Moving a Rover Without Wheels

[SkyFall2489]

So, I had a large mission at Minmus ongoing when I got a contract for something to do at Minmus. I figured that I could get it done - only to see that it was a rover repair contract. To do these contracts, you need to bring along some rover wheels - which I did not. However, I have an abundant supply of various parts, mostly docking ports, and a lander with a docking port on the top and bottom. As I only need to move the rover, would it be possible to use my lander to pick up the wheel-less rover and haul it over to the destination zone?

If not, how else could I use my current vessels at Minmus to get the contract done?

I have: 1x ITV (large modular ship, low on fuel but has enough for at least 3 landings.Lots of docking ports, but definitely not landable. 1x Cheetah. Inclined Minmus orbit.)

2x Return Pod (2 seater CSM with 1.4 km/s, I need both of them to return my crew to Kerbin at the end of the mission. Dockings port on the top and bottom, possibly landable. 4x Ant. Docked to ITV.)

1x Lander (docking ports on top and bottom, 3 crew science lander. Has some cargo space but more parts can be slapped on the sides. 2x Spark. Landed near the rover.)

I could cancel the contract, but where's the fun in that?

 

[Superfluous J]

I have never done one of these contracts. Could you post a pic of (or type in ALL the words from) the contract?

If it's something like:

• Repair the rover
• Drive the rover to location X

Then yeah I expect you need to repair the rover in some way, or that first requirement won't get a check and turn green. Maybe it wants you to use a repair kit? Like I said never done one, don't know how they work.

Oh and good luck driving a rover on Minmus. It's one of the WORST worlds to do so on.

[king of nowhere]

actually, being minus gives you chances. because you can drive a rover just with reaction wheels.

thanks to the low gravity, your reaction wheels may be enough to lift your vehicle. in this case, you may make it roll to move it.

[SkyFall2489]

I have a vessel, which is effectively a stack of a probecore, some science stuff, and a structural fuselage, with a metal platform below it. The platform should have wheels on it, which it doesn't, and I need to move the vessel over to a site maybe a few hundred meters away. I at first tried using the probe core's reaction wheels to flip the thing all the way to its destination, but that was too slow. I'm wondering if I could sacrifice part of my lander to give the vessel some thrusters to get it over to its destination. I have repair kits, but if there's no wheel to repair it won't be very helpful.

[jimmymcgoochie]

The contract only wants you to move the rover from A to B, it doesn't care how you do it. I once got a contract where the rover was fully intact and just needed to be driven a couple of kilometres to the waypoint.

Minmus has low enough gravity that you can either cobble it together into a rocket and fly over, or use reaction wheels to roll, bounce or wiggle your way there.

[king of nowhere]

3 hours ago, SkyFall2489 said:

I have a vessel, which is effectively a stack of a probecore, some science stuff, and a structural fuselage, with a metal platform below it. The platform should have wheels on it, which it doesn't, and I need to move the vessel over to a site maybe a few hundred meters away. I at first tried using the probe core's reaction wheels to flip the thing all the way to its destination, but that was too slow. I'm wondering if I could sacrifice part of my lander to give the vessel some thrusters to get it over to its destination. I have repair kits, but if there's no wheel to repair it won't be very helpful.

yes, reaction wheels are slow, but if you only need to move a few hundred meters they could be the best option.

you could also try to have a kerbal in eva push the thing with the jetpack.

and yes, it won't be fast, it won''t be comfortable, it won't be pretty. but you are trying to move a rover without wheels by repurposing parts that were not supposed to move a rover; what else could you expect?

Edited August 22, 2022 by king of nowhere

[SkyFall2489]

7 hours ago, jimmymcgoochie said:

The contract only wants you to move the rover from A to B, it doesn't care how you do it. I once got a contract where the rover was fully intact and just needed to be driven a couple of kilometres to the waypoint.

Minmus has low enough gravity that you can either cobble it together into a rocket and fly over, or use reaction wheels to roll, bounce or wiggle your way there.

Thing is, if I dock the rover to the lander it may not be the same vessel, and if I diassemble my lander I don't have a lander. I could use my CSMs as crew landers, but I'd have to do all my science first and save the rover for last, and not be able to reuse the lander.

I won't be able to test anything out till Saturday as school has just started for me.

[SkyFall2489]

1 hour ago, SkyFall2489 said:

but I'd have to do all my science first and save the rover for last,

Actually, I think that my mission has collected enough science already to unlock the parts I need for a mission to Duna or Gilly, so I just need to do this contract and I'll be done.

[magnemoe]

One very nice tool I always have on bases is an small utility lander on wheels, have science instruments for science contracts, extra seat for rescuing kerbals and repair items like 4 wheels, reaction wheel, battery, couple of small solar cells or an rtg, an antennae, add some eva repair kits and some octagonal struts. Fly to the rover, drive close to it.
Now do an quicksave, attach the reaction wheel and flip the rover on its head. add wheels, if out of power you might have to add a battery and perhaps some solar cell, an probe core is also nice.

Drive to destination, fly the lander up to the rover and strip it of anything useful  

[SkyFall2489]

On 8/30/2022 at 6:16 AM, magnemoe said:

One very nice tool I always have on bases is an small utility lander on wheels, have science instruments for science contracts, extra seat for rescuing kerbals and repair items like 4 wheels, reaction wheel, battery, couple of small solar cells or an rtg, an antennae, add some eva repair kits and some octagonal struts. Fly to the rover, drive close to it.
Now do an quicksave, attach the reaction wheel and flip the rover on its head. add wheels, if out of power you might have to add a battery and perhaps some solar cell, an probe core is also nice.

Drive to destination, fly the lander up to the rover and strip it of anything useful  

That would be great if I had a base.

Only if I had a base...

Oh, and because of my mod list, the resources available on Minmus are not enough to create a fully self sustaining base.