Favourite rover - lander configuration

[kiwiak]

So how do you like to deliver your rover to moons and planets?

On top of capsule, below it (skycrane), or combine rover with lander - landing engines jetissoned after touchdown?

Screens are welcomed.

[Rhyunix]

Well, last time I landed a Mun lander, the rover was underneath and I made sure that the lander legs reached over the rover- it was almost like a pancake rather than a rover, but drove really well

[Karriz]

I usually go with a skycrane, or simply attach the rover to the bottom of a lander. Here's one simple design I like: http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=184316410

With bigger rovers I've had quite bad luck. This is the only successful "space truck" I ever landed: http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=143020091

I simply tipped the lander over.

[Liowen]

So how do you like to deliver your rover to moons and planets?

On top of capsule, below it (skycrane), or combine rover with lander - landing engines jetissoned after touchdown?

Screens are welcomed.

It depends on what you want to do with it honestly. If you want it underneath you will have it when you land, however it will require a bit more fuel (I am guessing) than your traditional lander. With it being on the ground beforehand you will need to land close to where it is in order to save yourself a long drive to get use out of it. Right now I am doing the second, more so it gives me a target on the ground to try and aim for while landing on Duna, but I can also see why you would do a rover attached to the craft as well. While not a true sky-crane, I think, here is mine and the craft file is in the thread about rovers. This is the older design, but the drop ship is still the same.

[kiwiak]

I usually go with a skycrane, or simply attach the rover to the bottom of a lander. Here's one simple design I like: http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=184316410

With bigger rovers I've had quite bad luck. This is the only successful "space truck" I ever landed: http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=143020091

I simply tipped the lander over.

What mod is this spacetruck from?

[Karriz]

What mod is this spacetruck from?

I used the TouhouTorpedo's rover cockpit and shuttle cargo bay. It's a copy of a similar rover that Scott Manley used in one of his videos, in reusable space program series.

[LethalDose]

All of my succesful rovers have been combination lander/rovers. I've found that it's way easier to design and test the rover in the SPH, because it automatically places the axis of the ship parallel to the ground and the symmetry option mirrors across a transverse plane, instead of rotating around the craft axis. Then the body of the rover gets saved as a sub-assembly and mounted on top of a rocket in the VAB.

During landing, an in-line LV909 fires retro to slow decent with the axis perpendicular to the surface. About 50-100m above the surface, the 909 is shut off, the rover rotates so its axis is parallel to the surface, wheels down, and uses [now] downward facing radially-mounted thrusters to ease it down to the surface, landing on the wheels (usually 3-4 pairs, to distribute the landing impact).

To leave the surface, I basically "take it off sweet jumps": I get as much horizontal speed going east as I can (usually driving running down the edge of crater), then fire radial engines to get a small amount of altitude. After I've left the surface, I kill the radial engines and burn the in-line engine to establish orbit. The rover is usually staged in the middle, so after it's fuel is spent, I can drop most of the wheels, tanks, radial engines, solar panels, etc, and burn a small craft back to Kerbin or a Münar rendezvous.

The rover's I've built in this style have only been tested on Kerbin, and successfully landed on the Mün. I think they may be too heavy to successfully land on heavier gravity bodies without atmospheres, like Tylo, but I haven't tried it, yet.

Uploaded screenshots on Steam here: http://steamcommunity.com/profiles/76561198008555896/screenshot/685968273301512566

Edited December 8, 2013 by LethalDose
Added link

[panzerknoef]

I had a thread on this a while ago: http://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/threads/59608-How-do-you-take-your-rovers-along

[Milkshakefiend]

Well, historically my Lander/Rover configurations have been... troublesome at best. At worst they are downright unstable. If lots of rover usage is suspected I usually land a separate drone lander with rovers on board, like below.

Closing in on landing spot

Landed; fairings jettisoned

Arms extended, winch lowered, tires kicked.

Making a stable and useful rover/lander/re-orbiter design is actually one of my goals right now.

[maltesh]

I land the rover separately from the lander and drive it over.

In most of the places I land manned rovers, there's enough infrastructure nearby and in orbit to bring down and extract personell.

That's a KAS winch on the landing frame. It has enough delta-V to do one landing from Munar orbit with the rover, and one return to Munar orbit without the rover, at which point it will probably need refueling if the rover is needed elsewhere.

[Spatzimaus]

I generally prefer a self-propelled rover, like the Iguana 1b:

VTOL engines are from the B9 mod. The balance on landing can be a bit tricky, of course, but it's still fairly easy to land for a 30-ton brick. While it's got a 2-man cockpit, it also has an unmanned control node below that, so I don't NEED a crew for it to function; the one pictured did have one Kerbonaut in the driver's seat, though.

For REALLY big designs, like my 400-ton rover, you can barely see the engines:

There are 12 radial 110kN HOME engines on there, enough to give it a TWR of 2.0 on Mun. Can you find them? (I just showed a runway picture because of the high contrast.)

I sent a smaller version of this (~200 tons) to the Mun back in 0.19; that older version DID put its landing engines in side pods that it detached after landing, but I ended up regretting that later on.

The point is, if your rover is fairly large, there's not much gain in jettisoning the rockets after landing. And who knows, you might need them again some day, to fly over a canyon or something. With enough fuel, you can even use them to take off and fly to the other side of the moon if need be. Sure, most small rovers don't HAVE fuel, because they don't need them, but all of my rovers are also Kethane-drilling refineries as well. Here's that Iguana refilling its tanks after landing on Mun:

Basically, it's designed as a mobile refill station. I park one on each of the convenient Kethane deposits on Mun, and whenever I land a vessel there it can be quickly refilled by a nearby Iguana through KAS winches and connectors. It's a bit superfluous right now, given how easy it is to put a fuel depot in orbit, but it's a proof-of-concept for once we get a real resource system.

[Vanamonde]

Gameplay questions seems like a better place to discuss how to play this aspect of the game. Thread relocated.

[Taki117]

I personally prefer the skycrane method. Basically put a couple of fuel tanks and engines on the side (Or some other support structure on top) with a decoupler so that you can detach your skycrane. Then once you have slowed down and are close enough to the surface jettison your skycrane and drop safely to the surface. The skycrane then flys off to crash somewhere nearby.

[kiwiak]

I generally prefer a self-propelled rover, like the Iguana 1b:

Where did you got this cockpit?

Nevermind, i found out its b9.

Edited December 9, 2013 by kiwiak

[MalfunctionM1Ke]

A Skycrane with Parachutes is an Allrounder and perfect for almost any landscape.

I can even drop this rover in flight and it will survive because it has no lethal side.

I really love this Thing

Here is an advanced Science Version of it.

Edited December 9, 2013 by MalfunctionM1Ke

[DrMonte]

On EVE I've placed the rover on the top of the lander. That means I separate it in the flight time. That's quite tricky, needs lots of preparation, works only in atmosphere and does not always end well

For lower(normal) gravity where legs are suitable I place the rover under the craft. Mine fits there nicely because it's not a driving space station it just caries few kerbals with some science equipment

[bsalis]

I don't really have a favourite. I do like to be able to reattach a rover, such as the following three configurations.

On a Spaceplane (which was lifted on a rocket, which is why it is here on Laythe)...

On an SSTO Spaceplane...

On a Skycrane using just simple docking ports...

On the latest versions of the above crafts, the rovers are identical, with docking ports above and below. Such that they are all interchangeable.

[MaxP]

I land the rover separately from the lander and drive it over.

In most of the places I land manned rovers, there's enough infrastructure nearby and in orbit to bring down and extract personell.

That's a KAS winch on the landing frame. It has enough delta-V to do one landing from Munar orbit with the rover, and one return to Munar orbit without the rover, at which point it will probably need refueling if the rover is needed elsewhere.

Oh, I've done almost the same ))

Very practical design.

But my experiments with KAS (I was using additional lateral winches for stability) was not quite successful.

Enabling time warp makes strange things with KAS elements.

And her is my rover. Not for screenshots, but for 30 m/s driving over the Mun surface.

At 10 m/s I can turn autopilot and leave it for hours - it will be on wheels.

Four engines (2 kN each) for reaching maximum stability, two tailwheels in front (for turn over prevention), stabilizers for moving in atmosphere, steel plates underneath, and Hakari's narrow LED's, you can see it in action here:

And, I've corrected Wayland's wheel's torque (for being not so fast, max ~ 50 m/s) and (a little secret ) turned off the brakes for the forward wheels.

And it's own lander, with infernal robotics plugin:

On landing the frame (with counterbalance) turns horizontally and expands, then decouples rover

Unfortunately, the rocket becomes strange loocking...

Edited December 12, 2013 by MaxP

[Kasuha]

I initially tried to mount my rover below the lander and drop it during the landing but it proved to be way too risky operation.

So now I am mounting it on top of the lander and then use a small skycrane to transfer it from the top of lander to the ground.

I can post images when I get home.

[technion]

After using this on Eve I'm going to use it everywhere. This design means you don't have to land on the wheels, and you don't end up dropping it from any height. Here the lander lands on its legs.

Then you retract those legs and slowly drop the lander. Decoupling doesn't look like it did anything. Until you extend the legs again, and find your lander separated.

[kiwiak]

After using this on Eve I'm going to use it everywhere. This design means you don't have to land on the wheels, and you don't end up dropping it from any height. Here the lander lands on its legs.

Then you retract those legs and slowly drop the lander. Decoupling doesn't look like it did anything. Until you extend the legs again, and find your lander separated.

Craft file please?

[astropapi1]

My favorite method is curiosity-like. It has proven to be the most reliable of all, amazingly.

Then there's the other method, for when I'm too lazy to build a proper skycrane. Just put the rover on top of a light lander and, after landing, retract the landing gear and tip it onto the rover's wheels. Decouple from the lander and voila!

[technion]

Craft file please?

Erm, closest I have is my "complete" Eve mission craft, featuring this rover on one side and a gilly probe on the other. Feel free to pull subassembly out of it.

https://lolware.net/kerbal/Eve%20Mission.craft

[antbin]

If y'all have opinions about rovers and skycranes you should help pick the best stock craft replacement over here...

[Kasuha]

Skycranes are usually light and easy to control, that makes them comfortable to drop rovers. But when the whole lander is used as a skycrane things become much more complicated, especially if the lander is heavy. Also when landing on chutes (Duna, Laythe) you need to save fuel for liftoff and don't really want to make powered landing with hovering to drop the rover safely. So my solution was this, a small skycrane module which can be docked to the top of the lander. I let the crane part crash to terrain and drop the bottom plate (the remnant on top of the lander) during liftoff.

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