How do you attach YOUR rover?

[aimeilian]

I've been playing KSP off and on since about 0.15 and finally got to update to 0.21 -- and of course the first thing I do is start playing around with rovers

A couple things I've been struggling with, though, is actually getting rovers 1) onto a rocket for travel to another body, and 2) getting them OFF the rocket to explore where they've landed. e.g. my first attempts revolved around attaching a rover in-line under a lander (au Apollo), but invariably the fairings required end up taller than the landing struts can reach! So I'm scratching that approach and going to start working on a skycrane instead...

In any case, so far I've yet to come up with an elegant solution for securing a rover for transport. I usually use the small separator, bolted at the top of a few cubic struts attached to the rover, which of course then remains attached to the rover and looking dorky So I'm curious to see how others approach rover/craft integration.

I'm aware of the rover megathread, but this is a sub-question that's hard (for me, perhaps others) to glean information on from such a huge -- if wonderful -- pile of awesome

[Pupu]

I put them under the ship. But thats only for the small ones. Like u said they get to big and then the landing struts get to short. Maye u could try to put landing struts on the ROver itself. Land the whole thing. decouple the Rover and then fly away with the rest of the ship. But thats only for the really big rovers :-)

[MrPopcup]

I don't think that there is an easier way to send rovers by putting them under the lander, MOST of my medium-sized missions ( rovers ) were put under the lander, another way is to put them in orbit with a couple of little rockets, de orbit and use the parachute, or simply a skycrane, i honestly find putting them underneath the rocket the best way, then undock the rover from the lander...

[Hodo]

I usually attach in a cargo bay, using B9 parts. But I have also just fired rovers separately from another rocket. Depending on the use. But I rarely take Rovers off Kerbin, don't need them that much.

[-Velocity-]

Why do you need to attach your rover to a lander at all? Just make the lander and the rover the same thing. It's not like it's hard to build a rocket rover.

Or

For the life of me, I can't understand why so few people do this!!! Wheels weigh about as much as landing legs, and even for Tylo, you can make a fully reusable rover that is capable of landing and taking off back into orbit (though, the accommodations on board a fully reusable single-stage Tylo rover are rather spartan... it's pretty much fuel tanks and rocket engines, with a couple wheels and a chairs attached ).

Edited October 7, 2013 by |Velocity|

[Leberschnitzel]

I did it like this:

Kerbed:

Unkerbed:

Not sure how I will do bigger ones...

[capi3101]

I've had luck with sticking the rover under a lander before - the trick was to add a counterbalance. I've probably had the most luck, however, sticking the rovers on the sides; they can usually be uprighted on pod torque alone.

[Geschosskopf]

There's also the option of making a roving lander. Of course, you'd better make the rover able to drive AND fly either side up or give it self-righting ability if it's also your way of getting back to orbit .

My favorite way of attaching a rover, however, is to mount it vertically atop the rocket with a decoupler on the back bumper. The rocket lands vertically. Then I retract the landing leg on the side with the rover's belly so the whole assembly topples over. With any luck, parts of the rocket will explode for extra style points but the end result is the rocket on its side with the rover dangling wheels-down a few feet off the ground. Then just decouple the rover, let it fall, and drive away .

[lewisd]

My favorite way of attaching a rover, however, is to mount it vertically atop the rocket with a decoupler on the back bumper. The rocket lands vertically. Then I retract the landing leg on the side with the rover's belly so the whole assembly topples over. With any luck, parts of the rocket will explode for extra style points but the end result is the rocket on its side with the rover dangling wheels-down a few feet off the ground. Then just decouple the rover, let it fall, and drive away .

I was just actually mulling over some ideas for something like this. It's probably possible to mount a small motor or two (a couple ants?) pointing sideways, off the front bumper of the rover, and use those to slow down the "tiping over".

Of course, if it's a manned rover, you'll still need a return to orbit vehicle of some sort... Maybe have that on the very top, and after landing the rover+return vehicle, separate the return vehicle and land it close by?

[Einsty]

When landing on a body without atmosphere, I mount the rover on top of the lander. Then I use RCS to jump down gently. I have so far encountered only about 30% failure unintended disassembly rate with this method.

[xoknight]

Like this?

[goldenpeach]

I have two lander:one made for the Mun and minmus wich is stacked on a normal lander and then use a "sky crane" to take out the rover and land it near the lander.

The other is used for interplanetary,it is stacked at the bottom of a small lander.

[Spyritdragon]

I usually use a general skycrane made of 5 FL-T200's arranged like the 5 of a die, some radial engines and a few panels and a probe core. Add parachutes for atmospheric bodies and make sure to invert decoupler so it sticks to skycrane rather than rover.

[Leberschnitzel]

A small video of my kerbed rover connection tests:

[Panzerbeard]

Nothing fancy, just a couple of cubic struts and a small docking port. Obviously this isn't going to work for anything larger, and it's not really re-usable (not that you'd want to take the rover home anyway).

I imagine you could do something a bit more sophisticated with KAS or whatnot, but I don't use any mod parts apart from the Kerbal Engineer and ISA Mapsat units.

[Leberschnitzel]

Mine is also modfree btw

[Superfluous J]

I do what a lot have already said, and mount it under my lander. In fact, I've been doing this for everything. For low-gravity worlds (I'm setting up an increasingly complex kethane mining operation on Minmus right now) I'll bring a good 3-6 things with me at once and drop them one by one on the surface until all that's left is my actual lander/command module, which I'll then either land or fly away with if it doesn't actually need to land. Usually it grabs a full orange tank and takes it up to orbit, with the same docking port that dropped the last module.

I have no idea if it's efficient or what, but it feels like I'm saving time, fuel, and money piggybacking several deliveries into one lander.

[Monkeh]

In short, docking ports or cargo bays.

[Rage097]

When landing on an atmospheric planet, I mount the rover on top with a parachute. When landing somewhere without atmosphere, I put it under the descent craft.

[1greywind]

Here is my solution for deploying Duna rover:

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3 rovers are radially mounted on transfer stage.

Each rover has it's own propulsion/skycrane unit which is used to deorbit and kill excess speed after reentry.

At radar altitude about 1000 m skycrane is separated and rover's chute is deployed.

[aimeilian]

Thanks for all the replies so far!

@xoknight - very clever using I-beams to extend the landing struts' reach Now if only there were a way to retract them so the whole landing assembly lies (more or less) flush w/ the lander during transit...

As I figured there seem to be as many ways to attach and deploy rovers as there are Kerbonauts But I'm seeing two major and one minor trend so far:

1) Mount rover(s) radially w/ decouplers and pop 'em off upon landing, relying on RCS/mini-engines/gravity to get them on their feet;

2) Mount a rover beneath the lander with one of the small docking ports and just drop it to the surface upon landing;

3) Mount a rover on TOP of the lander (or on an orbiter) w/ thrusters and/or a skycrane and/or a parachute and deploy before landing.

Personally I'm inclined toward general approach #2 as the less finicky a deployment, the better, IMHO. Hadn't thought of the small docking port as the attachment mechanism as I'm leery of it bouncing around before I'm ready to drive it...

EDIT: Forgot to mention, I'm running w/ FAR (the enhanced aerodynamics mod) and procedural fairings/wings installed, as I like the enhanced realism of the first and functionality of the second. This also influences where I want to place my rovers as having a GIANT payload fairing atop a rocket looks... uhm... wrong.

Keep the ideas coming!

Edited October 9, 2013 by aimeilian

[Geschosskopf]

I was just actually mulling over some ideas for something like this. It's probably possible to mount a small motor or two (a couple ants?) pointing sideways, off the front bumper of the rover, and use those to slow down the "tiping over".

What I do is mount 1 or 2 landing legs up near the top of the rocket below the lander, on the side I plan to tip towards. I usually put these legs inverted. This provides something to break the fall of the rocket because it really works better if the main tank doesn't explode.

[Cupcake...]

http://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/threads/49042-Super-Minnow-Multi-Purpose-VTOL-Lander

It might be worth saving up for a Minnow Drop Ship, you've got a balanced docking port under the hull where you can mount some pretty big rovers. If you have a stupidly massive one you can also use a pair of Minnows and bring it down to the surface in tandem. If you have lots of rovers you also can mount them to the 6 horizontal axis ports.

Cupcake...

[WeirdCulture]

Normaly ducttape but I just put 2 of Cubic Octagonal Strut and a TR-2V Stack Decoupler.. So i just straped it on one side on my Apollo-style lander.. it gave you at landing a little adrenaline shot when you don't balance the extra weight on one side. But the great tip is: Test your arrangement on Kerbin, because it's a PITA to find out on the moon that the rover falls on his back and you can't turn it around...

[radonek]

If it's too big to be mounted under lander, I just slap landing engines to the sides of rover. This rover-cum-lander thus descend on its own, decouple engine blocks and ride to the sunset… Structural supports for engines may double as makeshift fenders. With some fuel left, engine blocks can even be used to jump around a bit, but thats kinda risky.