How to land a rover on duna?

[shrewd raven]

I have build a small rover but i have no idea how to get it safely on duna. I know that duna doesn't have a thic enough atmosphere to only use parachutes. What is the best way to make a lander for my rover?

[burnt turret]

Clearly, you'll need something to utilize thrusters as you decend into Duna's atmosphere. You can use a simple Mun lander, with a decoupler underneath to attach your rover to. Decoupler on the top of the rover to attach under a lander. TONS of videos on YT to help

[balmy maple]

It’s technically possible to use parachutes

[fierce tartan]

Parachutes alone are not enough, but be aware parachutes are capable of like 80% of the work. It's just that their minimum speed is still gonna be like 50m/s which is just too fast to touch down. U might have to burn a little right as u reach the surface, but 90% of your fuel will be for leaving duna, not arriving.

Don't waste it slowing down. Your trajectory, aerobraking, and chutes should cover almost all of it. Burn when you can't get any slower.

[lean flame]

Depends entirely on the mass of your lander and the amount of parachutes you bring 😛 I got down to 8 m/s terminal velocity with chutes alone before.

The biggest issue here is that parachutes occlude each other, and don't properly fan out. So you can't just keep adding chutes, it'll quickly stop doing anything. For that reason, larger landers will indeed need thruster assistance.

[shrewd raven]

I used the rovemate probe with 6 weels and a few of the smallest batteries and solar panels

[shrewd raven]

But the top of my rover is already full of solar panels. Is it okay to clip the stack separator in them or should I redesign my rover so that it has the solar panels around the separator?

[long dirge]

I do believe parts occlude solar panels in KSP2, but don't take my word for granted as I have not tested it yet. But I would advice to not use part-clipping with solar panels.

[burnt turret]

I would test clipping solar panels into parts at the launchpad before sending anything that far, incase they blow something up, or break apart inside eachother. But idk man... Maybe redesign. Curious to see how you remedy the situation honestly, lol. Keep us posted

[shrewd raven]

Thx, I tested it and clipping it in the solar panels seemed fine. The problem was that the stack separator didn’t want to decouple. Sadly I don’t have much time for this mission because it is for the weekly challenge and i am very busy lately. So i just put an antenna in the middle of the separator for the looks and launched the rover. Right now it is in low kerbin orbit so hopefully i’ll have some time soon to put the little guy on duna. I’ll post some picture here when its done

[shrewd raven]

It took a few tries but i made it. I didn't have to use the boosters cause the parachutes slowed it enough and the wheels can apparently take a lot. I decoupled the upper part from the rover but that made it clip in each other. Luckily I was able to drive out of it and after a few flips he landed on his wheels.

Thank you all for your help

[steep vale]

I was going to recommend skycrane

[shrewd raven]

is that passible in ksp 2?

[digital crypt]

Not really, afaik

not yet

not with the "hover at 100ft, lower rover down on ropes" method, which is what people usually mean by "skycrane"

[shrewd raven]

Ah okay. that's why I didn't know how to land a rover cause there aren't any robotics part

[plucky tiger]

you need like TOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOONS of parachutes to land on duna, just use monofuel engines or something, its better as you need like 20 parachutes to land a medium sized rover

[digital crypt]

yeah, Duna has like 3% the atmosphere of Kerbin. Maybe use 'chutes for initial deceleration, but you're gonna need rockets for propulsive landing unless you want to experience the joys of combined lithobraking and RUD. 😛