Harpoon

[digitalsingularity]

Yeah, so a personal grappler was already suggested here: http://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/showthread.php/15413-Grappling-Hook?highlight=grappler, but I'm thinking of something for a ship. Why?

Well, I landed on Gilly yesterday and was able to mine Kethane, but the landing part was quite time-consuming and difficult due to the low gravity. Hell, even MechJeb's auto landing function failed (it would just burn fuel by hovering). If you haven't landed there, basically just jumping is enough to send a Kerbalnaut into orbit.

So... why not introduce a harpoon / grappler for low-gravity landings? The idea is discussed for real-life use here: http://www.popularmechanics.com/science/space/nasa/how-nasa-will-harpoon-an-asteroid

[lajoswinkler]

I've never had troubles landing on Gilly. There's enough gravitational force. You just have to be patient enough and use small engine and low thrusting.

Mechjeb? LOL You don't need that.

I'd like to see a harpoon device, but only if developers create a comet or an asteroid with sufficiently small gravity. I've measured 0.04 m/s^2 on Gilly, but if there was an object with at least 10x less gravity, harpoons would be very useful.

[digitalsingularity]

I have 4 aerospikes on my standard mining lander. I really don't tweak much since I've used pretty much the same ship configuration for the Mun, Minmus, and now Gilly. You're right, I guess the engines are probably overkill for Jilly... guess that means that MechJeb should be smart enough to pulse engines if it needs to (like I manually did).

It was actually a lot of fun learning how to land on Gilly manually, but I don't want to have to do that regularly. I think a harpoon device would be useful in low-gravity situations like Gilly, but would be essential for asteroids / comets.

[Skorpychan]

I support the idea of harpoons. I'd use it as an emergency brake for rovers, securing bases to the ground, and all sorts of things. Maybe even just for docking; get a close enough encounter, and TWANG.

Hell, stick a fuel pump in it, and I can use it for scavenging fuel from failed rocket stages without docking ports. Or power.

Could even use a whole load of them to collect debris before slamming it into a large body.

[digitalsingularity]

Well, I'd think you'd want to have different types of harpoons. Imagine grabbing the other ship with the harpoon and... whoops, hull breach... no more alive Kerbals for you.

[duncan1297]

The kas mod has a grappling hook part that would work. Im not sure about the fuel transfer though.

[lajoswinkler]

I have 4 aerospikes on my standard mining lander. I really don't tweak much since I've used pretty much the same ship configuration for the Mun, Minmus, and now Gilly. You're right, I guess the engines are probably overkill for Jilly... guess that means that MechJeb should be smart enough to pulse engines if it needs to (like I manually did).

It was actually a lot of fun learning how to land on Gilly manually, but I don't want to have to do that regularly. I think a harpoon device would be useful in low-gravity situations like Gilly, but would be essential for asteroids / comets.

Considering the fact you can easily reach escape velocity using a small portion of your jetpack, 4 aerospikes are a bit too much.

This was my first landing.

Even the ASAS module is not needed, because this capsule can handle such small lander. If you find yourself going upwards too fast, you just turn retrograde and slow down. The worst thing on Gilly is lateral speed. It has to be close to zero to avoid tipping the lander module.

When you learn how it's done, every other landing on Gilly is a piece of cake, trust me. No need for any other solutions. I even speed up towards the ground and then brake 500m before impact because I don't have enough patience.

I support the idea of harpoons. I'd use it as an emergency brake for rovers, securing bases to the ground, and all sorts of things. Maybe even just for docking; get a close enough encounter, and TWANG.

Hell, stick a fuel pump in it, and I can use it for scavenging fuel from failed rocket stages without docking ports. Or power.

Could even use a whole load of them to collect debris before slamming it into a large body.

I like this idea.

[digitalsingularity]

Yup, I'm sure landing on Gilly will be easier the next time around. As you mentioned, the lateral speed thing is something I had to figure out. I like the idea of my kethane station around Gilly.

Anyway, how about taking it to the next level: In addition to just being able to harpoon a ship (scavenging fuel from failed rocket stages), how about being able to shoot over an engine / control module that'd be able to attach itself to a failed rocket stage so you could just force the thing down without having to tow it around on a tether?

[LeadMagnet]

An interesting idea. Similar to the movie "Deep Impact" when the ship lands on the asteroid and fires four pitons into the surface to stablize.

Very interesting indeed!

+1

[Skorpychan]

Yup, I'm sure landing on Gilly will be easier the next time around. As you mentioned, the lateral speed thing is something I had to figure out. I like the idea of my kethane station around Gilly.

Anyway, how about taking it to the next level: In addition to just being able to harpoon a ship (scavenging fuel from failed rocket stages), how about being able to shoot over an engine / control module that'd be able to attach itself to a failed rocket stage so you could just force the thing down without having to tow it around on a tether?

A harpoon with a rocket on the end, basically?

[Djsnowboy267]

I can imagine Jeb in his spaceplane hooking onto the control tower and flying circles around it while sticking his head and arms out of the capsule and waving to everybody really like the idea, though

[Gojira]

Harpooning a kerbal on EVA.

Enough said.

[allmappedout]

Reenacting the scene from Star Wars and bringing down an AT-AT....