Surface docking of 2 unmanned miners with KAS

[Palec]

Hello,

I'm now building my first serious mining operation on Minumus. It consists of Miner itself and Tanker, which is hauling fuel from ground to orbit for refueling. Both have wheels for ground docking.

Problem is docking these 2 vehicles on ground. As they are on wheels, their height is changing based on how much fuel \ ore they have inside, so docking ports are not usable. I tried to use magnet and winch from KAS, but when I eject the magnet and retract the cable, even when docking mode is selected in KAS menu, vehicles won't merge into one and I cannot transfer resources.

Possible solutions other than KAS magnet:

Put both vehicles on landing gear, which is not changing height and therefore docking ports would be possible - this would compromise my design, would like to avoid it

Use claw - I heard it can often cause Kraken

Use pipes from KAS - this would require manned craft and I don't want to leave my poor kerbal there forever

So, any chance to get KAS connection working or other ideas?

Thanks

[FancyMouse]

I thought only the connector port can do this job?

[Mic_n]

Fly a Kerbal out there and use KAS pipes/docking ports (as mentioned, the magnet doesn't "join" ships, it just lets you winch one in).. sounds like it's the most viable option there...

Returning a Kerbal from Minmus doesn't take much at all, and if you want to make it 'feel nice', set yourself up a bit of a station out there he can hang out in.. maybe stick an MPL up there and have some scientists processing some of the masses of science that Minmus can provide to have "something to do" out there... I have one in a low orbit with a pair of scientists (male and female) whom I suspect get up to giggly scientist-y shenanigans (possibly involving mystery goo) when I'm not looking. I'm sure it should be returning more science than it does.

You can get from a low minmus orbit down to the surface and back on an EVA pack anyway.. I like to carry a KIS monoprop tank with me just in case.. or better yet hit a command pod on a landed craft for a free refil.. and can get back up to a 50km orbit without any real problem.. but you can certainly orbit an awful lot lower than that with correspondingly less dV required to transit..

Edited July 16, 2015 by Mic_n

[Ripper2900]

Having an engineer in the miner improves the minimum rate. If you think he'll feel alone, add a science lab with one or two scientists. Then they can chill out together.

[Dilli]

You can get around the changing heights due to ore load on minus with reaction wheels or if it is massive RCS and/or thrusters due to the low gravity.

With reaction wheels, move the two until the docking ports are very close then just rotate the miner with reaction wheels so its docking port lifts up, the magnetic link between the docking ports should engage and, with a bit of reaction wheel input the two miners should dock.

[Snark]

+1 for the suggestion of using KAS pipes. Yes, it means you have to have a kerbal on-site. However, they're really easy to use, it's so convenient, it'll just save you a lot of hassle.

Also, +1 to Ripper's suggestion of having an engineer in the miner-- unmanned miners are really slow, you'll do much better with an engineer there. And adding a an engineer to the miner gives you your KAS pipeability right there.

[cantab]

Use the KAS winch and magnet to pull the rover into a docking port. This may work better if you arrange for a vertical docking - the rover has a docking port on top of it, the tanker has one underneath, the rover drives under the tanker and is then lifted up. That approach works with any means to lift the rover, for example thrusters.

[ko1Stein]

I often use the claw, because it needs a lot less precision than a docking port would need.

Most Kraken attacks can be avoided by only using one claw and controlling the vehicle which has the claw attached (or switching to it just before docking). Quicksaves are still essential, though.

[Zephram Kerman]

I've used the claw a lot. Even multiple claws work fine as long as they are all on the active vessel. The only time I had a glitch was when I tried to "daisy-chain" (claw attach to a station that was claw-attached to something else).

But yeah, definitely putting an engineer there would solve all your problems. For the docking alignment thing, I like to use aircraft wheels. But, like Dilli said, a burst of thrust, RCS, or torque will usually nudge things into place. But on small moons like Minmus, it's just easier to land on top of things.

[kujuman]

Ooh, I actually have a video of how to do this with KAS and without needing any Kerbals, I'll go grab the link. Using a kerbal and the KAS pipes is easier, but this is just another idea.

Update : Editing posts on the phone is hard :-(

Edited July 17, 2015 by kujuman

[Wemb]

Ooh, I actually have a video of how to do this...-(

Oh, that's nice...

Wemb