Soda Popinski

Actually, he forgot to buckle his seat-belt.

I was looking into this, but it seemed like you need to make a file to import custom way points. I was hoping to point and click like in KerbNet. Ah, never mind, saw on the changelog you can now add waypoints on map view on bodies other than the current one, which implies you could already do so with the current body.

It's not obvious in the proof of concept version, but you'll need to have washers / someway to pivot the differential bar. I scaled down unpowered washers, mounted empty Oscar tanks on them, and put one on the rocker arm, and one on the differential arm (per side), for a total of 4. Oh, I forgot to show the autopilot I wrote in kOS. You can navigate either by specifying heading, or picking a way point. You can even input manual coordinates. The latest thing I put in was sequential way point navigation. That's what got me in trouble earlier. The embedded image is a bit blurry, click here to see the crisper version.

Jeb begs to differ.

I built what I thought was a pretty good autopilot system in kOS. I set my rover, Bogie McBogeface on the next 100km leg of it's latest trek for a surface rescue contract on the other side of the Mun, and went off to diner. Came back to this. Looks like it tumbled down a slope, broke the differential bar, which let the rocker and bogies flip 180°. As I understand it, wheels, much like rocket engines, are suppose to point towards the ground. Welp, time to send a rescue / repair mission! Technically, I'd already gotten it to space...

R.I.P. Bogie McBogeface (at least for now). I sent a couple of guys in rover Bogie McBogeface to due a Munar surface rescue on the other side of the Mun using my custom kOS autopilot. I set up a bunch of way points (fighting with Kerbnet), and it completed the first leg of about 80km no problem. Set up the 2nd leg of about 120km, and left for dinner. Came back to this: Looks like it slid down the side of a crater, likely took a tumble. Antenna looks broken off, and the differential bar is broken. This is the chance to build a nuclear powered sky crane (finally unlocked NERVs) and send it in for a rescue, and possible repair. At the very least, I should be able to remove the wheels, and attach them directly to the chassis, but it won't be a rocker-bogie system anymore.

People look at me funny when they find out I have a Playlist of old sea shanties and think I'm weird. Wait until I tell them I was able to place a tune in a fan comic based on a rocket science video game heavily inspired by Star Trek...

Sadly, in space, nobody can hear you jam*. *My co-worker came up with that.

I'm assuming it'll be flown by an Armstrong. Question is Louis or Neil?

I use to play with SCANSat back in the Alpha, but recentlyish started a 1.2 game and am hating KerbNet. I have 2 questions. Is there anything that KerbNet gives me that SCANSat doesn't (besides insta-survey from polar orbits)? Can I manually place way points on the map? I need this ability for my Rover autopilot. Right now, it feels like a giant fight with KerbNet. Thanks.

Does Software Engineering Marvels count? I spent way too much time making a Rover autopilot system so I wouldn't have to manually drive Bogie McBogeface for 13 hours. As I haven't taken a programming course since high school in the early 90s, this probably took me just slightly less than 13 hours. At least, I can use it again (doing it right now to for a surface rescue mission). Of course this was done in kOS. I'm able to set autopilot to hold heading, navigate to a built in way point, input my own way points with latitude and longitude, and most importantly, navigate way points in sequence. This next bit wasn't quite as hard, but was very helpful. I'm midway through the tech tree, on have only unlocked the Panther jet engine. I wanted to do an orbital rescue with an SSTO, but found I needed to really fine tune the ascent profile. So I wrote an ascent profile sequencer. I can specify the pitch angle and action groups to activate once you hit specific altitudes. Unfortunately, my SSTO didn't fly too well (or was that me), and I lost control approaching the runway. At least I got close to KSC, and nobody died.

Meant to put this up earlier. After the 300km trip to Mun Base Ada Lovelace, Bogie McBogeface is looking a bit worse for wear. I'll have to fly in some kind of crane to hold it up, while I reattach the bogies (using KAS). It's fairly obvious on the last part of this clip. Though, using it as a bulldozer may not have helped.

My new version flies a bit better, but I'm still having some trouble sticking the landing. It can re-enter prograde now without blowing up, so that's an improvement. The flight control surfaces were minimized when I was designing this thing for launching, but the lack of control is proving a problem during atmospheric flight. At least Valentina got it close to KSC before losing control and crunching. Still, all hands survived. Here's a video of the new version launching from the Runway (of all places). It's zoomed in, as I wanted to show the autopilot I programmed in kOS.

Playing Career mode in 1.2, and still getting use to some of the new mechanics. I haven't unlocked the ramjet, much less the RAPIER yet, so best that I have is the Panther. I found I was having too much aerodynamic drag with radially mounted engines, so I did what I could with having my engines in line, using the parts I've go unlocked so far. Obviously, I needed bilateral symmetry for the engines, but couldn't make it fit having two engine types - a Reliant and the Panther. So I went with symmetry on a 45° angle. For some reason, I couldn't get this thing to go down the runway in anything close to straight, so I ended up launching it off clamps, which required a quick boost from the rocket engines. I've since worked out a better SSTO, but thought this was interesting enough to share. Something else interesting, is I've been playing with kOS, and created an Ascent Sequence Program, where I input different altitudes, what angle to pitch to, and action groups to activate. After many different ascent profiles, I've managed to get this thing into orbit with a whopping 42 m/s delta-V to spare. I was able to rendezvous and rescue two lost astronauts. Problem was re-entry. Turns out, I'm not use to the new heat mechanic, and the cockpit would overheat and explode when entering prograde. I even tried keeping my angle up and slowing down as much as possible in the upper atmosphere. It's possible I could have eventually figured something out, but I eventually tried going in retro so Jeb wouldn't melt, then tried to flip 180°. That flip didn't happen, and instead I plummeted tail end first, but fired my engines slowing me to about 55 m/s when I hit the ground. Jeb and the rescuees survived! Good enough for now.

Gorram, that's beautiful!

Very cool. Now convert it to a Space Shuttle Carrier Aircraft!

It only hit 33 G for a fraction of a second. I eventually put that thing up into space, and fired it at apoapsis of 300km when still suborbital. That let me complete the contract as they were in orbit when they passed out. It was tough to balance it, as if the apoapsis was low when I fired it, they would end up on escape trajectory. Though, the contract didn't specify bringing them back to Kerbin, I figured it was manners to do so.

I used Infernal Robotics unpowered washers. If you're a stock only guy, you could try with "thermometer joints" - but I've never played with them. Incidentally, I wanted to pack it into a 2.5m fairing, so I used some more Infernal Magic to make it work.

Contract to make tourists pass out from high-G. Didn't notice contact specified, must be in orbit. Hell of a ride, anyway.

I think I need bigger wheels.

Always check your staging.

Probably meant "gravitational waves," not "gravity waves." Gravitational waves are waves in space-time. Edit: I meant him, and I just noticed you already mentioned the difference in the last paragraph of your post. I probably shouldn't be posting at 2am.

I believe the wheels were from Wild Blue Industries, as is the main rover chassis. The washers / joints and piston are from Infernal Robotics. Everything else is from MKS or USI Life Support. I can put up a craft file when I get back in town.

Based on being focused, I'd guess they're not omni. The question is, can they be used as Relays with CommNet?!

The JPL built Mars rovers have all used a "Rocker Bogie" suspension system, which allows all 6 wheels to remain grounded. Though, I've built this type of thing in Besiege, and even in VR with Fantastic Contraption, I've never made one in KSP. After installing Infernal Robotics, and having free spinning washers, I realized I finally could. It's called a Rocker Bogie, because it uses 2 wheel bogies (like on a train), which are connected with rockers. There pivot points are completely unpowered, with just gravity keeping the 6 wheels on the ground. My previous Besiege build used a differential gear similar to the one on Spirit and Opportunity to keep the rover body upright. Without gears, I ended up making a Differential Bar, like what was used in Sojourner and Curiosity. Here's some quick clips of the thing. First up is my proof of concept rovering around Kerbal Space Center. Though robust, I could still use bigger wheels. Hopefully, getting this thing on Mun will help me get more science to further unlock the tech tree. In order to get it to fit a bit better into a 2.5m rocket with the smaller fairings (haven't unlocked 3.75m yet), I opted to use some Infernal Robotics sorcery to make it fit, along with taking advantage of the free spinning rear bogie to stow up unpside down. I also loaded it with the life support parts I needed for a long stay, as I'm running MKS. And here it is on Mun. I've never seen a "Lode," so I landed near one and checked it out. At that point, I was just under 300km away from Munar Station Ada Lovelace. So time to start roving. I was expecting it to be a tedious drive, so I've been working on a Rover Autopilot system made in kOS. I've been playing with PID Controls for Cruise Control. Problem is, I tuned it around flat ground near KSC, but it needs a lot of adjusting for the hilly terrain on Mun. I'm averaging about 5m/s, so it'll be a while. About half way to the station now.