Topography of the lunar equator?

[numerobis]

Since the wiki's down, I can't answer these two questions:

1. what's the highest flat spot on Mun, near the equator? This is the best landing spot.
   
2. what's the highest point on Mun, near the equator? This is the best parking orbit.
   

With my current spacecraft, an optimal landing at 0m costs me 710 m/s, at 3km is 690 m/s, and 5km is 680 m/s. Liftoff is similar (a bit cheaper since I'll have better TWR), so we're talking about saving tens of meters per second. Altitude matters!

Parking orbit matters less, but it's still a few m/s on either end. A 10km parking orbit costs 287 m/s to get into from a Hohmann transfer from Kerbin plus later to drop periapsis to 3km (or the flip side: 287m/s to go home). If we can do a 6km parking orbit, it's 283.5 m/s -- that's 7m/s saved off the mission.

[radonek]

Munar parking orbits under 30km are annoying since you can't timewarp much. I usualy have flying lab at 32km equatorial, landers go to 10km parking for phasing and rendezvous. Flat palce high-up could probably be best found with scansat map.

[kahlzun]

Realistically, you'll probably waste more than 7ms due to inefficiency of the burn.

I appreciate you're trying to make every drop count, but 7ms is basically nothing in the scheme of things..

Pertinent to your OP, the wiki is working again now..

[Frank_G]

There is a nice mod called SCANsat, that allows you to map the surface in all detail. It also it gives you an interactive map inside the game with detailed position- and height-data. You can also export them to file to plan your missions in advance. Its not heavy considering graphic- and cpu-power.

[zarakon]

Going for the lowest possible parking orbit isn't necessarily the best

1. Lower timewarp available

2. If you're trying to rendezvous, you don't have the option of chasing in a lower orbit

[Red Iron Crown]

Kerbalmaps may be helpful for scouting a good landing location.

[numerobis]

Kerbalmaps is fantastic, thanks Red Iron Crown! I'm downloading that elevation map now, so I can get the precise data. Looks like there's a good landing spot around 36W on the equator: about 5km, and it's higher than anything nearby so I don't need to dodge the ground as I'm landing and taking off. But if I can find a higher point... I'm greedy.

For the rest of you, you can't talk me out of my goal. I know exactly how much/little it saves me, and it matters to me.