Getting to the mun part 2

[alfrank]

SO I can get myself into low munar orbit, so it's time to go for landing.  A problem arises immediately-what is the initial maneuver burn supposed to accomplish? I can't figure out when to end it. I'm overdoing it as I keep loering my periapsis until it's below ground. Where am I supposed to end up at the end of the burn?

[AlamoVampire]

Once in orbit and you choose to descend the burn you mention is the start of landing. Mun or Kerbin or Eeloo or any body. As orbital velocity drops your periapsis will go sub surface. Thats a good thing! Means you slowed down enough to stop missing the ground. On Mun your next burn or burns depending on fuel on board and/or bravery is to slow you enough to not go full lawn-dart. If on KSP1 i suggest getting mechjeb (its an autopilot), its a fantastic teacher that will do what no tutorial (written or video or w/e the game has) can or will do: show you how YOUR craft will fly during launch, rendezvous and docking and even landing. Hope this helps you @alfrank

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[Vanamonde]

End that burn when your path line touches the surface somewhere that looks fairly flat, since landing on slopes or bumps is harder. Then wait until you get close to the surface, slow your descent speed to 10m/s or less (more than that will likely damage the ship) , and land. 

[cocoscacao]

Here are some very rough guidelines for the Mun. Landing on a body with no atmosphere is one of the trickiest parts of the game. Save the game before you start the landing. Execute retrograde burn until your PE goes to 0 or below. Time warp until you're about 10kms above the ground. You should be going roughly 500m/s. The navball can show 3 different speeds. Orbit, surface and target. Select surface option at 10km. Turn on SAS and select retrograde marker. Start burning at 10km. The goal is to reach lower your speed to ~10m/s when you're about 100 meters above the ground. Then continue burning and adjusting throttle to land gently.

This requires practice, and often, multiple attempts. The height at where you want to start burning depends on the gravity, engine thrust and rocket's mass. You'll get a feel for it eventually.

Edited May 19, 2023 by cocoscacao

[alfrank]

Thanks, all for these helpful suggestions. AlamoVampire,is mechjeb 2 compatible with ksp1?  If not, where can I find the correct  version?

[cocoscacao]

There's a thing called CKAN. It's a mod manager for KSP1. I'll be honest here, I'm not the biggest fan of mechjeb. Doing stuff manually at first is more fun. But this varies from player to player. 

[AlamoVampire]

@alfrank yes it is, im in the habit of leaving off the 2 so thats my mistake for confusing you. Mechjeb 2 is what youre looking for for KSP1.

@cocoscacao id not be here nearly a decade later if not for mechjeb. I read tutorial after tutorial and watched tutorial after tutorial. I built the exact rocket shown in tutorials but never could do a simple docking. Found mechjeb and it saved my ksp career way back in the days of 0.21. How? The exact reason I suggested it to alfrank: 

17 hours ago, AlamoVampire said:

i suggest getting mechjeb (its an autopilot), its a fantastic teacher that will do what no tutorial (written or video or w/e the game has) can or will do: show you how YOUR craft will fly during launch, rendezvous and docking and even landing.

No tutorial, no matter how well written or how well produced on youtube can do this. Only mechjeb can. If it didnt exist i would have quit ksp a week into having gotten it. Its a valuable and powerful tool.

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[alfrank]

I've installed mechjeb and it's in my games folder, but it's not showing up under pods.

[alfrank]

Never mind, I located  it