I am having trouble landing in a specific region

[Delta-Cheese]

First of all, I apologize for my elementary level english .

I have just setup a Mun Station to get me science and cash for my future Duna Mission, I have accepted a bunch of contracts and half of them are "do temperature scans on area XXX-XX while landed" but I NEVER can land correctly in that region. I always over shoot or under shoot. I am having extreme difficulty doing this because I never seem to be able to aline my orbit properly and when I am able to aline correctly I kill horizontal speed to early or late.

Any tips on how to do this?

BTW here is some info on my station, it may help:

- The station is in a polar orbit (almost)

- It has a lander which has about 2000 m/s of Delta-V

- The station has a Poodle engine but not much fuel left (a little less then a quarter of a orange tank)

Edited September 26, 2015 by Delta-Cheese

[Slam_Jones]

Welcome to the forums!

A personal tactic I use (if I can explain this properly ) is to aim to overshoot my destination by about 1/2 the distance I am from it. As I approach the zone, I burn halfway(ish) between Retrograde and Radial, which slows the vessel down, and keeps the landing area from moving too much.

I usually will not fully kill horizontal speed until about 100 - 200m above the target. From there, I'll set my thrusters so I slowly descend to the target. Usually, this means a TWR of about 1.0, give or take a bit to adjust falling speed. (You can use a mod like MechJeb or Kerbal Engineer to get this number)

The trick is just to practice as much as you can. It's tricky, but eventually you'll be able to land them right on top of each other

I'm not the best at explaining things, but I'm sure others will have tips as well.

[Alshain]

Part of this depends on how you land. There is a beginner way where you make yourself vertical, and then there is a way that is described as a "reverse gravity turn" (which is a technical misnomer FYI, it isn't a gravity turn in reverse, it just arcs like one).

The former has the issue of needing to be careful of the rotation of the body. The latter is a much easier way to target your landing zone because you are continuously adjusting it as you land simply by angling your craft as you burn. If your burn upward from the retrograde marker you will push your trajectory out, burning on the retrograde marker will pull it in. That allows you to adjust your landing zone while you slow down. Remember to target your base so you get the pink marker (which should get closer and closer to your retrograde as you approach), but be careful the navbal doesn't switch into target relative mode instead of surface mode. That will mess you up big time.

If you like to mod, there is also Trajectories which shows you where you will land. It's up to you if you really want to use it.

Edited September 25, 2015 by Alshain

[GoSlash27]

First of all, I apologize for my elementary level english .

I have just setup a Mun Station to get me science and cash for my future Duna Mission, I have accepted a bunch of contracts and half of them are "do temperature scans on area XXX-XX while landed" but I NEVER can land correctly in that region. I always over shoot or under shoot. I am having extreme difficulty doing this because I never seem to be able to aline my orbit properly and when I am able to aline correctly I kill horizontal speed to early or late.

Any tips on how to do this?

BTW here is some info on my station, it may help:

- The station is in a polar orbit (almost)

- It has a lander which has about 2000 m/s of Delta-V

- The station has a Poodle engine but not much fuel left (a little less then a quarter of a orange tank)

Delta-Cheese,

Here's the "reverse gravity turn" technique that Alshain's referring to:

http://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/threads/104638-Reverse-gravity-turn-landing-technique-for-airless-bodies

Still the easiest way I've found to place a lander right where you want it without mods.

2km/sec DV is more than plenty to accomplish the mission.

Good luck!

-Slashy

[Delta-Cheese]

Welcome to the forums!

A personal tactic I use (if I can explain this properly ) is to aim to overshoot my destination by about 1/2 the distance I am from it. As I approach the zone, I burn halfway(ish) between Retrograde and Radial, which slows the vessel down, and keeps the landing area from moving too much.

I usually will not fully kill horizontal speed until about 100 - 200m above the target. From there, I'll set my thrusters so I slowly descend to the target. Usually, this means a TWR of about 1.0, give or take a bit to adjust falling speed. (You can use a mod like MechJeb or Kerbal Engineer to get this number)

The trick is just to practice as much as you can. It's tricky, but eventually you'll be able to land them right on top of each other

I'm not the best at explaining things, but I'm sure others will have tips as well.

Thanks for the welcoming! I have KER, so I usually use that TWR trick (I'm actually not that bad at landing) but I have no idea how you can kill horizontal speed that close to the target. Obviusly you would need to be already quite slow, right? Do you do most of the speed kill in that retrograde/radial part or when you are close to the area?

[Delta-Cheese]

Ok, I think I understand it, but what is a sink rate?

[GoSlash27]

Delta-Cheese,

Your sink rate is your vertical velocity towards the surface (or in other words how fast you're falling). It's in that half- moon looking gauge to the right of the altimeter.

If you're falling too fast, parts get explodey on impact.

Best,

-Slashy

[Srpadget]

Another suggestion, if you've got the tech for it: send a rover with all the relevant science instruments. If you can land within a couple km of the target zone, with no substantial craters between you and the target, it's pretty straightforward.

(In fact, those "on the surface" contracts used to specify "use a rover", back when they were still part of the Fine Print mod.)

[Delta-Cheese]

I tried the reverse gravity turn, and it works like a charm! Thanks a lot guys!

[GoSlash27]

I tried the reverse gravity turn, and it works like a charm! Thanks a lot guys!

Yay! Another satisfied customer

Best,

-Slashy