landing on mars

[stjimmy225]

hi there, i've been struggling a bit with landing on mars in the DG-IV in that i always seem to end up skimming just above the surface at about 1.5k whenever i try and land. i was wandering how you guys all slow down enough as even if i try and aerobrake at some massively steep AOA im still going too fast.is a much harder de-orbit burn neccesary or a shallower reentry angle so you basically do a full circle slowly bleeding off energy?

 

[mauzer]

Hello,I've just downloaded an autopilot called "Land MFD" it works fine on the moon and the earth,but havn't tried yet on mars....it might be working good also there..
http://www.aovi93.dsl.pipex.com/others_addons/LandMFD0514.zip

 

[Enjo]

For Mars I spend as much time in atmosphere as possible, slowly descending into lower parts.

Reentry MFD should help you in this task.
http://www.orbitermars.co.uk/

 

[PaulG]

I use aerobrake MFD. Even though the atmosphere is thinner, I can still see my predicted glide path and predicted target. But, since the atmosphere is thinner, I break with the hover thrusters and a 45° incline. After all, thats how the rovers landed. Apply a little thrust to help slow down.

 

[pete.dakota]

Use aerobrakeMFD for sure. Also, Mars' atmosphere is thinner than Earth's - so even with aero braking - you may still carry on orbital speed after you get above 100km. I've aerobraked into Mars before by using an initial 40 deg AoA and -180 deg pitch - i.e, upside down.

Can't remember what target PeA I set, though.

 

[TSPenguin]

Use aerobrakeMFD for sure. Also, Mars' atmosphere is thinner than Earth's - so even with aero braking - you may still carry on orbital speed after you get above 100km. I've aerobraked into Mars before by using an initial 40 deg AoA and -180 deg pitch - i.e, upside down.

Can't remember what target PeA I set, though.

Remember me to never ever get in a spaceship with you!

I aerobrake and try to blead of as much energy as possible while entering.
When speeds get low enough, I engage my hover phase.

 

[astrosammy]

Stay as long as possible in the atmosphere, like Enjo said. Also take a look at his tutorial: [ame="http://www.orbithangar.com/searchid.php?ID=2434"]Mars atmospheric entry and landing playback[/ame]

 

[fost]

Hello,I've just downloaded an autopilot called "Land MFD" it works fine on the moon and the earth,but havn't tried yet on mars....it might be working good also there..
http://www.aovi93.dsl.pipex.com/others_addons/LandMFD0514.zip

Hi
I always use LandMFD on mars, targeting olympus base, and everytime all is working good...

 

[Linguofreak]

hi there, i've been struggling a bit with landing on mars in the DG-IV in that i always seem to end up skimming just above the surface at about 1.5k whenever i try and land. i was wandering how you guys all slow down enough as even if i try and aerobrake at some massively steep AOA im still going too fast.is a much harder de-orbit burn neccesary or a shallower reentry angle so you basically do a full circle slowly bleeding off energy?

Well, Mars' atmosphere is thin, I think equivalent to something like 70 or 100 thousand feet (20 or 30 km) on Earth. So if you land without using hover thrusters, you'll be going (approximately) as fast as you'd be going on Earth when you got down to 20 or 30 km of altitude. In fact, it's one of the hardest planets to land on because the atmosphere is too thin to be of much help in the final stages of landing, and too thick to be ignored. So you can't land as you would on Earth, nor can you land as you would on the moon. Slow down as much as you can without stalling, then cut in hover thrusters to maintain altitude as you slow down more.

 

[stjimmy225]

cheers for the help all. i managed to not stack it into the big red rock now. now to master the whole thing again with the XR2.