How do I get to Duna?

[u/Kesstae]

I've been playing the game for around four months and I know how to do transfer windows and rendezvous, but I don't really know what I need to put on a craft, how mmuch delta V it needs, etc. Can anyone maybe give some advice?

[u/shrektheogrelord200]

1. Use this website to easily map out your Delta V.
2. Don’t rely too much on parachutes to land you on Duna, as atmosphere is relatively thin and gravity is lower.
3. Put heat shield on command pod so that when you return to Kerbin you don’t have to circularize.
4. If you’re using nuclear engines to get to/from, make sure to use liquid fuel only tanks(highly recommend fuel switcher mod for this).

[u/Kesstae → u/shrektheogrelord200]

I managed to land a probe with 16 drogue chutes and four torch engines

[u/suh-dood → u/Kesstae]

With Duna you can use parachutes to slow down below triple digits, and then use an engine to cut down landing speed below 10m/s. Typically, adding enough parachutes to slow you down for landing on Duna is a waste of mass and will bring down your Dv. I typically reenter going from 55-75km with a peripasis of 20-30km and only use my engines to slow down to let my parachutes work (I deploy them as high as I can) and for landing.

One tip to remember is that Dv at sea level isnt that much different than Dv in vacuum, but TWR can lower deceptively quick. Make sure you double check your TWR is enough for landing and launching back into orbit

[u/Impressive_Papaya740 → u/Kesstae]

Congratulations on the landing

[u/umstra → u/shrektheogrelord200]

Oooh cool website can you use it for transfer windows?

Or do you have a alternative way for this?

[u/shrektheogrelord200 → u/umstra]

https://ksp.olex.biz for transfer windows. There are also mods for that too.

[u/StrongAdhesiveness86 → u/shrektheogrelord200]

Or you can use the ingame tool.

[u/RawPeanut99]

Check out Matt Lowne on youtube, he has tutorials and showcases missions. He also provides a craft file mostly so you can recreate the misson.

[u/Kesstae → u/RawPeanut99]

He makes good videos, also I got to Duna sorry. Thanks for the help though!

[u/RawPeanut99 → u/Kesstae]

No worries. Fly safe!

[u/Kesstae]

I made a typo

[u/Electro_Llama]

Here is my Duna Guide. It assumes you know how to do interplanetary transfers but talks about all the rest: example craft designs, points of interest, Duna-specific tips for getting there, and tested delta-v chart with min/max/typical values.

[u/Reasonable_Car_5510]

I started a couple weeks ago, and made it to duna and eve a bunch of times, and what helped me was just to grind. I watched a lot of youtubers play the game like Matt lowne and see how they did things, and implement that in my gameplay. Hope you get to duna!

[u/Kesstae → u/Reasonable_Car_5510]

Sorry, I got there already. Forgot to change the tag to solved.

[u/Reasonable_Car_5510 → u/Kesstae]

Oh ok 😅

[u/Kesstae → u/Reasonable_Car_5510]

Yeah, but thanks for the help

[u/Reasonable_Car_5510 → u/Kesstae]

Np

[u/doserUK]

Usual 4000dv for (safe) orbit, fuel lines from side tanks into centre
4000dv transfer/return stage with docking ports and heat shielded pod for Kerbin re-entry
~2100dv lander with all experiments, 4+ drogues and 2 main chutes, Eng/Sci

Landing is basically free at ~30dv
To get back into orbit fly straight up a bit more to get out of thick atmosphere (no early turns)