Distant Horizons Munar Lander

[Elmetian]

This is a craft I've been working on for a while. It adheres to an 'all-in-one' design philosophy for a manned Munar landing. I know there have been similar projects in the past, but SkyRender's recent Science Comsat Launcher post has prompted me to release this a little ahead of schedule. Kudos where it's due to SkyRender.

Action groups:

1 toggles atomic rockets

2 toggles the lander engines

3 toggles the individual satellite motors, as well as the Munar departure engine on the Lander Can

4 deploys the parachute

Flight Notes:

• Take off at full throttle and then reduce by two notches before it overheats.

• Begin a gradual gravity turn at 8km. Aim for 45° by 15km, and 25° by 20km and then follow the prograde marker on the navball's orbital reference. Your parking orbit should be at 90 - 100km.

• Once the central Skipper engine has burnt out, advance the stages and manually jettison the shrouds around the atomic rockets.

DO NOT decouple the capsule from the lander until all the comsats have been deployed. Due to a bug in KSP, as soon as you decouple from the rest of the ship it will tear itself apart. To deploy the sats so they're in the same orbital plane but out of phase by 60°, make your apoapsis around the Mun whatever your target altitude is and adjust the periapsis so that your orbital period is 5/6 of what it would be if circularised. Release a satellite every time you reach apoapsis and use the on-board engine to circularise its orbit.

• When you are in Munar orbit and ready to deploy the lander, remember to manually decouple the stage with the atomic engines on, otherwise you're going nowhere!

• Control the rover from the probe visible on the upper surface behind the seats. To self-right first make sure RCS is on, SAS is off, and you're in stage mode (not docking), then press S. It is best driven using docking mode with SAS on.

• Remember to manually decouple the junior docking port before releasing the Munar ascent stage.

Follow the craft screenshot album if you're unsure how to use this, or just post your questions here

Edited September 28, 2013 by Narcosis

[KerbMav]

That is one of the cutest rovers!

[Elmetian]

That is one of the cutest rovers!

Thanks! Note also that the rover has balanced RCS, allowing it to fly over obstacles on the Munar surface.