Are interplanetary rovers possible in 1.05?

[ExtremeSquared]

The new aero makes pushing a big stupid looking contraption on the top of a rocket nearly impossible. But fairings still don't work. Are rovers are stuck in limbo until physics for fairings is implemented?

[jbakes]

Install the mod FAR.

[Rocket Farmer]

Please enlighten me how fairings don't work? They seem to work fine in my game.

Also cargo bays are nice for lifting rivers too. The new cargo bay opening is particularly handy for unloading and reloading rovers.

If those 2 fail then design an aerodynamic rover and fly it up.

Kerbal for me is about figuring out how to do something with what I have. Rovers onto other bodies isn't that difficult with the tools given.

[peachoftree]

What diameter rocket parts are you using for your transfer vehicle? IMHO, you need at least 2.5m parts to do rovers, maybe mk2 if you squeeze it in there.

[ExtremeSquared]

3.75m fairings do not block air flow. It could just be a Linux bug. They actually don't block light in Linux either, but that's a purely graphics bug. I'll try a cargo bay. The other option I'm considering is a low-speed ascent with loads of deltaV to offset gravity losses.

[EdFred]

[quote name='Rocket Farmer']Please enlighten me how fairings don't work? They seem to work fine in my game.
[/QUOTE]
[URL]http://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/threads/139219-Fairing-CoL-Offset-%28also-staged%29[/URL]

I experience the same issue:

[spoiler="whaat?"]
See where that center of lift is. Makes it impossible to launch. Even if you go ridiculously slow. I went back to 1.0.4 because of it.


[IMG]http://webpages.charter.net/edfred/kerbal/2015-11-12_00015.jpg[/IMG]
[/spoiler]

[Pthigrivi]

Is it? that's a bummer. But you can very easily fit a 2.5m rover in a 2.5m fairing.

[ExtremeSquared]

Hmm... I was having aerodynamic problems that seemed to be caused by the contents of the fairing rather than the fairing. The rover was getting yanked around inside the fairing by aero forces from what I could tell.

[EdFred]

[quote name='ExtremeSquared']Hmm... I was having aerodynamic problems that seemed to be caused by the contents of the fairing rather than the fairing. The rover was getting yanked around inside the fairing by aero forces from what I could tell.[/QUOTE]

I had that happen as well. I rolled back to 1.0.4 until they fix it.

[Dispatcher]

[quote name='ExtremeSquared'][h=2]Are interplanetary rovers possible in 1.05?[/h][/QUOTE]

Well, not with stock wheels and chassis parts. They just are not large enough to give you the traction you need when driving from one world to another. :blush:

[Captain Vlad]

Yes, yes they are. I managed to get this thing into orbit where she's waiting with plenty of fuel to get to Duna. Survived an aerobraking test on Kerbin, but I'm kinda leery of Duna's thin atmosphere...hope I gave the launch version enough chutes.
[img]https://41.media.tumblr.com/2667d41188c873df4cb26ae38f39c4b9/tumblr_nycj09i91t1u8zapwo1_540.jpg[/img]

I about tore my hair out trying to get the thing into orbit. Final launch profile was...gloriously inefficient.
[img]https://41.media.tumblr.com/3d227f21d2900576f0fab529127b4e2c/tumblr_nycj09i91t1u8zapwo2_540.jpg[/img]

[problemecium]

Just do what I do and start out small. My "basic" rover is about the size of a Mk1 pod and weighs barely half a ton. Very easy to send to space.

[Enorats]

That picture posted earlier seems to have a rather massive fairing on top of a wee little rocket. I'm not certain I'd really launch that with any reasonable expectation of success.

Granted, I'm on my phone and can't examine it in any sort of detail (can't even really see the center of lift), but my first impression looking at that is that it would tip over and/or snap in half mid flight.. like it is doing. It's got a lot of drag up front and not a lot on the rear end in comparision.

[COLOR="silver"][SIZE=1]- - - Updated - - -[/SIZE][/COLOR]

[quote name='ExtremeSquared']Hmm... I was having aerodynamic problems that seemed to be caused by the contents of the fairing rather than the fairing. The rover was getting yanked around inside the fairing by aero forces from what I could tell.[/QUOTE]

Are you sure it was aero forces? Things in fairings tend to get yanked around quite a bit by simply moving the rocket. Shaking, tilting, or otherwise doing much of anything to your rocket while in flight has always caused payload problems. The decouplers alone don't always hold things steady, especially large and/or unbalanced objects like rovers.

[Captain Vlad]

[quote name='Enorats']That picture posted earlier seems to have a rather massive fairing on top of a wee little rocket. I'm not certain I'd really launch that with any reasonable expectation of success.

Granted, I'm on my phone and can't examine it in any sort of detail (can't even really see the center of lift), but my first impression looking at that is that it would tip over and/or snap in half mid flight.. like it is doing. It's got a lot of drag up front and not a lot on the rear end in comparision.[/quote]

Ya' don't say?;)

After lots of attempts to be more tricky about it, I just launched straight up until I was inefficiently high without the slightest hint of a gravity turn. In earlier attempts, I'd tried boosters, but that sped me up too fast, too low, and the result was as you predicted. So I ended up sort of easing up to a comfortable altitude before leaning her over. Then I used way too much fuel to get her up to the needed horizontal velocity. I ended up refueling her in orbit to make sure she had enough for transfer AND some braking, too, but she's in orbit and about to be on her way to Duna.

The biggest problem was learning NOT to do the launch the "right" way.

But in any case the question was: Is this possible. Yes. Yes it is.

[martinborgen]

I mean, the fairing probably did you more harm than good...

[Captain Vlad]

[quote name='martinborgen']I mean, the fairing probably did you more harm than good...[/QUOTE]

I'm almost certain it did. But if I can get that thing to orbit anything else is easy.

Also, was thinking if I could get it UP there, then aerobraking at Duna would be easier due to the massive drag.

[Choctofliatrio]

[quote name='Dispatcher']Well, not with stock wheels and chassis parts. They just are not large enough to give you the traction you need when driving from one world to another. :blush:[/QUOTE]

XD

But yeah, I think you're right. My rover was halfway from Kerbin to Duna but then its tires blew out. A real shame.

[Pthigrivi]

Aw man you can pack things a lot more efficiently. Here are a couple of Duna missions I ran recently.

[imgur]fTRwc[/imgur]

They aren't even that tight. The first one (some orbital assembly required) aerobrakes at Duna as configured, (to be honest I don't even know if the heat shield and fairing are necessary for this, I was playing cautious). Then the fairings are ejected, the return vehicle (middle) undocks and re-attaches to the docking port sr. on top of the science bus to sky-crane it down to the surface, while the lower section containing the transfer fuel tank and hidden mini automated ISRU unit (bottom) buzz over to Ike to soak up fuel while waiting for the return window.

The second image is a little probe rover tucked into a 2.5m service bay. It has everything but a materials bay. I've dropped these onto a number of planets in 1.0.5. If you can land yourself on a biome boundary you can double the science with a little patience.

[Captain Vlad]

[quote name='Pthigrivi']Aw man you can pack things a lot more efficiently. Here are a couple of Duna missions I ran recently.
[/QUOTE]

The rover has a very wide wheelbase cuz I tend to hot dog around a lot and don't want it to tip over.....:cool:

Seriously, there's reasoning behind most things I do. And sometimes what I do is fly to Duna mostly to cut doughnuts.

[MaxL_1023]

My technique was to use struts to attach the widest parts of the rover, attached to mini-decouplers so I could get rid of them in space. You could also put a 2.5m rover on top of a 3.75m stack - at that point the aerodynamic profile should be less important as you have a lot more connection strength and thrust to overcome air drag.

[Captain Vlad]

Also keep in mind I'm not advocating a ludicrously wide fairing or launching straight up to 35,000 meters before you flatten out; I'm attempting to show that if you want to get something off the ground, into orbit, to another planet, etc., even weirdly shaped loads, you can usually find a way to do it.

[Claw]

So as to help avoid confusion, the cyan line coming out of fairings ahead of the rocket is a bug.

[Pthigrivi]

[quote name='Captain Vlad']The rover has a very wide wheelbase cuz I tend to hot dog around a lot and don't want it to tip over.....:cool:

Seriously, there's reasoning behind most things I do. And sometimes what I do is fly to Duna mostly to cut doughnuts.[/QUOTE]

Haha my priorities are clearly misplaced. :) Edited November 25, 2015 by Pthigrivi

[Captain Vlad]

[quote name='Pthigrivi']Haha my priorities are clearly misplaced.[/QUOTE]

The theme to the Dukes of Hazzard is in no way involved.

[Pthigrivi]

[quote name='Captain Vlad']The theme to the Dukes of Hazzard is in no way involved.[/QUOTE]

Haha this just makes me want to take a rover to pol and try to make orbit.