"Best" engine for Mun landing...

[waterlubber]

LV-909 or Poodle. Do not use a NERVA, it is far too heavy.

[RizzoTheRat]

7 hours ago, MrOsterman said:

The main engines are the massive Mammoth lifters and a pair of Mainsails.  That's a lot of engine and a lot of fuel.  The belly engines are Thuds and there are a lot of Verners for RCS attitude control on descent.

I always hate the idea of carrying extra dead weight of engines I'm not using though, and those Thuds are pretty heavy.  Whenever I've built belly landers in the past I've flown them in that orientation too, no need to be streamlined in space but it does mean the booster has to get it out of the atmosphere without using the payload crafts engines.   I've never tried aero capturing one or landing in an atmosphere either.  I've just started experimenting with Infernal Robotics and I'm wondering if I can build something with rotating engine pods that can be used for VTOL transition...but if I'm going for that kind of design I just know I'm going to end up trying to design a Firefly replica.

[MrOsterman]

2 hours ago, RizzoTheRat said:

I always hate the idea of carrying extra dead weight of engines I'm not using though, and those Thuds are pretty heavy.  

Yeah, that is true and I know it's a lot of weight, though with the main engine cluster and the two outboards I've got TONs of thrust to push them.  I don't claim to have EFFICIENT designs, only functional and fun.  I'm thinking that my next goal will be to build a classic mothership to head to Eve and return to my "separate landers" roots but I don't know enough about getting into and out of the Eve Atmosphere yet.  Fortunately I've got the entire tech tree to work with now so I've got some flexibility.

Quote

 I'm going to end up trying to design a Firefly replica.

 

And the problem is?

[Fearless Son]

I would think that one way to make effective belly landers is to build more of a drop-ship style craft, long but with its entire axis of thrust down through the center of the belly.  Assuming it is well balanced back-to-front (and being a belly lander it would have to be anyway) those engines should also be able to function as its primaries.  No dead weight that way.