Vanishing Vehicles!

[Project Pluto]

I have landed a "base" on Minmus. It has, between the command pod and carrier, capacity for 7 Kerbals. I launched with 3. I then sent a subsequent ship to the base that included a rover. It had one pilot Kerbal. I landed the rover and drove to the base. I disembarked the Kerbal from the rover and put him into the carrier (yesterday). I just reloaded the game and went back to the base and the 4th Kerbal (along with the original 3) is there, but the rover has vanished! Can't see it in the tracking station and it's not at the base. Do I need to keep a Kerbal in it to have it remain in the game? Some other fault/error perhaps?

[biohazard15]

If your rover doesn't have a command pod or probe core, it is categorized as debris by game logic.

If your Max Persistent Debris slider is set to 0 (or you have too many debris in your save), debris will be deleted from the game.

To avoid this, always strap a probe core to your rovers (especially those which is supposed to be driven from command seat).

[Project Pluto]

My Max Persistent Debris is set to unlimited and it had a PPD12 Cupola Module. Is that sufficient for command pod or probe core? I would assume so, but I could be wrong! Then again, I launched the same rover prior and had it crash on landing. It's still there! So I think that at least answers that question. Some of the boosters I used to launch the thing still appear in my debris, but the rover is not there. Not that I really care, it was my first rover and drove like junk. It would likely have been replaced with a more functional vehicle in the near future. I would just like to know that future items will not vanish after time designing, launching, landing and so on…

[draeath]

I assume it's not in the space center's tracking station?

It might have glitched out when it "unpacked" as you approached/reloaded, and spazzed through the surface and/or on a solar escape trajectory. We call this the "Kraken."

[Project Pluto]

Nope, not in the space center tracking station!

I'll launch and land a less involved item and repeat the procedure.

Here's hoping it sticks around!

[panzerknoef]

I have noticed some weird physics when driving rovers on minmus, i once had a rover with a kerbal sitting outside my base, loaded it up and wooosshh rover flew off to infinite space. And since it's a moving object it will dissapear when it reaches over 2.5km from the pod you are foccused on. Who knows, something similar might have happened to you...