How low can you go?

[willitstimothy]

Because the Mun has no atmosphere, theoretically you can orbit at any altitude; you just have to make sure you clear the hills. I don't actually know what Kerbin's minimum orbital altitude is, but I usually aim for 75-100 km.

Really? You can go down to 4k with no problems at all. The highest mountains are around 3k or so, but for the sake of the safety of your crew you should probably go 1 or so kilometers higher. It's when you set up to land that you want to be higher (so you can be ready to deal with any problems that may arise, and so as to ensure that you can decelerate fast enough.

Edited August 18, 2012 by willitstimothy

[Zephram Kerman]

For that 4k figure, he was referring to Mun.

For Kerbin\'s minimum orbit altitude, I can now confidently say: about 24 km. I de-orbited a ship with the hopes of exploiting the 'no drag for unfocused ships' thing. My plan was to send it to periapsis over KSC at 500m altitude, and get a screen shot of it whizzing by. Watching from another ship on the launch pad, Lo Yo Yo was on-course with a non-decaying orbit at 24 km, when the poor thing suddenly vaporized.

[hubbazoot]

For that 4k figure, he was referring to Mun.

For Kerbin\'s minimum orbit altitude, I can now confidently say: about 24 km. I de-orbited a ship with the hopes of exploiting the 'no drag for unfocused ships' thing. My plan was to send it to periapsis over KSC at 500m altitude, and get a screen shot of it whizzing by. Watching from another ship on the launch pad, Lo Yo Yo was on-course with a non-decaying orbit at 24 km, when the poor thing suddenly vaporized.

There\'s a threshold for objects approaching kerbin. They will 'vaporize' if they re-enter the atmosphere when they are not the focus ship.