How to land on gilly?

[panzerknoef]

So i "landed" on gilly a few hours ago and it seems that i can't actually land!? My spacecraft just keeps bouncing around on it's surface and my speedometer keeps saying orbit although i'm "on" the surface.

Is there a way to actually land on gilly or do you just have to keep bouncing around hoping that your craft won't explode.

Edited November 26, 2013 by panzerknoef

[Dogface]

My lander eventually came to a rest. But, I designed it with bouncing in mind, not a classic lander that sits up straight and pays attention. And the impacts are very light, so damage is rare if you design with bouncing in mind.

You can switch back an forth between "surface" and "orbit" speed by clicking on the speed number.

Edited November 22, 2013 by Dogface

[TheGeoninja]

This is because Gilly is beyond small. You can get to orbit with a thruster pack easy. I can't say I have been to Gilly although I probably should venture there. From what I have heard to land on Gilly it is best to just use RCS to slow down. If that doesn't help you are going to want to adjust your landing site to somewhere flatter.

[el_coyoto]

I treat landing on Gilly as docking with Gilly, using landing legs as a docking port.

Seriously, everything happen so slowly because of the weak gravity, that, while free-falling over the surface, it is tempting to point the lander nose down, thrust and add a few tens of m/s, before pointing up and cancelling speed just above the ground.

Just like "real" docking, RCS might help, so that you don't have to turn your ship before firing...

[Smidge204]

Be gentle. That's about it. It's not like other moons where you can approach at 5m/s and let the landing struts soak it up.. gotta touch down very gently and with no horizontal velocity.

Use of RCS thrusters to land is acceptable, but a nuclear engine or some LV-1/LV-1R engines is probably better. Depends on your craft.

Also, don't jump while on EVA.

You can get to orbit with a thruster pack easy.

You can get back to Kerbin with just the EVA pack.

=Smidge=

[capi3101]

Take it slowly. RCS thrust is more than sufficient for a Gilly landing; it remains the only body in the Kerbol system that I ever deliberately thrusted towards during the landing process.

You do have to be more precise than usual about killing ALL your horizontal velocity before you touch down.

el_coyoto is absolutely correct - treat it as a docking, and you should be just fine.

[panzerknoef]

Okay thx people doing it gently is the way

[Tex_NL]

To practice landing on Gilly you can 'Hack Gravity' from the console. Hacked gravity on Kerbin is still slightly higher but very similar. Try landing your craft on some weird, inclined places (e.g. on top of buildings) around KSC. Once you've nailed that you should be able to nail both Gilly and Pol.

[Vanamonde]

In this case, "orbit" is merely the display mode on the navball. It doesn't actually mean that you're still orbiting Gilly. And yes, the vehicle might bounce around a bit, but will eventually come to rest.

[bsalis]

Try not bothering with legs at all, and let the craft settle on its side, or how it may. Worked for me to help settle it.

[panzerknoef]

I just did that but thanks anyway, i have a post about my mission today somewhere on te forums