Thobewill10 Posted March 29, 2012 Share Posted March 29, 2012 So, with the addition of polar ice caps in 0.14.2, have any of you landed bases at the caps? My first mission (Named 'The Polar Express') was solely to determine for Kerbalkind if the mythical ice caps were real, and if they were solid. I missed the pole by a bit, but still managed to hit the sea ice, which was my target.Then, I landed two rovers right at the north pole. It\'s nearly perfectly flat for hundreds of kilometers, so PERFECT for speed tests, when I get around to itI plan on launching my Arctic Research Probe after I post this So what about you? What has been done already with this new frontier to explore? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AlternNocturn Posted March 29, 2012 Share Posted March 29, 2012 You\'ve already done way more than I have in exploring the ice caps. I launched two landers with the second acting as a base and was just now about to launch a rover to hunt down easter eggs since I heard Harv had hidden some there. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thobewill10 Posted March 29, 2012 Author Share Posted March 29, 2012 You\'ve already done way more than I have in exploring the ice caps. I launched two landers with the second acting as a base and was just now about to launch a rover to hunt down easter eggs since I heard Harv had hidden some there.Welcome to the forums!With respect to Easter eggs, do you have a specific link to where he said this? I know they gave their 'plausible denial' of any such things, meaning that there probably are some, but the Ice Caps are pretty devoid of anything. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Radion Posted March 29, 2012 Share Posted March 29, 2012 I haven\'t gone to the ice caps yet, sadly. I\'ve been too busy trying to climb mountains with the Cart ©. There are now several pieces of former missions at the base of a mountain. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cardgame Posted March 29, 2012 Share Posted March 29, 2012 How cool are the new mountains, by the way? I haven\'t seen any, only the rather unimpressive hills west of the KSC. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thobewill10 Posted March 29, 2012 Author Share Posted March 29, 2012 Landed the research probe on RCS alone after both parachutes and engines malfunctioned Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AlternNocturn Posted March 29, 2012 Share Posted March 29, 2012 Welcome to the forums!With respect to Easter eggs, do you have a specific link to where he said this? I know they gave their 'plausible denial' of any such things, meaning that there probably are some, but the Ice Caps are pretty devoid of anything.Thanks, good to be here! It turns out that there was no official word on eggs at the poles. Zombiphylax mentioned on his thread about 14.2 Easter Eggs that he was going to check the ice caps for easter eggs, and that stuck in my mind and convinced me that there might be eggs there. However, I haven\'t heard anyone from Squad confirm nor deny the existence of eggs at the poles so now I\'ve decided to abandon that prospect. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Elven_sword Posted March 29, 2012 Share Posted March 29, 2012 Where\'d you get those other landing legs? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VincentMcConnell Posted March 29, 2012 Share Posted March 29, 2012 This is a really cool thread. Honestly, the arctic surface looks cooler than the Mun at this point. Count me in. Just booted up my game for a mission. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thobewill10 Posted March 29, 2012 Author Share Posted March 29, 2012 Where\'d you get those other landing legs?Multijoint Part Plugin (0.14+)http://kerbalspaceprogram.com/forum/index.php?topic=9017.0 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AlternNocturn Posted March 30, 2012 Share Posted March 30, 2012 I keep trying to reach the exact pole but my missions keep failing. Recently I landed a rover (completely based on the rover design in the second image) hundreds of kilometers away from the poles by accident, and after about 15 minutes of driving the rover flipped and exploded. I can\'t seem to get my polar orbits exact. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thobewill10 Posted March 30, 2012 Author Share Posted March 30, 2012 I keep trying to reach the exact pole but my missions keep failing. Recently I landed a rover (completely based on the rover design in the second image) hundreds of kilometers away from the poles by accident, and after about 15 minutes of driving the rover flipped and exploded. I can\'t seem to get my polar orbits exact.How fast are your rovers going? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AlternNocturn Posted March 30, 2012 Share Posted March 30, 2012 I think mine was going around 60 m/s, but I was messing around with the orientation trying to get it to point directly at the pole. I was turning ASAS on and off, messing with some things and trying to align it when it flipped. Oh well, that mission was a bust, going to try to land some more missions.I have another rover up there that uses the Katerpillar wheels, but I don\'t think I have to worry about that one flipping over since it moves at 2 m/s max. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Radion Posted March 30, 2012 Share Posted March 30, 2012 I think mine was going around 60 m/s, but I was messing around with the orientation trying to get it to point directly at the pole. I was turning ASAS on and off, messing with some things and trying to align it when it flipped. Oh well, that mission was a bust, going to try to land some more missions.I have another rover up there that uses the Katerpillar wheels, but I don\'t think I have to worry about that one flipping over since it moves at 2 m/s max.Yeah, moving at anything more than 30 m/s while turning may cause a flip with the cart. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thobewill10 Posted March 30, 2012 Author Share Posted March 30, 2012 I think mine was going around 60 m/s, but I was messing around with the orientation trying to get it to point directly at the pole. I was turning ASAS on and off, messing with some things and trying to align it when it flipped. Oh well, that mission was a bust, going to try to land some more missions.I have another rover up there that uses the Katerpillar wheels, but I don\'t think I have to worry about that one flipping over since it moves at 2 m/s max.Yeah... 60 m/s is kinda fast. Definitely don\'t try to move it at that speed Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AlternNocturn Posted March 30, 2012 Share Posted March 30, 2012 Yeah, I found 30 m/s is a much more friendly speed. Anyway, I finally reached the north pole with a bit of help from the MechJeb (it nearly screwed up the landing so I had to override the auto-land twice). This is what I found at the north pole. It looks like a seam from the way the modeller constructed the planet. All I can say is, I\'m disappointed, you guys at Squad missed a perfect opportunity for a Santa Claus joke! Oh well, maybe they\'ll add one in the future. In the meantime, I parked my rover right on top of the \'X\' before I left the mission. It now serves as the north pole marker. Gonna do one for the south pole later. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SteevyT Posted March 30, 2012 Share Posted March 30, 2012 The South Pole doesn\'t have an x, but the camera goes all weird. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
what-the Posted March 30, 2012 Share Posted March 30, 2012 Those ice caps are really nice. Tried to land a rover there with a rocket strapped to it for a speed test. Lost everything. Couldn\'t see how high I was from the ground...Will be trying again. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mincespy Posted March 30, 2012 Share Posted March 30, 2012 I\'m definately going to be trying this. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VincentMcConnell Posted March 30, 2012 Share Posted March 30, 2012 Those ice caps are really nice. Tried to land a rover there with a rocket strapped to it for a speed test. Lost everything. Couldn\'t see how high I was from the ground...Will be trying again.Launch into suborbit, fly over the poles and then deploy your parachute. It will hold you and a rover. Remember, you\'re still in the atmosphere. No need for powered descent. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SteevyT Posted March 30, 2012 Share Posted March 30, 2012 Launch into suborbit, fly over the poles and then deploy your parachute. It will hold you and a rover. Remember, you\'re still in the atmosphere. No need for powered descent.I bring my rovers in shuttle style. I think it makes for more precise landings. Two winglets on each side is all it takes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AlternNocturn Posted March 31, 2012 Share Posted March 31, 2012 I drop all my rovers in from space. I find it easier as I don\'t have to deal with atmosphere on the way there. Usually I use a rover with two carts on two-way symmetry (just in case I flip the rover the wrong way), a rocket, parachute, and an RCS fuel tank and RCS units. The rover falls in from space, parachute deploys, rover lands upright on the engine, RCS units push it over horizontally. One of my rovers that I made using Katerpillar wheels and a LT-30 lateral coupler from NovaPunch doesn\'t have a rocket on it, and adding some would be problematic, so it\'s dropped using a cradle made of two LT-31 (same a an LT-30 but oriented the other way) couplers with the small fuel tank and engine on the ends. When the rover touches ground, I hit space while the rockets are still going and the cradle flies off, MSL Curiosity-style. I highly do not recommend using this setup as it required a lot of effort to drop one in successfully. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest GroundHOG-2010 Posted March 31, 2012 Share Posted March 31, 2012 I have flown to the south pole a couple of times, and it could be big enough for a base to be made in it. Does that count? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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