bouncy munar lander

[Capt. Hunt]

I've build a lander capable of getting to the mun, but every time I try to land it, the thing bounces and tips over, any ideas?

[MaverickSawyer]

Well, sounds like you're hitting a little hard, with some sideways velocity. What's the lander look like? A picture, although not exactly required to solve this, would help a lot.

In general, you want to land at less than 2 m/s straight down, and have a wide stance to your landing gear. A tall, skinny rocket with a narrow footprint is easy to tip over on a hill.

However, both of these can be eased by using RCS. The RCS can help you remove lateral speed, and can help you right a tipped lander if you're careful.

[thereaverofdarkness]

Another way to remove lateral speed is to tip the rocket in the direction of the retrograde marker on the navball. When you've got a long way to go before you reach the ground, you can turn beyond the retrograde marker and burn to push it toward the top (middle of the blue area). The further past it you turn, the faster it'll move away from your current vector. If on the other hand you are close to the surface and are coming in gently, then you want to make much smaller turns toward the retrograde vector, and be ready to swiftly turn back to vertical before you knock the rocket in the other direction. Takes a little getting used to but it's pretty easy once you get the hang of it.

[JumpsterG]

Not sure if this is the case, but landing gear suspension might be giving you too much "spring". You might try the same landing with the suspension locked and see if it helps you to bounce less. (right-click the landing legs for the option; make sure you do all of them, since I don't think it automatically applies to all in a symmetrical set)

[LarryWallwart]

I had the same problem.

1. Lower the center of gravity and widen the base. Maybe something like this.

2. Burn retro until your orbit velocity is as close to zero as you can. This way you are going straight down.

3. Try to land on a level spot. Mun is full of steep slopes.

4. After you hit, you can still use WASDQE keys to try to rotate lander back to vertical as it tips.

Edited January 20, 2014 by LarryWallwart

[TechnicalK3rbal]

The navball may be on the orbital velocity, not surface. If your landing you want it on surface, because hats how you're moving relative to the ground. To switch it click where it shows your velocity.

[Alchemist]

Some tips to avoid tipping over:

1) Short lander with low center of mass and wide spread legs - the most stable configuration

2) Ensure you have no horizontal velocity. On final descent just align the craft vertically, engage SAS and use RCS to ensure you are moving vertically.

3) Try to avoid slopes.

4) Disengage the engine the very moment your legs touch the ground of just before that - otherwise even minimal slope will result in tipping over.

5) SAS+RCS will help you avoid tipping over. Don't disengage them until the craft stabilizes.

6) Try using nesting engines to keep the craft on the ground (separatrons facing up, or just use retrograde RCS).