Rovers - how to transport

[Silverwood]

Not sure if this is the right forum(?) but, how do you transport a rover to the Mun?

I am playing in career mode and almost have enough science to research the rover bits, so I was thinking, how would you transport it!

Keith

[Tex_NL]

Holy crap on a cracker. That's the SECOND time this same issue comes up within a week.

 

[Thor Wotansen]

I've built some rovers to fit in 2.5m service bays, otherwise you could mount one on the bottom of a lander and have the lander engines on radially mounted tanks.  There's also spaceplane cargo bays, both Mk 2 and Mk 3 that can take rovers of various sizes.  I once put a rover in a fairing with a heat shield so i could drop it anywhere on kerbin.  You just have to get creative with the parts and figure something out that works.

[TheWanderer05]

2 hours ago, Silverwood said:

so I was thinking, how would you transport it!

You could have a transfer stage to get to the Mun below the rover, then have a lander on top with radially mounted engines, as mentioned above. It would look similar to this:

[Shadow dream]

Usualy when I want to transfer stuff I use an SSTO with a suitable cargo bay. My favourite on is the large in the OPT mod. I can fit my Malemut rover in there nicely and also have it docked:

For your situation I guess a small skycrane is what you want. It's dirt cheap and works very well - plus you can have it burn it's remaining fuel after landing and let it crash on the ground = no debris! Here, this one is overkill but that's about how you can make one:

When I go Duna with one, I usualy slap a parachute on top and a heatshield on the bottom with another decoupler. Remember: Get yo' stagin' right!

[Silverwood]

Thanks all.

Lots to think about.

Cheers.

Keith

PS any hints on docking would also be good!!!!!!

[Thor Wotansen]

For docking, get your intercept down to 1km or so, then when you are at the intercept, switch your navball to target mode, point retrograde and zero your relative velocity.  Then point toward the target market on the navball and start closing with the target at 5-10m/s.  When you get close enough, target the docking port you want and use the IJKL and WASD keys to maneuver to the target docking port. H and N will give you fore and aft control.

[Tex_NL]

42 minutes ago, Silverwood said:

PS any hints on docking would also be good!!!!!!

For docking hints and tips you might want to start here.

P.S. That link points EXACTLY where I want it to link.

Edited June 24, 2017 by Tex_NL

[Azimech]

Like this.

 

[Silverwood]

37 minutes ago, Azimech said:

Like this.

 

I am guessing you can't do this with just the base game?

I haven't added any mods or anything yet.

[Azimech]

1 hour ago, Silverwood said:

I am guessing you can't do this with just the base game?

I haven't added any mods or anything yet.

Nope, what you see is without any mods.

https://kerbalx.com/Azimech/77I--Dodge-Space-Charger-v10

Edited June 25, 2017 by Azimech

[septemberWaves]

How you transport a rover depends both on the rover design and your personal play style. I've used a lot of techniques for transporting rovers, including skycranes, detachable side-mounted rockets, cargo bay of a spaceplane, specialized cargo compartment of a larger lander, a rocket platform beneath the rover, service bays (for small rovers), and having the landing equipment integrated into the rover itself. And that's far from all of the possible ways to get a rover to places (although I suspect I've covered many of the common ones).

Edited June 25, 2017 by eloquentJane

[NSEP]

Here are my ways of doing it.

-Carrying it in a fairing capsule is not the easiest but by far the most realistic, if landing at atmospheric planets

-Skycrane.

-Turning the spacecraft itself into a lander.

-Putting it in a cargo bay.

-Building it on the surface with KIS is probably the most fun way to do it.

[kerbiloid]

A perfect mod to solve this and other problems.

Better use with

to make your landings soft.

[Tigrinus]

As NSEP said, if you have the Kerbal Attachment and Inventory System mods, you can transport the parts for a rover in boxes, then assemble them on site. Much easier and more efficient than trying to move whole vehicles. Some of the KIS containers are big, allowing you to carry parts for lots of small rovers (for grand tours), or parts for one big one. Also, if you put a probe core on it and leave it behind when the Kerbals head back, instant robotic science or mining rig

[Majorjim!]

Some stock ways:

 Duna, but would work on Mun too

 

 

 

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Mun

 

 

These are very satisfying realistic ways of transporting rovers to other worlds but are extremely hard to make.

[Stewcumber]

I do it in quite a dumb, basic, 'brute force' kind of way, which probably is not good / cheap /efficient design but has got the job done about eight times (and counting):

The rocket is a bit unstable during ascent, but I overcome it with (more) brute force, such as adding reaction wheels to various places, and more winglets everywhere on the rear half of the rocket. The rover itself is essentially a decoupler on top and another on the bottom of the rover; lander above rover, main rocket stages below. It is useful to create your rover as a sub-assembly in the Splace Pane hanger to get the symmetry spot on, and also turn off all power / steering to ALL wheels by default so your rocket's pitch / roll / yaw commands will also control the rover wheels.

[Silverwood]

Ok thanks. I am assuming this version is from stock parts only - no mods?

Keith

3 hours ago, Majorjim! said:

Some stock ways:

 Duna, but would work on Mun too

 

 

 

-----------------------------------------------------------------

 

Mun

 

 

These are very satisfying realistic ways of transporting rovers to other worlds but are extremely hard to make.

Wow!

This is the bees knees!!!