Unconventional Landers

[Alpha 360]

Unconventional Landers. Landers that sometimes work and mostly don't. Show them off here. To start things, I will show my own unconventional lander.

Impressively Useless. It is the core of a space station in LMO with extra fuel. I landed it first, then got it off into orbit to attempt to complete a contract. I didn't get it. 

 

[Rocket In My Pocket]

This mini-Minmus lander I made was kind of neat I thought, since you sit in the service bay.

The "Backpacker" is also pretty unconventional. Carries it's rover asymmetrically on the back.

The airbrake makes sure the Rover lands wheels down...most of the time.

The main lander takes them back to Kerbin orbit and then the two pilots re-enter one at a time in their own return pods.

Oh and uhh...here's a nuclear Mun lander, just for fun. This one was actually very dangerous, almost fried the poor Kerbal it was supposed to rescue when she walked up to it.

Edited January 20, 2018 by Rocket In My Pocket

[Geonovast]

5 hours ago, Rocket In My Pocket said:

That solar panel clipping though.  *cringe*

[qzgy]

8 minutes ago, Geonovast said:

That solar panel clipping though.  *cringe*

I've seen and done worse.

[Geonovast]

1 minute ago, qzgy said:

I've seen and done worse.

You're a monster.

[Rocket In My Pocket]

19 minutes ago, Geonovast said:

That solar panel clipping though.  *cringe*

I know! I hate it lol. 

It looked fine when it was straight in the VAB! ...and then...well...y'know.

Edited January 20, 2018 by Rocket In My Pocket

[Geonovast]

Just now, Rocket In My Pocket said:

I know! I hate it lol. 

It looked fine when it was straight in the VAB...and then...well...y'know.

I really wish the tracking panels had a "Lock rotation" option in the PAW.

 

I've been up and down my screenshots, and this is probably the least conventional "lander" I could find.

It's also a rover, with (terrible) ISRU capabilities.  It was designed for Dres colonization.  Can land, do its thing, then return to orbit for refueling.

 

 

[scottadges]

This one actually works pretty well as a lander with the ability to refuel (the small canisters on the sides are ore/ISRU/radiator/battery units). What makes it unconventional would be the extreme part clipping to get all that equipment into a small package.

It has an integrated landing leg assembly, extra MP and LFO tanks, plus a tweakscale'd engine assembly. Showing the different iterations that were less-than-successful until the Mk3 version.

This one is drifting in space, 'cause atomic engines need LH2 not LFO... (per my mods at least)

 

Edited January 25, 2018 by scottadges

[NSEP]

I once landed (and stranded) a Kerbal on the Mun with a CSM. Does that count?

[Rocket In My Pocket]

Here's another unconventional lander, sort of the "big brother" Mun variant of the mini-Minmus one I posted. I'm sure you'll see the similarity.

Leaving the "mothership" which carries two of these pods.

No solar panel clipping either! 

It only has 2 spider engines, so it's pretty under powered; and definitely takes some forethought to fly well. (Read: I slammed into several mountainsides and had to reload.)

Sadly, I underestimated the trip they'd be making to scout some easter eggs; so they don't have enough to get back and rendezvous with the mothership. They do look super cute all buttoned up as little mini bases though! (While the Kerbals await rescue.)

 

 

[sevenperforce]

I did a minimum-mass Kerbin Orbit Rendezvous Mun mission where my entire two-stage direct-ascent lander was also a rover:

 

[scottadges]

Watching this whole thread makes me want to try out crazy, unrealistic lander concepts!

[Majorjim!]

On 01/23/2018 at 5:32 PM, Rocket In My Pocket said:

Here's another unconventional lander,

OOh! visual mods?

[Rocket In My Pocket]

30 minutes ago, Majorjim! said:

OOh! visual mods?

Yeah, most of the usual ones, except scatterer...I just never liked it much for some reason.

The one that is prolly catching your eye is KS3P. It adds post processing effects like bloom, vignette, lens dirt, etc... I'd link it but Im on my phone atm.

I use sci fi visuals as my main "theme pack." Textures are SVT of course, the skybox is 6K. 

 

Edited January 25, 2018 by Rocket In My Pocket

[Guest]

My landers tend to be quite conventional. I think the closest I've gotten to unconventional is the Perfectly Safe Tylo Landing System. It's a fully recoverable lander + orbiter that can plant a flag on Tylo. 

It has Jeb sitting in a command chair on top of a wedding cake made out of fuel tanks. The slightly unconventional bit is that the final, crucial m/s it needs to be Perfectly Safe are provided courtesy of the orbiter. To make a Perfectly Safe landing starting from low orbit, the orbiter burns 500 m/s off the velocity, releases the lander, flips around, and burns another 500 m/s to get back into safe orbit (taking care not to torch the lander as it goes). This leaves the lander with enough margin of error that even a first-time Tylo pilot could manage a landing and return to orbit with about 300 m/s to spare. (Doing that, switching back to the lander, and starting the deceleration burn on it quickly enough not to turn into a crater has some sweaty palm moments though.)

Here it is in Tylo orbit, with an independent atomic-powered rover waiting to be dropped off first. The orbiter is powered by a Skipper to give it the TWR it needs to perform that rather violent (but Perfectly Safe) manoeuvre.

[Hotel26]

I'm gonna post this and get laughed at...    ...  because I've always thought it has the dV to get up and down from orbit around the Mun, but haven't actually done it.  So, OK, I will pick up that gauntlet and try it out and report back.

This is for you to decide -- is it:

1. a rover
2. a helicopter
3. a space plane
4. a rocket
5. or just gigantic fun to fly??!!!

It is Gossamer Albatross and I call it a lo-grav "flitter".  I think it has the range for about 20% of the circumference of the Mun.  (45m endurance IIRC)  I've had it out as fast as Mach 0.875 (as fast as a Jumbo) but failed to dodge a hill that day.  Carries 24 passengers.  (R.I.P.)

(The biggest impression I remember from it (2016, when I built it) was that it is a great way to tour the Mun, "up close & personal", low and relatively slow and able to detour relatively freely.  Great for tourism contracts.)

One thing, though.  DO NOT EVER EVER ATTEMPT TO FLY IT IN THE DARK.  Stay well away from shadows cast by hills, eclipses, etc...  DEADLY!

One other little problem.  It runs on xenon (+ MP).  Hard to refuel. 

9x ion engines underneath for helo-like thrust vectoring and general gravity resistance.  RCS for attitude control.  2x Puffers for mainline pro/retro-grade acceleration.

Edited January 25, 2018 by Hotel26

[Hotel26]

On 2018/01/25 at 9:08 PM, Hotel26 said:

So, OK, I will pick up that gauntlet and try it out and report back.

It does attain orbit from the surface of the Mun!

[But I've always considered that getting it down to the surface in one piece is the harder feat.]

It's actually fiendishly difficult to fly!  Which does make it all the more satisfying...

Still, looking at it now, it can be greatly improved.  I've started rebuilding it.  And I'm going to upload a training video with it.

UPDATE: ... and ... it comes down ... from a square Munar orbit ... under its own power ... at a pre-chosen destination ...

 

Edited February 11, 2018 by Hotel26