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propeller's and such

Stilgar2300
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Stilgar2300

Stilgar2300

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So hear me out (and I do apologize if this has been suggested before but I did search first and didn't see it) during long term missions on other planets I find that Rovers are sometimes to slow and jets aren't very practical but there really isn't any middle ground. That's where propeller driven vehicles would come in. You could built small helicopters for your kerbins to hop around the planet makes travel a little easier. Maybe make it battery powered but make its lift ability poor to balance it. I dunno what do u think

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peadar1987

peadar1987

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it's Kerbal SPACE Program, not Kerbal BOAT program.

Yeah, and it's not Kerbal LANDING program either. Get rid of those stupid legs and parachutes as well. The game should be about launching things into space and leaving them there. How dare people even attempt to do things on other planets?!

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Amram

Amram

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The propellor will spin the planet and make it summer before you get out the door.

Which means he will need his coat, since it will be winter again before he comes back in.

it's Kerbal SPACE Program, not Kerbal BOAT program.
Aerospace comprises the atmosphere of Earth and surrounding space. Typically, aerospace industries combine aeronautics and astronautics to research, design, manufacture, operate, or maintain vehicles moving through air and through space. Aerospace is a very diverse field, with a multitude of commercial, industrial and military applications.

The research of technology for use in space is not Space research, its Aerospace research. The production of items for use in space is likewise Aerospace industry.

What has NASA spent a very large part of its time doing? Is NASA not a space agency? This fervent hatred of aircraft is entirely misplaced in a game that is attempting to emulate the Aerospace industry.

The purview of an Aerospace agency involves the atmosphere of any given body as much as it does space near that body. Props are used for the majority of drones to this point, and drones are very useful for applications where a rover is ill suited due to speed/range/terrain.

I'll bring it up first, NASA hasn't used aircraft instead of rovers yet. Why? Which planets have they sent things to that had a suitable atmosphere? If Mars had a thick atmosphere, I would imagine prop driven aircraft would have been considered. As it is its so thin that parachutes are insufficient to land rovers, so flight is an obvious no-go on mars.

And NASA does play with props from time to time

And remind me again, did Squad bring in C7Studios and his parts, to then have aircraft in KSP, or didn't they? Seems to me KSP is not ONLY about space, its about Aerospace.

Edited by Amram
derp typo
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Ravenchant

Ravenchant

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Aircraft for Mars have been considered and, to an extent, tested. Just not powered ones. :P Apart from Kerbin, two planets with an atmosphere are among the most likely targets for new players. A propeller would be useful, but would probably need to consume a LOT of electric charge to be balanced.

On a side note, a powered, flying Titan probe sounds like the coolest thing ever.

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technicalfool

technicalfool

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There seems to be a steady stream of posts discussing adding propellors to KSP. Not that I disagree with the posters, there's a lot of things I'd like to see added to the game, if the developers can fit it into the rest of an already fairly large project.

What I'd like to see is a combination of engine + drive parts, where engine could be "electric", "piston", "turbine" or "nuclear". The engine has an attachment point that only accepts drive-type parts, where parts could be different propellors, air or water-optimised ducted fans, and/or water screws, and a drive shaft part (think a strut or fuel line with extra logic) which could transfer a torque value coming from the engine to linked drive parts. Problem of course being that some kind of block would be needed to pin a prop or fan to, in order to strut a drive shaft between them if drive shafts were being used. Of course this might not be such a problem, if this means the engine can be in one area of the construction, and the prop (or fan, or.. hey, why not include some rover wheels in the system) can be in another.

An advantage would be that the prop part needn't necessarily spin as far as physics goes. At low revs maybe, but the model could then be swapped for a textured circle or other primitive for the high-speed rotation model, with some kind of insta-death or explodifying effect on anything that touches it.

Bonus awesome points if mishaps can cause props to explode and spawn high speed blades in random (potentially fuel-tank-oriented) directions. More bonus points for being able to suck things into intakes. In fact it would be awesome if the developers could make that happen with the normal engines.

Edited by technicalfool
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wiswariat

wiswariat

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One more vote for propellers, especially electrically powered ones. If Eve ever gets a Venus-like atmosphere, with surface temperatures of 600K and more, all you can do to stay alive there is build a plane which is powered by solar panels and stays above in the cooler regions.

That, and, Balloons, of course...

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Tomfen

Tomfen

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One more vote for propellers, especially electrically powered ones. If Eve ever gets a Venus-like atmosphere, with surface temperatures of 600K and more, all you can do to stay alive there is build a plane which is powered by solar panels and stays above in the cooler regions.

That, and, Balloons, of course...

Why electric propellers? They run on motors powered by fuel.

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technicalfool

technicalfool

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Why electric propellers? They run on motors powered by fuel.

Brushless motors probably give you more power to weight than an internal combustion engine. If it wasn't for the weight of current battery tech, you could easily see a ducted-fan-powered 747. Coated in OX-STAT panels, it should be feasible to have a solar Kerbal aircraft. These people are doing the very same thing for real.

And on a smaller scale, here's one of my electric models from a while ago, powered by a ducted fan hidden inside the fuselage. Not too slow, is it?

Edited by technicalfool
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Andersenman

Andersenman

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[...] If Eve ever gets a Venus-like atmosphere, [...] build a plane which is powered by solar panels [...]

If Eve ever DID get a Venusian atmosphere, with all consequences and implications, those panels would do jack-all under those impenetrable clouds. You would have to stay high enough and never land without humongous EC capacities.

Edited by Andersenman
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wiswariat

wiswariat

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If Eve ever DID get a Venusian atmosphere, with all consequences and implications, those panels would do jack-all under those impenetrable clouds. You would have to stay high enough and never land without humongous EC capacities.

Yes, anything close to the surface is a no go, but only because of the heat, go a bit higher in the atmosphere and you can even put solar panels on the bottom since sufficient sunlight is reflected of the clouds and the proximity to the central star. "The solar intensity is 20 to 50 percent of the exoatmospheric intensity at the bottom of the cloud layer" (from link #2)

Exploring Venus from the surface and the atmosphere (PDF!)

http://www.lpi.usra.edu/vexag/may2008/presentations/18Landis.pdf

and

Solar Airplane Concept Developed for Venus Exploration

http://www.grc.nasa.gov/WWW/RT/2003/5000/5410landis1.html

5410landis1-f1.jpg

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