How to lithobrake

[Motokid600]

What is it first of all? I seared the forums I only found two old challenge threads and nothing pops up on google.

[Cheebsta]

No need to make up lies about looking, it's easy enough to figure out you didn't when someone actually does and sees that the lithobraking wiki is the first link, and the first sentence in it says "Lithobraking is a landing technique used by unmanned space vehicles to safely reach the surface of a celestial body while reducing landing speed by impact with the body's surface." Fairly difficult to miss, or be confused by.

[Tex_NL]

Wikipedia says the following about the work Lithosphere:

The lithosphere (Ancient Greek: λίθο [lithos] for "rocky", and ÃÆαῖÃÂα [sphaira] for "sphere") is the rigid outermost shell of a rocky planet. On Earth, it comprises the crust and the portion of the upper mantle that behaves elastically on time scales of thousands of years or greater.

Contents

If aerobraking is braking by using the atmosphere then lithobraking is braking by using a planets Lithosphere. In other words crashing into the ground killing all forward momentum and usually the passengers at the same time.

Edit: Ninja'd

@Cheebsta: You're totally correct, he could have found the answer himself VERY easily.

Edited July 20, 2013 by Tex_NL

[Johnno]

As for the how to, in KSP it's hard and quite unsafe to do without mods (if there even are any for proper airbags/durable inflatables). Once you learn to land properly just keep pushing your boundaries, horizontal velocity landings is where it starts to shine.

At the end of the day lithobraking in KSP is pretty much either unintended and used as a fancy word for hard landing/crash, or used in landing challenges where optimal landing isn't enough. I recently used it for the Most efficient Mun landing challenge.

[Skorpychan]

http://skorpychan.deviantart.com/art/Not-Quite-Perfect-384664559

That's a fine example of lithobraking, albeit unintentional. Note the landing legs scattered around the lander, and the way the lander on it's side.

[catmando]

mm.. ive had many "lithobraking "experiences..one turnd out survivable for jeb.. its just his rocket ride home didnt quite make it...he is kicking rocks on the mun some where

[Tw1]

Basically, using the ground to stop yourself. Typically, violent lithobraking events are unintentional.

But It can be used cleverly, to remove excess parts.

I tried firing cables at the ground the other day, to slow me down, but it didn't work so well.

A survivable version of lithobraking is shown in this video, the Opportunity landing.

Though there have also been things that performed a "Hard landing" deliberately. That's the kind of landing you do not walk away from.

Edited July 20, 2013 by Tw1

[dave4002000]

How to lithobrake:

Step 1: From orbit, burn retro-grade until vehicle speed is zero

Step 2: Wait

[Tex_NL]

How to lithobrake:

Step 1: From orbit, burn retro-grade until vehicle speed is zero

Step 2: Wait

Speed doesn't have to be zero as long as your periapsis is zero or less.

[Cheebsta]

This is good fodder for a "minimum speed to vaporize every single part of this craft" contest.

[Wavechaser]

"Litho" is rock, which basically means you will... ...um... ...stop as you hit the ground... ...

Um, there were actually some real-world missions use lithobraking technique, for example, MERs (Opportunity & Spirit), and the Russian Venus landing missions. You might need to search for some airbag mods, which I know Lionhead Aerospace makes those, but the MER ones are still under development.

Check this, it might help: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lithobraking

[mythbusters844]

"Litho" is rock, which basically means you will... ...um... ...stop as you hit the ground... ...

Um, there were actually some real-world missions use lithobraking technique, for example, MERs (Opportunity & Spirit), and the Russian Venus landing missions. You might need to search for some airbag mods, which I know Lionhead Aerospace makes those, but the MER ones are still under development.

Check this, it might help: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lithobraking

Dude, sorry, but this thread is over a year old. What you said was already stated too.

[Red Iron Crown]

There are some minor subtleties to proper lithobraking:

- Put the parts you want to survive as far from the expected collision direction as possible. This gives more of a "crumple zone" to protect the valuables.

- Use sacrificial parts. A set of girders or beams mounted radially and angled down to impact first will absorb a large amount of the impact energy by bending before breaking off.

- Practice on smaller bodies, like Minmus or Gilly (it's always safe to lithobrake on Gilly, you can probably land on solar panels there).

Edit: Nuts, didn't notice this was a necro.

[Specialist290]

Indeed, OP's post is just a tad out of date at this point. I'll be closing this one up.