An electric plane for Eve

[gilflo]

Hello guys

I decide to send an Electric Plane to Eve and to build here 2 weather stations that will be able to provide end send weather datas to Kerbin

The plane is an MK2 built with 3 OPT Electric Warpjet SAGE engines. The plane is covered with Nearfutureelectrical Photovoltaic panels that provide all necessary energy provided sun is shining and angle with the sun is not under 60°

The cockpit is an OPT phoenix cockpit for 3 Kerbals and this cockpit can be send to orbit by mean of RS 25 RealscaleBooster rocket engine that is triggered when the plane reach 50000m.

The initial TWR is 0.47, very weak, it's a kind of take off like "Lindbergh", rate of climb 2 or m/s but as the plane climb and atmosphere is less dense, TWR rises and with patience the plane can reach 50000m

Each side of wings are 2 ejectable KIS containers and there's a central container on the fuselage. These containers will hold the 42 items necessary to build both weather stations.

Here is the plane

Here is the weather station built near Kerin base

To send this plane to Eve, I built the Vanguard an OPT SSTO of 436 T, whose aerodynamic nose will be replaced by the Phoenix cockpit at the end of the mission, before returning to Kerbin

For Eve atmospheric entry, there's a retrograde engine and 3 thermic shields at the back of the plane and in the front a mast with 8 speedbrakes and 8 Vernor RCS engones. all this stuff is ejectable, once there's no more thermic issue and when the plane is stable around 20000m.

Fly by wire through Atmospheric Autopilot is provided to fly both aircraft as piloting must be very accurate. Both aircraft are pilotable through the whole flight enveloppe without RCS. Theyy also have been balanced as accurately as possible with RCS build aid.

Testing orbital climb so as to reach orbit with a minimum of 8500-9000 DV VAC to perform the mission

 

[gilflo]

BEGINNING THE MISSION

Take off of SSTO Vanguard with electric plane Phoenix

Here are some screenshots, but the HD 4m30s vid with sound and procedures comments give a better experience

https://youtu.be/XV75QtdgWIY

Initial climb

10000m acceleration

climb on 4 moteurs until around  22000m, where hybrid J 81 flame out du to lack of air

Around 38000m  J61 flame out and J81 are relighted in closed cycle.  Their low consumption  is du to electrical hybridation with PB NUK generators (around 20) installed in MK2 holds

100 kms circularization with 9800 DV VAC left

 Eve injection

Breaking to intercept Eve orbit

Correction for a 0° inclination

100 kms Circularization

Phoenix 6 is alone

We are going to land near sea around 9W, where we discover a good spot with Scansat

On this HD vid with sound and comments you will have a good experience of atmospheric entry, decoupling of the stuff, ejection of containers near the ground and landing

 

Breaking engine ejected

Shields deployed

No thermic issue du to good breaking

Ejection of front mast around 40000m before spinning down to 24000m, waiting for Stabilisation

Decoupling central shield

Decoupling lateral shields and central shield mast

after starting 3 engines, selecting fly by wire, checking electrical level, we follow our shadow on the ground to eject the containers at the right place

Landing

and containers following.

mission succesfull!

Next step:

-unfolding containers

-Building a remote weather station near sea

-folding containers for 2nd station

-take off to visit anomaly

-Flight to Eve highest peak to build a 2nd remote weather station

 

 

 

Edited April 23, 2020 by gilflo

[JadeOfMaar]

@gilflo I just tried watching your second video (Eve entry) but its link actually leads to the first video, the takeoff from Kerbin. I'm enjoying everything else.

[gilflo]

On 4/21/2020 at 12:57 AM, JadeOfMaar said:

@gilflo I just tried watching your second video (Eve entry) but its link actually leads to the first video, the takeoff from Kerbin. I'm enjoying everything else.

I changed the link, it's ok now

 

[xendelaar]

awesome ship and pictures! thanks for sharing

[gilflo]

Phoenix flight to Eve highest peak

Unfolding and building the first weather station

Some items that are too big needs to be pulled

It's a long and hard work!

Then it works....

I tried to balance stuff between both side containers and the central one, then we make a low pass over the station, but the plane is very heavy to fly just above sea level

We forgot to add the Communotron

that will be made in the next vid, before leaving to Eve highest peak!

12 mn HD vid to Eve highest peak

On an electric plane dealing with sun energy to solar panels in the most important point.. To take off from the level, we need full power and it drops awfully batteries capacity, even with the sun at the top.... Approaching 1000m where air density is lower than near sea level, we can decrease rpm and we are able to increase again batteries capacity...then the higher we clim, the better it improves...air density decreasing, but we had another problem to deal with: center engine overheat..

Then it looks like we fly west faster than the sun, which means we loose efficiency with sun and we need to land to wait for the sun...

At he end of the vid is a quick building of the weather station

 

Edited May 26, 2020 by gilflo

[Hdeedose]

Tu parles francais ???

1 hour ago, gilflo said:

On a oublié de lui adjoindre le Communotron pour qu'elle soit entièrement autonome...

Ca va être fait dans la video à suivre qui retrace le vol du Phoenix jusqu'au plus haut sommet d'Eve ou l'équipage va atterrir et construire la 2ème station météo

 

[gilflo]

On 5/25/2020 at 11:35 AM, Hdeedose said:

Tu parles francais ???

 

oui je suis français,  j'ai oublié quelques traductions!!

voila c'est corrigé!

Edited May 26, 2020 by gilflo

[gilflo]

Leaving the weather station, the crew fly towards Eve anomaly. It's our longest electric flight, heading East, with the sun behind us.

At 30000m, angle of attack is more than 15° which is very efficient for solar cell with the sun behind...but during descent it becomes less and less effective as the sun is going down...

The crew forget to jettison the KIS tank that are empty and it will be done in the last part of the flight

HD Video 7mn

 

Edited June 14, 2020 by gilflo