Duna to Ike with as little fuel as possible

[Homusubi]

I've landed on Duna with a mining-enabled craft, but can't seem to get it back to Kerbin. The plan was to land on Ike, mine ore, and then leave for Kerbin when the tanks became full. I did this manoeuvre with Minmus on the way out. However, I can't seem to land on Ike - the craft lithobrakes at roughly 100 m/s every time.

What is the most fuel-efficient way for a given craft (I can't rebuild it on Duna for obvious reasons) to travel from Duna to Ike and not crash? (My landing site is about 6 degrees below the Dunar equator if that helps).

[Xavven]

There are 3 main maneuvers to get from Duna to Ike: takeoff, transfer, and landing.

Takeoff

Since Duna's atmosphere is so thin, you don't need to gain a lot of altitude before pitching over. You can pretty much take off at a 45 degree angle and start burning parallel to the ground as soon as you're clear of mountains.

Transfer

Ike is very closeby, so you should only need a couple hundred delta-v to get a hohmann transfer set up. Fiddle with the location of your manuever node to see if you can get your Ike periapsis at 12km just by burning at the right time in your orbit.

Landing

Try this landing technique tutorial from our forum user Kosmo-not:

. It can shave some delta-v off of your landings. I went from using 4000 delta-v to land on Tylo to about 3200, for example. Ike's gravity is low, so your savings won't be as much, but if 100 m/s is all you need, it could be the key.

[Homusubi]

It worked! Thanks very much. I didn't have to use the landing technique. The 45-degree angle thing appears to be the key, although I was sort of lucky because burning prograde at my initial apoapsis made something that wasn't too far from an Ike encounter.

[LostOblivion]

There are 3 main maneuvers to get from Duna to Ike: takeoff, transfer, and landing.

Takeoff

Since Duna's atmosphere is so thin, you don't need to gain a lot of altitude before pitching over. You can pretty much take off at a 45 degree angle and start burning parallel to the ground as soon as you're clear of mountains.

Transfer

Ike is very closeby, so you should only need a couple hundred delta-v to get a hohmann transfer set up. Fiddle with the location of your manuever node to see if you can get your Ike periapsis at 12km just by burning at the right time in your orbit.

Landing

Try this landing technique tutorial from our forum user Kosmo-not:

. It can shave some delta-v off of your landings. I went from using 4000 delta-v to land on Tylo to about 3200, for example. Ike's gravity is low, so your savings won't be as much, but if 100 m/s is all you need, it could be the key.

Hm, looks like he needs some more TWR!

[Xavven]

It worked! Thanks very much. I didn't have to use the landing technique. The 45-degree angle thing appears to be the key, although I was sort of lucky because burning prograde at my initial apoapsis made something that wasn't too far from an Ike encounter.

Yay! Glad it worked out!