Landers

[TechnicalK3rbal]

Is there any way to figure out if a lander will be able to land on and return from a planets surface? More specifically Duna?

Also, this is unrelated, but what is "reputation" on the forums and how does it work?

Thanks in advance

[Sirrobert]

If you want to stress test your lander a little, put a launch stabalizer on it and 'launch'

Now deploy the landing legs, and trigger the stabalizer. This will cause the lander to fall a little. A good way to test at what speed your lander can hit the ground, and if it can stay up.

A lander can land with rocket power alone if it has a TWR (thrust to weight) ratio higher than 1. Lower than 1 will mean it can't slow down enough and crash.

Now for specific planets, you will need to know the deltaV stats. There are a few good guides on the internet that show how much deltaV you need to land on a body, and how much to takeoff and return to kerbin.

To get the deltaV of your craft, use Mechjeb or Kerbal Engeneer redux, or calculate it yourself (I'd recommend the mod )

If you want to know the TWR that it is probably on the relavent planet, double click on the planet, and open up the info. It'll tell you how big the surface gravity is. Compare this to kerbin (kerbin is 1. Everything else is in relation to it)

[Nao]

Send a probe first! Imitating the landing of manned craft. There are several things that can go wrong on a Duna misson that aren't apparent from tests on Kerbin. Oh and if you are not sure if you will have enough fuel, then just by using the lander (without interplanetary stage) starting from low kerbin orbit try landing and returning from Mun, if it manages it, it should have enough for Duna.

Edited October 27, 2013 by Nao

[Goldham]

Another way to see if your lander is able is to install a Modsuch as Kerbal engineer that gives DeltaV and TWR on a specific body.

[TechnicalK3rbal]

Another way to see if your lander is able is to install a Modsuch as Kerbal engineer that gives DeltaV and TWR on a specific body.

I'm trying to do it all stock.

Also, thanks nao, I will try that.

[Dingbat1967]

One thing I learned about Duna Landers is to mount all the parachutes on your central component. Don't split them up to mount them on say, the capsule and the rest on the lower body. The differential in inertia can tear the lander apart. The capsule will survive but might get seperated from the rest of the ship. KISS (Keep it simple). You will need between 1500 and 2000 m/s of DV to get back in orbit. Drogues are a good idea. Since the atmosphere is thin, you need to put more parachutes than you would on kerbin or keep some fuel to do a burn near landing to drop before 10 m/s. If you're interested I can send you two .craft files for landers that work very well on Duna.

[Seret]

Is there any way to figure out if a lander will be able to land on and return from a planets surface? More specifically Duna?

The amount of ÃŽâ€v that it takes to land on different planets is a known factor, there are plugins such as Kerbal Engineer Redux that can tell you the ÃŽâ€v of your lander when you're in the VAB. Give yourself a bit extra above what's on that chart, just in case.