Finally landed on Tylo

[lajoswinkler]

Unmanned mission, but hey - I've landed without crashing almost 45 minutes ago, at 5:15 in the morning.

In case someone's asking, no mods.

The craft is called Osteoblast 1, and it's named after the cells that synthesize bones because it became the one with the planetary body that looks like it's made out of bone.

I've cranked the details to high and experienced no problems simply because there isn't any atmosphere or water.

Let this be a helpful post for those who are struggling with it. I won't include info on the launcher or the tug. You should know how to get your craft to the Joolean system and how to park in Tylo's orbit.

This is a two-stage probe lander still attached to a heavily depleted tug which had lots of tanks that have been jettisoned throughout the mission.

Upon parking at 500 km height in Tylo's orbit, the tug still had half of its fuel. I wouldn't recommend going into a lower orbit because you have to deal with lots of lateral movement and you don't have enough time because you're falling down.

I've started braking using the tug and managed to do a nice reduction in lateral speed while still high above the satellite. Three LV-N engines were enough.

(the icon is currently "ship" because I have lots of probes around Jool and I wanted my workspace to be neat)

I've chosen a very low spot, later it turned out to be at 2 metres.

It's fortunate that Tylo is tidally locked, so the surface doesn't escape under your feet.

First stage of the probe was jettisoned before 80 km mark and the landing was done with several steps. There were several full stops and ascents midair because I didn't want to land on the slope. There was plenty of fuel for such maneuvers.

Finally it landed at the base of this crater.

So if you want to land on Tylo, use engines with great thrust to weight ratio and bring enough fuel. You can see from the screenshots what it takes to land the smallest probe core and be left with half of the last tank. This thing is still capable of hopping around, but it can't reach any orbit.

I can imagine how tedious it must be to go Apollo on Tylo.

Also remember to park in a high enough orbit to avoid problems with huge lateral speed.

Edited October 14, 2013 by lajoswinkler
grammar

[dharak1]

Landing on Tylo and giving tips? Good job! I havent landed on anything but Laythe in the Jool system. I could if I wanted to devote time to it. I just like Duna and Ike so much more. I am throwing together a semi-grand tour in my KSP series. I plant to visit Jool after Duna then Eeloo then Moho and Eve then home. I want to land on Tylo, but I'm still questioning if I should. It would for sure need its own lander. I could also reuse my Laythe lander a planned 2 stager with jet engines. I want to do a couple landings on each Jool moon, mainly because it would be easier to balance the craft. Anyway, I rep'd ya.

[Vector]

Well done. I landed on Tylo for the first time yesterday as well. I had brought 2 Kerbals which are now stranded -- I had hoped to get them back to Tylo orbit, but it wasn't meant to be. At least they survived.

I used a horizontal landing patterned after Kosmo-not's landing discussed here.

[Specialist290]

Nicely done! I'm glad you've included a few remarks to serve as guidelines for the rest of us, as well. Certainly food for thought when I start to consider Tylo missions of my own.

[SpaceSphereOfDeath]

Thanks, I'll finally land on tylo (the only place I haven't landed and returned from)

[Richy teh space man]

Congrats on landing on the hardest place to land in the Kerbol system.

[dharak1]

Landing on Tylo is the hardest, getting back after landing? Eve of course!

[lajoswinkler]

Thanks, all. I've abandoned Tylo since summer. Too much frustration and nothing fancy on the surface (I like them rocks ).

Today I've just decided to try it for one last time in the foreseeable future, as a farewell to v0.21.

I don't think I'll be sending Kerbals there. I'm done with abandoning them. My last save, before I bought KSP, contains a huge number of Kerbals scattered all over the system. Doesn't seem very realistic, so now I use a legal version with the interest shifted into probes and perfecting rendezvous in Kerbin and Mün orbit. Kerbals have visited and returned home from Minmus and Duna, too.

If someone needs more details on the lander and the whole process, I'll be happy to help. I'm actually going to try to land a tiny rover and visit Osteoblast 1. That would be a fun thing to do.

[Epthelyn]

Congratulations!

Tylo might be tidally locked, but that doesn't stop it rotating beneath you unless you're in a synchronous orbit. However, since you're falling towards it faster most of the time than, say, when landing on the Mun, it's less obvious

[lajoswinkler]

You're right, it was a happy coincidence. I haven't noticed almost any movement at all.

[Brotoro]

Huzzah! Congrats.