What planet (or moon) do you have the worst time landing on?

[Columbia]

Hello, forums!

Recently, I had gone to Laythe for my first Joolian expedition. After escaping from the notorious moon's sphere of influence (accidentally), I planned a second trajectory that will send the lander straight through Laythe to ensure that it lands. Unfortunately, that one archipelago area where the probe was to land was.. seriously not level.And by the point that I realized it, it was too late to change course.

The probe landed, but soon tore itself apart after tumbling despite my greatest efforts to save it.

Anyway, that was my story of the reason why I am never going to attempt landing on Laythe ever again.

So, what about you guys? What are the planets and moons that you despise landing on the most?

[SpenSpaceCorp]

Although it isn't a moon or planet so as to say, I always have difficulty when landing on Kerbol. Idk it could be the intense heat and energy, the strong gravity, or any factor really. I blame it on the pilot not being Jeb! Without his piloting skills, no craft stands a chance against landing on Kerbol. Only the amazing Jeb could pull it off (or make an even bigger explosion). Either way, it would be epic!

But in all seriousness, Tylo IMO is the worst for obvious reasons (high gravity with no atmosphere), but ESPECIALLY when one forgets a ladder!

Edited February 22, 2015 by SpenSpaceCorp

[Columbia]

Wow, Tylo sounds like a total nightmare to land on!

[Sidereus]

Tylo is definitely the worst. Moho is a close second, if only because it's a pain to get to.

[Othuyeg]

I use NEAR and once spent hours hopping around on Duna, trying to land a massive glider. Really hard, but ultimately fun and rewarding.

[Jouni]

Eve is the worst, if you intend to return to orbit. You usually land there with giant poorly maneuverable landers. Level ground is hard to find, and your giant lander may disintegrate, if it hits a slight slope at 3 m/s.

Tylo can be hard, if you use nuclear engines or try to be as efficient as possible. Otherwise it's just a fast-paced Mun landing.

[PB666]

Hello, forums!

Recently, I had gone to Laythe for my first Joolian expedition. After escaping from the notorious moon's sphere of influence (accidentally), I planned a second trajectory that will send the lander straight through Laythe to ensure that it lands. Unfortunately, that one archipelago area where the probe was to land was.. seriously not level.And by the point that I realized it, it was too late to change course.

The probe landed, but soon tore itself apart after tumbling despite my greatest efforts to save it.

http://i57.tinypic.com/2wns8dx.png

Anyway, that was my story of the reason why I am never going to attempt landing on Laythe ever again.

So, what about you guys? What are the planets and moons that you despise landing on the most?

Eve, easy, unless you want to go home.

Moho, give me a break, it only test the ability to stack dV

Tylo, Laythe, etc - not planets, all moons.

Jool is the hardest planet to not land on!

[WWEdeadman]

Jool, cause I always fall through (We need a Kerbal equivalent of the Twitch Kappa emote, btw...)

But seriously, I guess Tylo is always hard, because of high gravity and no athmosphere. Only landed a probe there once, and crashed another one before that, though. I'm sure I'd get a manned landing/return done quite easily.

In terms of returning, Eve is definitely the worst. I only managed to get a Kerbal back from there once.

[magnemoe]

Tylo is definitely the worst. Moho is a close second, if only because it's a pain to get to.

Yes, Tylo is hard, because of the huge gravity and the dV requirements. Laythe is not easy either because its so litle land and the land tend to be rugged, you also want to land close to water.

Eve has some of the same issues however easier to find good landing spots, main issue landing is that the parachute shock is so hard it might rip landers apart.

Takeoff from Eve is hard on the other hand

[katateochi]

Tylo, because even if you've calc'd the required dV and TWR so you know you have enough to land it still requires fairly careful timing and starting the burn much higher up than I'd usually expect.

[cicatrix]

I have to admit I've never been able to land on Tylo without MechJeb. Well, it was once, but I burned too much fuel and it wasn't enough to get back to orbit.

[DMSP]

Tylo and Laythe, but with Laythe I am pretty experienced. Typo has really high gravity and Laythe has little land.

[Frida Space]

For me, Laythe is probably the easiest moon to land on. Just stick a couple of parachutes, be careful to hit land and it's done, I rarely have to use a powered descent. For me, the hardest ones have to be Tylo (because of high gravity and no atmosphere, as a lot here already said) and Moho, just because it's a serious pain to reach. No matter how precisely I time my transfer orbit, I never get an encounter on the first try.

[Jouni]

Tylo, because even if you've calc'd the required dV and TWR so you know you have enough to land it still requires fairly careful timing and starting the burn much higher up than I'd usually expect.

You're just making the landing harder than necessary by trying to be efficient. Add an extra 500 m/s to the ship, and you can afford hovering in place for a minute.

Start from a 30 km orbit and make a short deorbiting burn 1/3 to 1/2 orbits before the landing site. Wait until you're around 1/5 orbits from the landing site, and reduce the speed to 1000 m/s. After that, you have three goals: kill as much horizontal speed as possible, keep the descent rate at 100 m/s, and keep the landing site roughly the same. The final 1-2 km can be mostly vertical, using short high-thrust burns to keep the time to impact at 10-15 seconds. Once you're below 50-100 m, you'll probably want to switch to constant thrust and get the descent rate to 5-6 m/s. With a decent TWR, you'll spend around 3000 m/s in what's essentially a fast-paced Mun landing.

[Scarecrow88]

Totally discounting how difficult some destinations can be to get to, for actual landing difficulty I cast another vote for Tylo for all the reasons previously stated.

[Mohole]

Tylo and Laythe, but with Laythe I am pretty experienced. Typo has really high gravity and Laythe has little land.

"Typo" The irony...

[Moon Goddess]

For me it seems the hardest one to land on is GP2, I just can't seem to find it anywhere.

[Red Iron Crown]

Body I've crashed the most times on while attempting to land: Kerbin

Body with my worst landing to crash ratio: Tylo

Body which is relatively easy to land on but I still seem to crash on a lot: Duna

[whiterafter]

Out of all the planets I've been to I should say Moho was the hardest. It was just very long to get to. I didn't do an efficient transfer. However once I was in orbit I easily landed. I used a tiny lander to maximize DV.

[Caelib]

Tylo is the most-difficult IMO because it requires the most delta-V of any moon to land upon. It also requires a significant TWR to slow down enough during descent.

[Hurry- Starfish!]

For me, Laythe is probably the easiest moon to land on.

I'm guessing you've never been to Gilly

[Renegrade]

I guess the people answering Tylo over Eve haven't considered that Squad has officially said 're-entry heat' and strongly hinted at aero failures. One-way Eve landers have the potential to be a lot more fun (in the Dwarf Fortress sense of the word) in "1.0"...

I practiced doing landings on Kerbin initially before doing a manned Mun landing (like NASA did, only I didn't have a special little jet engine to neutralize most of Kerbin's gravity), so high grav became kinda second nature.. (it helped with the Mun too. The probes I'd been sending around the system had a very poor survival ratio on landings at that stage, but the manned Mun landings went off without a hitch)

I'm guessing you've never been to Gilly

Meh, I think Minmus-level worlds are actually easier than Gilly. Once you get below a certain level, the low gravity can start being a liability (or perhaps 'annoyance' is a better term)... Land, dammit!

[*Aqua*]

Mun

I can't count how many landers I lost there. Even after a lot of time playing KSP I usually still crash into the surface. It seems I underestimate my speed most of the time leading to a too late breaking maneuver.

[Starwhip]

Tylo and Laythe, but with Laythe I am pretty experienced. Typo has really high gravity and Laythe has little land.

"Typo" The irony...

*dying of laughter*

Oh, boy.

Well, I've only ever landed on a few planets and moons... I dislike Gilly because of the INSANE time it takes to land because of the low gravity and no timewarp. Physics Warp doesn't help.

Wish I knew about the tracking center thing when I did my mission there.

[Renegrade]

Well, I've only ever landed on a few planets and moons... I dislike Gilly because of the INSANE time it takes to land because of the low gravity and no timewarp. Physics Warp doesn't help.

Wish I knew about the tracking center thing when I did my mission there.

Oooh I'd be careful with on-rails warping - you could crash into terrain that isn't there or something from the command center.

I DO wish that Squad would push the warp regimes down to ground level...at least the 10x one :/