Duna
Duna is the fourth planet of the Kerbol star system. It is the Mars analog for Kerbal Space Program and is mostly red with polar icecaps.
Contents
Topography
Duna is a iron-rich planet which has greatly varying land altitude, the consequence of which is very difficult judgment of a safe landing position. Its mountainous ranges are a peril to landing craft, especially considering the thin atmosphere, where very little aerobraking can be done safely. It is important to slow one's ship down before coming into the atmosphere, to ensure a safe descent. Its two poles are very expansive and are the result of a thin atmosphere.
Atmosphere
Duna's atmosphere begins at approximately 41,450 m and is only 20% as dense as Kerbin's.[1]
Parachutes work at lower efficiency than on Kerbin, making powered descent necessary when landing from orbit (unless your craft is a glider or just a pod with a parachute).
Natural Satellites
Duna's only natural satellite is the moon Ike, and due to its size and closeness to the planet, they are tidally locked to each other.
Orbital Statistics
The geosynchronous orbit of Duna is at an altitude of 2862.702 km above Duna. The speed of the satellite is 307.75 m/s and it has an orbital periode resonating with 1 Duna day (18.05 hours or 64980 seconds.) For a semisynchronous orbit of ½ Duna day (9.025 hours or 32490 seconds) an orbit of 1648.977 km above Moho is needed with a velocity of 387.74 m/s.
References
- ↑ A nuclear engine has a specific impulse of 220 at 1 atm, 800 in vacuum, and 684.2 at Duna altitude 5 m. This means the Duna atmospheric pressure at 5 m is roughly 1 - (684.2 - 220) / (800 - 220) = 0.1997 atm.
Changes
- Initial Release
Gallery
ISA satellite in orbit over Duna being used to map the planet surface.
Duna's surface at Dawn.
- Duna projection.png
A false color Mercator projection of Duna's surface using MapSat.
