Delta V and Asparagus Staging

[Plusck]

As far as the terms are concerned, I think I was a bit off the mark earlier.

"Zero descent rate" or "constant altitude burn" are common terms for what is shown in the video.

"Constant descent rate" is probably just made up - in fact it's what I took from that video and then applied to land on Tylo. It's probably more accurate, in a sense, because it's what you're aiming for in reality. You don't want to religiously maintain a set altitude and then finish your burn half a kilometer or more above the surface. Still, since running into mountains is definitely not what you want to do, you probably want to start off with a constant altitude then let some vertical velocity creep in later once you have a better idea where you're going to land.

[GoSlash27]

36 minutes ago, Plusck said:

Ahh - the video of a lander which started with TWR ≈1. He actually used about 640 m/s dv to land (with a high TWR suicide burn, it would have been about 570).

And yes, it really was zero descent rate for most of the time.

 

So it's less "most efficient for dv" and more "most efficient cost, engine mass, payload etc"

Plusck,

 This looks like the video I was thinking of. While he employs low t/w and pays for it with higher gravity losses, the technique itself is super- efficient in terms of DV expenditure. It's just not precise or very safe in mountainous terrain.

 Personally, I almost always use the technique I describe in my tutorial because when I land on a body I have a very specific location in mind. It's easy to design a ship that will work with it, and I don't have to calculate or practice anything beforehand.

Best,
-Slashy

 

[Plusck]

15 minutes ago, GoSlash27 said:

Plusck,

 This looks like the video I was thinking of. While he employs low t/w and pays for it with higher gravity losses, the technique itself is super- efficient in terms of DV expenditure. It's just not precise or very safe in mountainous terrain.

 Personally, I almost always use the technique I describe in my tutorial because when I land on a body I have a very specific location in mind. It's easy to design a ship that will work with it, and I don't have to calculate or practice anything beforehand.

Best,
-Slashy

 

Yes, agreed also that your method is a good approach for beginners since it's relatively safe and easy to do in stock, without special calculations, burn time indicators or mods giving time to impact or whatnot.

I think I generally use a hybrid of all these approaches, depending on the body. Once I've landed a couple of times I tend to gravitate towards a pure as-shallow-as-possible suicide burn because I know where to place the point of impact and when to start burning to land on my target, but the first time I think I do something very similar to your method.