Building a Rover...

After several attempts at making it to another planet, KASA simply gave up, tossed another probe in to the suns orbit and called it a day. Jeb and Bob themselves decided they needed to take a break from atmospheric flight because for some reason suddenly nothing was working at all (seriously, since the asteroid update, all my aircraft are twitchy crashy disasters!). They headed over to the launch hangar and decided to revisit the old Rover program.

Which made their bosses twitch. Six rovers were still in various pieces all over Minmus and Mun, hell there's even the wreckage of one about 400m away from the main KASA facilities, though no one can recall how it ended up there.

Not to be deterred, Jeb and Bob set to work. For reference sake, here is a photo of the last rover to be designed... the design of which there are lots of broken ones on both moons...

Jeb and Bob have had more than afew chuckles over this design. The landing gear... why? (I hadn't noticed the 'brake' button yet top center heehee) Even worse, when retracted the landing gear were flush with the wheels, the slightest uneven terrain and bam! Another thing... the height of the thing made it a toppler waiting to happen.

Alot of improvements have taken place over in the research facilities, the following was their first attempt.

The mk4. Very simple, big wheels, low flat approach. Unmanned was a demand of management given these astronaughts success rate when experimenting. Max speed? about 10m. The mk4 didn't actually have that solar panel when it was tested, that was added after becoming stranded on the landing platform after moving about 5 feet.

The mk5. More solar panels! Of course didn't help if it consumed battery faster than it could be stored... no storage after all. A max size battery is added to the 'top' and 'bottom' of the processing lab. Feeling that its too slow, Jeb decided it needed an engine...

The mk6 was unremarkable and not photoed here. This is the mk7. Engines! The mk6 ran in to a engine placement problem, the thrust got tangled up in the legs and the rover went no where. The mk7 adjusted the engines position down just enough for the thruster to clear. Max speed? Unknown. These wheels tread shreds at 30m/s.

The mk8 is Bob's fault according to Jeb. Bob wanted to use the 60m/s rated wheels... shown in the above photo. Problem is the legs had to be extended significantly and well it just looks... what Jeb thought of it isnt repeatable. Aside from Jeb's opinion of its looks, the legs were wobbly. Struts could probably improve it, its unknown whether mk9 will return to the 30 or the 60 series wheels, Bob and Jeb took to a intense slap fight over the design differences.

The final design was settled upon by management.  Engine moved to the rear of the lab, fuel tanks positioned on the legs. All research equipment added throughout the rover and lots and lots more solar panels. Jeb gave it two thumbs up, Bob said it'll be a good first attempt till it fails and gets the 60m/s wheels reinstalled. Both took off to the control tower to fight over the probe controls but unfortunately Bill was already there and settled in.

Since there is alot more of Munis that hasn't been explored, this first model will go there!

First attempt ended poorly. Second attempt Jeb joined in the controls trying to balance engine output, ended poorly. Bob had winglets added.

Progress made, needs abit more rcs thruster to keep her pointed up.

This mission will definitely take some additional thought. Tried everything they can think of, Jeb and the gang are stumped as to how to get it in to orbit. They can get it out of the atmosphere but the thinner the air the harder and more quickly it loses control.

Hrm.