What's the best way to find a landing spot?

[jarmenia]

What is the best way to find a good landing spot on the Mun or other bodies? I'd like to try and identify an area that may have something interesting to check out and also find a nice flat spot. Currently I'm driving my little rover around on the Mun but it seems like there should be a more efficient way. Suggestions?

Edited March 12, 2014 by jarmenia

[arise257]

You could deploy one or more small probes to Mun, polar-orbiting at a low altitude, something like 10,000km. Switch to them and observe the surface until you find a good spot. You could then de-orbit at that location, using your probe as a marker for future visits. Alternatively, you can keep a "mothership probe" in polar orbit, then release smaller landmark probes from it at good landing spots. Essentially, you don't want to be doing this with Kerbals because it greatly raises the chances you will strand them.

[Taki117]

Generally speaking places between Craters are good spots, but be careful you don't overshoot or you will end up on a slope. Also the bottoms of the large, dark craters are nice and flat.

[Geschosskopf]

What is the best way to find a good landing spot on the Mun or other bodies? I'd like to try and identify an area that may have something interesting to check out and also find a nice flat spot. Currently I'm driving my little rover around on the Mun but it seems like there should be a more efficient way. Suggestions?

Well, if you're after science, then you need to land in different biomes. For this, you need a biome map so you know where one ends and the next begins. I believe there's one on the wiki now but if you have SCANsat mod, you can make your own. Anyway, you decide which biome you're going to land in, pic a general area in it, then adjust your orbit so your Pe is no more than 10km and no less than about 7km off the ground over that general area. You need to be low enough to see enough terrain detail to spot reasonably good landing zones, but high enough not to hit the mountains. So you fly along until you decide you're over a good spot, burn retrograde to stop above it, then come straight down from there.

If you're not after science, then you just need to decide where you want to land and follow the same general procedure as above.

[Starstrider42]

For this, you need a biome map so you know where one ends and the next begins.

A hint: all the really big craters are their own biomes, so if you're after science those are good places to start.

[Behemoose]

What Geschosskopf said. The biome map is a great starting place; if you aim for the middle of a biome, it's going to be more flat than around the edges.

[jarmenia]

I'm playing in sandbox so science isn't my goal. I know there are "artifacts" out there that I can find but I don't want to just go look at the wiki. Other than driving around in my rover all over is there a better way to find these things in game? I know mapsat or scansat have them on their maps so I can use that. I'm just wondering if there's another way.

[cantab]

Low orbit maybe? You'll go faster. Or a "hopper" lander that can fly about.

[Vanamonde]

Until you're within 10 or so kilometers, the easter eggs are just sparking specks. You can see them from high orbit, *IF* you know exactly where to look*, but a visual search to find them in the first place is pretty much hopeless. Consider that Minmus alone has about the same surface area as Denmark, and imagine trying to find a handful of specks on its surface. If you do want to try it, the best method would be something like arise257's suggestion of a probe in low orbit which can brake hard to come down as a marker when it spots something.

* At least this used to be possible. I haven't seen one this way in quite a while, so this may have changed in recent release versions.

[Starstrider42]

Some special terrain features can be seen from orbit, but I know of at least one that very definitely can't (and it's nowhere interesting, so you won't just stumble across it while on EVA). So if you want to get them all, a mapping mod is probably the only way.

[jarmenia]

Ok, Thanks for the replies guys. I think I'm going to go the mapping mod way.

[KerikBalm]

So far, I've only found 1 mun arch, and that was from low equatorial orbit

[Taki117]

Ok, Thanks for the replies guys. I think I'm going to go the mapping mod way.

I suggest SCANSAT It's still technically in development, but it's stable enough to use.

[Kasuha]

The best way to find a good landing spot is to have a wide enough landing gear. Because then, many more spots will be good landing spots.

Edited March 12, 2014 by Kasuha