MPDerksen

I got my first rover onto Minmus tonight. A couple things did not go as planned, however. 2 of my wheels were blown??? And in the process of driving it out from under my lander, I tipped the lander over, so now it is on it's side. When I right-click on the rover body, I see I have some reaction wheel options. But I have NO idea what I'm doing. I can get the entire rover to do flips, but barely get it to just drive forward. It just wants to do somersaults..... I select the wheels and there are options for the motors, direction, etc. I'm really not sure what I should do, since it didn't do this on Kerbin during the launch pad test. I'm really not that concerned about the tipped lander. I need to send a rescue craft anyway since the plan was to bring HALF of the deployable science on the first trip with the rover, then follow up with an engineer to place the solar. But if there is a clever way to get it upright and back to orbit, then it makes my rescue a bit easier since Val can just head up to the mobile lab in orbit. And finally, Bob collected some Green Sandstone from the Minmus Flats. He has to return it to Kerbin. I don't see it in his inventory slot, and nothing is noted when I right-click on him at all to indicate he is carrying it. How do I make sure it doesn't get left behind in the rover when he goes home? Advice?

Indeed, but only if connected to the 'Net. that's the fundamental part of my question. Send up my relay BEFORE sending up Bob+OKTO? If Bewing means that "if Bob is present you can set Prograde on an OKTO that is not connected" then I'm all good. I was just clarifying. I understand that maneuver nodes will be out, but I don't need those in this case, since Jeb will be joining him later for the trip home

Not sure what you mean by “probe core’s modes”. I mostly want/need the ability to set Prograde/Retrograde and not start doing gymnastic flips all over.

Great answers. Thanks. Follow up clarification: When building a rocket, how do I evaluate it’s ISP and TWR? Specific example, I’m prepping for my first mission with a rover under a lander. I want to construct a lifter to get it into LKO. Some of my designs take off and I get heat build up, others seem to accelerate VERY slowly and I burn for a VERY long time before getting up to orbit. It would just be nice to have some guidelines for basic construction. Getting there.

thanks. I like using just 2 relays, in very elliptical orbits. I don't mess around with geosynchronous or exactly equal spacing. The way you describe is "correct", whereas my way is "acceptable". I didn't know if Bob could talk to the probe core to enable SAS when out of contact.

I really want Bob on a mission so I can reset my SJ and goo. But then I get no SAS and my ability to fly without it is quite terrible. Could I add a small probe core to the design? Follow up on probes and control: In order to be able to control my rocket that is being driven by Bob+probe core, I need an antenna with a connection to KSC, right? So on the backside of Mun, I'll need to first place a relay? Michael

I've asked this before, but cannot find the reply. Sorry for that. Thus far I mostly build my rockets based on dV goals. But I also seem to burn much more to attain orbit than published (yes, my gravity turns are within margins). I don't know how to select the right engine/fuel for a particular goal. I don't know when to use SRBs vs. some asparagus-staged LF engines. Stuff like that. While this is mostly true for launching off Kerbin, I think the same issue is true for my landers that need to escape Mun, or Duna etc. Without becoming a huge math lesson, could someone break this down for me? Michael

1. I timed my departure so I was right in line with the retrograde of Mun’s orbit so I didn’t have to circularize at all. Up = escape. I ended up a Kerbin Pe of around 4M. Then burned retrograde to bring it down to 25k. If I plan to orbit, I do just like you said, but not quite as bravely..... 2. THAT fixes my math. My lander design is perfect, then, for a few hops on Minmus. thanks again for the help. Michael I also confirmed that the Go-ob, control unit and a single power station can reach the data back to KSC from Mun without additional antennae. Seems to be sending back 18 in a shot.

Breaking ground has given me some missions that are best by a rover. I can easily build both a lander, and the rover, but I can’t seem to figure out how to put them together. Anyone willing to share some pictures of the assembled craft that touches down on Mun and/or Minmus? I’m not looking for Uber-builds. Just simple craft to get some mobile science with about half the tech tree unlocked. Michael

Uhm, er, ah, okay! That’s FAR more advanced than I was thinking... lol. I just put a 3-man command pod on some fuel with a Terrier. But I also didn’t have much science on it, since the 2 previous trips had transported it already. I ha about the same dV, and brought all 3 Kerbals home with about 300 to spare. I used a little for the end of setting up my transfer, then to circularize, land and return. I was surprised how much it took just to lift off Mun. FAR more than the 180 listed on the dV map.

Thanks buddy! I have CommNet green lines connecting my remote station with Kerbin, so it looks like I do NOT need the HG-48 (currently disconnected). On the Control Station I read this: “Comm First Hop DIst: 11.3Mm”. Huh? Oddly, my Go-ob Monitor shows 0.29% completed, but 0.00% transmitted. I’m going to guess it works like the MPL and needs a full % before it sends anything. I would LOVE to see a picture of the lander you describe above. Given I have a Comm Signal: 0.99, I do wonder if that’s 99% and I wouldn’t need the HG-48 at all. Regardless, I haven’t put a relay over Mun yet. So far I have unlocked the HECS and the OKTO. Once I go the backside of Mun, I’ll lose all control, right? So I either need to send up a relay (I have both the RA-2 and the RA-15 unlocked in this career). Thanks for the continued help. This forum never makes me feel stupid. The game does... but not the forum

I had a 3-slot container. I placed it in a bay, and loaded with a solar panel, control unit and a Go-Ob, to complete a 50% mission on Mun. I only had the single seat Command pod, so Jeb would deploy, knowing that my results would be slower. 1. Low power! Looks like I needed 2 solar units, one each for the control unit and the experiment? Is this because I didn’t use an Engineer to deploy? 2. There is also a deploy-able comm unit. Is this required to get the data home from Mun? My Tracking Station is level #2. I’m not clear on when I will need that part. It ALSO needs a Solar unit. 3. Is there any downside to using the 2-seater lander can? With a heat shield I can get home just fine, right? This way, Jeb can be bringing some intelligent help with these deployments. Otherwise, the larger, 3-seat command pod is going to be the way to go.

Tried it. Ended up in orbit with an An of 0.5. Not bad, right? I launched at 84 degrees and was pretty spot on. HOWEVER, there are published inclinations for minmus. How about for targets of unknown inclinations? What I'm currently doing is launching and leaning straight at 90, then, when I hit about 10km up, I check the An for my target, and adjust. Crude, but effective. And no, I'm currently not using any mods.

Helpful, as usual. Thanks. Not quite there in the new career yet, but when I try to land near a stranded Kerbal for rescue, my goal is to get within 2km, so that I can switch to that Kerbal to start the run over. I'm in that window about half the time. Minmus is actually a little trickier, since it rotates faster. So setting my first retro burn to contact the surface keeps moving by the time I get there, and I end up further away. This is even more difficult of I'm not on an equatorial orbit. Since I understand the mechanics, now it comes down to practice. To the original question, I figure I'll design DOWN, and then build the final stage to get me out of the gravity well, with the mass I have built to do the rest of the mission. Michael

Let me ask you to clarify a few things first. Technically, if your Pe is below the surface, you aren’t in orbit, right? So are you talking about your encounter, or trying to create a full orbit around Mun? For fine tuning, once you get the capture, select your engine with a right-click and move the Thrust slider way down (~25%?) so that you can fine-tune. To get your first Mun orbit, really don’t worry too much about the altitude of your capture. You can also forget using the maneuver nodes to make your actual orbit. Position for a retrograde burn, and just fire it up at your Pe until you get an orbit. THEN, you can play with fine tuning your Ap and Pe.

I found this trick just now in a search (when I should be working) However you lost me at 2 points at the end. I thought the standard gravity tun goes right/east? Second, the target market points directly at the target, not its orbit, right?

All this aligned my personal reality. My current, very basic Mun Orbital Science Collection rocket (no lander) has 5,400 and I had a ton to spare. I've gotten pretty good at most stuff, including docking. I still really struggle with landing. Specifically near a target (i.e. a surface rescue mission)

Right, that all makes sense. So maybe 5,500 for a round trip with a single landing? This assumes little/no inclination correction (see other thread from this morning). Switching to Mun instead, and the map indicates 580 for a landing, perhaps 1,500 for a single landing/re-orbit is a fair calculation?

That makes far more sense. Thanks. again, using Minmus as our example, I assume you mean 500m/s for landing, and another 500m/s for re-orbit? how about a ball park for a Minmus Biome hop? (each)

(lots of posts today, sorry.) except for a rare launch where I want a Polar orbit, I 99% of the time just do the standard gravity turn to the East. The NavBall isn't especially clear to me when trying to set up a launch at an inclined orbit with any specificity. Goal #1: Rescue a Kerbal that is in an inclined orbit better than just going equatorial and then having to burn Normal/Anti-normal to intercept. Waste of fuel! Goal #2: Same as goal #1, but in reference to Minmus. Tips? Michael

I don't believe it's been mentioned yet, but the processing is SLOW! In my last career game, I put a MPL in orbit around Mun. The data was a mere trickle. But as soon as I was doing Duna missions and had to time-warp to set up the proper windows, it became worth doing. In my current career (still early on) my plan is to put one around Minmus only when I get close to starting the inter-planetary part of the game and I have the better docking ports unlocked. My first station got pretty wobbly using Docking Port Jr. connections.

Minmus example: 3,400 to 80k KO 930 transfer to Minmus 160 to circularize ~10k MO 180 to land (seems a bit optimistic, IMHO) All very well. Until I plan the math to head home. The return may be the same as 180+160+930, and landing is simply aero-braking with the parachute. But I'm NOT that good of a pilot, and was able to orbit and return (no landing on the surface) on far less that that total. Michael

This is exactly the level of detail I wanted. Happy to experiment, not just copy. I built a little juno-powered rover/plane with a science kit, and collected enough points around the KSC to unlock the Weasley. Then I got sidetracked, and did a Mun Orbit Science collection mission since I needed some money. you bring up a very interesting problem that I hadn't even considered: When I have both jets and rockets on a craft, how do I throttle them? Seems particularly important once I graduate to orbiting spaceplanes. Michael

Right. Good point. I found a bunch of helpful information on building my first plane. And I see a tons of crazy SSTO Laythe crafts. Not much on the progression between. I'm sure that as soon as I add a Terrier, as mentioned above, my mass will go up and everything will scale fast. Even Manley and Lowne seem to cover the ends of the spectrum but not this middle part.

BINGO. I was able to take off, collect my data (for the mission) and land. Twice. However, the 3rd mission requires me to take temp data above 19K. I tried switching from a single Jet engine to 2, but still can’t seem to get enough altitude. I’m going to do some homework, but any advice on the next step would be really appreciated. Michael