Do rover wheels generate angular momentum?

[Tricky14]

I made this dinky bike: [URL]http://i.imgur.com/azQJhEw.jpg[/URL]

I can sort of stabilize it manually, but I thought I'd have an easier time preventing it from tipping to the sides at higher speeds. It never becomes self-stabilizing, but it does seem to get a little easier to straighten it out for a few seconds at higher speeds. Still, I'm wondering if that's just a stabilizing effect of drag.

So, what's the deal with the wheel?

Edit: Talking about the gyro effect here. Not angular force. Edited November 24, 2015 by Tricky14
I sometimes learn from my mistakes.

[sal_vager]

They do not, sorry, maybe it could be faked with the reaction wheel module added to the cfg, but it'd be easier to hide a small reaction wheel on the craft.

[Snark]

Yah, no gyro effect. KSP reaction wheels are so powerful that you can do a lot with them, as Sal points out.

I had a cute little unicycle that I had a lot of fun with, exploring Dres.

(more pictures here)


Also, micro-planes can land and take off pretty well with bicycle landing gear.

[soulsource]

By the way, conservation of angular momentum isn't the main contribution to stable bikes, and it doesn't work the way many people imagine:
[video=youtube;oZAc5t2lkvo]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oZAc5t2lkvo[/video]

[Tricky14]

[quote name='soulsource']By the way, conservation of angular momentum isn't the main contribution to stable bikes, and it doesn't work the way many people imagine:
[URL]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oZAc5t2lkvo[/URL][/QUOTE]

Appreciated. I actually looked up some sites to figure out the right term prior to posting it, because I knew I would have trouble wording it right. Thankfully it seems people understood what I meant anyway.

Gyro effect, it is.

[quote name='sal_vager']They do not, sorry, maybe it could be faked with the reaction wheel module added to the cfg, but it'd be easier to hide a small reaction wheel on the craft.[/QUOTE]

I tried adding some to the craft. Small reaction wheel didn't do anything, neither did the middle-sized one. Two middle-sized reaction wheels made the bike flip all over the place at 1 m/s, so that didn't work quite right either. I wonder now though if I positioned them right. Edited November 24, 2015 by Tricky14

[sal_vager]

It may be because KSP reaction wheels don't simulate angular momentum, it is simulated for a vessel.

Also you may need SAS...

[Tricky14]

[quote name='sal_vager']It may be because KSP reaction wheels don't simulate angular momentum, it is simulated for a vessel.

Also you may need SAS...[/QUOTE]

That was my impression too. It does something though, that much is plain.
Can't get SAS enabled on a miniature rover. With mods probably, but... heck, until they release proper 'center attachment' wheels (again, words fail me) for rovers, it's probably a moot anyway. But it was fun to try out for a bit. ;) Edited November 24, 2015 by Tricky14

[Snark]

I do just fine with SAS and reaction wheels on rovers. The main thing is to make sure to re-map the rover-steering controls so that they're separate from the reaction-torque controls (by default they're sitting on the same keys), otherwise you end up fighting yourself. I like to leave the torque controls at their default WASD, and re-map rover controls to 8456 on the numpad.

[Tricky14]

That makes a lot of sense. Thanks for the tip.

[Claw]

Yeah, I'm pretty sure KSP doesn't simulate this. It also doesn't simulate "opposite but equal" reactions from wheels with respect to the ship. If you spin a wheel in space, the craft should respond by wanting to rotate also, but it doesn't.

Torque wheels are simulated by applying a moment at their location. So there's no actual physics going on there either.

Cheers,
-Claw