For the video tutorial, click here.
Landing is the final stage of a mission where a rocket lands on a celestial body's surface. It can be achieved by firing the engines or deploying parachutes.
Tutorial[]
Without atmosphere[]
Planets with no atmosphere are the trickiest to land on, especially if they have a high gravity. These celestial bodies have no atmosphere are listed below:
Landing from orbit[]
On the opposite side of your chosen landing area, burn retrograde until the periapsis hits the surface. If done correctly, your landing site should be directly below the periapsis. At the periapsis, burn retrograde to kill all horizontal velocity. At this point, your rocket should be in a parabolic arc and descending vertically. Decelerate such that your rocket is moving at less than 30 m/s when you reach an altitude of 5 kilometers (Time warp may not be available here, depending on the celestial body which your rocker is landing on). Always keep your velocity at under 10 m/s when your rocket is 2 kilometers from the surface and try to get the velocity around 5 m/s or slower when it's about to land.
Landing burn[]
Landing via a landing burn is the only way to land without damage on these planets. The player must calculate how much fuel and altitude is needed. Since no parachutes are used, the rocket must have enough fuel for the burn.
With atmosphere[]
Planets with an atmosphere (except for Venus, which has a toxic atmosphere that can destroy rockets, Mars which has an extremely thin atmosphere that the rocket needs multiple parachutes or a big parachute and Jupiter which has a thick atmosphere that destroys rockets too) are one of the easiest celestial bodies to land on. They provide drag to save fuel from landing.
Celestial bodies in-game with an atmosphere are listed below:
Aerobraking in Venus' atmosphere
Aerobraking[]
Aerobraking can significantly decrease landing speed on celestial bodies with an atmosphere. Set the transfer orbit to intersect the atmosphere, but not the surface as in a direct landing. The atmosphere will decrease the velocity to the terminal equilibrium, falling at a constant rate, giving your rocket plenty of time to burn retrograde when the time is right, and deploy your parachute at low speeds, depending on which body your rocket is attempting to land on. However, the atmosphere can sometimes destroy the rocket, so pack a heat shield to survive the heats of reentry.
Parachutes[]
A landed suborbital rocket.
On these planets, your rocket needs a parachute (multiple if your rocket is heavy). On Mars, the atmosphere is much thinner, so your rocket should bring more parachutes or bigger ones, and extra objects like struts to cushion the descent in an impactor. On Venus, the atmosphere is thick, so it is advised to carry one parachute or it will slow your rocket down too much.
Landing burn[]
Landing via a landing burn requires some experience. The player must calculate how much fuel and altitude is needed. Since no parachutes are used, the rocket must have enough fuel for the burn. On Mars, rockets tend to fall at great speeds because of the thin atmosphere; thus, a longer landing burn is needed.
Landing methods[]
There are several ways to land a rocket.
Hard landing[]
A hard landing is when on or more parts of your rocket get destroyed upon landing. This is usually performed to bring down an unwanted craft, or it can happen accidentally, when the player performs the landing burn too late.
A hard landing is the easiest way to land, but it usually destroys the rocket.
Soft landing[]
A soft landing is when a rocket touches the ground without damage.
Fixed point landing[]
This is the hardest way to land. A landmark or a rocket must first be placed on the landing footprint, and the rocket must land on it. It will have to do several trajectory correction maneuvers, and may require several attempts. This is easily done by loading a quicksave.
Lithobraking[]
Lithobraking uses a celestial body's surface to slow down to a soft landing speed. This usually involves the destruction of one or more parts of the rocket to slow it down to the ideal landing speed. Lithobraking at a high speed can damage most of, if not the entire rocket.
The lithobraking method is used in some missions. An example is the Spirit and Opportunity rovers.
Propulsive Landing[]
Used in fixed point and soft landings, this method uses residual fuel left over in any stages and some of the stage's engines. The engines reignite and slow the stage or rocket down to a safe velocity, such that landing legs can be safely deployed.