Newbie Here

[milbournosphere]

Well, kind of newbie. I've been fiddling with the game for a while. Made my first manned Mun landing last night, followed by the first manned rescue (not enough fuel for the return trip!).

Jeb saying hey from the Mun (Bill and Bob were still suiting up).

And now a newbie question: what are some tips for precision landing on the Mun? I'm having a hard time landing anywhere specific, often having rovers ending up kilometers off from where they're supposed to be.

[Scarecrow88]

Welcome. While in orbit burn retrograde until your touch down point is a little beyond where you actually want to land. This allows for Mun rotation (assuming you have an easterly orbit) and braking that will shorten the distance to your actual landing point. That should get you close to where you want to be. For greater precision, you will need to make adjustments during the descent to fine tune where you end up.

[milbournosphere]

Scarecrow, thanks for the tips! I've had a few successes with landing spots along the line of my initial orbit inclination; however, more complex landings are still near impossible. For example, I am having a hard time landing at the anomaly my ISS MapSat satellite found near the North Pole of the Mun. Any tips for landing at a location far away from one's orbit without using too much fuel?

[The Deep Space Kraken]

If you are on an equatorial orbit (or close to equatorial) burning north ( on the red line where half the nav-ball is brown and half is blue) or south will change the inclination of your orbit.

[Scarecrow88]

If you intend to land near either of the poles, you are better off if you can alter your flight path before you reach the Mun to come in over the poles as it uses a lot less fuel than going for an equatorial capture and then doing a plane change once in orbit.

[milbournosphere]

Thanks for the tip Kraken and Scarecrow. I managed to pull a polar orbit with my MapSat satellite by changing inclination after establishing an equatorial orbit, but you're right, it used a ton of fuel! Right now I'm working on visiting the anomalies that the mapping activity discovered. I managed to land near the Armstrong memorial last night...I'll use this as an objective for my next manned-lander mission now that I've got the basic process down.

[Scarecrow88]

I planted a flag at each of the anomalies I visited to make them easier to find on future missions. Just a thought and small tip.

[milbournosphere]

Funny, I ended up doing the same thing. I plan to use the basin that the Armstrong memorial is in as a Mun base, it is pretty flat. Right now I'm working on getting all of the anomalies explored and flagged, and then I'll start working on brushing up modules for a Mun Base. I'm pondering putting a refueling depot into Mun orbit...right now I have to bring the lander home after each landing, which seems like a real waste of time and resources.

[rowns]

Is that Jeb? doesnt Bill, Bob and Jeb have orange suits?

[milbournosphere]

My mistake, I guess I sent the Kerbiets up on that mission!

[Capt'n Skunky]

Happy Launching!

Arrr!

Capt'n Skunky

KSP Community Manager