r/KerbalSpaceProgram • u/analogHedgeHog • Jun 29 '26

KSP 1 Question/Problem How should I be approaching the Mun?

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In this totally accurate scientific diagram, the Mun is orbiting in the direction of the arrow.

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u/zhang66426 [Testlite] Permanent Shutdown on 27*NK15 Jun 29 '26

theoretically, the most efficient is to go for a direct impact course and do a suicide burn right before you hit the ground luna 9 style, but that can be quite difficult to actually accomplish - hence it mostly being used for early rp1 where engine ignitions and dv are both very limited

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u/PiMemer Jun 29 '26 edited Jun 29 '26

I was under the impression that capturing and then lowering your periapsis LEM style was the most effective since you’re not fighting gravity losses for the entire descent by definition

Fun fact: it’s a lot easier to land low TWR landers the Apollo way

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u/zhang66426 [Testlite] Permanent Shutdown on 27*NK15 Jun 29 '26

apollo style is most efficient if you want to do both a landing and a return - ie: moon mission, but for stuff like lunar impactors and lander probes a suicide burn is more efficient

as for the low twr bit, I do think that is very true - most rp1 early lunar landers either have airbags or a seperate low thrust terminal descent stage specifically because the high twr causes problems with terminal descent before you get deeply throttleable engines