Land XR2 on Phobos

[Q3ark]

Hi, i'm new here so go easy on me .

I have been learning how to use Orbiter for a few months now. I can handle most things but can't figure out how to land on the prelude base on Phobos. I sync planes. Then, using transfer mfd I slingshot out to intercept Phobos. However i'm not accurate enough. Also it seems to have no gravity to captue me. Should I treat it as a giant docking scenario and simply increase my orbital altitude to mach Phobos, essentially pretending it's a giant iss?

 

[TSPenguin]

That is exactly how you do it. Try landing with the RCS thrusters once you get there.
Phobos gravity is just too weak to have any affect.

 

[Q3ark]

Thanks for the assist. I'll give it a try tonight

 

[PhantomCruiser]

For practice you could try one of the scenarios that comes with the DG4. You start out in line to land (recover) on a prelude base on Phobos. Like you've already discovered, it's more like a docking approach than a proper landing.

 

[Q3ark]

Good idea Phantom, unless you come straight down the XR2 does tend to roll and bounce about on touchdown because of low gravity. Would be nice if the thing had wheel brakes

 

[dbeachy1]

Actually, XR vessels do have wheel brakes. However, wheel brakes don't work without gravity to hold the tires against the ground to create friction.

 

[Q3ark]

Actually, XR vessels do have wheel brakes. However, wheel brakes don't work without gravity to hold the tires against the ground to create friction.

It does? oh :embarrassed: Must have missed that one sorry. I guess the only option is to try and control it with thrusters. Don't want it drifting off the pad and geting stranded on Phobos, nice view of mars but theres just no atmosphere :lol:

 

[EnDSchultz]

Well, one thing you could try to do a more vertical docking with the ground P) is to use the attitude hold autopilot (on a planet with decent gravity you'd use hover-hold, but RCS can keep you off the ground here!) to keep you level with the pad and then use translational thrusters to get your groundspeed as close to zero as you can before touching down. Then, I find, on 'wheelstop' the craft sort of locks in position. So if you come in going almost perfectly vertically and then using the wheelbrakes to try and stop any remaining movement when on the pad, despite the low friction, I find it pretty easy to come to a complete stop on the Phobos pad. The comma and period keys are the brakes for the left and right wheels, respectively.

...but while we're on the subject of Phobos and/or Deimos I still haven't figured out a way to make it so the pad and the tactile 'ground' aren't floating a hundred meters or so above the visible surface. =(

 

[PhantomCruiser]

Same here, if I put a base on either Phobos or Deimos I use a Prelude base on stilts. There are a few really nice looking bases on OrbitHanger for Mar's moons, but they look better somewhere else because they're either 'underground' or floating. I understand the why, it's just an aggrevation.