How to land on the Moon?

[RockyTV]

I've managed to get into a landing course, but I can't chase the retrograde mark when I turn on my ASAS and time-accelerate. Then I always end up crashing.

Any good tips on how to land on the Moon?

[Johnno]

Get into orbit, burn retrograde until you've got zero speed, start dropping straight down, slow speed vs Mun, land.

Why are you time accelerating vs retrograde? Landing course and timewarp? You're on a landing course.... so don't timewarp. LAND. You burn retrograde to slow down your ascent. What part are you not understanding? Retrograde is what you have to burn to slow your speed vs where you're headed. So burn there to slow your ascent, match it to facing straight toward Mun, slow down ascent, touchdown.

There should be more than plenty tutorials on how to land, how to read the navball, how thrust (and RCS) works. If you have specific issues, please ask, but where did you learn to turn to retrograde and timewarp?

[CaptainKipard]

But your ribbons say that you've landed on both Mun and Minmus.

[RockyTV]

But your ribbons say that you've landed on both Mun and Minmus.

The first time in Minmus and Mun - it was a lucky shot. I can't land on them now.

Johnno: I am in a 133km landing course to the Mün, so I time-accelerate to get into a 20km landing course to the Mun.

[CaptainKipard]

Well if you burn with your level indicator to one side of the retrograde marker, that might cause the retrograde marker to drift further away if you're burning too hard. Is that what you're talking about? It's difficult to work out what you're doing without a clear description and correct terminology. Like what does "a 20km landing course" mean? Do you just mean you're warping until your altitude reads 20km?

Also have you looked at any youtube tutorials?

[RockyTV]

Well if you burn with your level indicator to one side of the retrograde marker, that might cause the retrograde marker to drift further away if you're burning too hard. Is that what you're talking about? It's difficult to work out what you're doing without a clear description and correct terminology. Like what does "a 20km landing course" mean? Do you just mean you're warping until your altitude reads 20km?

Also have you looked at any youtube tutorials?

1. yes that.

2. Well, I've seen Scott Manley's tutorial on how to get to Moons and land on them.

[Tex_NL]

Don't forget Manley is an experienced player. He often makes things look a bit easier than they actually are. Don't think you can do it simply because he can do it. Take your time, be gentle with the throttle and don't give up.

[9911MU51C]

what exactly is happening?

[Spaceisbeautifulul]

Owwch, so close. I was just landing on the Mun myself, I could've given you a picture-tutorial.

Err, look for that green marker with the X through it (its amused your in orbit around the Mun) throttle up until your blue line runs into the Mun. Warp down to slightly above that spot. Landing on the light side is easier because you can see the ground. Once you think your near enough to the ground, start burning to kill your velocity. Then glide it down and set yourself down depending on the landing leg, 7 m/s at the most is usually safe.

Its important to remember the the green marker with the X will always try and run away from where your burning, the other one without the X should want to move towards where your burning.

Good luck, and remember, it took me one month to get into orbit, and another to get to the Mun!

[Vanamonde]

I can't chase the retrograde mark when I turn on my ASAS and time-accelerate. Then I always end up crashing. Any good tips on how to land on the Moon?

How about, don't use time acceleration during delicate maneuvers? Seriously, speeding towards a mass of rock is a bad time to get impatient.

[CaptainKipard]

Ok I don't presume to teach you anything so bear with me.

The problem you're having with your retrograde marker is that you're burning so hard that the vertical component of your velocity is essentially diminished so much that the lateral component is the larger one. In laymans terms you're flying sideways instead of following a trajectory that's close to one that the gravity wants to pull you along. you should do a long gentle retroburn only to kill off your overall velocity. Your retrograde marker will gently float to the top of the navball then. So:

1. Deorbit

2. Orient yourself towards the retrograde.

3. Wait until you're a few thousand meters off the surface. And i mean the surface and not "sea" level. Keep pointed towards retrograde ALL THE TIME.

4. burn gently, but enough to keep your velocity to be about 100 times smaller than your altitude. so if you're at 2000m your velocity should be 20m/s. 10m/s at 1000m and so on.

5. Use your RCS thrusters to keep your retrograde marker in the center of the top of the navball. That means you'll be traveling completely vertically.

This way you should come to a nice gentle landing. I have a lot of fun with this. It's a nice feeling being able to balance your craft so well that you can just hover over one spot But that's a skill for another day.

[Uberick]

I'm gonna throw in another vote for "burn reto to kill all speed, and drop straight down"

If you put yourself in a low orbit first(say, maybe 5000m alt), and then burn retro at your periapsis, you won't pick up THAT much speed from gravity, so it'll be reasonably efficient. If you have decent acceleration(using chemical engines usually), you can set your altitude even lower, and burn off all of your horizontal speed before you start to drop down to the surface.

As you descend, you can fine tune the retrograde marker(make sure to set your nav-ball for "surface") to make sure you're coming straight down. Keep your final speed below 10 m/s(there's a handy "radar altitude" indicator in most capsules), and you should be good to land.

Good luck!

[MalfunctionM1Ke]

Timewarp during landing approach is something that even I havent tried yet.

If you want to go to the surface quickly, you have to go nosedown at full thrust

[Kosmo-not]

For a good Mun landing, approach with a low periapsis and start your landing burn 1km or less above the surface. I have 2 videos to demonstrate:

The landing burn starts at 26:13 in this next video. I botched the landing by accidentally pushing 'x' instead of 'ctrl', but it demonstrates the method. Please excuse my terrible voice.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7EXoxiI_vqs

Edited June 22, 2013 by Kosmo-not

[CaptainKipard]

If you want to go to the surface quickly, you have to go nosedown at full thrust

I recommend not doing that. It's just a waste of fuel, and accomplishes nothing that gravity wont do on it's own.

[FrontierProject]

ummm... my moon landing technique is:

1. Catch moon gravity

2. burn retro to bring periapsis to 30000

3. warp to periapsis

4. burn retro till I have a straight drop

5. decouple lander

6. straighten out, final landing check

7. warp alt. 10000

8. perform landing manuevers.

so yeah, I warp in the drop too...