mun are at the bottom of craters.

[Hans Dorn]

There's some flat spots on minimus

/Captain Obvious

[Iforgotthis]

I'm curious as to whether there are many flat spots on Duna. From experience: no. Duna is apparently one giant hill that never ends. But that's just what I've looked at so It'd be good to hear from others.

[RogueMason]

I'm curious as to whether there are many flat spots on Duna. From experience: no. Duna is apparently one giant hill that never ends. But that's just what I've looked at so It'd be good to hear from others.

Duna used to have awesome flats that made the planet far more interesting than its current iteration. They were a darker red than the rest of the planet, too, so it was quite easy to pick out a good landing spot from orbit. Currently, I haven't a clue as to whether Duna has any flats left, but I'm guessing it doesn't

Devs, if you're listening... well, I think you know what I want

[uui8457]

Whatever you do, don't go looking around duna's poles. On one of my recent missions I landed on both the north and the south pole. They are quite the opposite of flat. Pretty interesting though, I would recommend everyone to visit at least once.

[zekes]

Best tactic is land a rover, drive around untill you find a flat bit, then land the big ship there. Otherwize...

This happens.

[Merinsan]

Landing on the Mun used to be fairly easy - flat spots everywhere. Now, it's quite difficult to find flat spots. I've spent up to 5 minutes pushing the lander across the surface (like 100 meters up) looking for a suitable landing site at times.

[Pecan]

SCANSat mod if you want to find slopes (or their absence) for yourself.

KerbalMaps if you just want to look.

[EdFred]

Try to build lander a craft that can land on not so flat spots. Wider is better. I had the same problem early on. Everything would tip over. My last mission, I actually landed (and stayed) on the side of the canyon wall that is on the Far East Crater. Poor Bill tumbled on EVA, and slid all he way to the bottom of the canyon. But the lander stayed put. Was almost 45° angle

Edited April 21, 2014 by EdFred

[cantab]

There's a great long flat area on Kerbin just north of the launchpad

More seriously, on the Mun I recall landing on one of the nearside's maria and finding it impressively flat. Can't remember exactly where though.

[bsalis]

Couple of good places for a runway on Laythe...

http://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/threads/47979-Any-flat-spots-on-Laythe-the-length-of-a-runway-other-SSTO-questions?p=622357&viewfull=1#post622357

[Iforgotthis]

Duna used to have awesome flats that made the planet far more interesting than its current iteration. They were a darker red than the rest of the planet, too, so it was quite easy to pick out a good landing spot from orbit. Currently, I haven't a clue as to whether Duna has any flats left, but I'm guessing it doesn't

Devs, if you're listening... well, I think you know what I want

Well hot damn that sucks. Sometimes it's nice to have flat places, they're always nice...

[PUNiSH3R]

With respect to Duna and setting up bases: the best option I've found is to pre-land a small probe parallel to the dune ridges, scout a box canyon and pop smoke for your main lander; similar to the 'center of the crater' concept for Munar bases.