Craters on the Mun

[Boris_T_Roach]

Are so damned annoying.... take my latest creation the aptly named Giant mun rover, the result of a drinking competition and 4 days without sleep, sadly due to a design cockup, a suicide burn and screaming "land you &*%&£^£*!!" it ended up in a mun crater on the dark side (which explains how it ended up in a crater)

So park it up at the bottom, deploy solar panels and have a snooze until the sun comes up.

Then we'll just drive.. out...... of....... here..... oh these walls are steep.

Quick look round for the lowest section of crater wall.. hmmm

Cue a 30 minute struggle to get the thing up a 45 degree wall and yes I did cheer when it finally got out....

come on squad... make the walls a bit lower for poor simple rover drivers like me

Boris

Inspired by Whackjob, built by a genius, flown by a moron

[Whackjob]

I like the way you're going with this! Next step: Biggar!

[The Destroyer]

...Must

Build.

BIGGER ROVER!

[TMS]

Watch Armageddon for driving instructions.

[Whackjob]

I had to go waaay back into my Imgur account, just to see what the biggest rover I ever had on the Mun was. Came up with this:

So, congratulations! You've beaten the Whack!

So now I'll probably have to go home from the office today, and build something entirely too silly. Something Montypythonesque.

[Boris_T_Roach]

Wow I've beaten Whackjob at building something stupidly large and whats more landing it on the Mun

Actually it was orginally designed to land on Duna with the help of 3 drouge chutes and about 8 main chutes, and was tested around KSC to make sure it could land from a 9km height.

Then it was a case of what the heck, lets land it on the Mun... so replace the drouge assemblies with retro rockets (3 Ft400 tanks/8 mini engines) and change the docking ring underneath for a couple of fuel tanks

to boost it to the mun and slow it enough as it came in... took 3 tries until managing a suicide burn from 35K up... hence it ended up in that crater

Anyways..... if you want to give it a spin, I'll put the craft file up for you and see what you can do (its 390 or so parts on take off)

Boris

...feeling fairly pleased

[Geschosskopf]

...Must

Build.

BIGGER ROVER!

If it's big enough, it can straddle the craters and regard them as mere pot holes in the pavement .

[Whackjob]

Heh. Let's see how long your record lasts. I got ideas.

EDIT: Back in the old days, I had this monstrosity:

This was well before I learned how to handle actual large construction. At that time I was a mere dabbler. So it's no surprise to see me trying to lift it like this:

Obviously I knew little of what I was doing. Flailing about, so to speak. So of course the end result was Fun:

Which is why I don't claim that as my largest rover, given its spectacular failure.

.... but now? Now I've done some actual big builds, and have actual processes of launching big builds. Tonight or tomorrow I will put together a true Whackjovian Munar Rover.

Edited December 23, 2013 by Whackjob

[astropapi1]

Heh. Let's see how long your record lasts. I got ideas.

That sounds potentially dangerous.

[manskal]

-snip-

.... but now? Now I've done some actual big builds, and have actual processes of launching big builds. Tonight or tomorrow I will put together a true Whackjovian Munar Rover.

Uh oh. Looks like we have awakened the Whack. Nobody should ever challenge him. And we should never have.

May god have mercy on our souls (and Kerbals).

[Themohawkninja]

See, and I've been using the bigger ones for all the science!

But I digress, I have had one lander so far that has had to change it's landing site, for it was going to land at a 20-30 degree angle, which wasn't going to be stable at all.

[Geschosskopf]

But I digress, I have had one lander so far that has had to change it's landing site, for it was going to land at a 20-30 degree angle, which wasn't going to be stable at all.

To get back on topic while we await Whackjob's judgment, you have 3 choices for landing on Mun: Flattish ground inside craters, flattish ground between craters, and steeply sloped ground separating these 2. The slopes are usually a bad idea, but the other 2 present problems of their own. This is because rovers seem much better at going up hills than coming down them. So you can get a rover out of a crater but you probably won't get it into a crater in 1 piece.

[LameLefty]

I think "Whackjovian" just became my new favorite adjective. Ever.

[AlamoVampire]

cant wait to see what Sir Whackjob comes up with! in the interim I think Thor LP has the record for the largest rover to fly. I cannot find it, but its in his Insane Rockets Division Season 6 somewhere...

[Retread]

...

So, congratulations! You've beaten the Whack!

...

Beating the Whack sounds wrong. Just saying'... You could go blind...

[togfox]

You guys know you can drive up a crater wall at angle right? If a 45 degree climb is too steep then drive at an angle and frive around the sides like a screw top bottle. That will get you to the top of all but the most serious craters.

[Lohan2008]

Beating the Whack sounds wrong. Just saying'... .

I feel a disturbance in the 'Force', like Millions had cried out and then suddenly silenced.

[Whackjob]

Oh, I'm not going to be done that quick. This isn't something I'm going to slap together. I'm planning this one.

I've already got an overall premise laid out. You guys are going to like this one. It'll even be the premiere of a new innovation I've cooked up.

#EDIT: Had to update Kethane just for this.

[AlamoVampire]

Whackjob you scare me more right now because you are planning on taking us over with your creation, we are not ready to bow down that hard XD

[Whackjob]

Whackjob you scare me more right now because you are planning on taking us over with your creation, we are not ready to bow down that hard XD

Oh, come now. It'll be an interesting design that'll give some folks a sense of momentary amusement. That's all.

[AlamoVampire]

Oh, come now. It'll be an interesting design that'll give some folks a sense of momentary amusement. That's all.

I know, but still, your designs are jaw dropping and awe inspiring!

[tntristan12]

Indeed Whack. You've taken this community by storm! But hey, when are we finally gonna get to see your magnus opus here? The Wackjovians are chomping at the bit to see some payoff.

[Boris_T_Roach]

Oh dear god what have I started ?

Well.... since the idea is to not only build something huge enough to beat the Whack, but land it on the mun too, I guess its mun rover redesign time

But for now I'll let you all play with my creation

https://www.dropbox.com/s/lmm9tefy44zvfyx/Giant%20rover.zip

It stock apart from a mechjeb pod(used for flight info)

You'll need to orbit it fairly high.. 500km , then refuel it through the handy docking port before sending it to the mun.

I'd advise a suicide burn from about 35km up. dont even try to orbit the mun.. takes too much fuel.

After touchdown, power up the final decent rockets and decouple them to get rid of them... unfurl the solar panels and you're good to go.

Happy rovering

Boris

[Saberus]

I can't wait to see what Whackjob comes up with.

My room is currently 8C, I think this will give me enough thermal overhead to fly it myself.

[Whackjob]

This has turned into a rather interesting challenge. No pictures yet... going to post when done. It will be a few days.

Right now my entire focus is on the main chassis. It goes without saying that it is large. Not quite Arkingthaad-Lander-Tower-Large, but definitely within shouting distance. The wheel assembly I have planned out in my head, but we'll see how it actually handles. But right now the main chassis has my full attention. It has to be particularly robust; I will be putting significant weight on the wheel assemblies, and it won't do to have a flimsy chassis.

I will say that I'm building it with the expectation of it being able to land itself. And refuel, a' la Kethane. Three separate ambulatory systems... wheels, landing engines, transplanetary drive.