[Showcase] Post your Moon/Planet Landers Thread / Lander building guide.

[sojourner]

Here's a lander I built in .19. I think it was all stock. I was trying to wring the most performance out of a compact package and making it useable for as many planets as possible. If I remember right, using the parachutes to land it had enough d/v to take off from Laythe. If my math was correct. Never got to test it there. It actually flew pretty well even after I added the ANT hanging off the back. Even though you couldn't tell by looking, I didn't use the devtools to build it. All of that clipping was natural.

Edited July 27, 2013 by sojourner

[Hanover Fiste]

Here are a few images of my favorite lander and rover from 0.21

This is the lander which I named "The Doghouse" because it holds and refuels the rover. It was relatively easy to control on descent but I had a little trouble lifting off and landing elsewhere. I chalk it up to lack of piloting skills.

http://cloud-4.steampowered.com/ugc/884119060956959449/FBC6D94F4ED6E6E2FAECCE21576FF7BF7889BC58/

After extensive testing on Kerbin I decided to add landing gear to the front and back because the rover has a tendency to end over while braking.

http://cloud.steampowered.com/ugc/884119060956979163/399EAE864461FFD124619C5C9E5FDBA531A35922/

I also found that turning off S.A.S. was a good idea unless the goal was to take cool screenshots.

http://cloud-3.steampowered.com/ugc/884119060957271148/07611C19410CB92C2DE209B8E6A76C1FBB0C2074/

Edited November 29, 2013 by Hanover Fiste

[Nephf]

My ALTAIR Mun lander:

[Xephirious]

These are pictures from my Articulated Rover Delivery System. I have since deleted the saves and almost all mods.

Primary mods are:

KW

Infernal Robotics

KAS

TAC fuel balancer

Engineer

Mechjeb

Remote Tech 1

The delivery system:

Deployed:

The whole package sat inside a 3.5m standard fairing from KW. I also had an alternate delivery system for the Mun and other non-atmospheric bodies. A third variation was Kerbal'd and capable of sending one Kerbal back to Munar orbit.

OOps, it appears the pictures I have don't meet the criteria for the thread. If asked I will delete the post.

Edited December 5, 2013 by Xephirious

[Eldar158]

Check out my post "the SEM" project, its 13 t mun and return. (lander+transfer stage+launcher= 13 t)

[Prof. Endwalker]

Hey, nice landers everyone! I recently made this one, which is an Apollo Style rocket, but it is good if you are just starting Apollo missions, as the Munbound MK I has plenty of fuel, and can shift a good amount of Delta V. I hope you like it! A link to the full thread below!

http://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/threads/57254-Munbound-MK-I-Apollo-Style-Spacecraft?highlight=munbound

[Scarecrow88]

My little one man Apollo style lander.

[John FX]

My latest attempt at an Apollo replica. TWR is right, fuel is just enough to be comfortable and it fits a good 2 kerbal rover with righting mechanism and ALSEP that can move themselves...

Yes, I managed to fit that rover inside that lander...

[MegaMaciej]

Hi, this is my first lander.

Career mode, so I havent any more advanced parts yet.

This strong, lonly feeling on dark cold moon... Its somewhat visible on those pictures.

[OptimusNog]

Does anyone have any 0.23 career designs to add to this thread? I'd like to see a lander with a more basic engine for someone that hasn't unlocked the full tech tree and also a science Jr on it.

I tried my first munar landing last night and didn't have enough fuel to return to Kerbin, looking for ways to modify my design to make it have a lower centre of gravity and more fuel.

[Genolution]

I tried my first munar landing last night and didn't have enough fuel to return to Kerbin, looking for ways to modify my design to make it have a lower centre of gravity and more fuel.

Give us a screenshot of your tech tree and current moon rocket. We'll get you there. (edit) I guess I should also share. "Grimoire" one of several variations. If I remove the KAS kits I can attach rovers or more fuel and engines for Tylo.

Edited January 26, 2014 by Genolution

[Darnok]

My MPCV Perseus used as Mun lander.

[Jouni]

Does anyone have any 0.23 career designs to add to this thread? I'd like to see a lander with a more basic engine for someone that hasn't unlocked the full tech tree and also a science Jr on it.

I tried my first munar landing last night and didn't have enough fuel to return to Kerbin, looking for ways to modify my design to make it have a lower centre of gravity and more fuel.

A good approach is to put lander engines and fuel tanks next to the payload, not under it. Here is one example built with 45-point technology:

The mass of the whole thing is close to 9.5 tonnes. Assuming that you can lift it to (or near) LKO, the lander has more than enough fuel to get to Mun, make one landing, and return safely to Kerbin. There is one catch: Two FL-T400 fuel tanks were not enough, so the lander carries one reserve fuel tank with it. At some point before landing, fuel must be transfered from the reserve tank to main fuel tanks, and the reserve tank must be dropped.

Here is another screenshot after landing:

As ladders haven't been invented yet, Jebediah has to use his jetpack to get back to the ship. The engines are attached with decouplers, so that they can be dropped off before opening the parachutes. In addition to the parachute at the nose of the command pod, there is another radial parachute attached to the Science Jr module. It makes the lander a bit unbalanced and hard to control when using full thrust, but at least the Science Jr module is less likely to snap off when the parachutes open.

And here is a lifter capable of getting the Mun lander into orbit:

It was also built with 45-point technology. Basically we have a tricoupler with three stacks of three FL-T800 fuel tanks and an LV-T45 engine each. Because the engines are a bit too weak for the task, there are also three big solid fuel boosters set to 70% thrust.

[inigma]

Lander. SSI style. The Proton III. With universal docking port.

Details in my sig.

[Nyazzle]

My first attempt at doing a Munar landing, I only wanted to get them on the Mun at the time. Still managed to get a Kerbal and a rover onto the Mun!

[Brischkopp]

Ares, my Duna Lander:

The upper part seperates for the return to Kerbin.

[Mesklin]

Here is my lander from Dune expedition. On the left side I placed fuel tank on deckoupler for refuel lander after landing. Rover was left on Dune.

This lander can return to Kerbin without refueling on Dune orbit (800-900 m/s on LDO). And empty lander can safely land on Kerbin without use rocket power.

[Jouni]

I haven't used too many manned landers after I switched to sandbox when 0.23 came.

My proof-of-concept Mun lander can be found in an earlier post.

I built a Laythe lander some time ago, but I still haven't found time to send my colonization fleet there. So far the lander has been used mostly as a crew shuttle in the Kerbin system.

The lander from my recent Duna/Ike mission is still hanging around at my LKO base, but apparently I don't have any screenshots of it in action.

I haven't found too much use for either of the lander cans. When the description of the part says that it won't survive atmospheric entry, it feels a bit silly to use it in an atmospheric lander, even though that's technically possible. On Ike, I just use the lander I designed for Duna. Mun is so close to Kerbin that I don't bother with Apollo-style missions. If the lander has enough fuel to take off from Mun, it can return to Kerbin on its own.

And then there is Minmus. Building a Minmus lander is rather pointless, because pretty much anything can land there succesfully. For example, this spaceplane was a perfectly good lander, even though I had to drive uphill to take off.

Back in 0.22, I landed a bus on Minmus. Then I drove around with the engine on so much that it didn't have enough fuel to take off anymore. Landing with an interplanetary ship was not such a good idea, however. The ship had enough thrust to take off, but I still decided to quickload instead of launching replacement engines. You can also see my Duna lander at the nose of the ship.

[arise257]

This doesn't work in the preview, so I'm hoping it works here. Here's my cross-tank lander design. From Kerbin on a lifter, you can make it to Minmus and back. If you're dropping it docked from a science station, you'll make it down and back up to rendezvous.

When you go back to Kerbin, you can jettison the tanks and parachute down to safety.

Javascript is disabled. View full album

Edited April 18, 2014 by arise257
Added link. Eff IMGUR.

[Camaron]

Am I missing something? Why do so many people use these gold-orange Ring Tanks? I checked their numbers, and it seems they have a higher Container weight - to - Fuel weight ratio than anything else. Seems to me they would be nothing but detrimental. Or did I misread the specs?

[arise257]

Am I missing something? Why do so many people use these gold-orange Ring Tanks? I checked their numbers, and it seems they have a higher Container weight - to - Fuel weight ratio than anything else. Seems to me they would be nothing but detrimental. Or did I misread the specs?

You are correct about the relative inefficiency of using these tanks, but considering that most people are flying and landing them in low-gravity environments, the weight-to-fuel ratio is mostly irrelevant. Also: style points. These things look awesome, no?

[Dispatcher]

[Ravenchant]

Am I missing something? Why do so many people use these gold-orange Ring Tanks? I checked their numbers, and it seems they have a higher Container weight - to - Fuel weight ratio than anything else. Seems to me they would be nothing but detrimental. Or did I misread the specs?

You read the specs correctly. But they look good when placed in strategic locations- that's all the reason we ever need.

[Chronin]

While I'm still working on it, I have an idea for a lander capable of landing in all directions, like a somewhat ball shape. Might be completely stupid, but I'll give it a try and post the results here.

[TerLoki]

From my current career:

The Ike M, which performed the first Minmus landing, piloted by Bob. I tried to do something of an Apollo/Soyuz hybrid design with this little lander, though it takes off and returns in one piece.

Jeb's lander for the second Minmus landing, the Ike 2M. An upgraded version of the Ike M with greater fuel capacity, simplified RCS, new solar panels, and improved life support. Once back in orbit and docked the propulsion module separates and deorbits automatically, leaving the command pod to act as orbital module for the return capsule.