Dunar Rover (need some advice)

[RedKosmos]

Hello,

Here are pictures of my Duna rover and delivery rocket. I would like to know if there are any improvements I can make to this design. (Spent 3 hours today going to Duna only to end up crashing on it at 2500 m/s) I'm content with the skycrane, but anything else is fair game.

The base stage gets me to pre-orbit altitude.

The "Skipper" stage gets me into orbit and an extra orbital boost on the second rotation. (I burn for about 10-25 seconds every time I meet the periapsis, this helps to save fuel when trying to leave kerbin's orbit)

The next state (3 LV-N) does a 2-3 more peri-burns to leave orbit, then is used for getting a Duna encounter (which I am still having much trouble doing, seems like trying to win the lottery every time.

LV-909 stage gets me into position for Duna entry, and the rest is obvious.

Thank You!

[p331083]

looks like you can consolidate a few of those tanks into larger ones. Also the rcs might be useless seeing as how you wont be doing any docking.

[Levelord]

Hard to tell if there's any improvements I'd make without the actual craft file to fly it. But from the looks of it, the design seems pretty solid if it can get you to Duna.

My only advice is that the Mk2-R parachutes might not be enough to slow you down in the thin Duna atmosphere, and when they fully deploy, the excessive deceleration might rip away the skycrane. I would add a single Mk25 Parachute (the big orange one) to slow you down to safe enough speeds before using the Mk2-R parachutes further down.

[prysmatik]

I was watching a video the other day and learned about: http://ksp.olex.biz/

This has been helping me alot with interplanetary travel. Tells you when the planets are properly aligned to leave orbit and achieve encounters.

& Levelord's right on

I just landed @ duna yesterdeay; Mk25's were definitely crucial. And having a shallow entry angle that they get some serious air-time. They don't semi-deploy until 10km so try to maximize your hang-time. I even had a few that I cut loose before 2500m so they wouldn't shred my ship. But tbh, I think I was handling more mass than you've got to deal with. So maybe a dab'll do ya.aq

[Grim187]

don't take it there in one trip, put a docking port on it and launch a separate stage to get it there/get it to the ground.

nice job on the struts, i like the sky crane as well.

[RedKosmos]

don't take it there in one trip, put a docking port on it and launch a separate stage to get it there/get it to the ground.

nice job on the struts, i like the sky crane as well.

I'm terrible at docking in orbit....

[RedKosmos]

I was watching a video the other day and learned about: http://ksp.olex.biz/

This has been helping me alot with interplanetary travel. Tells you when the planets are properly aligned to leave orbit and achieve encounters.

& Levelord's right on

I just landed @ duna yesterdeay; Mk25's were definitely crucial. And having a shallow entry angle that they get some serious air-time. They don't semi-deploy until 10km so try to maximize your hang-time. I even had a few that I cut loose before 2500m so they wouldn't shred my ship. But tbh, I think I was handling more mass than you've got to deal with. So maybe a dab'll do ya.aq

THAT WEBSITE IS AWESOME

I am currently trying it right now (the new flight route)

[RedKosmos]

ugh, orbital trajectories makes my head hurt. I t was pure luck that my last rover even crashed on Duna.

[prysmatik]

Once I was able to get an encounter I'd do a small burn in each of 6 different directions. As small a burn as possible to see if it increases or decreases Pe. Then continue it if it decreased it.

I'd do as much as possible while still in kerbin(or duna for return) orbit. So you'd see me try polar N, polar S, and then equatorial 0*, 180*, 90*, 270* ... that seemed to help me close in. I tried for the longest time using the maneuvering nodes, but I found this method worked for me when it came to fine-tuning the path. Just watching map mode and making the 6 burns, maybe repeating them if necessary.

Keep it up, you'll make it. They pay-off is great.

[iDan122]

KSP is not only about designing spacecraft and rovers, it is also about knowing your astrophysics. Use the phase angle calculator as above. Use nuclear engines for interplanetary travel as they are very fuel efficient. Also, when landing on Duna, try deploying 2 chutes at first, let them open and then deploy more. Don't open them all at once or they will get ripped off. Also try using your engines before parachute full deployment.

[Grim187]

I'm terrible at docking in orbit....

i'm not great at docking either, use a sr. port they are a bit easier...i like this video to teach you how to dock, because it sounds like he is 12 and if a 12 year old can do it...

[RedKosmos]

i'm not great at docking either, use a sr. port they are a bit easier...i like this video to teach you how to dock, because it sounds like he is 12 and if a 12 year old can do it...

Thank you sir! As proof of my FIRST ever docking in orbit, I give you these authentic screenshots of what just went down.....

BAM!!!

Some lessons were leaned here, carry more rcs fuel next time. Almost ran out. Only one more piece, the lander. Here it is new and improved.

Time to start a space station!

[RedKosmos]

Ok, I'm rage quitting for a while. This happened right after I spent 2 attempts and about an hour of work......

The lander stage literally ripped apart after I managed to dock it. Can anyone tell my why this happened?

[Mygnol]

The lander stage literally ripped apart after I managed to dock it. Can anyone tell my why this happened?

Probably due to the torque tearing your ship apart when the magnetic clamps finally engaged.

Or the Kraken deciding to pay a visit, but he rarely graces LKO.

On your schematic, I noticed that your lander stage is pretty much held together by the tiny structural beams, which while pretty, aren't really good for docking anything bigger than a probe.'

I suggest you either swap it out, or use the tried-and-tested method, strut the living daylights out of it. Make sure no piece is connected only to one other piece.

The quicksave is your friend here. I've saved many a ship just by hitting the emergency quicksave load button.

Edited August 1, 2013 by Mygnol

[RedKosmos]

Yeah, I always quicksave before every step, so it's right back where it started, about 15km away from each other in synchronous orbit. Would turning off the SAS on one of the ships help? Or is this just docking clamp shenanigans?

[RedKosmos]

I suggest you either swap it out, or use the tried-and-tested method, strut the living daylights out of it. .

Ladies and Gentlemen, I give you......

The Birdcage!!!!

Let's see if this works

[Levelord]

The lander stage literally ripped apart after I managed to dock it. Can anyone tell my why this happened?

It's actually caused by the cubic octagonal struts and regular octagonal struts

It's a known issue with the game and a lot of people learned to not use them to connect the main body of crafts and to never connect docking ports directly on them. Get rid of the cubic struts holding the main body and you should be fine. Putting cubic struts on the periphery of the vessel however, should be safe.

Here are some threads relating to docking with the cubic/octagonal struts as a root part:

http://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/showthread.php/37015-Cubic-Octagonal-Struts-catastrophe

http://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/showthread.php/31210-Octagonal-struts-cause-massive-destruction-if-used-as-root-part

http://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/showthread.php/31070-Physics-handling-for-structural-pieces-is-generating-phantom-forces

Edited August 1, 2013 by Levelord

[RedKosmos]

Here it is, after much remodeling and mass shifting and more cable struts in key places, I give you......the final version of the Zhuk DRV MK-2. I'll test it tomorrow.

I wanted to give it a more realistic looking heat shield, so I shifted the gas tank

Replaced the octagonal struts with rcs and liquid tanks, added a few more pounds of rcs on the bottom to help with the trip and with more mass on the bottom for re-entry balancing.

Moved the main chutes higher to help make sure the lander doesnt flip on re-entry (tested previous version in Kerbin, was a minor issue that was easily fixed)

So, what do yall think? Is it ready for the maiden voyage?

[RedKosmos]

Whoops, repeated a picture. Here is the final angle

[RedKosmos]

Success feels SSSOOOOOOOoooooooooo GGGOOOOOOooooooooddddddddd lol

time to send this puppy to Duna!

Any improvements on the design that I could make that yall notice? (besides more rcs fuel)

[prysmatik]

Lookin' GOOD! Have a safe trip. I look forward to seeing the final photos and a .craft file.

Edited August 2, 2013 by prysmatik

[RedKosmos]

Lookin' GOOD! Have a safe trip. I look forward to seeing the final photos and a .craft file.

how do you make .craft files?

[Levelord]

how do you make .craft files?

They are stored as notepad files in your KSP folder. Find your KSP folder> saves>*your saved profile name*> ships> VAB..... All of your ships from the VAB building is stored in there as .craft

[RedKosmos]

better question, hot to get them on the forum in the hyperlink format.....

[prysmatik]

some people use mediafire; I like dropbox.com ... Any file-sharing website will do. You'll upload the file to a sharing site, and they'll provide you a link to DL/share it. Just like how you use imgur to share image files.

btw, check out Levelord's AVTOLSSTO. (you can download the .craft file, and place it in your VAB, the same place you retrieve your .craft from. Then it becomes available to you as if you'd built it yourself.) It's out of this world!