Stable Mun rover at > 10 m/s?

[Jod]

Has anyone done this? 10 m/s as I can tell is a safe speed at which even if you crash your pilot in a seat will most likely survive.

Is there a way to build a rover that can travel at 20 m/s or higher on electricity alone? And not crash and kill anyone riding it? I'm guessing seats are out of the question since kerbals tend to fall out of them a lot.

Edited June 24, 2013 by Jod

[Vanamonde]

What do you mean by "battery power alone"? The large one of this RTG-powered set can do a bit over 20m/s on Mun, http://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/showthread.php/35916-Small-Medium-and-Large-moon-rovers-from-Yeahletstrythatdyne, but ANY rover will crash if the terrain isn't favorable or if you drive it with an excess of enthusiasm.

[Jod]

Battery power as in - electricity.

I am currently trying to get the land nav ribbon for the moon, but it takes ridiculously long. At 10 m/s 30km is almost an hour long trip, so I was trying to get at least 20 m/s which usually ended up in the rover toppling and parts exploding due to terrain not being level.

[Djhcc26]

Try using Physical timewarp x4 works great just make sure you save often.

[Tex_NL]

Physics warp CAN save you a lot of time. But can also do more harm than good. Physics warp can make an already unstable rover loose total control, the higher the warp factor the less accurate it becomes.

Only use physics warp on a smooth surface and be ready to switch it off at the smallest hint of trouble.

[Flixxbeatz]

I once reach 24 m/s on the Mun downhill while driving my mobile munbase. Fast, yet it becomes uncontrollable (you can't turn/very hard to turn)

[Boffinbox]

doable

make the rover very long and very thin, add lots of wheels. good luck turning.

this rover hails from a time when there wasn't external seats. i added docking ports on the top for when that time came.

and here's a level stretch

not exactly battery power alone, but lets face it - you can't just pack all the batteries you'll ever need and NOT pack a power generator - that's silly!

[chrischambers]

I just had to go and move one of my lander mum Bases parts 6km from it landing point back to the base, and it take me 1.30 hours.

I discovered that was you are driving the rover wants to move to the left, so you have to just it and then just it some move, else you are drving. and all this was done under the speed of 5m/s

[Vanamonde]

Batteries only store power, but do not generate it. Do you mean you want the rovers to be solar powered? 'Cause the ones I posted are not.

[OUScooby]

make the rover very long and very thin, add lots of wheels. good luck turning.

The long part makes sense, but not the thin. Wouldn't a wider wheel base be more stable when turning?

[dommcq]

Hi,

I'm no expert at KSP, just started really.

I did build a Mun rover that got to a ridiculously high speed. I can't post a pic as it crashed and as part of a failed Mun base I restarted the Base project.

It was long, wide and had RCS thrusters that kept it on the ground by thrusting down while driving.

It killed Bill.

It was sad.

[Jason Patterson]

The long part makes sense, but not the thin. Wouldn't a wider wheel base be more stable when turning?

Yes. A wide, long wheel base will generally let you go much faster without crashing. The landing gear/engines combo still works amazingly well. It gets hairy, but it's entirely possible to go 50 m/s or faster (sustained speed) on the Mun with a sufficiently rugged vehicle.

[Motokid600]

How's stopping at 50m/s? Lol took me 2km to bring my crane to a stop at 25m/s.

[Jod]

Fixed the first post. I meant electricity from PB-NUKs and/or solar panels.

Will try to make a wider and longer rover. The one I have is great for landing and taking off without a skycrane but not for driving around at high speeds.

Upd: Made one that does 15 m/s relatively stable. Can possibly make an even faster one but meh. Flagged 2 arches, got over 30km land distance.

Edited June 24, 2013 by Jod
upd