My rocket has tipped over on Mun, any chance of getting it back up?

[Kilovex]

Title pretty much explains it. I posted some pictures for more detail:

http://imgur.com/a/Jx4AV

[lumpman2]

Doesn't look like it. For that big of a lander, torque won't get you up and it doesn't look like you have any RCS. Gonna have to send a rescue mission

[numerobis]

Fire the engines and pull up right away. Friction causes no damage on its own.

[Skorpychan]

Retract the gear legs, and try to tip it up with torque. Then extend the legs again. Fiddle with that until you get it upright, or the legs pop off.

Best save first.

In future, try and use a wider footprint. I've found that a Rockomax x8 tank with four FL-200 tanks around the outside works great for that, if you stick the legs onto the outer tanks.

[capi3101]

Skorpychan's given you the best advice here. If you try numerobis's idea, be gentle and cut your engine before you get going faster than 10 m/s; a rescue mission will be mandatory otherwise.

[WafflesToo]

Looks pretty bad. If you were on a side-grade I think you might have a chance... I'd say go with capi3101 and Skorpychan's advice.

and maybe start planning that rescue mission.

[lumpman2]

Fire the engines and pull up right away. Friction causes no damage on its own.

It will break if you don't pull up fast enough since it'll point towards the ground after a second and blow up because of the velocity. I was going to mention that, but I wouldn't recommend it because you need to get really lucky.

[CheesyWalnut]

You could send a rover to the mun with a landing gear on the front so it kinda sticks out and folds back and try to nudge it a bit :/

[Geschosskopf]

There is 1 other thing you can try to get the lander upright. No guarantees and it might do more harm than good, so save 1st of course .

Anyway, this method relies on the fact that when a fallen Kerbal stands back up on his feet, the animation for that will shove literally anything movable, no matter how heavy, out of his way, usually in an upwards direction. To exploit this, all you have to do is figure out how to get a fallen Kerbal under the nose of the lander. I would do it this way:

1. Make sure the lander's SAS is OFF.

2. EVA 1 Kerbal. Pick up any flags you might already have planted. The goal here is to have only 2 things on the ground in the area, the lander and the Kerbal. If there are some broken parts lying around, at least practice using the [ and ] keys so you know which one will switch you from the Kerbal to the lander without going to any debris first.

3. Move the Kebal about 50m away from the lander, then move the camera so it's lined up with the Kerbal and the place you want him to end up under the lander. Also tap W as needed to get the Kerbal facing where you want him to end up.

4. Activate the jetpack. Get the Kerbal 1-2m up in the air then hold down W briefly to get him moving fairly fast towards where you want him to go.

5. Once up to speed, stop trying to maintain altitude and let the Kerbal hit the ground short of the lander. He should then tumble and slide along the ground until he wedges up under the lander, hopefully in the place you want him.

6. Leave the Kerbal lying there for a moment and carefully move the camera so when the Kerbal stands up, he applies force in the desired direction.

7. Once you're happy with the camera, give the Kerbal whichever WASD command you think appropriate. His 1st action will be to stand up. If he's under the nose of the lander, this motion will toss the lander's nose up off the ground. It might also lift the whole lander completely off the ground and send it tumbling, depending on how heavy it is.

8. IMMEDIATELY use the [ or ] key previously determined to switch back to the lander, take its controls, and do whatever needs doing to best handle the situation. If you're lucky, the lander will just be rotating towards the vertical with its feed on the ground. If so, turn SAS on when the lander is near vertical and use whatever torque and/or RCS you have to help keep it there until the motion stops. If it's tumbling up into the sky, try to keep it flying while you gain control of the tumbles, then try landing it again.

NOTE: Even if this doesn't work, it's still a lot of fun to try .

NOTE: Sometimes, if there are other Kerbals in the lander, when you switch to the lander the delay in getting their IVA pics going might keep you from gaining control quick enough. If this is the case, EVA the extra Kerbals and either move them far enough away so they're not in the ][ key sequence or use whichever one allows immediate switching to the lander after you "kick-start" it.

[Kerbart]

In future, try and use a wider footprint. I've found that a Rockomax x8 tank with four FL-200 tanks around the outside works great for that, if you stick the legs onto the outer tanks.

Tipping over is a matter of the center of mass being placed outside the footprint of the landing gear. As Skorpychan points out, getting a wider footprint works.

Lowering your center of mass is the other part of the equation. Place your legs in such a way that the exhaust just clears the ground; you don't need extra clearance (as it lifts COM). Always put your landing gear up as high as you can get away with.

[Scarecrow88]

Tipping over is a matter of the center of mass being placed outside the footprint of the landing gear. As Skorpychan points out, getting a wider footprint works.

Lowering your center of mass is the other part of the equation. Place your legs in such a way that the exhaust just clears the ground; you don't need extra clearance (as it lifts COM). Always put your landing gear up as high as you can get away with.

Landing with too much horizontal velocity is usually the cause of tipping over though, admittedly, having a wider footprint will hep delay the point where the CoM falls outside the footprint.

Edited September 15, 2013 by Scarecrow88

[redmonddkgamer]

Use Hyperedit and don't tell anyone.

[Tex_NL]

8 minutes ago, redmonddkgamer said:

Use Hyperedit and don't tell anyone.

Never knew HyperEdit had a timetravel feature. This thread dates from September 2013.

The OP hasn't posted since. Either he solved his problem or gave up long ago.

Edited December 24, 2016 by Tex_NL

[GoSlash27]

I second @Geschosskopf's recommendation. I have often had success righting tipped landers with a kerbal on EVA.

For future reference... 4 legs are better than 3 and if at all possible the fuel tank should be at the top instead of the bottom so that your CoG falls as the fuel drains.

Best,
-Slashy

5 minutes ago, GoSlash27 said:

I second @Geschosskopf's recommendation. I have often had success righting tipped landers with a kerbal on EVA.

For future reference... 4 legs are better than 3 and if at all possible the fuel tank should be at the top instead of the bottom so that your CoG falls as the fuel drains.

Best,
-Slashy

D'oh! Caught unawares by a necro!

Edited December 24, 2016 by GoSlash27

[Kerbal Fried Chicken]

echoing others I have righted a few landers with eva'ed kerbals. (and failed more often) but another trick I've used is retracting/extending one or more landing legs to get the ship to roll the direction I need.

[Vanamonde]

2 hours ago, redmonddkgamer said:

Use Hyperedit and don't tell anyone.

Yes, this still is a problem players encounter, and yes, you can use Hyperedit. But if the craft is small, as others have said, it may be possible to right it with RCS and/or SAS.

[Tex_NL]

??? Even @Vanamonde fell for Necrobait 3 hours AFTER it was pointed out to be one???

[Vanamonde]

Yes, I saw the necromoaning, and decided not to issue a warn for mocking a newbie's kind attempt to help a fellow forum member. I also pointed out that, 

Quote

this still is a problem players encounter 

no matter how old the original post might be, so the advice is still relevant 3 years later. 

[tg626]

In my experience the gravity on the mun is jussst low enough to give you the false hope that you can right the craft without damaging anything, but you will, and whatever explodes will be the most important part

 

[Loren Pechtel]

I have "successfully" righted a rocket on Minmus using a combination of reaction wheel and the engine which had some gymbal to it and a high TWR.

Try to turn up, light the engine at minimum power, if you can get the nose ever so slightly above the horizon go full throttle.  While a better pilot than I could have pulled it off I promptly crashed but that was my mishandling, I did get the nose pointed into the sky for an instant but I had too much rotational velocity at that point.

Whether this could be done on the Mun or not I do not know.

[A Random Lantern]

Bump, if you have a save file before you landed just reload it and try again. And I reccomend using retrograde when landing

[bewing]

I never added my two cents to this necro thread, but I might as well. There is one other decent method besides Ges's:

As long as you keep your sliding velocity below about 5 m/s, no parts will explode while you slide. So you look around for the nearest slope. You retract your legs, point your ship in that direction, and using very gentle thrust control -- slide your ship across the ground and then up the slope. As you go up the slope, keep SAS on (stability mode). Just as you get to the top edge of the slope, gun it. It can easily take 10 minutes to get there, so be patient.

 

[Rocket In My Pocket]

3 hours ago, A Random Lantern said:

Bump, if you have a save file before you landed just reload it and try again. And I reccomend using retrograde when landing

This post pleases me.

I also recommend retrograde hold when landing, but I'd add that you want to be in surface mode not orbital for best results.

Welcome to the forums @A Random Lantern! 

Edited August 7, 2018 by Rocket In My Pocket

[4x4cheesecake]

8 minutes ago, Rocket In My Pocket said:

I also recommend retrograde hold when landing, but I'd add that you want to be in surface mode not orbital for best results.

With all SAS options available, I recommend to switch to radial out for the last few of your descent, especially if you want to land very gentle. Retro- and Prograde will stop working as soon as the speed drops below 1m/s and SAS will automatically switch to 'stability assiost' instead