Project Sasquatch - Heavy Duty Scifi Rover / Explorer

[Coolhand]

Hello all:hello:... Missed me?

I built this for something else, but it may be some time or never before its used to its full potential. Orbiter may have more capability, with perhaps something like orulex providing terrain for it to drive on, i'd be really interested in what Artlav might have to say about this.

Its essentially 2 vehicles, a 4x4 chassis and a shuttle type craft... a little like the apollo lander, except the lower section has wheels

Or it could be treated as one vehicle, with the added capability of flying the entire thing as a complete stack, or at least having some kind of jump-thrust.

if all else fails, the top section might make a nice scifi shuttlecraft.

as always if someone wants to help to make it work or has ideas for doing that please let me know, i've deliberately made the suspension very simple, just a swing arm per wheel.

what would i like to see this do? speeding or possibly rocketing around the moons surface, jumping off crater walls and getting up to all sorts of redneck lunar (or wherever) fun.:lol: It's also a vehicle to tackle the harshest of alien environments

And yes i know what you're all thinking... another model? what about the XR2? what about that other stuff? these will be addressed in their separate threads so please don't ask here.

Any other comments, questions, suggestions, feel free to ask.

Thanks,

-Steve.

*edit* umm, is there a reason why i can't see my attachments? thanks!

here's one hosted at tinypic incase there is a problem.

 

[Spacethingy]

Oh excellent, another rover! :thumbup:

I've only got the AMSO and UCGO rovers at the moment, it'll be nice to have another one.

 

[T.Neo]

For hover landings it would presumably be better to place the engines on the bottom of the vehicle, to facilitate, well... hovering. For manuvering on asteroids all you really need are RCS thrusters as the gravity is quite weak and "flying" from point to point is quite easy (and fun). In that role wheels/tires would become more of a sort of landing gear/pad as driving could be tricky and would kick up a lot of dust.

The cabin looks more like a Star Trek shuttlecraft to me, but it's interesting to see something like that combined with what look like OMS engines.

 

[mc_]

How large is it? I mean, does it fit inside XR2 or XR5 payload bay?

UMMU? UCGO?

 

[Wishbone]

Is it for atmospheric or non-atmospheric bodies? In any case small rovers use less gas to move around, and can be made expendable. This one is not expendable, methinks, but looks very cool.

 

[Urwumpe]

Well, it looks so unrealistic, it wouldn't be really useful... but looks damn cool anyway. :lol:

 

[Arrowstar]

Well, it looks so unrealistic, it wouldn't be really useful... but looks damn cool anyway. :lol:

Agreed! Looks like a boxy XR0 with wheels. Sweet! :thumbup:

 

[jinglesassy]

Four questions.

1. How do you pack so much awesomeness into a single ship?
2. Will it fit in a XR2/XR5 cargo bay for being brought to a newly established ucgo base.
3. Will the crew cabin be able to separate from the wheel chassis/able to fold up for space operations or for transport.
4. Any cool subsystems we should know about?

 

[Coolhand]

Four questions.

1. How do you pack so much awesomeness into a single ship?

With my trademark Awesome Packer, lets you increase the awesome per poly, per pixel so you can pack roughly 8 times the awesome into the space of a non-coolhand design.

Side-effects may include raised heart rate, and a formation of saliva on your keyboard. And though its use generates general good cheer, it is also possible to occasionally generate a palpable level of contempt.:lol:

2. Will it fit in a XR2/XR5 cargo bay for being brought to a newly established ucgo base.

This as ground vehicles go is a pretty large peice of hardware, but the XR5 will haul it around just fine... however it does not require an actual lander as both sections have that capability, again its a little like the 2 stage Apollo lander in that respect except that the upper stage also has landing gear.

3. Will the crew cabin be able to separate from the wheel chassis/able to fold up for space operations or for transport.

Yes, the upper section is an independent spacecraft, and can also be attached to a fuel tank for greater use as a spacevehicle.

The lower could be an independent, unmanned, ground vehicle; or a bed for other loads. it has an engine, but lacks control thrusters so its no spacecraft alone, though you could possibly move the wheels and suspension around to to affect the centre of gravity and so on. With this active / mobile suspension, each upper joint is free to slide along the chassis and also change the angle of each swing arm, allowing for actively changing the ride height, centre of gravity, increased mobility and allow it to pack into a smaller volume..

These features also assist in its fairly unique ability as a lander to settle basically anywhere, surviving rough landings on slopes or rough terrain at a high sink rate. - of course this is of course not something that anyone playing orbiter would ever find 'useful'.

4. Any cool subsystems we should know about?

see above.

Whether you're exploring strange new worlds, deployed directly from your interstellar mother ship, rescuing geologists stranded halfway up a gargantuan volcano or showing off at the county fair; this rugged, adaptable vehicle will save the day.:tiphat:

 

[PeterRoss]

Now I remember. It reminds me of Maco transporter from Mass Effect. Man I loved that thing. :thumbup:

 

[Wonderer]

Now I remember. It reminds me of Maco transporter from Mass Effect. Man I loved that thing. :thumbup:

I kinda hated it, because commander Sheppard seemed to be drunk every time I gave it a spin :lol:


Back on topic:will the upper section have a docking port? It would be quite useful when flying Apollo style missions, it would allow a much grater area to be explored

 

[Eccentrus]

Whoa, a Space Truck! and hell, if this thing can tow some containers, it will be the workhorse of the interplanetary trade!

 

[Axel]

And yes i know what you're all thinking... another model? what about the XR2? what about that other stuff?

This was really my first thought, as i read the autor is Coolhand .

these will be addressed in their separate threads so please don't ask here.

I want no more threads, i want to see one finished of them ready to use at orbithangar, sorry .

Beside this your "Rover" looks cool, but i find its more a kind of monster truck than a rover, the wheels are a bit to huge. Tests for mars rovers telling us, its better to use many smaller wheels (6-8) with possibility of strange movings than less big ones.
This saves mass too.

 

[jinglesassy]

Beside this your "Rover" looks cool, but i find its more a kind of monster truck than a rover, the wheels are a bit to huge. Tests for mars rovers telling us, its better to use many smaller wheels (6-8) with possibility of strange movings than less big ones.
This saves mass too.

But does it look as cool?

 

[Dambuster]

I want no more threads, i want to see one finished of them ready to use at orbithangar, sorry .

Lol, don't we all?

Coolhand: are those tyres (or is it tires?) inflatable? If so, it could be make for some interesting (if difficult to model ) inflation animations, as well as making the storage space required significantly smaller. Also, is there any chance of a functional VC (actually probably not worth it unless it actually 'feels' like a rover when driving around - I'm not sure if driving over a flat Valles Marinaris would really do it ).

EDIT: How do you get in? I'm guessing you don't want us to jump...:uhh:

 

[Solar424]

When I first saw this, I was like:
OMG. IT'S A MONSTER TRUCK WITH ROCKET ENGINES!!!!!!!!

 

[Grover]

it is...

and yes coolhand, you were missed

this will make a fine addition... if i can find a way to get rid of the Arrow's azure rover and replace it with this mean machine!

 

[Urwumpe]

These features also assist in its fairly unique ability as a lander to settle basically anywhere, surviving rough landings on slopes or rough terrain at a high sink rate. - of course this is of course not something that anyone playing orbiter would ever find 'useful'.

Also the engines point in the wrong direction, having them Viking like at the sides might be smarter, especially if you also plan to launch.

Landing would be possible with the current setup, if you like it rough.


Outside Orbiters magic, the suspension should better be active, as in moving in anticipation of the terrain, because it would otherwise be like driving a motorcycle backwards (something only Goldwing drivers appreciate). And the tires are not really effective, such tires make sense for crossing oceans.

 

[Carmen A]

This is like the rover from Armageddon, love at first sight :3

It needs UGCO cargo deck, forward firing and rear minigun turrets, space to space missiles, etc

 

[Grover]

i second the UGCO deck