ELECTRIC PLANES! Post your pictures here

[Mars-Bound Hokie]

As the title implies, show us what electric aircraft you got. Whether they be pure stock, stock + DLC, or modded. I'm very interested to see what you all have.

 

The only rule is that the end-stage (as in the plane itself) must run on pure electricity - no using Lf, Ox, Lf+Ox, or monopropellant for propulsion. If your plane is designed specifically for Duna/Eve/Laythe use, then your delivery rockets can use whatever is necessary to get it to its target (like on my E-38 Earhart and E-39 Earhart Junior). As long as the plane itself doesn't use up any chemicals to move, you should be good.

• Having those (or ore or xenon) on board the plane is okay if it's for balancing purposes.
  • Just don't use up any to move the plane.
  • Besides, fuel cells aren't exactly a reliable power source when it comes to battery-powered plane propulsion.
    • And xenon is too weak to move anything outside of a vacuum. 

 

Being able to carry passengers and cargo are awesome bonuses, but not required. I'll start this thread with my own entry.

 

• The E-40 Impulse on display in the SPH
  • It has "PLANE ONLY" in the name since I have plans to take it to Laythe later. In the meantime, I would have to test its capabilities here on Kerbin
• Its cargo bay is loaded with science station equipment, EVA kits, and repair kits
  • Although I personally don't really know how to operate the science stations. I just placed them close together and hit "Interact."

 

• Here's a funny little blooper: Jeb hitting the "Reverse Thrust" button by mistake.
• At least he remembered to turn the nav lights on (this time).

 

• As soon as Jeb was airborne, he turned west in order to maximize the plane's exposure to sunlight
• If he flew east, he would inevitably enter a dark zone and lose electric charge

 

  Reveal hidden contents

For craft with solar panels, it is highly recommended that you stay with the sun for as long as possible to maximize charge time. It is also recommended that you go WEST since the sunlight is going in that direction on the surface. If you REALLY want to stretch our your sun-soaking time, you should go AT THE SAME SPEED AS THE SUNLIGHT.

• In other words, you would have your craft travel west at the calculated velocity below (depending on your planet)

• I did the Eve calculation months ago since, at the time I did the math, I was planning to send the prototype (of an unmanned drone) to Eve after the Kerbin circumnavigation test

 

If you can safely fly at any of those speeds (on those planets, of course), then effectively you can stay airborne FOREVER.

• If you can fly faster (either due to desire and/or because flying slower in stable flight is not possible), then it's best to take off later in the day.
  • In this case, it was mid-late afternoon.
• If you can only fly slower, then leave early in the morning - or at least leave first chance in the morning you can get solar charge.

 

• Nice shot of the E-40 flying over the desert.
  • This was taken before I installed nav lights and rear robot arms in the current prototype.

 

• Jeb looking at Engine One from the cockpit, as well as the mountains to the south.
  • Engines are numbered starting with the furthest left (looking forward from the cockpit).

 

• 100 km away from the KSC, and the mountains to the west of it are in sight.
• Under Engine 1, you can barely see the abandoned island airfield.

 

• 1 km ASL and ~8 km away from the runway.

 

• 5 HOURS, 11 MINUTES, 30 SECONDS
• Since I was flying faster than the planet's rotation about its axis, I launched mid-late afternoon so I wouldn't outrun the sunny spot and therefore lose a constant power source.

 

E-40 Test Run Performance Stats
Crew Capacity		1 pilot + 2 passengers
Power Plant		(2 x EM-64S) x (4 x R-25)
Total Empty Cargo Capacity		12 (all loaded)
Cruising Altitude		7 km
Cruising Surface Velocity		200 m/s
Minimum Throttle Required		2/3
Blade Angle		38 degrees (45 is optimal)
Optimum Takeoff Time	Westward Flight	Mid-late afternoon
	Eastward Flight	Early in the morning (NOT recommended for long flights)

 

But I did not stop there:

  Reveal hidden contents

• Using MJ Rover Autopilot to point me in the right direction, I flew to the Temple of Tut-Un Jeb-Ahn a few minutes after landing at the KSC.

 

• Another successful landing.
• Jeb got the science station equipment out (one by one) and set up shop near the temple. 
  • Like I said earlier, I have no idea how they're supposed to work.
    • Please help.

 

Craft file: https://kerbalx.com/Mars-Bound_Hokie/E-40-Impulse-PLANE-ONLY

 

What do you think? Show us what you've got.

[Cavscout74]

This was an old modded electric plane I made for exploring Duna long before a robotics DLC was even announced.  Uses four little "Buzzer" electric props (from Modular Rocket Systems IIRC), although two could be shut down for cruise - which reduced power drain to less than what the solar panels produced, giving unlimited daytime range.  Seats 2 kerbals in the "Observer Cockpit" from Airplane Plus.  I don't remember exact numbers, but stall speed was very low:  <25m/s on Duna, <15 on Kerbin IIRC.  It was small enough that it wasn't too difficult to fit onto a rocket for the trip to Duna, except that you needed a pretty big fairing to cover the wings. 

  On 2/19/2023 at 6:43 PM, Mars-Bound Hokie said:

Jeb got the science station equipment out (one by one) and set up shop near the temple. 

• Like I said earlier, I have no idea how they're supposed to work.
  • Please help

Expand  

While anyone can deploy the surface experiments, it is better for an engineer to deploy the power generating items (solar or RTG) and better for a scientist to deploy the actual experiments.  Engineer-deployed power sources generate additional power based on the engineer's experience and scientist-deployed experiments generate science faster, also based on the experience of the scientist deploying them.  Also, they are only useful for one deployment per body, not per biome.  I suppose you could deploy multiple sets to gather data faster (not certain on that) but you won't get extra data from them.

Edited February 20, 2023 by Cavscout74

[Mars-Bound Hokie]

I know, this entry is the same plane as the original post. This is just the E-40 Impulse being sent to Laythe, as I had originally planned.

 

• When people say that something "will go down in flames," this isn't what they're talking about. Right?

 

• Smooth landing, and recharging for the next flight.
  • And since it's so far away from the sun, it needs all the electricity it can get.

 

  On 2/19/2023 at 11:18 PM, Cavscout74 said:

While anyone can deploy the surface experiments, it is better for an engineer to deploy the power generating items (solar or RTG) and better for a scientist to deploy the actual experiments.  Engineer-deployed power sources generate additional power based on the engineer's experience and scientist-deployed experiments generate science faster, also based on the experience of the scientist deploying them.  Also, they are only useful for one deployment per body, not per biome.  I suppose you could deploy multiple sets to gather data faster (not certain on that) but you won't get extra data from them.

Expand  

Thanks for the help. Good thing the plane can carry three people (pilot + 2 passengers) so I can leave the engineer + scientist combo at the landing spot for a while to gather science.

 

Craft file: https://kerbalx.com/Mars-Bound_Hokie/E-40-Impulse-LAYTHE-VARIANT

Edited February 20, 2023 by Mars-Bound Hokie
Craft file