Tested a new kind of rover - circumnavigated Duna under 12 hours

[Azimech]

As part of the "street fair project" together with @Castille7 and @klond I came up with bumper cars. They worked so fantastically well I decided to build and test a fast & heavy duty rover for other worlds.

Disclaimer: I didn't build a launch vehicle for it, therefore this is not an entry for the Elcano challenge. I just put the thing in orbit and used the lander.

Only mod used: Mechjeb with the rover autopilot.

Fine tuned settings for each wheel gave it the ride I wanted: low springs and max dampers, low friction on all wheels but slightly higher at the rear. The bumpers are the opposite: max springs and no damping.

The bumpers work as expected: the vehicle is nearly indestructible. It just bounces off the terrain!

Power consumption is low, during the night drive it used a minimal amount of fuel (running on fuel cells and two RTG's). Part count is pretty low, only 54.

That's it, just under 12 hours. Thanks for reading. If you want this vehicle, let me know. I'll post it on KerbalX.

 

[Just Jim]

I am NOT about to do it again... lol... but I wonder how something like that would hold up in the "Destroy the KSC" challenge?  

Edited November 17, 2017 by Just Jim

[Azimech]

Ehm ... some buildings can be destroyed this way, yes. If I'd make it a lot heavier and install a few jet engines for some speed ... it might do the trick!

Edited November 17, 2017 by Azimech

[Azimech]

Jim, what an excellent idea!

[Just Jim]

32 minutes ago, Azimech said:

Ehm ... some buildings can be destroyed this way, yes. If I'd make it a lot heavier and install a few jet engines for some speed ... it might do the trick!

Watch the video of my entry... I took a lot of the smaller water tanks, etc...  down doing only 20 m/s or so... the trick is having a rover than handle doing it over and over a couple dozen times... and those heavy wheels just might do the trick

Edited November 17, 2017 by Just Jim