IOn lander vs Gilly

[technion]

Hey guys,

Before I get there and find out the hard way..

Am I correct in the expectation that, with the amazing gravity in Gilly, a lander with a small ascent stage powered by an ion probe could escape its SOI and get back to a low Eve orbit ?

[Kasuha]

As long as your lander has TWR >1 on Gilly you should be safe. Just get ready for some really long burns.

[stringyquark]

I once parked docked a ship on with gilliy and im pretty sure it almost launched without me just off of gillys rotational speed alone. So as long as the craft is reasonable to run with an ion engine you should be fine.

Edited November 22, 2013 by stringyquark

[7499275]

Stock Ion engines I don't know as I never use them. I have my ion engines bumped up to a max power of 250 so it would really be possible for me.

[technion]

Thanks guys. I deployed a few ion probes around planets and never felt there was a point (once they were in orbit, who cared how efficient they were?). So I've been looking for an excuse to use one. I plan on getting there with a convention engine, then staging the return to pretty much a chair and an engine.

[el_coyoto]

If, like me, you don't like computing stuff "by hand", you can check your TWR on Gilly while in the VAB with Kerbal Engineer.

Just make sure that your lander has enough electricity to power your ion powered take-off and circularization burn...

Edited November 22, 2013 by el_coyoto
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[WafflesToo]

Gilly shouldn't be a problem.

[DMagic]

Gilly is almost too easy to land on with an ion engine. For a real challenge try Ike or Dres. I put together some ion engine landers for most of the moons where it's possible to do so (I still haven't gotten around to Dres though).

http://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/threads/30329-Ion-Engines-Everywhere-My-Attempt-to-Land-As-Many-Places-As-Possible

[technion]

DMagic, that's a great report, thanks for that.

To confirm, you talk about landing an unmanned unit. With a seat on top, do you see that managing to circularise an orbit and make a return?

[DMagic]

For Gilly, definitely. I made a three-ion engine manned lander for Minmus and it worked great. For Gilly you could probably use only one or two engines with a single chair. Just make sure to take into account the mass of the Kerbal when designing the craft, they are about .093 tons. Ion engines are always a bit tricky for circularizing though, you have to start the burn much earlier than you might think.

[RocketPilot573]

I did it once, a small probe with one ION and a few solar panels can easily fly around on Gilly.

[CaptainArchmage]

Hey guys,

Before I get there and find out the hard way..

Am I correct in the expectation that, with the amazing gravity in Gilly, a lander with a small ascent stage powered by an ion probe could escape its SOI and get back to a low Eve orbit ?

I have landed on and launched from Minmus with an ion lander carrying a Kerbal (in a capsule), and I have seen other people doing this as well. It should be quite easy to land on and take off from Gilly as long as your thrust to weight ratio can overcome gravity, and the sun is in the sky.