Simple and Easy ways to test Eve -capable spacecraft

[Coga19000]

Here are some tricks I have found, by my experience, for easily testing possible design for Eve landers and such. I will extend this as I progress with my own Eve journey.

1. Landing to orbit around Kerbin requires around 4500 m/s of Delta -v, while both escape trajectory out of Kerbin and acquiring an orbit around Eve require exactly double that amount. Using MechJeb to calculate that is cool, but generally a lander that can achieve a 105 kilometer orbit (Eve's atmosphere stops at 96, but better be safe) and inject itself to interplanetary space all by itself from the surface to Kerbin should be a capable Eve lander.

2. Eve's pressure at sea level is 5atm. However, this doesn't mean you only need five times less parachutes unless you actually land at sea level, which will make it much harder to ascend later. But no mountain is as high as 10 kilometers either, which has a pressure of 1atm, so you still will need less parachutes. A good calculation therefore is middle ground. Again, test on Kerbin ; achieve orbit with the lander (we've already checked that it is more than capable of doing so), then deorbit it multiple times with a varying amount of parachutes . When it can barely land without breaking its landing legs, remove around 1/4 to 1/3 of the chutes (you have to compensate for the fuel weight you burnt during ascent)

3. Taking of from Eve can also be a challenge. Generally, an Eve lander has to be able to takeoff from Kerbin with 50% thrust or less. Therefore, it needs a TWR of around 2.25-3 on the surface of Kerbin.

[Kelderek]

For parachutes, just use KSP Parachute Calculator and be sure to select Eve.

To test landing and ascent from Eve, why do that on Kerbin when you can test it on Eve directly using hyperedit? Use hyperedit to put your lander in low orbit of Eve or into an orbit in the atmosphere if you don't want to practice de-orbit burns - any altitude inside the atmosphere will eventually bring you to the surface so you can test your parachutes and landing gear. After you land safely, then you can test your ascent.

[nekogod]

For parachutes, just use KSP Parachute Calculator and be sure to select Eve.

To test landing and ascent from Eve, why do that on Kerbin when you can test it on Eve directly using hyperedit? Use hyperedit to put your lander in low orbit of Eve or into an orbit in the atmosphere if you don't want to practice de-orbit burns - any altitude inside the atmosphere will eventually bring you to the surface so you can test your parachutes and landing gear. After you land safely, then you can test your ascent.

Some people may not want to use mods or may want a totally cheat free game as hyperedit really breaks immersion.

Other people may even want to role play building and testing various iterations of potential landers before making the trip

[Kelderek]

Some people may not want to use mods or may want a totally cheat free game as hyperedit really breaks immersion.

Other people may even want to role play building and testing various iterations of potential landers before making the trip

I can understand that perspective, but considering this is in the tutorial section, I figure it can't hurt to offer up alternative options for testing your spacecraft. It's just another tool that you can add to your toolbox - it is entirely optional and up to you whether you want to use it. The same can be said for using the debug menu for spacecraft testing. The purists out there may hate this idea, but there are plenty of folks who may find it useful to use mods for testing. Eve is an especially good example of where a mod like hyperedit can really save you a lot of time, but it does require a reasonably high amount of self-control to make sure you don't over-use it.

EDIT: the parachute calculator is not even a mod, that is just a useful website.

[Coga19000]

For parachutes, just use KSP Parachute Calculator and be sure to select Eve.

To test landing and ascent from Eve, why do that on Kerbin when you can test it on Eve directly using hyperedit? Use hyperedit to put your lander in low orbit of Eve or into an orbit in the atmosphere if you don't want to practice de-orbit burns - any altitude inside the atmosphere will eventually bring you to the surface so you can test your parachutes and landing gear. After you land safely, then you can test your ascent.

Well, you do have a point, but Nekogkd broke it down quite nicely. Yes, Hyperedit is just a tool, and so is the calculator, but as you said, they are optional; this tutorial is for the rest.

And yeah, never hurts roleplaying realistically

[Brainlord Mesomorph]

Thanks, I do test everything at Kerbin,

(I guess now that I have hyperedit, that is roleplaying)

[Warzouz]

Is it possible to test on Kerbin by adding dead mass to the launcher ? In that cas how much ?

[Tex_NL]

Some people may not want to use mods or may want a totally cheat free game as hyperedit really breaks immersion.

Other people may even want to role play building and testing various iterations of potential landers before making the trip

If you want realistic role play you don't do expensive test, you calculate.

[Starhawk]

Especially for Eve return missions where lander building is very difficult, I always imagine that the kerbonauts spend significant time in the simulator before the mission, and that the engineers run numerous simulations on the craft.

I simply use HyperEdit to avoid wasting all the time of getting to Kerbin orbit, burning at the transfer window, and aerocapture - only to figure out that the landing legs need to be beefed up some more.

HyperEdit is simply the simulator for testing and training.

Happy landings!