Kerbal Space Program

[warpus]

Another milestone: Put a rover on the Mun

Spoiler :

The design was a bit flawed and to land I basically ended up having to start flipping over my lander right before I'm about to touch down, so that the wheels hit the ground before anything else.

I had to try this maneuver at least 6 times, but in the end I got it

Spoiler :

I ended up landing right beside a large hill. I drove all the way to the summit, but didn't have a way to slow down, so ended up overshooting by quite a bit and ending up almost 20km away from the landing site on the other side of the mountain.

I got Bill out of the lander and he walked around a bit, and then I promptly blew up the lander in an attempt to take off somehow. Oh, and right before he got back in the lander, he crashed into one of the solar panels and smashed it to pieces.

So my mission was not a full success, but it was really fun to drive around the Mun like that. Next time when I get there I need to have some rcs fuel, cause this time I didn't and it made landing really tough

 

[warpus]

I just put a decently sized rover on Minmus and brought it back home

Design still not quite there though

Spoiler :

but I got it down

Spoiler :

Drove it around for a while on the flat plain... Then decided to go up one of the hills and.

I turned towards them and sped up. A couple minutes later I was by the base of the mountain, and.. BOOM

Explosion.. sent me flying

Spoiler :

It was tricky, but I managed to stop myself from spinning and burned in the right direction before I hit the mountain or the ground. Mission was done, so I went home

Spoiler :

First time landing a rover on something and bringing the pilot home.. feels good

What would it take to land a rover on Duna? I am going to go research this.

 

[Antilogic]

That's a pretty nice looking rover. If you are going to land on planets, I recommend bringing parachutes--just as if you were landing on Kerbin. However, since Duna's atmosphere is thin and your rover will be heavier than a pod, you'll want to tack on several. Maybe 4 (+1 for the return pod).

Also, looks like we have a new Pluto-analog to explore. Looking forward to it this weekend, haven't gotten a shot at it yet.

 

[cardgame]

A more-than-slightly touched up edit of my previous Laythe Rover pic. What do you guys think?

Spoiler image :

 

[Antilogic]

A more-than-slightly touched up edit of my previous Laythe Rover pic. What do you guys think?

Spoiler image :

It looks like a psychedelic album cover (in a good way). If it were tiled I'd be getting an Andy Warhol vibe.

 

[Luckymoose]

Kuban Mun Station and the recently rescued Munar lander team that now can chill above the Mun. I plan to rescue the other two guys in the broken Mun base next. I need a permanent crew on this station. The nuclear engine is attached to a docking port too, so when it runs out I'll just slap a fuel module on that end.

Spoiler :

Spoiler :

 

[Luckymoose]

All Kubans are now off the surface of the Mun and safely in the Mun Station. A daring transfer using the Mun Rescue Lander was completed with EVA transfers thanks to a lack of docking ports on that older equipment. It was then slammed into the Mun at >1600 m/s for science!

Spoiler :

Spoiler :

Since I plan on retiring the main station around Kerbin, I have been thinking that I could transfer it to the Mun and have it connect to the Mun Station. It would instantly double the size of that station without wasting all that hard work.

 

[warpus]

That's a pretty nice looking rover.

Thanks, I'm trying to get the 3rd version of it plus an escape pod to Duna as we speak. I'm in circular orbit around Kerbin with enough fuel to get there (I think), and until 9am last night (heh) I was trying to insert into Duna's orbit, but all my attempts so far have been unsuccessful.

I don't think I have enough fuel to match my orbit and do a H. orbit transfer (I think that's what it's called) without using my rover's fuel to descend, so I've been trying to get the angle right and fling myself at the planet hoping to come within its gravitational influence.. but so far, no luck.

I only have 2 parachutes on the rover and 1 on the pod, plus 1 for the return, so I'm not sure if my rover is going to survive. The plan is to detach it from my escape pod very close to the surface, so that it will be easier to find.

This being my first mission to another planet, I probably wont' have enough fuel to get back home and the rover will probably not be usable.. Landing there in one piece is really the main mission. The rest of the stuff is there to be improved for next time. First I have to get in orbit around the planet though..

 

[Leonel]

You're learning pretty well, Warpus! Soon you'll be building bases on Duna!

Speaking of which, I've been working on sort of a Mun base, already have two small habitats next to a Mun rock arch along with a small rover mod that I landed using a sky crane type of thing. I ought to work on an orbital Mun station too for smoother transfers and fueling.

 

[warpus]

I made it to Duna!

Unfortunately my delivery system had several flaws. First of all, my lander's landing gear was too high... ...... There was also a parachute installed right over the hatch, so it was impossible to get out.

The rover also had to be either detached too early (ending up too far away to get to after landing) or I had to use up a lot of its fuel to slow my descent.

So I ended up on the surface, but couldn't get out, the rover was 20km away somewhere, and I couldn't try to get home either.

All in all an interesting adventure, and I've been having a lot of fun screwing around with rovers. I think it's clear that my rocket design will only allow me a larger rover or landing pod though, instead of having both. I have 2 next missions in mind: A second mission to Duna, next time with a larger descent craft, and a large rover mission to the mun

I got into orbit of Duna by matching its orbit, making it larger if i was going too fast and smaller when going too slow. eventually I got a Duna entry thingy.. It was rather tedious.. Any shortcuts?

 

[GAGA Extrem]

You can click on your flightpath to use the "add maneuver" option. Then cllick and hold the yellow forward icon (which means accelerate). The game will calculate the new flight path with accelerated speed and you can basicially check if you can get an encouter and how fast you have to be.

 

[warpus]

You can click on your flightpath to use the "add maneuver" option. Then cllick and hold the yellow forward icon (which means accelerate). The game will calculate the new flight path with accelerated speed and you can basicially check if you can get an encouter and how fast you have to be.

I've been using that method to get in orbit of the moons for a couple days now, but I just never get the "encounter" thing when I do it with Duna. I'm guessing that my angle is off, but it just never comes up. I've tried getting close to Duna and using maneuver - same thing. The only thing that's worked for me so far was carefully adjusting my orbit around the sun until it was virtually the same as the planet's

 

[Luckymoose]

I've been using that method to get in orbit of the moons for a couple days now, but I just never get the "encounter" thing when I do it with Duna. I'm guessing that my angle is off, but it just never comes up. I've tried getting close to Duna and using maneuver - same thing. The only thing that's worked for me so far was carefully adjusting my orbit around the sun until it was virtually the same as the planet's

http://ksp.olex.biz/

 

[warpus]

Nice

I shall try again.. But first I need to build a larger lander

 

[Dreadnought]

I landed my unmanned probe on Eve. It's probably the easiest planet to get to.

Getting home is a whole different story... I might send two expeditions to Eve: the manned landing and an unmanned mothership to pick them up afterwards.

 

[Luckymoose]

I would just have the lander be able to get them into orbit and dock with a waiting mothership. Whatever fuel is left over from the lander would be transferred to the mothership.

 

[warpus]

I haven't had much time to screw around with this game lately, but I did build a larger lander for Duna. I've just landed it on the Mun for testing purposes.. It might be a bit too large, I'm not sure... I guess I'll find out!

Spoiler :

One thing I've started wondering is whether I am getting into orbit of Kerbin properly, though. So I go straight up until I hit 10-12k, then I burn at 45 degrees to the horizon until my AP reaches 30-35k.. Then I burn fully laterally until I'm in orbit.. and my periapsis does finally poke out from underneath the planet, and voila, I have an orbit!

Sort of.. parts of it are still in the atmosphere, right? So I've got to get over my apoapsis and burn until the periapsis goes above 60k or so, right?

But I can't - because I'm still in the atmosphere, and would crash back into the ground if I stopped burning.. So I burn slowly, to keep myself from descending while I travel towards the apoapsis, but that increases my apoapsis as well. So by the time I get there, my orbit is rather.. eliptical. Of course I can then correct that once I'm at the highest point in my orbit, but..

Am I doing something wrong or is that pretty much spot on?

Another question, this one regarding rocket assembly. Say my 2nd and 3rd stages aren't aligned properly in terms of.. how to explain this.. Say that the 2nd stage has 8 boosters but the top one only 6. I can spin and spin and spin the 2nd stage all I want using Q and E, yet it never aligns with the 3rd stage.. It just moves far too much when I hit Q or E, so I can't ever align them. Is there a way for me to finetune the rotation and align my rocket parts properly so that it is more stable?

 

[cardgame]

I've now been to every planet but Moho!

Spoiler the launch vehicle :

Something on the order of 220 tons, I think.

Spoiler Interplanetary stage :

Perfect polar interception, just like I planned wanted

Spoiler :

Spoiler Oh god, why? :

At least we still have the long-gain antennas.

Spoiler And this. :

 

[Leonel]

Wah! Where'd you get that mod?

 

[cardgame]

Bobcat Industries. It's a 3 meter lander, so bring some heavy-ass lifters from either KW or NP.

Edit: and that lander is damned heavy. 100L of fuel only gave me 300m/s of d∆, and that was at the end of my fuel reserve (therefore max efficiency)