Brikoleur Aerospace Kombine - Rotorcraft, and more

[Guest]

I thought I'd present some of Brikoleur Aerospace Kombine's craft here.

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The "Minnow" class of planes shares an airframe and an airfoil (except the Skua, which has a slightly modified airfoil to accommodate the rotating fans). They are designed to pack the maximum amount of utility and ease of operation into a compact package. There are currently four variants in operation: "Gillian," a science/utility SSTO designed for Laythe but also capable of operating from Kerbin, "Gabian," a rocket V/STOL with the same payload designed to operate from Duna, "Sargasso," a long-range utility SSTO designed for crew rotation missions in the Kerbin system (she has enough legs to liaise between KSC and orbital space stations around Mun or Minmus, but will require refueling at the destination for a safe return trip), and "Skua," a solar-powered ducted-fan VTOL craft designed for Duna. All have a crew capacity of five, and all but the long-range "Sargasso" variant carry a full set of science experiments.

BAK-M430 "Skua"

 

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BAK-M132 "Sargasso"

 

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BAK-M131 "Gillian"

 

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BAK-M431 "Gabian"

 

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The BAK-9011/9012 system is an actually operable, fully reusable system for operating between the surface of Eve and low Eve orbit. It consists of two craft: the BAK-9011 "Raphael" lifter/orbiter, and the electric-powered BAK-9012 "Elvira" service plane, which carries drills and an ISRU plus a mobile crane. Raphael launches into a parabolic trajectory peaking at around 70 km; when the launcher stage is empty, it stages the orbiter which flies to orbit. The launcher will then glide down to a landing. 

Once the orbiter has also returned, it will be recovered by Elvira, which will transport it back to the Raphael, re-mount it using its mobile crane, and refuel it with its ISRU.

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BAK-9011 "Raphael"

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BAK-9012 "Elvira"

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BAK-9802 Gaudium

The BAK-9802 Gaudium is the baby of the Angelus series of Eve lifters. She is also one of the lightest sea level to orbit Eve lifters that I am aware of, with a take-off weight of 7924 kg, including crew -- and it would be possible to reduce that a tiny bit further by lightening the rotor stage, which is now a trifle overengineered since it has been largely inherited from the Cherub and Seraph. That would have negligible impact on the performance, however.

• Launch altitude: ~35 km
• Time to launch altitude: ~21 minutes
• Take-off mass: 7924 kg
• Capacity: 1 kerbal

 

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BAK-9801 Cherub

The BAK-9801 Cherub is the little sister of the BAK-9900 Seraph. She is not recoverable, but is much lighter, easier to fly, and quicker to reach orbit. 

• Launch altitude: 28-30 km
• Time to launch altitude: 26-27 minutes
• Take-off mass: 20-25 tons (supplied configuration: 21.8 tons)
• Capacity: > 1 ton payload mass

The supplied configuration reached orbit with 631 m/s in the tank, so there is a quite a lot of room for a bigger payload.

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BAK-9900 Seraph

The BAK-9900 Seraph is not an Eve SSTO.

It is the next best thing: a fully recoverable – if you have the infrastructure and the patience – launch system capable of delivering one (1) kerbal to orbit from Eve sea level -- and back. She is not physics warp friendly but after take-off which requires a certain amount of finesse, she is very easy to fly, requiring no pilot intervention during most of the long climb out of Eve's thick atmosphere.

The Seraph’s six pairs of rotary wings are powered with three heavy rotors. It uses them to take off – very carefully – then climb to 26,000 metres. Climb peaks at around 15 m/s vertical speed between 13 and 15 km or so, and the craft takes about 40 minutes to reach its ceiling.

At that altitude it disengages rotors and sets collective to 90 degrees, lights up its Vector, and gets into a parabolic arc that peaks at over 70 km. It launches its orbiter, which flies to orbit.

Do it quickly, and you will be able to switch to the lifter before it disappears into the atmosphere; don’t worry about wasting a bit of fuel on the orbiter as it has a significant safety margin – it has reached orbit with nearly 300 m/s left in the tank.

Once back at the lifter,  autorotate down. When nearing the ground, reduce collective to slow down your descent. She will touch down at less than 3 m/s, settling softly on her landing legs.

The orbiter is designed to survive a reasonably energetic re-entry to Eve. She is aerodynamically almost neutral which makes it possible to hold any attitude necessary to maximise surface area and distribute thermal load evenly across the craft.

The whole mission from surface to orbit and soft landing for the lifter stage will take over an hour real time, as the Seraph is not physics warp friendly, but it is doable and not too difficult.

Then all you need to do is figure out how to refuel the lifter, get the orbiter to it, and re-mount it on its nose, and you have an Eve shuttle!

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BAK-9001D Super Kosmokopter

She's a helicopter designed to operate on Duna -- and she'll get you there. She even has enough fuel to re-orbit. To get to LKO she needs some extra push from two pairs of RAPIERs that she jettisons after they've done their job; her dual NERVs are sufficient to get her into Dunatian orbit again.

On Duna, she hovers up to around 10 km altitude depending on fuel load. On rotor only she's not terrifically fast but the NERVs will give her as much push as she needs for that. She seats two and has a small cargo bay with room for a few scientific instruments if needed; more than a few if compromising on battery power -- she will fly on fuel cells, but carries a fairly large battery pack for solar charging also in case fuel is scarce.

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Kalypso

Kalypso is a craft built on commission for Kousteau Kerman, the famous oceanographer. She is a modified BAK-68 Super Kadzook, fitted to carry and recover an electric one-kerbal mini-submarine. She will cruise at around 80 m/s with an extra push for twin Junos, and will easily lift and lower the Navtilvs mini-sub.

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BAK-68P Super Kadzook 

The passenger version of the BAK-68 Super Kadzook seats 48 passengers and 4 crew. She will fly them to any difficult-to-access destination comfortably and in style.

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BAK-23C Super Kestrel

The BAK-23 is the latest tilt-rotor craft from Brikoleur Aerospace Kombine. She cruises comfortably at up to 90 m/s and unlike her predecessor, is capable of both horizontal and vertical landings and take-offs. She also features sophisticated pilot-assistance systems making transitions between level flight and hover safe and comfortable at any speed and any altitude above 75 metres. 

Like the BAK-68 Super Kadzook, she comes in two variants. This is the cargo version.

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BAK-50 Mayfly

The Mayfly is the original BAK helicopter, recently upgraded with improvements back-ported from the BAK-52N Kranefly. It is powered by a single electric rotor fed by two solar panels. It has very little battery power so it is a daytime flitter only -- however it will stay aloft until the sun goes down.

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BAK-52N Kranefly

The Kranefly is the successor to the Mayfly. It is fuel-cell powered. A variant, the BAK-52NS, has hydraulically damped landing skids instead of landing gear, making it especially well suited for precision landings as it will stay where it's dropped.

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BAK-12 Mallard

The Mallard may not win any beauty contests, but it is a performer. It is capable of hover at an altitude of over 10,500 metres, and handles both nimbly and predictably. It is a medium passenger craft with a capacity of seven.

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BAK-47 Kadzook

The Kadzook is the heavy member of the BAK rotorcraft family. It is powered by four fuel-cell driven heavy electric motors driving a pair of large-diameter rotors. It has a full-size cargo bay and crew capacity of 19. It is extremely easy to handle if not exactly nimble.

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BAK-22 Kestrel

The Kestrel, also known as the Dutch Windmill Plane, is a tilt-rotor craft capable of both rotary wing and fixed wing flight, and transitioning between the two while in the air. It is a medium lifter, with a cargo capacity of about half of the Kadzook's. On the plus side, in fixed-wing mode it is a good deal faster, with a cruise speed of around 75 m/s.

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BAK-151 Kima

She’s not the fastest, most nimble, or easiest to fly and she’s mostly made of struts, but she is very cute.

Edited November 10, 2019 by Guest

[Jestersage]

Yours are definitely quite nicely build.

[The Destroyer]

Wow, nice. Been looking for inspiration on how to build proper rotorcraft.

[Guest]

I added a few of my most recent craft. The BAK-9001D Super Kosmokopter and the Kalypso are particularly notable, as the technical challenges in both of them were considerable. But now I have a chopper that will fly to Duna, and a mini-sub with another chopper to deliver and recover it.

Edited June 12, 2019 by Guest

[Guest]

Updated with my most ambitious rotorcraft yet -- the BAK-9900 Seraph, a fully reusable Eve launch system.

[Klapaucius]

On 6/26/2019 at 3:36 AM, Brikoleur said:

Updated with my most ambitious rotorcraft yet -- the BAK-9900 Seraph, a fully reusable Eve launch system.

You've got to get your marketing department on things. You've been beat to Youtube.

 

 

[Guest]

2 minutes ago, Klapaucius said:

You've got to get your marketing department on things. You've been beat to Youtube.

 

 

BAK doesn’t need marketing, the budget comes from the five-year plan. 

[Klapaucius]

Just now, Brikoleur said:

BAK doesn’t need marketing, the budget comes from the five-year plan. 

Yes, but even 5-year plans need propaganda.

[Guest]

I added the Cherub and the Gaudium -- disposable Eve launchers. The Gaudium is the lowest take-off mass from sea level Eve launcher that I'm aware of, at under 8 tons.

[Foxster]

Some of those little Eve craft are mighty fine. 

What's the electrical power source? It's not clear from the screenshots. 

[Guest]

Fuel cells.

[Guest]

Bump after adding a number of craft.