Really pinpoint landings

[alkir-2]

I also asked this in a very old thread I found here, thus the name of the thread.

Is it possible to do actual pinpoint landings, like, land exactly on top of a building (without using any mods)?
I forgot to attach batteries and an antenna to a Mun base and was trying to dock them on top of it (yep, it has a docking port), but the best I can do is land within 100 m radius of my base. Tried a "drone" on RCS, but it lacked power to fly.
Fuel isn't really a problem, but how do I actually land on top of a docking port?

Alternatively, what RCS thrusters can be used to make a capabale of Mun flight drone consisting of: one Probodobodyne OKTO, one HG-5 High Gain Antenna, three Z-1k Rechargeable Battery Banks, one or two Stratus-V Roundified Monopropellant Tank(s) and one Clamp-O-Tron Jr.  ?

Edited August 13, 2021 by alkir-2
forgot to add one part in the last paragraph

[AlpacaMall]

Unlike the other thread, if you’re ok with lightly modded solutions, the Trajectories mod (and I think KER too? I don’t use it) displays a target where you’ll land. You can use this to refine your approach, without going all-out with MechJeb autopilot.

For your Mun tug, don’t use RCS thrusters to hover. Use engines; they have far higher specific impulse, and odds are, if you can land your drone then it already has TWR >1. RCS can be used for horizontal movement.

[alkir-2]

32 minutes ago, AlpacaMall said:

if you’re ok with lightly modded solutions

I was hoping to avoid mods altogether, not just big ones. But thanks, I'll think about it.

 

33 minutes ago, AlpacaMall said:

For your Mun tug, don’t use RCS thrusters to hover. Use engines; they have far higher specific impulse, and odds are, if you can land your drone then it already has TWR >1. RCS can be used for horizontal movement.

Didn't want to use engines, as even the lightest LF tank available to me, with engine, is heavier than RCS system (thrusters + monopropellant tanks). Also, RCS thrusters can be mounted on the sides and don't produce heat, which is crucial when hovering over a building.
I use a special ship to land things on the Mun, detach them and go back to Kerbin (hence the docking port on the building). Compared to a drone, it's rather large, so I managed to place two engines pointing at about 45 degrees instead of directly down, so the attachments don't get heated. With a drone, I'm afraid, that would not be possible.

[jimmymcgoochie]

Vertical construction while landed is a tricky thing to do, but not impossible- you'll need a lot of fuel to counter gravity and full RCS control for translation and the bigger the craft the more difficult it will be.

If you can land on the Mun, you can hover over the surface. Point radial out from the probe core (you could try radial in using the docking port on the underside but that could get confusing very quickly) and apply just enough throttle that you hover at a steady altitude. Set your RCS thrusters to only fire for translation and not rotation (pitch/roll/yaw) by disabling those in the actuation toggles- I believe you need advanced tweakables enabled to have that option- and move carefully across the surface until you're hovering right on top of your target, then throttle down slightly and drop on top of the docking port. For a small probe it should be fairly easy; for a large base module or something similar it'll be a lot harder to do as your controls will be a lot more sluggish and you'll need a lot more fuel (and probably some proper engines too).

Or you could try making a crane?

[alkir-2]

Thanks jimmymcgoochie, I'll try adding RCS to my shuttle. It's fairly small, even with cargo attached to it, so I hope I'll be able to do as you suggested. Maybe even move the base out of a crater, if I successfully dock with it.

Edited August 14, 2021 by alkir-2

[alkir-2]

Thanks everyone! Your advice was really helpful, but I just seem to lack the piloting skills to perform the necessary maneuvers. So, after about 10 failed tries, I decided to simply land a new building and transfer everything from the old one. Which I did, landing not far from the original location.