Post your Rover MEGATHREAD

[automcdonough]

I was trying to avoid the problem of carrying around the takeoff fuel on the rover itself.

oh, it's just for landing. It's surprisingly not that topheavy leaving it on in case i want to blast off again, but the original plan was just to land and ditch it.

[Deadweasel]

-Kerbal Space Center: May 10, 2013

Following successful licensing and production supplier negotiations with B9 Aerospace (http://tinyurl.com/czy3fqk) and independent contractor TouhouTorpedo (http://tinyurl.com/bpaxxwh), Jebediah has been promoted and named project lead for the LGV Dragonfly program's development beyond the popular 7-series. Many within the KSP organization have gone on-record to say that the promotion was a mistake, as the number of testing accidents under his stewardship have dramatically increased.

However, Jeb never forgot the lessons learned during the program's disastrous Stage 6 development, which resulted in the death of Jeb's protege and fellow test pilot, Bob Kerman. As a result, though the number of "profile deviations" has gone up compared to earlier stages, a large portion of the budget was earmarked in advance by Jeb's now-unwavering focus on pilot safety.

Finally, Jebediah's team declared completion of the latest development stage, and with great fanfare and ceremony, LGV Dragonfly-X was revealed to the public this week at the Kerbal Space Center.

Dragonfly-X test pilots (left to right) Desden and Newman pose with the new prototype, beside prototypes from the 7- and 3- series, respectively. Dragonfly-3 displays the configuration that originally inspired the project's official designation.

Technical reviews posted soon afterward lauded the new Low Gravity Vehicle's design improvements, which include a drivetrain focused on higher maximum speeds and traction stability, as well as a sturdier, roomier cabin complete with galley and head facilities.

"Frequent expensive EVAs to repair failed tires is now a thing of the past. In fact I have no idea why my predecessor thought it was wise to rely so heavily on duct tape in the first place!" Jeb proclaimed to the assembly. At that, murmurs of agreement could be heard rippling among the gathered members of the press.

After the unveiling, Jeb graciously fielded some questions regarding the LGV re-design. When asked if he knew of a projected timetable for Dragonfly-X's deployment, Jeb seemed to savor the moment before declaring to the hushed crowd:

"We already have."

After the sudden and stunned outcries from the gathering had subsided somewhat, KSP director Bill Kerman, himself a former kerbonaut and longtime staff member in the program, announced the first successful landing on Duna, the next major planet out-system from Kerbin.

"The LGV Dragonfly-X has not only proven it is capable of successfully landing under its own power on another world, we have discovered that it may also be capable of returning to orbit independently as well," Bill said. "This creates a host of possibilities related to establishing a more long-term presence on and around Duna, and I would like to take this opportunity to thank Jebediah and his incredible team for seeing this project through to its ultimate conclusion with extreme dedication, and demonstrated skill heretofore unseen here at the Kerbal Space Center."

Even amidst thunderous applause, speculation regarding the accuracy of Bill's statement could still be heard here and there. Bill and Jebediah have similar long tenures at the KSP, and frequently flew test missions together with the late Bob Kerman.

Once the commotion had subsided, Bill returned the podium to Jebediah, who began a presentation of images taken from the Duna mission, which apparently launched 10 months ago under a complete press information blackout by government request. The nature of the government's involvement was not made clear, but some sources speculate Dragonfly-X may have been rushed into deployment to investigate a series of potential ground anomalies discovered on Duna by astronomers early last year.

Following are photos from Jebediah's presentation, with captions representing his narrative for each image:

"Dragonfly-X on the ground near the edge of Duna's northern polar cap. We don't have stills from the descent due to a software glitch in the camera, but we do have a video sequence which will be released in about a week."

"After disengaging from the delivery drive section, Dragonfly reached the surface safely, thanks to its well-balanced vertical flight system. Though the VFS was designed to be discarded after landing, the crew consulted with us and ultimately made the decision to simply keep it on-board instead, toward the eventual goal of testing its ability to return Dragonfly to orbit under its own power. Descending from a polar orbit afforded us a unique opportunity to study the terminator of Duna's polar region, which has been difficult for satellites to image in any appreciable detail."

"Unfortunately, exploration of the polar terminator was performed more hastily than planned, as well as on-the-move, thanks to our eager driver's unfortunate lead foot. Doodbree had pushed the Dragonfly well beyond 70m/s by the time Control received the telemetry and sent the order to "knock it the hell off, Dood!"

"Ervin is our navigator and geological specialist on this mission. As any of us would, he took some time to take in the sights (and some samples) before they continued on to descend into a crater of interest to the mission."

(Responding to a question regarding the odd box on top of the vehicle) "Dragonfly-X relies on a reaction control system to provide additional stability control and traction. As seen earlier, it was expected there would be moments when the vehicle found itself temporarily 'flying' off of a sudden drop-off, so it was necessary to provide a means of controlling attitude during those situations. Because we don't yet have gas stations on Duna, we had to come up with a means to replenish the RCS propellant on-station. To that end, we 'borrowed' a prototype module from another development project and modified it to gather and compress air propellant from the surrounding atmosphere. Unfortunately no, I can't comment on that other project at this time."

"Ike is also definitely a target of interest, but it's unlikely that the LGV will be capable of navigating the surface. That said, assuming the vehicle is capable of returning to Duna orbit, we're attempting to create some projections for possible landings on Ike as well."

(Responding to a question regarding Doodbree's apparent absence from mission photos) "Though he remains the primary driver on this mission, Doodbree was subjected to administrative punishment after his unintentional sabotage of the polar terminus exploration segment of the mission. You don't see him in the EVA photos because he was removed from the egress rotation for the three day period during which these photos were taken. He was originally supposed to have been removed as primary driver as well, but Ervin argued at-length to keep him on because 'that was a hell of a ride, and you wouldn't believe what he can cook up with those foodpacks!'"

Discussions held among members of the press after the presentation revealed that at least two reporters had heard rumors regarding the "other development project" Jebediah hinted at. Though they are still little more than unsubstantiated theories, some are beginning to believe the KSP is developing a method of fast and regular round-trip transport to Duna, and perhaps beyond.

More on these stories as they develop.

Edited May 10, 2013 by Deadweasel

[Darren9]

[STARSTRUCK]

A lone skycrane descends.

...and explodes in the background.

And the rover lights up.

GET MOBILE, SON.

[Tex_NL]

GET MOBILE, SON.

Looking at the first three pictures I thought: 'Wrong thread. That's no rover, that's a lander.' Until I saw that little animation. Using landing legs to walk. How in Jools name did you come up with that idea. Fragging brilliant!

[Louhikarme]

I think i might not able to complete my base on duna. having these 3 modules connected allmost killed my computer already and i have still tanker module, docking module for the scout rovers waiting to get there. and ofcourse second habitat module..

But its fully drivable atleast sofar even though my cpu is killing itself

on daylight. the solar panels are basically just a backup.

and during the night.

[daveboy2000]

I parachuted this all the way down, no retrorockets or anything. Required a big rocket to get into orbit and then to Duna too. When going down the tower I made with the large drouge shutes and some radial ones got ripped off, fortunatly the only thing that did was tip the balance of the rover so that the front would point up, nothing cutting a parachute or two couldn't solve.

Edited May 11, 2013 by daveboy2000

[sammoe]

My little Mun rover at the arch.

[Dunbaratu]

How are people making rovers that the Kerbonauts are sitting in and driving around? I can't figure out how to make a Kerbal stay on board like that.

[Darren9]

How are people making rovers that the Kerbonauts are sitting in and driving around? I can't figure out how to make a Kerbal stay on board like that.

With stock parts only the Kerb is hanging on to a small ladder (climb onto it in EVA) and with mod parts there's some pods that are open seats and show the internals in external view (DEMV_EX is one)

[SpaceshipFood]

So I made this thing:

Where did you get the license plate?

[ShachonianX]

This is my KER (Kerbin Exploration Rover) MkI.

Because it kept flipping over so much, I made the KER MkII.

It apparently found an Easter Egg! The thing is, it has annoying and tricky inverted controls.

[Francesco]

Where did you get the license plate?

the real question is, wasn't the face of Duna buried into the ground? how come you can still see it??

Edited May 11, 2013 by Francesco

[Joe_Bender]

This is my Mun rover that I had issues with fuel delivery which I fixed by running fuel lines from the side tanks to the main command pod.

This is my rover next to the first lander on Mun.

[rakutenshi]

my mobile utility gantry.. very handy for moving hab modules into proper locations, instead of having to rely on landing or VTOLing over. Yeah.. it's got more nuclear material on board with those RTGs than could really be considered safe. but hey.. it works, right?

[Commander Zoom]

Darren9: .craft, please.

It's ALIIIIVE

[Spanier]

GET MOBILE, SON.

Holy crab!

[Mazlem]

Here's my MunBuggy:

It can do 55.

[automcdonough]

Time to try out the space spoiler. Downforce!!

thread with craft files

[Tw1]

-snip- Downforce!!

That's a clever use for ion engines. May use the concept myself.

[ThatBum]

Where did you get the license plate?

It's the SNAC Pack. Its purpose is to have a forward facing control point for rovers.

the real question is, wasn't the face of Duna buried into the ground? how come you can still see it??

It was underground for a few updates from a terrain art pass, but I guess it was fixed in 0.18 or 0.19.

Here's me space dragster!

Edited May 13, 2013 by ThatBum

[HoY]

That's a clever use for ion engines. May use the concept myself.

See on the very first post in the thread, there's stack mounted 48-7s(kspx) for doing the exact same thing. That crawler was built for minmus

Heavy rover mk 2 is filmed in daylight so it's more visible there

[automcdonough]

hah, didn't even notice em up on that massive thing.

Anyways, results = space spoiler DOES work. I still wasn't able to hotrod around everywhere like on mun but it made the difference between it being drivable at all and just ice. The sun is dimmer there too so for normal cruising had it set low. Set it higher when trying to accel or turn.. and if i needed to do anything quickly just used RCS because overall the ion is pretty underwhelming (as usual). But it got there. I'm a little torn on if it's worth the weight compared to just more RCS fuel or maybe an ant motor setup. I picked ion because you can let it cook for hours for a lot of driving around..At least it looks neat

[HoY]

TWR doesn't matter for it so a pair of ions would be better for inner planets by far than using rcs or an ant. Outer ones however you'd have to test out their actual effectiveness. Ant will probably be better but uses much more fuel by comparison

[_Aramchek_]