Finally i landed !

[Scarredclown]

Today i finally land a probe on Minmus ! Wasnt very pretty, lost a lot of fuel , but i manage to get it back in one piece ! Should i send other probe to practice before sending a kerbal mission ? Will i get science point for multiple probe mission ?

Lately i'm a bit at loss to get new science point...

[MadMooMan]

No, firstly you want to keep practising with your probes until you are confident you can get a Kerbal back in one piece. Also as you send more probes slowly increase the weight of each probe, as bringing a Kerbal with you does add weight. And no, multiple missions won't gather more science, unless you visit a different biome each time. The KSP wiki has biome maps for the Mun, Minmus and Kerbin.

[Sirrobert]

Congratulations. I'm sure your second landing will go alot easier now that you understand how it works. You'll gain a bit more science on your next craft returning from minmus surface, but not alot.

You can do a couple of things from here:

Send another probe to practice.

Send another probe with science instruments. You'll still need to send a kerbal for EVA report and surface samples ofcourse.

Just send a kerbal. Don't forget to quicksave before landing offcourse.

Now that you can land on Minmus, your science problems should end. There is a wealth of science to be gained from Minmus, with multiple biomes, each giving you a full batch of science (goo, material bay, surface sample, EVA report, crew report, and the advanced science parts once you get them).

And now that you know the basics of landing, you can also try going to Mun. It's a little more difficult to land because of the higher gravity, but apart from that it's exactly the same (your minmus lander should be capable of going to and landing on Mun to. They cost rougly the same amount of fuel. Just make sure you have enough thrust to counter Mun's increased gravity)

[Vanamonde]

No screenshots?

But yes, I would also advise practicing a few more times before risking a (fictional) life. You can even practice with the crewed design if you add a probe core to it and take the pilot out before launch.

[xcorps]

Also, it'd be fun to build a probe ship that you can land on spot A, take off, land on spot B, take off and return. If you look up some of the biome maps, you can do separate experiments in each biome.

[joekidd1992]

I've never done probes. I really don't know how to use them. Congrats on your landing!

[LethalDose]

Send a kerbal whenever you feel ready for the challenge. and remember f5 for quicksave and f9 for quick load are your friends.

Semi-related advice on powered landing follows:

When I was first starting to learn to play the game, I created a "practice lander" probe that consisted of a Stayputnik core, the flatest 1.25m tank, an LV 909, and landing legs. and maybe some batteries. Annyway, I strapped the whole thing to the top of a solid booster and shot it up, then to the west of the KSC and practiced controlled landings.

Did it over and over.

and over.

and over.

and then a few more times for good measure.

It gave me a good idea of what to expect during a powered landing. Then I tried landing on Minmus (per Scott Manley's recommendation), and that went smoothly, and the Mun was the next target. For that, I found that keeping my horizontal speed value close to my altitude value in km (e.g. 60 m/s at 60 km high). That method is super inefficient, but good to learn on. With experience, you'll find what works best for you. Unfortunately, there's not shortcut for experience.

[technicalfool]

What everyone else has been saying: Keep on practising until you're good at it. The good thing is that Minmus has plenty of biomes to extract that delicious science from.

If you don't mind mods, SCANsat can help you in building satellites to map those biomes. It also allows you to obtain more science, as the scanning parts will build up a reservoir of science for you to collect/transmit as they reveal more of the planet.

[joekidd1992]

Also, I've decided to start planting flags, so I know where not to land again. If Possible.

[technicalfool]

Also, I've decided to start planting flags, so I know where not to land again. If Possible.

Also doubles as a way of relocating the biomes when you get new science instruments to use. Just name the flags after the biomes they're in!

[cantab]

If your probe had a science instrument, try hitting a different biome with your second one.

As far as mods go, it's worth getting one that shows your surface/"radar" altitude. VOID will do this in a head-up-display and is my pick, or Engineer Redux gives the info in the Surface window. MechJeb'll probably do it too. Whichever mod you use, it's so much easier than trying to judge things from shadows (which might not even show if you have graphics detail down).

[Scarredclown]

After landing one probe on Minmus, i was feeling a bit cockyn and my next mission was with a kerbal... all goes well, but i got it back with almost no fuel left ! I must build a better rocket. But how do you know witch biome you are in ???

[Padishar]

If you have a kerbal along then just do a crew report and it will tell you. If it is a probe then you will need some sort of science experiment you can run...

[Kerba Fett]

If you want to collect science on minmus EVA reports and surface samples are the big payoff. If you land on one of the flats you can usually use the EVA pack to visit nearby biomes. Also, each of the flats are different biomes so visit a few and their surroundings. (try to land near the edge. Also, when you get back to the capsule with your surface samples transmit them and go back out and get another to return. The combined science points for doing both is more than you get for just a returned sample.

Your first visit with just eva reports and surface samples should get you 800 to 1000 points and will allow you to unlock enough of the tech tree to send a larger mothership based mission.

Give it a good fuel supply and lab module to reset experiment bays and team it with a lander with a couple of science jr and goo canisters. The lander goes to the surface and uses the sci jr and goo. Takes off and lands in a new location and uses sci jr and goo. Pilot EVA's and takes data from experiment bays disabling them.

Lander takes off and docks with mothership. Lander refuels and lab module resets landers experiment bays. Pilot EVA's and removes data from lander and puts it in mothership capsule. Lander goes back to surface and repeats over and over.

Later.... a small data courier travels from kerbin to mothership in minmus orbit. Courier pilot retrieves data from mothership capsule and returns it to kerbin for big science gain. Plus all you get from transmitting data. Remember how you get more if you transmit and return.

Once you clean out minmus you move the entire operation to the Mun. At some point you probably want to add a refueler or kethane operation, but your mothership should have enough fuel for quite a few lander operations.