Reusable Dune landing craft

[Gooru]

Im setting up a Duna station with fuel supply from mining Ike.

I´d like to have a reusable Duna lander to get (nearly) all the science, without having to send multiple crafts.

Is i possible to have a heatshielded lander with legs and thrusters "outside" the shield or would a planelike design be better?

[Venusgate]

Consider putting a heatsheild "on top" of your lander, not unlike a Samurai hat, elaving the retractable legs and main engine(s) pointed retro as you re-enter.
Your craft may be a little top heavy, tho, fyi.

[sardia]

If a shield necessary for duna?

[Jimbodiah]

No, never needed one. Orbital velocity is already so low and atmosphere so thin that it hardly heats up. Make sure the heavy part is on the bottom, or it will flip over. You can use drogue chutes to keep the craft upright (you will need a few extra though as the atmosphere is so thin. I always carry some spare chutes on my powered landers just in case they topple over or something else happen, chutes will save the day a lot of the times, but you need a lot if you are not using engines to slow down to non-destructive landing speeds (<10m/s)

Edited December 9, 2015 by Jimbodiah