Landing Rovers

[Designer225]

Disabling the rotation mode *is the entire point*.

Have you tested? If not, I'll test it.

[DerekL1963]

Have you tested? If not, I'll test it.

Yep, it's my standard way of driving rovers - a tip I picked up here on the fora.

[RoboRay]

I've never had problems with falling through ramps. Heck, I used to have a mobile ramp for runway access before they sloped the sides.

Edited May 15, 2013 by RoboRay

[Mihara]

I've never had problems with falling through ramps. Heck, I used to have a mobile ramp for runway access before they sloped the sides.

Those are BobCat rovers in these pictures though, stock wheels behave somewhat differently.

I tried to make a Lunokhod landing ramp, but failed -- for a slightly different but similar reason. Wheels did not exactly fall through ramps when driven on, but if the rover was attached to the structure by a decoupler, they ended up halfway through the object. When detaching, some of the wheels would end up above the plate and some underneath it. Raising the rover slightly higher would result in the rover getting stuck on the decoupler and unable to drive down without tipping over.

[automcdonough]

i've also heard (but not tested personally) that things collide normally on separate craft (like your ramp there). When it's part of the same craft, such as a ramp shaped lander, that all is out the window.

for example, this:

i tried everything for ramp parts but the wheels act frictionless and fall through all of them as soon as i undock.

[Tollazor]

I have a vtol lander/bugger that landed beautifully. It drove fairly well too.

Unfortunately due to HR oversights, Jebediah was the driver/pilot and whilst fanging it around Mun he managed to flip it over. So he is currently stuck in a lander/buggy on Mun, trapped as the access port is blocked. Not only that, due to Jeb's impatience he attempted to flip it back over using RCS and burned his RCS fuel. Then in frustration he fired off his rockets upside down.

After spending a few days contemplating his situation (whilst listen to streamed Queen music from Kerbal) he realized that if he had of taken his time and switch specific engines (rocket and RCS) on/off he probably could have righted it.

Now he awaits the rescue craft which will also be a lander/bugger..

[magnemoe]

I have a vtol lander/bugger that landed beautifully. It drove fairly well too.

Unfortunately due to HR oversights, Jebediah was the driver/pilot and whilst fanging it around Mun he managed to flip it over. So he is currently stuck in a lander/buggy on Mun, trapped as the access port is blocked. Not only that, due to Jeb's impatience he attempted to flip it back over using RCS and burned his RCS fuel. Then in frustration he fired off his rockets upside down.

After spending a few days contemplating his situation (whilst listen to streamed Queen music from Kerbal) he realized that if he had of taken his time and switch specific engines (rocket and RCS) on/off he probably could have righted it.

Now he awaits the rescue craft which will also be a lander/bugger..

Remember that the new craft must have an way to flip the other lander so Jeb can escape.

[Flixxbeatz]

For small (planetary explorers)* medium (crew carriers)* rovers: Curiosity-style or

setup (rover below).

For huge rovers/trucks/mobile bases/your-house-on-wheels*:

Rover delivery methods I've tested and used. There are many other ways to deliver a rover like the ones previously stated.

*rover size based on the rover wheels used.

[MickG]

Ik parked my munrover on top of a rocket. It lands like an ordinary rocket but since it has the landinggear on one side only, it tips over on it wheels. I did this after testing various kinds of skycranes which all where too unstable for save landings.

The bottom part with the landinggear gets decoupled after it stands on it's wheels.

The front one is a larger version with room for 4 kerbanauts and a driver.

Edited May 15, 2013 by MickG

[ThatBum]

You could try the CP Airbag mod:

[Tobmaster]

KW Rocketry delivery system

Stock Mega Rover delivery

[Eric S]

You could try the CP Airbag mod:

True. I've put rovers on the nose of landers, landed, inflated the airbags, decoupled the rover and had the airbags push the rover off the top of the rocket. Then I just had to figure out how to upright the rover by inflating/deflating the airbags. This obviously works better with smaller rovers, though.

Interesting bit of trivia, the airbag landing system was originally developed as a rover uprighting mechanism :-)

[ThatBum]

stuff

I actually use them for landings, Spirit/Opportunity lithobrake style. I decelerate the payload with a rocket (or parachutes if it's to be used on a body with atmosphere), then detach the rocket from the payload and hit the ground at speed with lateral movement, using the airbags to prevent...unplanned disassembly. The weight balance with this system is not as critical as with a skycrane, as hovering in place isn't required, just slowing down.

[Eric S]

Also true, I used them extensively that way while I was learning to land, though I never landed anything manned that way.

[M5000]

One method you could try is just to build a lander around the rover in such a way that the rover just has a short drop to the ground.

(I probably could have done that better with a normal rover by using just one fuel tank and attaching the rover to the bottom, but the kethane sensor (mod part) was already taking up that node and couldn't take anything on top.)

Another way you could do it is by copying the Lunokhod profile and putting the rover on top of the craft, then drive it down using a ramp of some sort. I've also seen rovers slung to the side of a normal lander that just drop down to the surface, though you'll need some sort of counterweight on the other side as well to keep the lander balanced.

Oh jeez that looks strikingly similar to my first ever Mun lander/rover. Works VERY well and I did several missions with it. Highly recommend the "build lander around rover" idea, though mine seems to have an extra two RCS/fuel pods on the sides that yours doesn't have, though you have more fuel packed into the ends, as my end tanks are shorter and thus less fuel, my weight distro may or may not be more even than yours, but still, I'm amazed at how similar our landers look:

And it makes the most epic looking deployment sequence ever:

Yes, this is a great idea.

[magnemoe]

I actually use them for landings, Spirit/Opportunity lithobrake style. I decelerate the payload with a rocket (or parachutes if it's to be used on a body with atmosphere), then detach the rocket from the payload and hit the ground at speed with lateral movement, using the airbags to prevent...unplanned disassembly. The weight balance with this system is not as critical as with a skycrane, as hovering in place isn't required, just slowing down.

Before the stock rovers I used the prometheus rover a lot http://kerbalspaceprogram.com/0-18-2-prometheus-solar-rover-v5-0/

However I usually put an skycrane on top of the rover pod, and used the airbags to give me more margin then landing, it survived a lot of horizontal movement.

[Kegereneku]

Hello everybody.

I though Landing a rover wasn't a problem...

Until I found myself into a dead-end after trying to bring another one of my Super-Rover on the Mun.

Here is what I already brought on the Mun.

/!\ Notes : The Front and Rear small-tank are emptied manually way before landing, so no shift of mass here.

I even had a another version

Problem is that I (and Mechjeb) haven't been able to land THIS variations.

It all come down to a problem of center of gravity and thrust.

And I've got quite a gallery of crash now.

I'm currently trying a Skycrane approach but I don't know if Mechjeb or I will be able to control it once on the Mun

Any ideas to stabilize the damn things in real-time ? (If the Skycrane fail, I may try the HUGE PLATE-FORM LANDER idea)

[Flixxbeatz]

-snip-

Any ideas to stabilize the damn things in real-time ? (If the Skycrane fail, I may try the HUGE PLATE-FORM LANDER idea)

Based on its design, CoM shifts is totally unavoidable. Try to make it as symmetrical as possible for you to have a geometric center for the whole thing. Also, test it everytime you add/change/remove a component to see if it leans back or front (or worse, on its either sides) when attempting to fly it. Watch out for CoM shifts (even the slightest shift can start tipping the thing rearward or forward)

It's recommended to build the thing in SPH since its much easier there, and because of the way the symmetry works there. Here's a clue for you, something I've made before:

It's totally stable to land in its own power, let alone a skycrane approach.

Edited May 18, 2013 by Flixxbeatz

[J0hnsmine]

I land at 10 m/s and hope that the deceleration stage explodes and i am fine. works 80% of the time for me!

[bsalis]

Chutes attached to the rover. The retro engines are attached on the side with decouplers.

[redteddy23]

There are basically only five methods of rover delivery possible within the limitations of KSP -- only five I can think of, at least -- each with their own limitations and advantages:

4. Rover with integrated landing stage.

Basically, a rover that includes it's own engines, lands under it's own power onto it's wheels or extra landing legs, sometimes with parachutes, and keeps some fuel just in case it needs to navigate an extra-steep climb. People don't seem to commonly do that, but when they do, that's usually for monster piloted rovers weighing upwards of 20 tons. Sometimes they land on one end and later tip over with the use of Damned Robotics tools, other times they transfer to target lengthwise but turn horizontally for landing. I've yet to see one explicitly balanced to land and do interplanetary transfers horizontally.

I can't find any pics but with a large rover that has a reasonably balanced center of mass I have used a land on its bottom with individually placed landing legs that are tied to control groups so that the legs on the wheel side can be raised letting the rover pivot down on to its wheels. One advantage is this can all be done with stock parts. This will only work in low G unless you have one tough rover. Will see if I can get some good pictures of this in operation.

[Aeshi]

Personally I just built my non-atmospheric Rover with it's own engines that it uses to de-orbit and land under its own power (and fuel left over can be used for jump jets) and just use parachutes for my atmospheric one.

[Panichio]

The problem I always have is not landing it, but launching it. It's very hard to make a rover symmetrical, and damn-near impossible to make it symmetrical and look cool, so I can never really get it working right. One solution could be using on of the small trusses and placing it under the CoM so you can place a decoupler there, but some rovers can't do that because of the way they are designed.

[Flixxbeatz]

The problem I always have is not landing it, but launching it. It's very hard to make a rover symmetrical, and damn-near impossible to make it symmetrical and look cool, so I can never really get it working right. One solution could be using on of the small trusses and placing it under the CoM so you can place a decoupler there, but some rovers can't do that because of the way they are designed.

I've actually did that to the Caterpillar, since the truss frame raised the whole assembly and there's no way to reach the connecting point of the pod.

As for the coolness-symmetry ratio, a balance between them is necessary, since you can have the coolest rover you can build, only to find out that you can't put it in orbit in any ways possible.

[Uncle Mort]

I can't find any pics but with a large rover that has a reasonably balanced center of mass I have used a land on its bottom with individually placed landing legs that are tied to control groups so that the legs on the wheel side can be raised letting the rover pivot down on to its wheels. One advantage is this can all be done with stock parts. This will only work in low G unless you have one tough rover. Will see if I can get some good pictures of this in operation.

'tis what I do having landing legs to protect the wheels. Thus:

I have successfully landed this rover on Duna.