Bob and Bill Kerman on assignment!

Bob and Bill Kerman, the other two astronauts career mode starts you off with have been given assignment and are going about it dutifully! They landed the research rover in the following photo on the outer moon Minmus.

Their mission? To use every single piece of equipment on that rover in every biome on that moon and transmit it all back to Kerbin. Yes, they won't be sending 100% of potential results due to data loss when remotely transmitting back to Kerbin but the lab on that rover processes all experiments giving the data signal a decent boost. Usually 10-30% increase. The lab is also capable of cleaning equipment thus making all the devices on that rover reuseable.

When their mission is complete, or they break the rover Kerbin will send a remote operated two seater rocket for them to return home with.

I've already got afew changes planned for this rover. The mk2 rover will have ALOT more solar panels, electricity is a problem already. and the few panels I do have on this rover don't recharge quick enough to keep up with usage demands. mk1 will never travel in the night thats for certain.

Also, the landing was abit... nerve wracking for me so I'm going to do one important thing. I'm going to add landing gear that extends below the entry/landing rockets and wheels. Land on the landing gear, jetison the entry rockets, retract the landing gear so the wheels touch ground. This also has another benefit, unless your on a completely flat area, your rover will ALWAYS move. No matter what, the damn thing wont sit still. Landing gear extended, wheels off ground, walla. Bill spent 10 minutes earlier this morning chasing the rover after he hopped out to get a dirt sample and it started rolling away. Wasn't a photo moment, did look right out of a comedy movie though.

Speaking of wheels, six wheels... will probably have four on the mk2. Will have to see how six handles.

Also, the auto ladders suck. There are four of them, they extend from the rovers 'legs' to the ground but when Bill or Bob use them they fall off when they reach the top. No more shiney automated ladders, I'll just set up some basic grab rails on each leg next time.

Oh and the leg that they climb down on to when leaving the lab, going to remove all experiments from it. They are currently tripping over the hardware heh. As currently stands, I just rocket pack the boys up to the hatch to the lap and have them grab it.

Lots planned, enjoy the family photo and the landing video that follows. That video is of me landing the rover mk1, text book style. Meaning gradual approach.

Update : This would of been the end of this post but while waiting for the video to upload to youtube I made more observations. Hard right turns while moving at 10m per second with the rover result in a rover flipped over and unable to be recovered. I got about two hours with it, probably somewhere in the neighborhood of 3-400 science to put to talents. The landing gear is a must, rover wont sit still otherwise. Mk2 will aos keep its rcs thrusters. Can use those to turn over a flipped rover. Like the mk1... heh.

o/