Successful Mun Landers

[SiliconPyro]

My very fuel efficient lander from 0.14.1 Stock Parts, this one does not come close to running out of fuel in ANY of the stages (besides the booster stages):

Download: http://www./?7xy3f1exr7t9rkh

Taking off with 2 sets of booster stages to get you out of the atmosphere quickly:

Completing our parking orbit burn with the main stage:

The ship currently in an 80 x 80 parking orbit, with more than enough fuel to fire for the Mun:

Strong Lunar Insertion burn, with plenty of fuel to spare for plan alignment if needed:

Course is set for the Mun, time to jettison the main stage for our Lunar lander:

Course correction burn ensures my lander is ready for Lunar Orbit Insertion wile my main stage crashes on its surface to prevent space junk:

After an orbit insertion burn, I align my orbit and do an initial pass over my landing target:

Our landing burn:

Precision landing with still full landing fuel tank left:

View from a previous mission lander:

Going home:

Jettisoning the service module, which still had 1/4 fuel left in the tank:

Success!

Well, as it turns out, I am an exceedingly poor pilot. I made it to the moon in your lander, but didn\'t have enough fuel to land. I was making a clean controlled descent, but just ran out of fuel. I separated and left the Mun\'s gravity, but burned a lot of fuel doing that and ended up in an orbit that would only get me within 200km of Kerbin. Miraculously, the Mun caught back up to me and altered my trajectory so my boys made a safe splash down on Kerbin. They all agreed that an abort is better than a funeral!

Lessons learned . . . learn to leave the surface and achieve orbit efficiently. Know when and how to burn to get what you want done efficiently. Those two things are what killed me. After descending with your lander though, I feel fairly confident that I can do the same with my own design, I just need to become a more efficient pilot.

I did get a nice picture for the kids though.

[BillWiskins]

Well, I achieved equatorial Mun orbit and so I started to burn retrograde. I watched my orbit line start to intersect the Mun, but I was moving way too fast and even continually burning retrograde I just slammed into the Mun. I knew it was doomed and it started to lose control a bit, but that might have just been my lousy piloting. I\'m attaching the rocket I used. It was renamed the 'Giller 1' after my first Kerbanaut on the Mun . . . he was the commander so he would have hit the planet first.

Well, I took Giller 1 for a test drive to the Mun. It was an interesting trip!

The first thing I noticed, and it may very well just be due to having a different approach to attaining orbit, is that after the first four stacks burn out, the final middle stack loses speed very quickly at full throttle. I think when the first stage is discarded it\'s at around 7-800m/s, and the remaining spacecraft loses easily 150-200m/s before enough fuel is burnt off/the atmosphere becomes thin enough for it to start accelerating again.

I was pitching over to 90 degrees at ~30,000m, and that\'s roughly when the first stage burned out.

Orbit achieved, though, and off to the Mun I went.

Now, due to some navigational idiocy, I had caused my trajectory to bring me in ahead of the Mun, which as usual resulted in a collision course once Gillen 1 was captured. So I did waste at least some fuel fiddling around with that to get an orbit, since I am a foolish creature of habit and I wanted to land in my favourite crater again. I\'m also aware now that I left the radially coupled tanks attached for some time after they had emptied, so I was carrying a lot more weight than strictly necessary.

Anyway, the fuel was all gone with a few thousand metres to fly, and so I got rid of the empties and took to the RCS for the rest of the descent. This was not easy - flashbacks of my own first few landings, particularly before I was confident that I had enough fuel and therefore opted to leave out the SAS unit. Jesus Christ in a jam-jar (if you\'ll excuse my profanity) - these little landers are tough to keep pointed in the right direction without it. To make matters worse, having RCS on does seem to amplify the adjustments made using WASD - not an option when it\'s touch and go as to whether the thrusters will slow you down in time.

BUT. I\'m pleased to announce that you can now consider Giller 1 officially a \'successful mun lander\'. I\'d advise you to stick an SAS in there for an easier ride, and considering the fuel I wasted at various points, you can certainly afford it.

Screenshots added for your viewing pleasure.

Edit: I should add that that was actually the second attempt - the first ended in embarrassment when I accidentally ejected the lander legs (didn\'t realise they were on decouplers...). I was in a position to attempt a landing, which I did, but the stability issues and lack of legs meant that all but the command module was destroyed. No injuries, but certainly not a \'successful\' mission. For the above attempt I moved the legs and their decouplers up the staging so that I wouldn\'t make a space-tit of myself again.

[SiliconPyro]

Sounds like a hairy flight, but I\'m glad to great the craft is capable of it in good hands. I will tweak the design to ads SAS and a little more more fuel. It is definitely a good idea to drop the radial tanks right away. They are one if my favorite features if that design, but they certainly won\'t do you any favors empty.

Thanks for the pictures, it\'s encouraging that my design skills are better than my piloting.

[BillWiskins]

I don\'t think it needs more fuel - like I said, I wasted a load of it and still managed to get there. I have Giller 1 sitting on the Mun right now - I\'m tempted to attempt a return trip, but all that remains is just less than one tank of RCS. I don\'t want to spoil an otherwise mostly successful mission, but I am curious...

Also, I\'ve attached Meredith 18 if you want to have a shot with her. She\'s less stable than Giller when in atmosphere, but a lot easier to land.

EDIT: Attached the wrong Meredith. 17 is the one you want.

[SiliconPyro]

I launcher Giller 3, a slightly upgraded Giller. Nothing fancy, just some Nova Punch nose cones and added an ASAS module to the lander. Unfortunately, I totally messed up the stages and decoupled my landing legs as I was descending.

So I went back to the VAB and carefully re-ordered my staging, then tested in atmosphere, then tweaked a bit, then tested in atmosphere again. Finally ready, Giller 3 launched in hopes of meeting up with the stranded Kerbanauts. Initial orbit around Kerbin was smooth and uneventful, as was transition burn to the Mun. When the Mun\'s gravity grabbed hold of the transition stage + lander, I slowly began firing retrograde. At about 10km I ditched the transition stage with nearly a full tank left. Now began the final descent, landing legs down onto the dark night side of the Mun into a large impact crater that faces Kerbin. My inexperience resulted in only a quarter of a tank of fuel left, but this was a glorious sunrise to watch.

[SiliconPyro]

I added a little fuel to the first stage, which game me more room to breath while establishing Kerbin orbit. This was my easiest Mun landing yet (also second, haha). I have plenty of fuel for the trip home.

[Cthulufaic]

Yeah, these landers work great! At least, I think they do. I always start slowing myself down to low to the ground, and always splatter myself at around 100m/s or so. How high should I be to start slowing myself down for a landing?

[BillWiskins]

Yeah, these landers work great! At least, I think they do. I always start slowing myself down to low to the ground, and always splatter myself at around 100m/s or so. How high should I be to start slowing myself down for a landing?

Depends on how fast you\'re moving

My \'large\' lander (see my reply earlier, #9 I think) has more than enough power and fuel to brake from ~600m/s to under 100m/s starting at around 24,000 metres. It also has about a third left in each tank after touchdown. Your mileage may vary, but I\'d recommend trying to start braking no later than 20-30,000 metres with any lander, as an incredibly rough guide.

[Kosmo-not]

How high should I be to start slowing myself down for a landing?

That depends on how much mass, thrust, and starting velocity you have.

If you\'re having trouble doing a complete direct descent landing, I suggest putting your periapsis at 10km and start your retrograde burn there. That way, you don\'t have to worry about smashing into the ground due to burning too late.

[SiliconPyro]

Yeah, these landers work great! At least, I think they do. I always start slowing myself down to low to the ground, and always splatter myself at around 100m/s or so. How high should I be to start slowing myself down for a landing?

Are you using MY lander? Glad you like it.

[semininja]

These little yellow tanks, where do they come from? I\'ve seen them a few places, but I can\'t figure out which pack they\'re from...

[ModeSix]

These little yellow tanks, where do they come from? I\'ve seen them a few places, but I can\'t figure out which pack they\'re from...

It\'s part of the Odin Lander pack, I found it in the NovaPunch parts pack.

[Ivan Ivanovich]

Included my current Mun craft, the MunCraft XI. Yeah, it is actually already my 11th design.

Admittedly a fairly conventional design, consisting of two main stages where the first stage, the one that takes you to the Mun, is further divided in three stages. As you move towards the Mun, you keep tossing away the outer legs, three already during the primary ascent, the next three usually during the TMI, which leads to very few debris littering your orbit, the first three legs crash down onto Kerbin, the latter three normally disappear into deep space or get into a highly elliptical orbit that doesn\'t bother you too much during your next missions. The final part, the center piece, has enough power and fuel for Mun orbital maneuvering and putting you into a landing position before you toss it down onto the Mun just before landing.

The landing stage is also the return stage, and with 3 half size fuel tanks it has more than plenty of fuel to get you home. The single RCS tank is enough to make landings on the Mun very easy and is mostly used to zero lateral movement during Mun descent and the ASAS is quite capable of keeping the rocket stable during all phases of the flight.

Try it out, it\'s easy to use.