Gilly rover

[W. Kerman]

Hello, I am going to do the elcano challenge for Kerbin, but in the future, I'd like to make a Gilly rover.

If you think it is impossible, don't clog the tubes. Thanks!

[bewing]

It's possible. You just need to continuously run an ion engine or something to hold you down.

[Spricigo]

Gilly Rover?  More likely people will think "why bother". 

 

However choosing good performance requeriments and design limitations that can be a interesting challenge. 

[Foxster]

Yes, that ^^

Here's a rover I built to drive on an asteroid. It also has RCS to steer when detached from the surface; not sure if you'll need that for Gilly or not...

Edited July 20, 2016 by Foxster

[Snark]

9 hours ago, bewing said:

It's possible. You just need to continuously run an ion engine or something to hold you down.

Or else be really, really patient, and drive super-slow at 4x physics warp.    Though I imagine the increased slipperiness in 1.1.x could make things a challenge.  Honestly, the ion-drive-to-hold-you-down idea sounds like your best bet, to me.

Gilly's an interesting place; the low gravity means you can do some interesting things that just don't work elsewhere.  I once built a "hopper" that got around on Gilly without any wheels or rocket power.  I built it with the idea that it would get around simply by extending landing legs to push itself away from terrain.  That turned out to be possible but a little too overpowered-- the legs worked too well, launched it on these huge leaps that took forever to settle down, and it wasn't possible to control the power of the leap.  I had better luck just leaving the legs extended, and using reaction-wheel torque to have the craft launch itself hither and yon.  Considerably better control that way.

It was fun to play around with for a little while, but I exhausted the amusement pretty soon and it simply became tedious; haven't been tempted to repeat.  Gilly gravity's just so light, I can't be bothered to do anything other than just fly around as if I were in zero gravity.  One doesn't land on Gilly, so much as dock with it...

Anyway, good luck with your challenge!

[W. Kerman]

Reason I am asking this, is the Elcano challenge, I am working on Kerbin currently. But wish to do more someday.  Thanks for your answers!