Duna Lander suggestion

[Raznag]

Any suggestion for a good Duna lander? My first attempt was a disaster (a Kerbal is stuck there). So I want it to be able to land and get back into orbit.

Please post your comments/pictures!

Thank you!

Raz

[Bubbadevlin]

Well, really you can just use a moon lander with a more atmo. efficent engine and parachutes

The decent does not need to be powered untill the final last like 100m

[Foxster]

Something like this will do it with a lot of dV to spare...

Just do a de-orbit burn to get close to the landing site then pop the chutes at 2km and it will land itself. Getting to orbit will be pretty easy as it will have something like 1500 dv to spare.

But you will get bonus kudos points if you do it with a micro lander like this...

Edited October 30, 2015 by Foxster

[Majorjim!]

Any suggestion for a good Duna lander? My first attempt was a disaster (a Kerbal is stuck there). So I want it to be able to land and get back into orbit.

Please post your comments/pictures!

Thank you!

Raz

Hey man, if you add enough chutes you don't need to waste any fuel landing. Just aerobrake for landing at 8,000m

And around 20,000 for capture.

[pTrevTrevs]

If you want, you could make one lander designed just to get to Duna's surface with the crew, and another one to get back to orbit, a lot of real life mars mission concepts do this. If you've ever read The Martian, the MDV is said to not be able to lift its own weight with its engines, but I would recommend using engines that can at least allow it to hover, so you can pick your landing site instead of de-orbiting and hoping for the best.

[DBowman]

Chutes and a little fuel for the last 40m/s takes less mass than enough chutes to land gently - but it's a little more tense making waiting to blip the engines.

[Raznag]

Thank you guys for your answers! I'll try to use the advice this week-end and I'll let you know the results

[The Optimist]

If you're not against mods, you could do a Mk1 command pod equipped with 3 mk16 radials and two drogues. Below that is a interstellar or KAX liquid fuel engine, with 3 Nerva engines radially attached. My design isn't the most lightweight or simple, but it gets the job done. I sent my first kerbal to Duna with it, and it was the same slightly modified design that brought him back. (Heh)

[BananaTime101]

If you want to make it as light as possible, I would use command seats on top of a medium sized fuel tank, then a large chute in the center. Also, use the small 24-77 "Twitch" engines and small landing gear. Good luck on your dunatian mission.