phemark

Thanks for all the answers everybody! I really learned a lot! As for science, it's a pity that it was left on the ground capsule. But it will be an opportunity for me to make another trip to get it back:) (and practice quite hard landing on the exact same spot on Duna - more practice for me). I now understand gravity turns, aerobraking, landing, launch much better thanks to you all. 1) However, I still cant read those deltaV maps. For instance here: http://i.imgur.com/UUU8yCk.png . I understand everything up to Kerbin escape. But then it says that it needs only 130 to get to Duna's SOI and another 250 to orbit it. Do I understand this correctly? Is this true then? Would I only need that little deltaV if I were to transfer from Minmus orbit? (I always transfered from ~600km orbit (so to fastforward faster), but it took much more than 130 to get to Duna's SOI). And to end, couple of in-game questions: 2) Can I move camera freely? I know how to change focus to different objects, but how can I change focus to Apoepsis, or some other points in space? 3) Can I fastwordard faster at lower orbits? For instance, I have to make Kerbin orbit at 600km+, to use 100k x fast-forward. And also, is 1000k x fast-forward available? Thanks! P.S. In the future, KSP should allow transmitting of data using unmanned pods and antennae (I thought it would work, but it didnt, as one of you explained ).

Good news! I managed to land or Duna, next to my first ship! I picked up Kerbal and lifted to Duna orbit. I am now at 70km circular orbit, and have 1200 deltaV. Is this enough to get back home? Or will I need to send another ship? P.S. I had a lot of science on stranded Kerbal, however now, when I check him, he doesnt have anything - where did all science disappear?

Thanks for the answers guys, really appreciate it. So, I created a probe, and sent it to the stranded Kerbal to allow him to send some data. However, when I walk to the probe, I cannot do anything apart Deploy Shute, or raise legs: Was I wrong to think that this would allow to transmit data? (There is some electric charge there, and antenna retracts fine)

Hey all, I started playing a few weeks back, but really starting to get into KSP just now. I've build several ships that can go to and back from Mun/Minmus (with a few explosions and failed landings, but I guess that’s standard ). Yesterday I installed MechJab, and noticed that one of my crafts have deltaV of 9400 (in atmosphere), so I decided to fly to Duna. Having read a bit, I knew that I needed a certain angle before I started burning. Having reached that angle, I checked with Mechjab if it’s ok (but I always use my maneuvers, and just used MechJab for checking). I then burned and transferred to Duna’s SOI with ~2200 deltaV remaining. I thought that it will be a good place to use a couple of techniques that I read on the net. I decided to use both aerobraking and gravity assist to slow my ship down. (I saved here, because I had a feeling that might fail a few times ). Now this might be wrong, so please correct me, but this is what I've done: I made a maneuver so that I hit Duna from the "right hand" side - the side that Duna is going forwards to, because I think that’s how gravity assists works for slowing down. I also made periapsis to be ~15k, to slow me down a lot, but not land. It worked fine and I ended up with orbit around Duna. (However, I tried this several times, as periapsis of 11k landed me in Duna, and periapsis of 20k just overshot me, so trial and error. Is there a way to know this?). Having gotten to an orbit around Duna, I proceeded to go to Ide and land there. By doing this, I tried as much as possible to save enough fuel for going back, but the most I had was ~600 deltaV when I came back to Duna’s orbit. And that wasn’t enough for my maneuvers to get back to Kerbin (I even checked with MechJab, but it needed more deltaV too…). So I decided to land on Duna, gather more science. And wait. (Forgot an antenna, so couldn't transmit, doh...). Next, I'm thinking of sending a drone with an antenna, to transfer science back. Then, I'll send a rescue mission for that Kerbal (haven’t done one of them yet). So yea, I’m starting to get some fun . So, based on my story, there are a few things I'd like to ask. 1) Is anything I described above bad practice? What steps could be improved? 2) How to know how deep to go to aerobrake? 3) Was my grafity assisted slowing down done correctly? Is it noticeable? 4) What is the most fuel efficient way to land - go straight down and burn, or go horizontally and burn then? 4) Lifting up from moons and returning to planet orbit - do I do in one go, or do i get orbit, and then burn for another planet orbit? At what point to burn to use least amount of fuel? 5) What deltaV I need for a safe return trip to land on Duna and back? Thanks!