Landing in dark places

[darkdan21]

Hi, I keep going to the moon, I've been there 5 or 6 times but I'm never able to land as it's always dark so I can't see where the ground is.

Am I doing something wrong?

Thanks

[duncan1297]

one thing you can do is put lights on your lander, or try to land on the daytime side.

[internetlad]

what i'd suggest is specifically setting up your landing site so that this does not happen. When you get caught int he mun's sphere of influence, don't go in for a landing immediately (assuming that's what you're doing). Fire your thrusters retrograde (slow down) so you orbit the moon, then orbit until the periapsis is above a well lit area, and fire retrograde again as you approach/reach your periapsis until you are heading pretty much straight down (ie 0 m/s orbit) This is how I tend to make my Mun landings, and as far as I know from my basic understanding of rocket science, it's the most fuel efficient way to land as well.

Alternatively you could put lights on the bottom of your lander.

EDIT: fixed some mistakes. firing prograde in mun orbit would take you back to kerbin not help you land.

Edited May 23, 2013 by internetlad

[Specialist290]

Welcome to the forums!

If the darkness itself is the problem, then I'd recommend putting some downward-facing lights on the lander. You can rotate parts in the VAB using the QWEASD keys, and you can toggle lights on and off in flight with U.

Otherwise, if your issue is more with your ability to pick a landing spot: Are you coming straight at the Mun's surface from Kerbin? If so, I'd recommend that you get yourself into a low circular orbit around the Mun first. From there, you can effectively pick any landing spot along the line of your orbit.

You might also want to check some of the tutorials in the Drawing Board. There's a link in my signature.

Happy landings!

EDIT: Ninja'd.

[darkdan21]

Thanks guys!

Yeah, I am going directly towards the Mun, as when I try to orbit it, the orbit path goes right through the centre of it, and nothing I can do can change that, it seems. I just really struggle to get an orbit going around it.

I always have a lot of fuel though, so could I perhaps have some tips?

There is my rocket, if anyone is interested. Does it look reasonable?

Edited May 23, 2013 by darkdan21

[georgTF]

Total overkill

You're only going to the Mun, you do not need much fuel. Assuming a 3man capsule plus some landing legs and parachutes, maybe RCS and ASAS, a small 2m tank + Poodle is enough, but if you worry about fuel take a medium tank (garbage can). You just have to build a lifter good enough to get that thing in orbit.

Off the top of my head an orange tank/garbage can tank with a mainsail in centre + 4 more in asparagus fuel staging will lift it to quite a high orbit. Probably overkill as well but you'll have no trouble intercepting the Mun and orbiting it.

If you are landing a tall rocket on the Mun, dot attach the legs directly to it, instead attach 3 or 4 junk pieces and attach the legs to them. Wider landing legs are less likely to fall.

A good measure of progress and learning is the reduction in rocket size. You acomplish the same but with fewer parts and less fuel. And remarkably, it even flies better.

[Specialist290]

Easiest way to get an orbit around the Mun is to just burn in the opposite direction your traveling at the periapsis of your current trajectory.

Do you know about the maneuver node system? Using maneuver nodes can be quite handy for plotting course changes.

[RawChicken]

one thing you can do is put lights on your lander, or try to land on the daytime side.

What? Black magic?

[MR4Y]

Burn retrograde at the opposite side of where you want to land till your trajectory ends on it. This usually works.

[georgTF]

It's actually a good idea to have lights on all landers period. Even in daytime they can tell you when you're close to the surface and of course it helps to not have to wait for daytime. They weight almost nothing as well and at most add 3-4 parts. Allways bring them along.

This is a decent little lander. The Jr. docking ports are for refuelling if it's needed. Normally it should have lights on the three prongs leading to the legs, but this is MINMUS and is probably the only place in the universe where you do not want to have lights on. The reflection is blinding so i learned my lesson and removed them. It doesn't have much fuel but is fairly lightweight.

[AlexanderB]

until you are heading pretty much straight down (ie 0 m/s orbit) This is how I tend to make my Mun landings, and as far as I know from my basic understanding of rocket science, it's the most fuel efficient way to land as well.

Not really, but it doesn't matter all that much. most fuel-efficient way is to lower your PE to near/into the surface, and slow down your horizontal velocity and vertical velocity at the same time, if you slow to 0 and then go straight down, you spend more fuel because you don't utilise the Oberth effect, and you're hovering on engine power.

It is however, the easiest way to get it right for a beginner pilot, the more efficient way is for later..

[Jason Patterson]

Thanks guys!

Yeah, I am going directly towards the Mun, as when I try to orbit it, the orbit path goes right through the centre of it, and nothing I can do can change that, it seems. I just really struggle to get an orbit going around it.

I always have a lot of fuel though, so could I perhaps have some tips?

If you're already on a collision course with the Mun when you get there, try burning toward 90 degrees direction, 0 pitch or 270 degrees, 0 pitch well before reaching the Mun's SOI. You want your projected periapsis to be at 5-10km altitude, so burn gently until you get to that point. Generally speaking, the earlier you make this adjustment, the less fuel you will expend doing it.

Supposing you wind up on a collision course with the Mun anyway, you can fix it once you're in the Mun's SOI by burning eastward (again, 90 degrees, 0 pitch) as early as possible. If it turns out that you've entered on a slightly retrograde trajectory, it might be cheaper to burn westward (270 degrees, 0 pitch.) In any case, get your periapsis up to about 5-10km.

Once you've got your periapsis where you want it, timewarp until you're nearly there, then burn retrograde (toward the yellow-green circle with an X on the navball) until you've been captured by the Mun. If you circularize (or nearly circularize) your orbit, you can then pick any landing site you like, including one on the day side of the planet.

Best of luck, let us know when you make it there in one piece!

[AlexanderB]

Maybe a small but important note, looking at the size of your rocket, and the fact that you get an impact trajectory..

You shouldn't try and fly straight to the moon, it works in bad sci-fi, but not in real life, and not in KSP. The proper way to do it is to do a Hohmann transfer burn..

Watch some youtube video's on mun landing, or if you're more into reading, go to wikipedia and look at the Hohmann transfer and its related articles..