Standard parking orbits

[kinnison]

I know 75k is the standard LKO for this game, but what of the other orbital bodies?

I have my station at 100k, but as I was about to place a station orbiting the mun it got me thinking what altitude should i place it.

[astropapi1]

3.6 km is as low as you can go on the Mun. 3.5 if you don't mind your station suddently disappearing.

The wiki has the highest terrain elevation and the atmosphere level for every celestial body.

[Jod]

I am placing my Mun station at 13 000 m right now. Maybe I too should reconsider... I was initially thinking of 150 000 m but suddenly realized I will be sending landers and probes back and forth and it would take a while.

[Francesco]

on the Mun, it comes down to time warp (if you need to use it, that is): it's 50x at 10km and 100x at 25km.

for practical uses, I would go for something in the 25-30 km range.

but you may fancy a better view which only a higher orbit can offer.

[Nibb31]

It's hard to land on the Moon from lower than 10000m. I usually put my pre-landing orbits at 50000m... which is where I would also put my Mun station.

[Jod]

Ok... 30 000m then.

What is the altitude from which you can see munar arches btw?

[capi3101]

The delta-V map on the wiki has "low orbit" figures for all bodies in the system (it's been updated recently too, if you haven't looked at it for a while). Here's what it says:

Moho: 50 km

Eve: 107 km

Gilly: 10 km

Kerbin: 80 km

Mun: 14 km

Minmus: 10 km

Duna: 52 km

Ike: 10 km

Dres: 12 km

Jool: 150 km

Laythe: 65 km

Pol: 10 km

Bop: 10 km

Vall: 15 km

Tylo: 20 km

Eeloo: 10 km

"Low orbits are 10 km above atmosphere or clear of obstacles"

[rosenkranz]

Actually for the Mun or Minmus, I'd recommend a relatively high orbit. It doesn't take a lot of dV to change and it makes catching the silly thing quicker.

For example, I have my Minmus fuel depot in a 350km orbit. When my Kethane miner is ready to go I launch it into a 10km orbit and the rendezvous node is less than one orbit away due to the difference in orbital periods. It only costs me 260 dV to get up and get to the depot.

[Blackbird]

^indeed, with bodies without atmosphere it more or less comes down to your personal preferences, but at bodies with low gravity i recomend a higher orbit for a station. about 80-100km should be fine. Its easier to meet with your station and you dont loose that much of Delta-V due to your high orbit since it requieres only a few Delta-V to get you back down, also you have a higher timewarp wich often makes things so much easier.

I got my mun station at 80km, minimus at 90km and vall at 50km (just to give some examples) While a lander only goes up to about 20km on mun for example.

Just try around and you will find your own preference, just remember that a lower orbit means you normaly save Delta-V. But if its about how low your orbit can be....well, as low as the highest mountain rly.

[DMagic]

Those 'low orbit' figures seem a little off. You can get down to 15 or 20km and stay safe around Moho. And for Bop you need to stay at least 18-20km above the surface to stay safe, there are some really high mountains on that moon.

[Spaceisbeautifulul]

This is what I usually do:

Kerbin: 70 km, or 1,000,000 km

Mun: 150 km (station there), 50 km

Minmus: 50 km

Eve: N/A (Never get into orbit around it, always using it for Gilly)

Gilly: N/A (usually just crash into it, easier to land that way)

Moho: N/A (never gone there yet)

Duna: 100 km

Ike: 50 km

Dres: N/A (never gone there yet)

Jool: N/A (orbit attempts always F'd up by the moons)

Laythe: 100 km (station there)

Vall: 80 km

Tylo: N/A (never gone there yet)

Bop: 30 km

Pol: 30 km (nice view of the surface)

Eeloo: N/A (never gone there yet)

That's for me, most of the time I just like to go straight from encounter to sub-orbit, but I also like to do Apollo-style missions, and station building.

[capi3101]

A few of them seemed a bit suspect to me as well...I had assumed there was a large peak on Moho or something, which is why that was as high as it was. They're probably reasonable figures to go with for most cases, though.

[Tank Buddy]

Well, it depends on what you plan on doing with your station. If you want to land on the Mun, then rendezvous with the station, then a high orbit is better, as you can make an intercept more easily with a slower moving target. Although it would require more Delta V to reach, high altitude bases are idea in my mind. I don't have a specific altitude, but something above 100 km, but it is up to you.