Moho is a pig

[Khrissetti]

I have a feeling getting to Moho is going to be comparable in challenge to my first Mun landing. My first mission to the system went horribly wrong after I mucked up the phase angle (I launched at 240 degrees-ish, rather than MINUS 240 degrees)

The second mission spent about an hour playing with maneuver nodes to finally catch the little son of a hitchiker can only to smash into the surface at ~15km/s.

And I thought getting to Eve was tough.

[Scotius]

Yup, Moho is tough to get to. You need loads of dV, you can't aerobrake...well, at least your lander won't melt on the surface anymore.

[sierra_seven_]

Aye, no, Moho is a planet. That's probably where your space program's going wrong

[Richy teh space man]

It may be worthwhile going to Eve first, and refuelling there before going on to Moho.

[doggie015]

At least it's no longer like this:

[OopsThatNotWork]

Yea....im just trying to get a satellite there for now. I just burned through 13000 units of Xenon to get just outside of Moho orbit, Im having slightly better luck getting to eeloo....

[nimbim]

While you're waiting for the phase angle, you can wait some more to get a launch window with the phase angle AND matching planes, that could already save you a lot of delta v. Try to arrive near Moho's periapsis, that will save you fuel when you arrive to kill your velocity. If your TWR is bad, you can start your capture burn a bit before the SOI transition. Also, it is possible to let Eve gravity assist to get your Pe down to an intersect with Moho, although that takes forever to setup (not recommended).

Edited July 1, 2013 by nimbim

[Androsynth]

While you're waiting for the phase angle, you can wait some more to get a launch window with the phase angle AND matching planes, that could already save you a lot of delta v. Try to arrive near Moho's apoapsis, that will save you fuel when you arrive to kill your velocity. If your TWR is bad, you can start your capture burn a bit before the SOI transition. Also, it is possible to let Eve gravity assist to get your Pe down to an intersect with Moho, although that takes forever to setup (not recommended).

Might as well aerobrake at Eve while you're at it, rather than doing all the legwork of dropping your solar periapsis. Right?

[Moon Goddess]

Might as well aerobrake at Eve while you're at it, rather than doing all the legwork of dropping your solar periapsis. Right?

Might as well if you can get it to line up go for it.

[esinohio]

Ahhh Moho, I've added some nice probe shaped craters on the surface of that one for sure. The surface is well on its way to morphing into my own personal planetary junk yard!

[elkar]

Yep, moho is the most challenging planet to get to, short trave distance but shiatloads of DV to break there.

[DMagic]

Try to arrive near Moho's apoapsis, that will save you fuel when you arrive to kill your velocity.

It's the other way around. You want to arrive at Moho near its periapsis, that way you have to lower your solar orbit less for the capture to Moho orbit. It takes slightly more delta-v for the initial ejection burn, but much less for the capture burn to do it this way.

[maltesh]

Might as well aerobrake at Eve while you're at it, rather than doing all the legwork of dropping your solar periapsis. Right?

Keep in mind, though, that aerobraking at Eve brings your velocity closer to that of Eve. It does not necessarily reduce your sun-relative velocity. Passing through the atmosphere of a massless Eve on the way deeper into the sun's gravity well would tend to raise your spacecraft's solar periapsis, not lower it.

(Eve, of course, is not massless, and its own gravitational effects would significant things to say about your trajectory.)

[m1xte]

It is easier to pack crapload of dV and take it rendezvous style.

[Tw1]

I got there, using a great big carrier module that docked to the front of the rest of the ship. Took about 2300 DV to stop, from memory.

The landing was a struggle, didn't help my lander was based on one intended for Dres, with a little more oomph. It was VTOL, but I had to use the main engine rather than the thrusters to land.

[-RanZ-]

I didn't think moho was that hard, just requires a lot of delta V

[joppiesaus]

And of course a lovely hole at the north pole.

[DMagic]

It is easier to pack crapload of dV and take it rendezvous style.

Yeah, that's how I do it. But really, it doesn't take that much more dV to do it this way. And it's much easier than trying to wait for the ideal launch window or trying to hassle with an Eve encounter.

[katateochi]

Moho nearly ended my Grand tour before it had even begun. I made it, but with barely any fuel left over and had to spend several days (rl) mining kethane from its surface and shuttling it up to orbit before I could proceed. My lasting memories of Moho are the 15 minutes braking burn that it took to capture its orbit and that mining fuel from it was not efficient.

[Fried]

I sent one probe to moho, never again. ( ill admit it was harder though as docking was just implemented and not used on this mission.)

as you can see by my sig it did not survive.

[DChurchill]

My only trip to Moho ended with a dead kerbal. Not enough dV.

[Bekiekutmoar]

My first mission to Moho resulted in a stranded Kerbal on Moho and two others in solar orbit. Underestimated the required Delta-V a bit. I'm launching a rescue mission as I speak.

[Khrissetti]

Excelsior! After half a dozen lifter stage designs the Cheyenne III succeeded in her mission, masking the bad press received from the failed Cheyenne I and II

Cheyenne III on Moho

The transfer stage which took it there:

And the satelite picking up and transmitting the all-important data back to Kerbin

[Nao]

Yup, Moho is tough to get to. You need loads of dV, you can't aerobrake...well, at least your lander won't melt on the surface anymore.

Hey i loved that feature T_T. So much engineering to do! Real need for probing the atmosphere and stress testing parts on kerbin (with engines pointing at them to simulate temperature). Fun stuff... or should i say !!FUN!!

[Horn Brain]

If you're trying to get a satellite there, it's actually quite easy if you just use ion engines. Your probe should be the lightest probe core, enough solar panels to run the ion engine full throttle (if you don't use it until you have escaped Kerbin, you can get away with just two or three near Moho), one xenon tank, one battery, and the engine. I had one slightly heavier than that and I got to Moho with one big SRB with fins, one medium 1-meter fuel tank and an LV-909, and the probe. I still had about half my Xenon left, too.

Ion engines are just not useful for big vehicles. Keep it light.

Here is what I got into a polar orbit around Moho:

The bare-bones vehicle I described will be even easier to fly there.

Edited July 2, 2013 by Horn Brain
Added picture