question

[amusudan]

i want to take a rover i made to the mun

can i attach my rover to another rocket?

im a complete newb to this game .

pictures: http://imgur.com/9rnZxeZ,WzHvEdB,xnUxWmn,Slqn3sz,d0tAsTP,pof4Sun,nP9cmYD

any help is welcome

PS: are there any tutorials i should follow which you recommend?

PPS: my first post ;3

[Randazzo]

Does the rover have any available connection points? You'll need some way to stick on a rocket or stick a skycrane assembly to it.

This thread might have some inspiration for you.

[jarmund]

Short answer: Yes

Longer answer: Yes, but depending on the availability of a connection point in a convenient place, you might have to do some fiddling.

If you're lucky, this might work:

1. Build your ship + lander + mount points for the rovers (You might want 2 rovers, just to make sure your ship is balanced) + everything else

2. Hit the Open dialogue, find your rover, but instead of "Open", click "Merge". That'll give you the rover ready to attach. It should be noted that the attachment points are based on the first and last part connected to the rover, regardless of any other points, such as docking ports and whatnot. If the attachment points are in the wrong place, keep on reading. If not, you're good to go as it is.

3. The fiddling: Go to the SPH, or wherever you built your rover (I like using the SPH for this due to mirror symmetry as opposed to radial symmetry.), and open it up. Now, on the attachment point you want to use, stick some part. Any part. And on that part, place another part. Then use the reroot tool (if I remember correctly, it's the rightmost one, next to the offset and rotation button).

4. Click the two junk parts. The second part will become the new root part (What this means isn't THAT important right now, but you'll learn eventually. I'm sure that for now the goal is just to have this work). In this case it shouldn't matter which part becomes the root, as long as it's one of the junk parts you attached

5. Open up the subassembly window by digging around the parts window. If you can't find it, I'm sure there are plenty of threads explaining this already. Also, I can't remember the exact sequence of clicks to get there.

6. Pick up your rover by clicking on the part that you want to be the attachment point

7. Drop in the subassembly dropoff area, and save.

Now, this should allow you to load your rover as a subassembly when back in the VAB, with the green connection point in the right place.

Hope this helps.

Good luck with your launches.

[Snark]

It's also worth noting that your rover (like pretty much all rovers, this is a common issue) is not very aerodynamic. Therefore, sticking this on the front end of a rocket is going to be draggy as heck, which will A) eat up a lot of rocket fuel, and tend to make your rocket aerodynamically unstable. The latter is likely to be the bigger issue-- don't be surprised if your rocket shows a tendency to "flip" during the early part of the launch.

There are a few strategies for dealing with un-aerodynamic payloads, which basically boil down to one of two approaches:

1. Brute force. Just accept the drag, make your rocket pretty hefty so it has dV to spare, and just power your way through the first dozen km of altitude until the air thins out and it's less of an issue. The main thing is that you'll need to be careful to keep your speed down while you're at low altitude-- in particular, make sure you stay well under Mach 1 (around 330 m/s) until you're pretty high up, since drag spikes dramatically upward at that speed. So launch, climb slowly, and wait until you're pretty high to start your gravity turn.

2. Make it aerodynamic by putting it in a fairing or cargo bay. This will also come at a cost-- a fairing for something that size will be pretty heavy, so you'll need a rocket that can lift it.

Regardless of which approach you take, make sure you have some reasonably hefty fins at the back end of your rocket; that will help stabilize.

[amusudan]

thanks for the awnsers! ill try it tomorrow because iwont be playing ksp today (my little brothers turn). this community is awesome!

[amusudan]

It's also worth noting that your rover (like pretty much all rovers, this is a common issue) is not very aerodynamic. Therefore, sticking this on the front end of a rocket is going to be draggy as heck, which will A) eat up a lot of rocket fuel, and tend to make your rocket aerodynamically unstable. The latter is likely to be the bigger issue-- don't be surprised if your rocket shows a tendency to "flip" during the early part of the launch.

There are a few strategies for dealing with un-aerodynamic payloads, which basically boil down to one of two approaches:

1. Brute force. Just accept the drag, make your rocket pretty hefty so it has dV to spare, and just power your way through the first dozen km of altitude until the air thins out and it's less of an issue. The main thing is that you'll need to be careful to keep your speed down while you're at low altitude-- in particular, make sure you stay well under Mach 1 (around 330 m/s) until you're pretty high up, since drag spikes dramatically upward at that speed. So launch, climb slowly, and wait until you're pretty high to start your gravity turn.

2. Make it aerodynamic by putting it in a fairing or cargo bay. This will also come at a cost-- a fairing for something that size will be pretty heavy, so you'll need a rocket that can lift it.

Regardless of which approach you take, make sure you have some reasonably hefty fins at the back end of your rocket; that will help stabilize.

thanks! i love it when people explain in detail :3