Is a sandcrawler physically possible, or would the ground pressure

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This might work, having 8 treads.

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>>1041644
What about the ground pressure?
With naval nuclear power and the track technology of super excavators it's technologically possible to build such a thing.
The question is how much it would weigh, and what the max feasible pressure would be in a desert environment or whether the vehicle would immediately sink into the dunes.

>>1041649
You should do the science and the math, and find out. Then let us know.

Tatooine's diameter is 10,465, which is a little less than Earth's at 12,742. So we can assume that it's gravity is a little lower.

>>1041644
A common number I'm seeing for the length of a sandcrawler is 40 meters. Another site is telling me 36.8. So, that drawing is on a 1/2 meter scale. Roughly, then, a contact patch for a tread is 7 meters long and 2 meters wide.

At the ground pressure for the M1A2 (the highest for any tank made), 1.09 kg-f/cm^2, times 8 treads, that comes out to a total vehicle mass of 122 tonnes.

The closest real life comparison vehicle would be the giant dump trucks used in strip mines, which weigh 300-400 tonnes empty, at about a third the size of a sandcrawler.

If we take the ground pressure to instead be similar to one of those dump trucks, the mass would be 708 tonnes, which is honestly still pretty low, but at least kinda believable. That would be at the price, however, of limiting the sandcrawler to improved roads instead of the apparent free-roaming, dune-climbing nature of the thing. Instead of a very large off road vehicle, it would just be a very large truck.

>>1041639
Looks too narrow for dune driving, maybe with more width and more wheels could be viable.

>>1041639
This thing would make a great mars colony vehicle.

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>>1041667
What about the crawler transporter NASA used for their biggest launchers? Things were 40m long with a mass of 2,700 tons.

Russian tanks do well in sand.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9jpFsr4AaVQ

>>1041679
Those things ride on specially prepared surfaces. Hardly comparable to something which is essentially a offroad vehicle. Even those huge bagger things like in >>1041649 can only operate on almost perfectly level surfaces.

I guess the biggest issue would be the suspension system. Ground pressure can be solved by adding more tracks, but the tricky part is keeping that huge weight evenly distributed. Maybe something like a computer controlled hydraulic system which able to balance the vehicle on top of the track, while keeping the load on every single track roughly the same?

I guess it would be easier to break the whole thing up into a couple of individual vehicles. That way they could help each other if one gets stuck and so on. But thats probably not cool enough for rule of cool.

>>1041679
That's going across pavement, not sand.

>>1041717
More like gravel.
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/28/LC-39_Observation_gantry_pano.jpg
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crawlerway

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>>1041679

The NASA crawler brings up another problem with this kind of thing, also seen in the various attempts by nations at 'landships' in that very heavy vehicles are painfully, painfully slow. Any attempt at a real life Sandcrawler would probably be hard pressed to go faster than walking pace on a level surface, and would not have much fun on hills.

Could this work on sand?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=relPtvgZDEg

>>1041783
pretty sure I've seen a video somewhere where a screw drive was driven on a beach

>>1041656
If it has a higher density of heavier materials under it's surface than Earth, it's gravity could be the same.

>>1041718
It's gravel on top of pavement on top of a rather deep foundation. It's not just a dirt road.

It would work if the mass is spread out over enough surface area (lots of long wide treads)

>>1041783
yes, but it's not efficient for longer durations.

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>>1041649
>naval nuclear power
Russian nuclear ice breakers cant even go to south pole due to water being too hot around equator.

You are going to need a hell of a fan to cool that thing down with no water and in desert.

Might as well use focused sun to provide heat for power generation. But then again, where do you dump the heat to complete the cycle?

Anyways it think "walking" vehicles or any kind of hovering technology would work better in random terrain. Creeping blimps come to my mind.

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>>1041639
>>1041644
>>1041667
>>1041716

We can solve this with science fiction.

Simple answer is the sand crawler probably has anti-gravity units in it that lessen its weight by providing constant up-thrust just like the various other hovering cars.

However they're on a budget and its jury-rigged and the parts are never the same between sand crawlers, so its inefficient and doesn't provide the kind of lift that would be necessary to turn it into a ship.

So with crap money, scrounged parts, and shit for brains this is what they come up with in an age of star destroyers.

> specially prepared surfaces

It may also be possible that the sand crawlers go on a regular route and any sand that gets swept onto their track just covers up the fact there's a hardened or packed surface there that is constantly getting re-packed every time another sand crawler comes across it.

Thus people know where its gonna be and can track it down easily. Also helps with buying and selling because hey - you know where they stop off, like a railroad almost. You go up there at an expected time and you can barter.

> of course the storm troopers also knew, which was why it was so easy for them to just go find it and look for the droids - they are droid sellers and they'd capture lone droids out in the desert so it makes perfect sense thats the first place to look

>>1044969
Good post. I can tell you've spent time in the depths of that hell known as Wookieepedia

>>1044969
I am thoroughly convinced by this post. The only question is where the crawlers came from, and how the Jawas got their martini-holding hands on them

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>>1041748
>heavy vehicles
sandcrawler,,,,,,Blimp.

>>1044969

why not go with something a little more believable like ultralight materials like plasteel?

>>1044969
>anti-gravity
YA BLEW IT

rest is okay, though, I guess.

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>>1041667
>>1041679
There are excavators that are even bigger. This one weighed over 25 million pounds and had a ground pressure of about 6,000 pounds per square foot.

>>1041783
How based is that badass at .49 with his Risky Business shades on screwdriving across the lake? Fucking Russia.