Testing Mun conditions at KSC?

[lucidLemon]

Basically, I want to know if there are any "conversions" that can be done to see how a craft on Kerbin would perform on the Mun, primarily for a landing and return craft.

If I create a new set of parts with 1/6 the weight, 0 drag, and (for engines) specific impulse for a vacuum, will they perform on Kerbin as regular parts would on the Mun?

If that does work, is there an easy way to convert parts on a spacecraft to those parts (instead of rebuilding the entire lander with the new parts)?

If that doesn't work, are there ways to take data from Kerbin test flights (height and speed for retrograde burn for descent, maximum height reached, etc.) and see how they apply to flight on the Mun?

[Vanamonde]

Galileo proved that the speed with which objects fall is dependant primarily on the mass of the world. 1/6th weight on Kerbin will fall just as fast as anything else on Kerbin, but not hit as hard. There's also aerial drag to consider, though that wouldn't be much if you kept your speed low. I know of no way to simulate alien conditions on the home planet.

[lucidLemon]

Wait, would it be possible to attach a near inifinite SRB that would cancel out 5/6 of the weight? I think NASA did this to simulate lunar landings.

Atmospheric drag can be accounted for by setting drag values on all parts to 0

EDIT: Thought a bit more about it, it wouldn't work, unless I planned on never ever tilting my craft or expending fuel.

Could the zero-gravity mod part be modified to simply simulate low gravity?

Edited October 3, 2012 by lucidLemon

[RoboRay]

There is a blimp or dirigible mod part that may be adaptable for your goal.

[Fendleton]

Personally I just go by the rule that if it can take off and land on Kerbin, it's really really overpowered on the Mun and should therefore be just fine. If you look at the various efforts to make landers right now (Like Morpheus, before it exploded), the easiest way to test is just to see how it performs here, then just do the Delta-V calculations (or in my case, just guess) how the change in thrust required will translate to what it can do in microgravity.

[lucidLemon]

Thanks for all the suggestions, but I still don't think I have exactly what I'm looking for.

I'm training for a real-time IVA mission without quicksaving, so I need to have a very detailed plan for landing ahead of time. I'll only be able to know what's going on via the IVA and Map view.

Currently, my landing plan, from numerous KSC tests, is this-

Finish Lunar insertion.

Put craft on suborbital or eccentric trajectory.

Point Prograde

Fire retrograde radial rockets to finish off the Insertion stage's tank's fuel and kill a lot of velocity

Just before the insertion stage runs out of fuel, increase the throttle to max and detach the insertion stage. Quite skycrane-ish

Activate the lander's engines and kill horizontal velocity, use ASAS to lock it as close as possible to a perfectly vertical orientation.

Kill enough vertical velocity to achieve the target velocity and height. (These values are what I REALLY need to know)

Max throttle, deploy landing gear.

Kerbal equivalent of prayer.

Land, Breathe.

Hilariously fall to the Mun's surface after exiting the hatch, courtesy of the upside-down command pod.

Basically, is it possible to have a calculation of Delta-V for those necessary values, so I could input speed and height and get a calculation for Delta-V?

[EndlessWaves]

Acceleration is simply thrust/weight. 50 thrust on a 25 ton lander will give you 2m/s acceleration and the mun's gravity is 1.628m/s

[nhnifong]

Kill enough vertical velocity to achieve the target velocity and height. (These values are what I REALLY need to know)

My rule of thumb is that for every 5 meters above the surface of the moon, I want to be traveling down at 1 additional meter per second. SO at 500m above the moon, I want to be moving at 100 m/s and at 10 meters above the moon, I want to be moving at 2 m/s. Then, as long as I can decelerate at a rate of about 2/3 m/s^2 I know I can land on the moon. If a craft can accelerate upwards on kerbin at about 1/6th times this rate, then it is capable of landing on the moon. And just about everything I've ever designed can.

[Nibb31]

Planning an IVA landing without windows pointing downward?

Even the Apollo LM had downward viewing windows.

[CanuckOverlord]

I did an IVA-to-Mun and landing mission (though admittedly not in real time), and it's really not that hard. Sure it's comforting to see the ship, but between the radar altimeter and compass ball, all the info you need is there. Especially if you're Ok with using mp view. If you want to see the outside of your ship to check everything staged right, just EVA.

[phoenix_ca]

Kinda surprised it hasn't been suggested yet: Kerbal Engineer Redux (or something to that effect) will tell you TWR for stages on Kerbin, Mun, and Minmus. Kerbal.net

[lucidLemon]

Thanks for all the input, I'll try some of this stuff out.