[0.19.1] MOLAB - Heavy Manned Munar Rover

[Temstar]

Back in the early days of the Apollo Program, each moon landing was suppose to take two Saturn-V launches. The one not carrying people was to carry a logistic vehicle known as "Lunar Truck". This logistic vehicle was never meant to come back to Earth and is designed to carry heavy gear that the astronauts will recover on the surface and use for long duration exploration. One such payload is a large rover called "MOLAB":

Seen as I've already design an Apollo style lander (http://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/showthread.php/46202-0-19-Apokee-Munar-Sortie-%28Apollo-style-spacecraft-MEM-Mun-Buggies%29), I thought I'll give a crack at MOLAB.

MOLAB features:

six man crew capacity

self powered landing/hovering engine

fore and aft anti-roll bars, ASAS and RCS system for additional traction control on low gravity environment when necessary

huge monopropellant capacity for use in refuelling AMRV

two AMRV "mosquito" and docking stations for multiple long range aerial sortie away from MOLAB

robust power system for night driving

full scientific package

easy to use delivery system

Let's have a look at that delivery system:

Here is the MOLAB, perched on top of its descent stage which is itself on top of the booster rocket. To send this bad boy to the Mun I've elected to use my trusty Nova SHLLV (http://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/showthread.php/24787-0-19-1-Zenith-rocket-family). MOLAB has two set of control - one for driving and one for rocket mode. To fly as a standard rocket it's essential to find the little probe core underneath (above the Munar Descent Stage) and set it to control.

I won't bore you with details on how to attend orbit with Nova as it's pretty user friendly and anyway you can see more details about this booster in it's own thread (http://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/showthread.php/44345-0-18-4-Nova-SHLLV-100-tons-to-LKO). Remember to switch on RCS for in space attitude control when main engines are not firing, you have plenty of RCS fuel for this.

Once you get MOLAB and attached Nova core into LKO things get a bit interesting. You see Nova was designed to carry 100ton payload to LKO. MOLAB and it's Munar Descent Stage is under 60 tons, so Nova will only use up about half of its fuel in the core stage to finish climb to LKO. The rest we will use for Trans-Munar Injection(above pic), Munar orbit insertion and powered descent.

Once around Mun, Nova's engines are fired again for Low Munar Orbit insertion. I generally find myself left with about 500L of combined fuel + oxidiser once Munar orbit insertion is complete.

With a nice landing site picked out, fire up Nova for one last time for powered descent. By the time it runs out you should be on a suborbital trajectory. Cut the booster loose to let it crash onto the Munar surface and power up MOLAB's own descent stage to continue your powered descent.

Powered descent is much like your regular powered descent from a capsule. The descent stage is just about on the CoM of MOLAB with a tiny tendency to pitch down, but that's well within the ship's ability to compensate for. Once you're near the surface use action group 3 to cut loose the descent stage. This will shut down descent stage engine, decouple the stage, fire retrorocket and activate the MOLAB's own small descent engines. You can also use stage sequence for this but remember to cut throttle before cutting loose the descent stage.

MOLAB shortly before touch down. Powered by six Rockomax 24-77 it has plenty of TWR and over 400m/s of delta-V for hovering. I generally only use a small amount of fuel before touch down, the remaining could be used later should I ever need to fly the MOLAB over rough terrain.

MOLAB on the ground, not yet deployed for surface operation.

MOLAB deployed for driving. You can deploy it with action group 2. This extends all ladders, deploys anti-roll bars, switches on all scientific equipments and deploys antennas.

MOLAB with main solar panels deployed (action group 1). MOLAB is equipped with about 5000 electricity capacity, two RTGs (two more on AMRVs when they are docked) and four Giganator panels for day time charging. AMRVs also add two additional OX-STAT panels when they are docked. This gives MOLAB infinite day time range and very far night time cruise range. Note that in this screenshot the navball has changed, you can change to this mode by right clicking on the lander can and choose "Control from Here". The odd solar panel position in this picture happened because I just happened to land on the Mun during a Kerbin-induced solar eclipse.

MOLAB can hit 10m/s on the Munar surface fairly easily, but sometimes that's just not fast enough. For those who wonder "what's that flat top for" on top of MOLAB here is it's key feature - Advance Munar Roving Vehicles.

The two "Mosquitos" carried by MOLAB are one man, high mobility rover/flyers designed for long range excursions away from the mobile base. They are RCS powered flying machines capable of seperating from MOLAB, flying considerable distance away to points of interest carrying a single pilot before returning to MOLAB and land on the "flat top" landing area to redock with the base for refuelling. A fully stocked MOLAB can support 18 max range AMRV sorties. More on the Mosquitos on the following post.

Craft files:

MOLAB (without the rocket): http://www./download.php?gut4ywcv3ubpwyw

Put this in the SPH

MOLAB LV: http://www./download.php?h4hdgo9lg1pdgmy

Put this in your VAB for full rover and rocket stack

MOLAB Resupply Vessel: http://www./download/2bxnbxkr4zbe595/MOLAB_Resupply_Vessel.craft

Edited May 20, 2013 by Temstar

[Temstar]

AMRV Mosquito

These small rovers pack a lot of features into a small physical package. Weighing over just one ton fully fuelled it has:

• RTG for night time power
  
• small solar panel for day time
  
• hand and foot holds for one Kerbal
  
• RCS propulsion system with 80L max monopropellant capacity
  
• Avionics Package for stability during flight
  
• 105 electricity capacity
  
• Clamp-O-Tron Jr docking port for docking with MOLAB
  

Some tips on flying the Mosquito:

Keep ASAS on, you're going to need it for stability

I recommend flying in staging mode and keep your hands on both WASD and IJKL controls for simultaneous control over all six axis

Remember, by far the most powerful thrust direction is upwards, feel free to pitch and roll the Mosquito to use the bottom thrusters for manoeuvring like a helicopter instead of using translate control, it's quite effective.

Go easy when coming to land, if you bump the top bars on the MOLAB you're likely to break the Giganator panels.

Sometimes you may find yourself out of RCS fuel and unable to get back onto the MOLAB to refuel, you can rescue the stranded Mosquito by using the other one:

Simply dock them together and transfer some RCS fuel over to the empty mosquito. Make sure to then also even out between the two tanks on board each for balance before attempting to get both up topside of MOLAB.

If you would like to try the AMRV Mosquito interdependent of MOLAB you can find the craft file here:

http://www./download.php?24hk08jesbllbjg

MOLAB, Mosquito and Nova were assembled together using Subassembly Saver Loader (http://kerbalspaceprogram.com/subassembly-saver-loader/)

Edited April 22, 2013 by Temstar

[Temstar]

So I decided to take MOLAB out for a night time cross country drive to test out its endurance, the whole trip is about 20km, the destination is one of the Mun archs where I will set up new base.

I started here:

MOLAB hauling ass and getting some hang time across the Mun. I discover that over long distance it's more efficient to drive in what I call "cruise mode". That is disable front and centre wheel motor and rely on only the rear two wheels for propulsion. On flat ground MOLAB is quite capable of accelerating to a breakneck 30m/s with just the rear two wheels. Going at 30m/s is dangerous as I discovered - I rolled MOLAB about 6 times during the trip, ever single time was due to me driving the rover too hard. Over flat ground I recommend staying under 25m/s and 20m/s if you're going over bumpy/uneven ground.

Target in sight!

Arriving at destination. I had to stop about half a dozen time to recharge battery during the trip.

******

As with any kind of space installation regular resupplies are essential for continue manned presence. On top of this analysis shows that Kerbals can't be trusted flying the Mosquito sensibly - soon as they get a handle on how to fly it they invariably start to attempt fancy aerobatic tricks with it and then it's a matter of time before they crash it. To rectify this problem I decided to develop a dedicated MOLAB Resupply Vessel for such situations:

The MOLAB RV at launch, perched on top of a Zenith IV launch vehicle. This spacecraft is designed with three things in mind:

• resupply of bipropellant
  
• resupply of monopropellant
  
• replacement AMRV Mosquito
  
• crew rotation
  

MOLAB RV waiting in LKO for trans-Munar injection with the core stage of the Zenith IV still attached. Zenith IV core stage in this case will provide the delta-V for trans-munar injection ala Apollo and Saturn V's third S-IVB stage.

Trans-munar injection, separation from the booster and Mun surface impact experiment. I follow the Clean Space Act and so will not allow space junk. As with other members of the Zenith rocket family the Zenith IV's core stage is equipped with probe core, electrical system and RCS system for space loitering and orbit self-clean up. In this case after separation from payload I fire the engines prograde slightly to ensure booster will crash onto the Mun surface and thus leave no space junk. I suppose in real life a base like MOLAB will also be equipped with seismic monitors to detect Mun quakes. A manually caused Mun quake would allow mapping of the Mun interior via reflected seismic wave, just like NASA did with Saturn V's third stage.

Deorbit burn and pin point landing. MOLAB RV doesn't have that great of a thrust to weight ratio with its two nuke engines so I recommend doing you burns with plenty of lead time. However since you'll generally not want MOLAB to drive a long way to the resupply ship you will want to land as close as possible to the rover. MOLAB RV does have a lot of delta-V in the tank (3300m/s+) so feel free to hover and fly around like a helicopter around your target to ensure a close landing.

Docking and refuelling. Surface docking is surprisingly hard, probably because those magnetic clamps are not designed to over come the grips of 4 heavy docking legs and six heavy rover wheels. The trick to surface docking is to make sure the docking ports line up perfectly from above - ideally you want to do this on flat ground as non-flat surfaces cause wheels to slide sideways ever so slightly, throwing off your dock. I bumped the RV's docking port many times before I finally got a hard dock.

One interesting feature is that if you retract the landing legs on MOLAB RV, MOLAB is actually steady enough to carry the RV around on its nose. It's not exactly a configuration I would recommend for cross country driving as the engines bells on the RV have very little clearance with the ground and MOLAB's balance is completely off. But it's still easy enough to move the RV around if you only need to move it a short distance.

Mosquito deployment with action group 9.

MOLAB Base. MOLAB RV is not designed for re-entry so if the mission is to rotate crew then you will need to dock it with a re-entry capable ship in either Mun or Kerbin orbit for crew transfer. This is intentional as I designed it for multiple resupply missions in mind where the RV will repeatedly shuttle between Mun orbit (where I have a propellant depot) and surface. Alternatively if you're not running resupplies for a while and MOLAB is setting up camp then MOLAB RV makes a pretty good base expansion for MOLAB so that it becomes an eight man surface base. Hell you could even use the ability to carry the RV around to dock TWO MOLAB RVs to MOLAB for max 10 crew.

Edit: added craft file for MOLAB RV to first post

Edited May 20, 2013 by Temstar

[Climberfx]

A giant Mun Rover, or a nice Mun Truck! I like it...

Edited April 19, 2013 by Climberfx

[Rune]

Pro tip: If you activate physical timewarp, and don't ask me why, your rover will stick to the ground like it's glued to it. Much higher speeds are achievable safely with x2 activated before you can tip it over.

Rune. I'll put that under features, not bugs. ;P

[Climberfx]

Nice! With little rovers i already use 2x, but in the end i explode my rover, rsrsrsrs...

[M5000]

Temstar, great work again. You are quite inspiring.

...I still haven't gotten the ten-wheel behemoth I was working on eariler to work correctly.

[Zanis]

It reminds me of a Mommy rover and two baby rovers or a Giant monster truck that was sent to the Mun on a mission to destroy all Rovers!

either way Keep up the Great work!

[TooManyErrors]

Very impressive! I don't think I'd ever be able to get something like that into orbit with my current launch vehicles.

[ReconXPanzer]

Impressive Rover, Well done! I love those tiny little rovers too! However I haven't yet managed to get any rover to the Mun or Minmus yet due to my rubbish computer and my launch vehicles aren't up to scratch for a rover of that size.

[georgTF]

Impressive Rover, Well done! I love those tiny little rovers too! However I haven't yet managed to get any rover to the Mun or Minmus yet due to my rubbish computer and my launch vehicles aren't up to scratch for a rover of that size.

Don't be ashamed to study and copy the Nova 100+ t lifter design. I have built a slightly weaker lifter along those lines and it's the best behaved rocket design i have, and there's not a thing it can't lift (well there IS a limit but normally my payloads do not weigh too much). An excellent design, highly recommended. (Although when fully strutted up with a payload it can reach a high part count)

The MOLAB itself looks fantastic. Scary stuff if you hit 30 m/s with it i imagine...

[Tallinu]

Impressive work. I especially like the mossies.

How did you get the pair of nuclear engines INSIDE the resupply vehicle like that? I mean, even with part clipping... they don't look like there would be anything, surface or node, in the right position to attach them to.

Edited April 20, 2013 by Tallinu

[Temstar]

Impressive work. I especially like the mossies.

How did you get the pair of nuclear engines INSIDE the resupply vehicle like that? I mean, even with part clipping... they don't look like there would be anything, surface or node, in the right position to attach them to.

Some ingenious person came up with this method. Unfortunately that thread got eaten by the Great Forum Purge. So here it is again. It doesn't actually require no clip:

First we start with any spacecraft, put two (or whatever number you want to go for) of those new radial attachment point at the bottom.

Now put the LV-Ns underneath

Now to do the trick we need access to the top surface of that fuel tank. I like to use the girder for this.

Okay now hold on to your butts I'm about to blow your mind:

Grab the radial decoupler, keep the symmetry tool on and attach it to the top surface of the tank

Rotate 90 degrees...

Rotate 90 degrees again and place the radial attachment point.

There, now you have short profile nuke engines.

I like to put a short adapter underneath, I feel that it's just the right length for a seamless look.

[sodopro]

Nice Mun base. How long can it go for in the night, km wise?

Never knew about that clipping trick.

[Ketil]

Hi, I'm new here and downloaded your MOLAB to learn about rover design from it, and when checking out your Mosquitoes I found a part I can't find in my library. It's the one connected to the nose cone of the Mosquito and is like a grey rod with 6 flat surfaces sticking out radially from it along its length, was just wondering where I can find it.

[Climberfx]

Some ingenious person came up with this method. Unfortunately that thread got eaten by the Great Forum Purge. So here it is again. It doesn't actually require no clip:

First we start with any spacecraft, put two (or whatever number you want to go for) of those new radial attachment point at the bottom.

Now put the LV-Ns underneath

Now to do the trick we need access to the top surface of that fuel tank. I like to use the girder for this.

Okay now hold on to your butts I'm about to blow your mind:

Grab the radial decoupler, keep the symmetry tool on and attach it to the top surface of the tank

Rotate 90 degrees...

Rotate 90 degrees again and place the radial attachment point.

There, now you have short profile nuke engines.

I like to put a short adapter underneath, I feel that it's just the right length for a seamless look.

Man, i'm not a big fan of overlapping parts, but you did it so nicely!

Good job discovering new ways of superimposing...

[Temstar]

Hi, I'm new here and downloaded your MOLAB to learn about rover design from it, and when checking out your Mosquitoes I found a part I can't find in my library. It's the one connected to the nose cone of the Mosquito and is like a grey rod with 6 flat surfaces sticking out radially from it along its length, was just wondering where I can find it.

That's the Radioisotope thermoelectric generator. It's a vital part for rover building as it provides some power day and night independent of the solar panels. It's under the utility tab:

[Chruschtschow]

Wow, I'm really impressed about what you do with stock parts there. Your rover, the Zenith and Nova launchers, the supply craft, everything very polished. Awesome work.

And thanks for that guide. I was wondering how to get multiple engines under a single tank. That will help to get more effective fuel usage.

Edited April 21, 2013 by Chruschtschow

[TheWanderer]

well done on getting this back up

[Nuprin Feelgood]

Temstar is an inspiration to all.

Thanks for all your hard work and for posting these incredible crafts.

[Temstar]

I wanted to do this for a while now, finally got around to it:

Offloading the AMRV Mosquito

Pilot climbing down MOLAB

Lift off

Approaching the peak

Coming in for landing

Successful landing

[llamatoes]

Nice, but please, are us about the sheer amont of image in the tile.

[cxg2827]

The Zenith Nova rocket you have shown is slightly different than the original. What dual boosters are those in the final stage? did you just mirror some across an I beam?

[Temstar]

You mean the stage with two LV-T30? That's MOLAB's descent stage, I consider it as part of the payload, everything from that stage downwards is a standard Nova. But yes there's equally valid to consider that stage as an upper stage for Nova. It's simply a 3200L tank with two LV-T30 clustered underneath it ala the Centaur upper stage. the beam in the centre between the engines is just a way to connect the stage to the Nova core below.

[TheWanderer]

Still looking good, this deserves more attention