How do YOU land large rovers?

[FacialJack]

No, they are all from the same save and i didnt use any life support in that one. They are there because they look nifty and so i can pretend to use lifesupport.

Hi all, its compatible wiz TAC life support, and by the way, nice rover/base

[Vrana]

As far as i know, the part does nothing for TAC or any other ls mod and thank you.

[SelectHalfling0]

A "skycrane" with 8 LV-99 engines works.

[SpaceSphereOfDeath]

I either build small rovers, or rockets with kethane systems and wheels strapped on the bottom, so most of my large rovers have inbuilt engines as they used them for transfer/orbital insertion.

[ecat]

Large rovers?

I think this is probably my largest interesting rover, as opposed to a more typical and simple 'land it and drive around for a while'. In truth it became an obsession, having successfully (-ish) crossed the mountains to the west of KSC I decided to take it to the stars. The final version launched from Kerbin on top of a large launch vehicle and went on to visit, as in land and take off again, Mun, Minmus, Duna and Ike before... I forget what happened, real life or a game update maybe?

Two modified aerospikes and a custom NERVA. Iirc the only stock parts in the final version were the RTGs and a few cubic-octagonal struts, everything else was custom, mod or welded but nothing too over powered, just enough to get the job done

OT.

Landing instructions:

Land on back end.

Fall over.

I use this strategy a lot, lol.

There is little point landing to refuel if you can't take off...

... leaving Mun with a full load. Don't let the pictured deltaV fool you, once the 'spikes are switched off the Kethane converter is sufficient to keep the NERVA running for a long time.

Instructions for take-off:

Drive really, really fast.

Ideally drive off the edge of a tall cliff.

Engage engines at maximum.

PANIC for about 5 seconds while trying to gain control of flight.

Switch off 'spikes asap.

[SkyHook]

It's been one of the things that has defeated me all this time. maybe I need more parts, or more ingenuity. I don't know!

[Jett_Quasar]

Test it out on Kerbin first. Usually large craft have a problem with center of mass and thrust to weight. Even using the CM and thrust symbols in the VAB doesn't give you good alignment many times, partly because as you burn fuel your CM changes. If you can get it to take off from the runway and fly controllably to 5000m altitude you should be able to land it.

JR

[Spatzimaus]

It's not hard. Build in some engines pointing downward, balanced around the center of mass. Give it a TWR of about 0.3-0.4 and it can land on Mun just fine, and Minmus is much easier. My latest generation of my 400-ton lander/kethane miner/mobile base, shown here with some of the solar panels stowed:

(Some of the engines are those small rectangular pods on the sides, a relic from the HOME mod. There are a couple larger engines below the center section as well.) Honestly, it's like anything else. Your main problems will simply be ones of rigidity; if you're not careful the thing will disintegrate on landing, but if you use enough struts and/or large parts, it'll hold together just fine. Here's my smaller (200-ton) earlier version to illustrate:

The biggest problem you'll run into with a design like this is simply your tires ripping off when driving. Not really a problem with a driver, but it does keep unmanned versions from being practical. Because of this, I generally stick with a smaller (~25 ton) Kethane miner/refinery.

[WooDzor]

Not the biggest rover in the thread, but you get the idea

[cantab]

Test it out on Kerbin first. Usually large craft have a problem with center of mass and thrust to weight. Even using the CM and thrust symbols in the VAB doesn't give you good alignment many times, partly because as you burn fuel your CM changes. If you can get it to take off from the runway and fly controllably to 5000m altitude you should be able to land it.

JR

RCS Build Aid is a big help, it'll tell you whether your engines are providing off-centre thrust, not just your RCS, and can plot the wet/dry CoM and tell you the offset. By minimising both of those you can make even pretty asymmetric things fly straight.

[Volcanix]

I just landed a 10-ton rover on the Mun using a sky crane setup. Here's some pictures:

http://imgur.com/a/y5JFs

It actually worked much better than I thought it would. Fuel was just enough and the landing was perfect.

Damn, that base is nice. Is it in career mode or sandbox?

It looks like it can.. drive. (i mean the base^^) can it? I can't imagine that base being able to drive

[NecroBones]

I almost never do rovers (don't have the patience for driving long distances on the ground), but when I have, it's been a skycrane sort of thing:

[Daffs]

Badly. The one time I tried I flew it to the moon end on, at the last minute in landing flip it round to land on it's wheels (which all burst). COM was a nightmare.

[LABHOUSE]

Some of my large "rovers"...

These actually docked on Munar surface and formed a base:

http://imgur.com/a/0Iz9x

And here are some mostly LLL based "base rovers":

http://imgur.com/a/Xdzng

http://imgur.com/a/nXJj0

http://imgur.com/a/m2fvC

Each is a spaceship as well, they all landed on own propulsion and used wheels(or tracks) to touchdown.

What mods did you use?

[FacialJack]

What mods did you use?

LLL means LackLusterLab, a mod wiz lot of SF parts

[FacialJack]

But, i want to ask :

Where come that tank tracks from? LLL too? (i dont unlock all my tree for now, so i dont see alll LLL parts...)

[davidpsummers]

This is what I came up with. It means I have to carry two of them. It does mean I have a spare when I (inevitably) crash one and I can land them with the crew. I wasn't sure I could land a rover separately and be near where crew landed.