Jump to content

Challenge: An aircraft capable of flight... using ion engines.


Recommended Posts

Another little bug I noticed with solar, when you hit M to view the solar system map, you get a brief charge of electricity (about 0.1 on this ship). You get the same bonus going back. I didn't abuse it, but worth noting as a bug/exploit.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

This is my aircraft

HlR7tEVh.jpg

GBCDzn6h.jpg

vi4AB59h.jpg

6g9aTV2h.png

JmvcExZh.jpg

The Electric Eagle.......

Anyways it has a cruising speed of 30 m/s, It has so far reached the island airport. It combines batteries and solar panels for power. It has a light and simplistic construction. I was surprised at the beauty and manoeuvrability of it. The craft uses a detachable bogie for launch as the wheels are too heavy to carry. The force of the decouplers could be considered a boost, yet it would work with out them.

Edited by michaelpooper
Link to comment
Share on other sites

This is my aircraft

The Electric Eagle.......

Anyways it has a cruising speed of 30 m/s, It has so far reached the island airport. It combines batteries and solar panels for power. It has a light and simplistic construction. I was surprised at the beauty and manoeuvrability of it. The craft uses a detachable bogie for launch as the wheels are too heavy to carry. The force of the decouplers could be considered a boost, yet it would work with out them.

IIRC, standard landing gears weights nothing despite on figures in VAB.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Here's my crude early attempt so far, the X-2 Boreplane. Turns out the name is partial misnomer since actually flying this deathtrap is an intensely "exciting" experience, and shortly painful.

screenshot225.png

Main features:

- Manned! ("Kerballed")? Seats one brave pilot.

- Lightweight-yet-strong design means the craft weighs only 8.28 tons despite the large wingspan and area.

- Harnesses the colossal power of no less than EIGHT stock ion engines. When combined with the previous point, the result is hair-raising 0.05 TWR on the ground. Seatbelts optional.

- Elegant and efficient construction! A mere 211 parts.

- SAS (sorry, reaction wheel) unit up front gives it a red cyclops eye and makes it look sinister. This doesn't have anything to do with the functionality of the craft, but it rules so I'm adding it here.

- With a deficiency of 17 units of electricity per second (full throttle, midday) from a power supply of 4,000, you will be sure to have hundreds of seconds of airborne fun before the resource crisis forces you to slow down (to sub-stall speed).

- If a cloud passes over the sun or it gets dark, you will fall down and die immediately. Fortunately, "clouds" are mythical phenomena that have never been observed on Kerbin by reliable sources, so this has never actually happened yet.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

My newest attempt. I set up a macro to take screenshots for me every minute. I strung them into a timelapse for you guys. I had the info on one of the new front solar panels open to see how much help it had. Ended up crash landing on some other continent, and I was a doofus and didn't grab the F3 data. However, I did break 1,000m. My newest problem seems to be the slow turning of the ship. Going to try adding a tail fin to stop that from happening.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

And take 3... Lasted for a few days. But during the night it finally slowed down to its stall, and oscillated up and down until it started sliding back down backwards. Only 990m achieved this time. Maybe I should play with the location of the tail fin, but I'm not sure if I can keep its speed up over the night.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sb7KwkBav_8

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Question. I have the hybrid electric ion engines pack. The hybrid engines use both liquid fuel, oxidizer, xenon gas, and power to run. Are they considered ion propulsion or no? I have yet to actually use them so i don't know how quiet they are. Either way, the mod also has larger versions of most of the solar panels and RTGs which comes in handy. I accept this challenge and will also attempt it in 'hard' mode.

Note: As a former flight sim pilot, I find FAR to be more realistic, more intuitive, and easier to fly with a joystick. For me, Ferram is not hard mode.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

fGJSei4.jpg

Zsy5KbN.png

So once it was on a good path I went to sleep. Woke up to see that it went for over and hour and reached 1234m, traveled nearly 60km.

I think I can do better. Looks like it just ran out of fuel!

also it took off on rover wheels. so only 101 points..

edit:

trying again, took off on ions only (landing gear dropped off w/ decoupler)

JCrX2HU.jpg

up to 151 points. plenty of fuel , i feel good about seeing 2 or 3

Edited by automcdonough
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 11 months later...
  • 4 months later...

Xenonlizer, a relatively big and quite laggy ion powered aircraft, can fit 3 Kerbals in it.

And Xenonlizer Lite, a smaller and less laggy one. It does not have a pressurized cockpit. It can fit into B9's S-2 Widebody Cargo Bay.

K05dlkB.png

Cjn6Dfn.png

Edited by Wavechaser
Fixed pictures
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 1 month later...
Xenonlizer, a relatively big and quite laggy ion powered aircraft, can fit 3 Kerbals in it.

And Xenonlizer Lite, a smaller and less laggy one. It does not have a pressurized cockpit. It can fit into B9's S-2 Widebody Cargo Bay.

http://i.imgur.com/K05dlkB.png

http://i.imgur.com/Cjn6Dfn.png

stats?

what's the max speed?

what's the max altitude?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

This thread is quite old. Please consider starting a new thread rather than reviving this one.

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

×
×
  • Create New...