Landing on mun (speeding towards ground/going back up)

[Epicblood]

I have been trying this for awhile now, read a few tutorials and I somehow managed to do it once but I can't seem to get it again.

I can get my horiz velocity down and reach surface fine, but prob is I'm always going too fast.

then, when I try to go any slower than ~60-70m/s I start going up again

Am I doing something wrong?

btw, I am trying to land horizontally as I am constructing a sort of base ( ship lands <===> )

Edited May 31, 2013 by Epicblood
tried to clarify title a bit

[Specialist290]

It sounds like you're not completely cancelling out your horizontal velocity during your descent. The value on your navball indicator represents your total velocity, combined from both your horizontal and vertical vectors.

One trick you might want to consider for a "belly-down" lander like you've described is to stick a second probe body onto where the "top" of the lander is going to be when you flip it horizontally, then control from that point during your descent so you have an accurate picture of what your velocity vectors look like on the navball.

[Epicblood]

It sounds like you're not completely cancelling out your horizontal velocity during your descent. The value on your navball indicator represents your total velocity, combined from both your horizontal and vertical vectors.

One trick you might want to consider for a "belly-down" lander like you've described is to stick a second probe body onto where the "top" of the lander is going to be when you flip it horizontally, then control from that point during your descent so you have an accurate picture of what your velocity vectors look like on the navball.

That's a great Idea xD

I will try that next time (just shut down for the day)

Also, I am pretty sure I killed it completley, the little green circle with an X in it was at the top/bottom (blue bit) of my navball, that means it's 0 right?

[Specialist290]

For the most part, that should have done the trick, yes, but it's hard to keep a perfectly vertical trajectory down without help from an autopilot, so it will tend to drift a little bit as you descend if you don't account for that. Hence the tip about the extra probe body; when you change which pod you're controlling from, the navball will reorient so that "up" for the navball (i.e. which way the "wings" are facing) is the same direction as the top of the probe body itself. That will allow you to better correct for any drift you might experience.

[Reblet]

I've also found the Kerbal Engineer Redux very useful for manual landings. It gives readings for both your horizontal and vertical velocity, which is a bit more informative at low speeds than the navball.

As an added bonus, it can also show you the current actual altitude (rather than 'sealevel') which helps avoid any unexpected early impacts into the ground.

[rodion_herrera]

This is where a joystick with throttle can shine--the slider or rotational potentiometer can fine-tune your throttle so that it really feels like a collective control on a helicopter, so you can really hover and choose a specific landing site when landing. This of course assumes you have a good engine for the landing. If it has too much thrust, an analog throttle would still be useless due to the great differences in thrust output even in small throttle increments.

[stibbons]

Only advice I can think to add is to try to cancel out your horizontal velocity higher up. If you're flying a manned craft, try switching to IVA and having a look at the radar altimeter. That will tell you how far you are from the surface, rather than sea level, and give you a couple of thousand metres notice.

[Epicblood]

Just got up and thanks all for the suggestions

I use ORDA so I can see how long I have before I hit the ground, so that's no problem xD I also cancel out my horizontal velocity pretty high (about 300,000m)

Gunna try the joystick, didn't even think of that xD

[Vanamonde]

Why do people try to do rolling landings on Mun anyway? In the low gravity, even small bumps risk throwing you off on weird angles and flaming death, it's harder to touch down gently because the elevation of the surface is changing as you're moving over it, it's much harder to build a rolling vehicle that can withstand the shock, and of course there's no air to help you conserve fuel and slow your descent. Are there any advantages to it at all?