Landers

[MisterKerman]

I'm sorry if this topic has been discussed to death. I'd just really like to see some of your guys' landers for a little inspiration or new ideas to adopt for one of my own. I couldn't seem to find any recent activity on a lander topic.

The original hopper design's legs made for a very squishy foothold and the lander fell over more than once while out planting flags in EVA. When it wasn't falling over it was wobbling precariously, which was fine. I'm trying to make a new lightweight lander that uses an LV-N. Having difficulties!

Update: Still designing. This is what I have so far.

 

Edited June 12, 2018 by MisterKerman

[The Minmus Derp]

Cooleio. FIRST!!!!!

[Geonovast]

Short and wide for landers, especially if you're going somewhere like Minmus.  That thing would be a deathtrap on Minmus.  There's really no reason to build a lander like a rocket.

Here's how I would build your LV-N based lander.

[Scarecrow]

I can't remember which version of KSP I did this in, but it was a bit of fun putting a few small landers together to see the difference.  Some are single stage and I know there is definitely one, if not more, 2-stage in there somewhere.

 

 

This is what I typically use for Mun landings.

 

This was able to land on Duna and return to Kerbin.

 

You need to go big if you want to return from Eve.

 

Going wide allows you to attach a rover underneath

 

Or you could go surreal and fly Fireball XL5 Jnr. down to the surface

 

You should be aware that the Nuclear engine is not ideal for landers as it is very tall, which requires long legs to clear the nozzle, and it has a low thrust to weight ratio.  This is fine for saving fuel, but lousy if you need to slow down in a hurry.  For most bodies, you don't need a massive amount of fuel, and even the small engines will prove very useful. 

Having see your lander, I'm not surprised you are having trouble with it falling over, it's way too tall.  Low and wide, with a low centre of mass, is the way to go.

Edited June 12, 2018 by Scarecrow

[MisterKerman]

I ran into trouble. Apparently I still don't understand how fuel transfers work. I think either my service bay or science jr are interrupting flow. I have gravioli experiment data to unlock some more stuff if I'm lucky, but this is the second proper Minmus pillaging I've bungled due to not understanding fuel between ships. Very disappointing. I'll be heading home for another crack at it with just the Mk1-3 capsule in tow using the lander as a return vehicle.

I plan to use this polar orbit to gravity scan all of Kerbin's biomes if I can spare the fuel!

35 minutes ago, Geonovast said:

Here's how I would build your LV-N based lander.

That's sort of exactly what I was looking for! My current taller lander seemed alright to me but I never got a chance to properly test it out. I like the design, I just need to figure out the fuel end of things. It's mostly flats I still need to land in.

[Geonovast]

10 minutes ago, MisterKerman said:

I just need to figure out the fuel end of things. It's mostly flats I still need to land in.

Can you be a bit more specific?

Are you trying to pull fuel from the LF tanks on your orbiter?

The only thing I can see that might muck that up is if you have the "Fuel Transfer Follows Crossfeed Rules" option checked in your difficulty settings.  If that's the case, then you can't transfer fuel through the heat shield on your command pod - since it blocks crossfeed.

[MisterKerman]

6 minutes ago, Geonovast said:

Can you be a bit more specific?

Are you trying to pull fuel from the LF tanks on your orbiter?

The only thing I can see that might muck that up is if you have the "Fuel Transfer Follows Crossfeed Rules" option checked in your difficulty settings.  If that's the case, then you can't transfer fuel through the heat shield on your command pod - since it blocks crossfeed.

Yeah I was actually just reading that before checking your reply. I do have it on moderate so I guess that's kind of a dumb restriction to have enabled. Seems like the worst sort of part to interrupt fuel flow, as it's almost certainly one of the furthest upstream in regards to the root part on a conventionally shaped rocket. My Minmus mission might end up a success after all; Fuel Is transfered.

[The Minmus Derp]

Hmm. Maybe a base soon?

[Cavscout74]

A nice, wide Duna lander I've been using lately.  Intended to stay around Duna, ferrying crews between ground bases & orbit:

Mun/Minmus 2-stage lander.  The lower stage has a probe core, batteris, solar panels, antenna, & science parts.  It remains behind as a permanent science station while the upper has sufficient dV to return to Kerbin.