How do I Eve?

[Angry Onions]

Okay so, I've been trying to land on Eve since it's been existing. I have been able to get three vehicles in some sort of whack orbit between Eve and Kerbin. One of them ran out of fuel, the other two space cthulu'd. But I ask the almighty rocket scientist two questions:

1) What would be a proper build of a rocket that could land a rover or a plane on EvE?

2) How I go about doing my orbit in between Kerbin and Eve the proper way?

Please note: I am using vanilla KSP and no, I'm not going to modding it either. Also, while I will love imgur's of your amazing rocket, I don't want your craft file. I want to build my own design and then fly it. Thank you

[Cykyrios]

Kerbin should be about 54° ahead of Eve in its orbit when you transfer. You can check olex's calculator for more details.

The difficult part is accounting for Eve's inclination, which is why I transfer as close as possible, then try to match its orbit before entering its SoI. It shouldn't be that inefficient (losses are mainly due to the inlination change), and should get you there everytime.

As for the rocket, go big, with nuclear engines

[EndlessWaves]

You don't need much in the way of fuel to get to eve and you can land safely on parachutes alone. From the DeltaV figures I've seen suggested any rocket capable of making it to the mun and back to kerbin should be capable of dropping it's command pod on eve.

Getting back off eve is quite another story - it's very difficult.

[Angry Onions]

I've been able to get into Sol orbit with a three stage rocket, I might have to add a stage if I want to land a rover on Eve though. It's the angle and all the math that keeps me off other planets... poor Jeb. Can some one easily explain how to change my inclination, preferably with pictures?

[EvilotionCR2]

Same as Duna...Wait until are both planets closest and then make periapsis match with Eves

[kosbros]

Do you know any good rover mods? Please post a link if you do

Thanks

[Ted]

Tosh's cart mod is an excellent Add-On and can be found here.

There are also other cart Add-Ons that can be found on the Plugin board and the Add-On releases board.

[Angry Onions]

Hey kosbros, I like to makehe my rovers with vanilla parts, it's a lot of fun testing it on the launch pad and then send it flying into space. If you want, I'll send you my Rocket Jeep II .craft that can land the rover on the Mun

[Panichio]

So, this is the way I do it:

1. Start in a low Kerbin orbit. (Maybe between 80 and 100 or so KM, to use the Oberth effect I think?)

2. Use the protractor mod or Olex's calculator to find your phase and ejection angle. When you match those angles, do your burn until you reach the escape velocity of Kerbin.

3. Once you are out of it's sphere of influence (it's gravity does not effect you anymore), you will be in solar orbit where you then match your Pe with Eve.

4. Further down the road, when your two orbital planes cross, you will burn either North or South (Your normal and anti-normal directions), this will match the two inclinations of the orbits of you and Eve. By then, you should intercept it's SoI, and from there, well, I trust you know what to do.

(Also, using parachutes in your lander is a very good thing to do. Eve has a very dense atmosphere, and the chutes will work very well.)

[CrashnBurn]

Eve gives you a dense atmosphere to aerobrake and land. you don't need much more than a parachute to safely get from orbit to the surface. I think Eve is the easiest planet to land on. Like the other planets, it's a challenge to get the burns correct, but the calculators noted in the posts above really help.

As far as keeping it stock, you CAN get to Eve with a stock ship. It's a challenge, but with some effort it's do-able.

[EndlessWaves]

As far as keeping it stock, you CAN get to Eve with a stock ship. It's a challenge, but with some effort it's do-able.

Getting there isn't bad ship-wise, it's easier than a Mun round trip. The challenge is navigation and getting back off the surface.

[Angry Onions]

I think I have made a rocket capable of landing a rover. on Eve, will post results later.

[CrashnBurn]

Getting there isn't bad ship-wise, it's easier than a Mun round trip. The challenge is navigation and getting back off the surface.

Agree, the return is the big challenge....I've returned from Eve with mods, but have not made a successful return with only stock parts, yet. It is hard to push through that soupy atmosphere.

[sporkafife]

Returning from Eve is the hardest part, especially with stock parts. Landing a heavy asparagus staging craft with aerospikes on the highest mountain (to cut out the thickest of the atmosphere) is your best bet. I've managed to land a ship on eve that I think is capable of returning to low eve orbit (the launch vehicle was *&%£ing enormous) and I have another craft return craft in orbit around Eve that has plenty of fuel to rendezvous and return... I'll have to update you on how the take off and rendezvous goes later on

[Ydoow]

I made it to Eve on stock with no calculations or anything >_>

I was tired of not having the time to do the calculations (I wanted to do them myself, and not use a website to give them to me)

So I did what any reasonable Kerbal would do:

I made a stable 100km Kerbin Parking Orbit,

Open Map view

Eye-balled Eve - judged it's speed

Guessed Burn angle to give me a Kerbin-retrograde ejection point

Matched Eve Peri/Apo

Adjusted inclination

changed peri/apo

Waited for Eve.

Waited some more

SPLASH DOWN!

It surprisingly wasn't very difficult. I may have been lucky in terms of fuel and Eve's current position.

I didn't wait or anything, I just said "GUN IT!" and made it.

But my point is, the process is basically the same as making it to Minmus. Just be more patient. And more accurate with your guesses.

[koshelenkovv]

Here is example of Eve rover. All stock.

For rover you need big rocket, but not monstrous.

Most hard part here is to get caught by Eve, it may require A LOT of orbit corrections. The rest of stuff (launch, parking orbit, corrections for aerobraking) are pretty simle and were trained before 0.17 on Kerbin and Mun.

For save descent on single small parachute I've used up all rocket fuel and dropped heavy engine.

The rocket, quite heavy

First and second stage burning together

Second stage burning

Rover - third and transfer stage

Nice orbit :3

Transfer burn

Whoops, missed! (unsurprisingly, though)

Correction burns to hit Eve SoI. A LOT of correction burns, they used up most fuel

Eve encounter

Only 12L of fuel left O.o I neeed to start calculating my orbits beforehand.

Ready to aerobraking

Nuclear bombing X)

Braked to orbit

Aerobraking, second pass

Preparing to descent

Descent

Parachute deployed

Touchdown!

Wooooo-hoooo! Driving like crasy

Final Photo