Best way to slow down approaching surface of Minmus

[Fearless Son]

[quote name='Geschosskopf']As you get close to the ground, burn a bit harder and more often to slow down to about 10m/s, then just above the ground burn some more to touch down as gently as possible. Welcome to Minmus.[/QUOTE]Something I wanted to add to Geschosskopf's excellent landing advice is to remember to kill the throttle just as you touch down. There is a button to completely zero the throttle, which defaults to X. This is especially important on bodies as low gravity as Minmus. In these environments, if you have the throttle even a little up as you touch down then your landers will have a habit of bouncing off the surface, forcing you to make some frantic and wasteful corrections before touching down again. This goes double if the surface you are landing on is sloped, and triple if your lander has a narrow base and/or high center of mass.

Fortunately, Minmus has large wide salt flats that make for ideal easy landing zones, and I would advise you to aim for them for your first few missions before you try anything more "adventurous".

[Geschosskopf]

[quote name='Fearless Son']Fortunately, Minmus has large wide salt flats that make for ideal easy landing zones, and I would advise you to aim for them for your first few missions before you try anything more "adventurous".[/QUOTE]

But landings on even steep slopes on Minmus aren't too hard, either, thanks to the low gravity. If you have SAS on, the torque from a 1.25m reaction wheel will keep a reasonably small lander vertical on the steepest slopes, 1 foot touching the ground and all the rest in the air, held up by the torque. You can then use the roll controls (Q and E) to rotate the lander so the ladder faces the hillside so you can go grab a surface sample or plant a flag.

Or, while the lander is balanced on torque like this, you can briefly turn SAS off and the lander will slowly topple until all feet are on the ground. As soon as all the feet touch the ground, turn SAS back on. This will hold the lander at this orientation, keeping it from falling over completely ;).