Duna Capture

[jbakes]

I got this in orbit around Duna today. Named the NIT-5 docked with a small lander. flew up the lander and tug separately then docked them. The tug can get to Duna and back twice carrying that same lander before it needs to get refueled. I captured Duna for the first time using only aerobraking. Took me only 40 m/s to get this into a 58 km orbit!

I set the Pe to about 15km then kept toggling the brakes on and off to get my desired Ap.

Also the rockomax tanks oxidizer was emptied and then I edited the config file to have twice the liquid fuel.

[keeper]

Nice, Im off to Duna soon.

Will be trying the aero capture, cool tug

[jbakes]

Nice, Im off to Duna soon.

Will be trying the aero capture, cool tug

Thank you. Depending on the weight of your ship and your method of reducing speed you'll probably want to aim for a Pe around 15-25 km.

[FancyMouse]

With airbrakes you can pretty much do what you used do in previous versions as long as you stay in atmosphere long enough that you don't overheat.

Without airbrakes? That will be much more harder if you don't want to use your engine. If you come a little bit fast (~2.25km/s) then even 10km Pe will not get you a landing.

[Kuu Lightwing]

If you come a little bit fast (~2.25km/s) then even 10km Pe will not get you a landing.

We need to go deeper.

I actually avoid using aerocapture anywhere right now because it's quite easy to burn your craft on reentry, so I guess a safer approach - capture using engines and then slow aerobraking would work better... NASA does that too!

Oh and in Joolian system, gravicapture is so much safer and also faster I think! Actually you could probably capture at Duna using Ike, because that mun is enormous compared to its parent...

[samstarman5]

Lithobraking is always an option, as well.

[bonyetty]

Im about to head to Duna as I have just finished constructing a 'The Martian' fleet. With the info here will send my scanner sat and test Hab into Dunas atmo with a polar Pe of 12 km. I have a heat sheald and also the Hab positioned where it will hopefully protect the scanner for ore landing sites the DAV will need. Will report back success or fail soon.