BSC: Aeris 4a - AND THE WINNER IS:

[Xeldrak]

Don't worry, Giggleplex - you are not the only one building planes just to discard them...

[Cruzan]

I'm right there with you guys. My reject pile was quite large

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[HazelPine]

Tell ME about it. I had to do .craft spring cleaning in my BSC save (Yes, I do have a BSC challenges save).

[HazelPine]

Ok, I have a design after more than 20 failed ones, I present to you:

The Aeris 4A RedoNE!

Totally based off of the Aeris 3A, I came up with a replacement craft for the Aeris 4A.

Here is the slideshow for you to bask in awesomeness:

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The Aeris 4A was not right to me. it just didn't look like an aeris. So I designed my spaceplane on the aeris 3a, the most successful aeri in production. The Aeris 4A RedoNE is able to get to LKO and dock to 2 kinds of docking ports, since it has 2 of them. It is extremely stable, but at high altitude you need to pull up slightly or it won't go to space. Does not have front brake disabled because the center of mass is very fae back, thus not letting much weight on the front wheel. it is a very capable craft in and out of the atmosphere, but cant go to other places without refueling, because i felt it didn't need to go to minmus or the mun as a stock learning craft. Uses a slight bit of part clipping, but nothing a new kerbal can't learn.

-Aeris 4A RedoNE-

Edited March 7, 2014 by SaplingPick

[Rune]

Yes, that's been this way for a while already. There are certain rules how the craft should be built but judges are free to impose their own rules on top of it or just judge according to their own rules which they may make up on the fly. So lack of science tools was a disadvantage in one of BSC challenges, and advantage in another.

Personally I'm participating more to have a try at designing something I have not tried to design and fly yet. Nobody shares my opinion on what is "newbie-friendly" and my results so far correspond to that.

I just flight tested you ship. I've got to say, my respect for you as a builder went up more than a few notches, I can tell you . But you are right, you have a weird concept of what this challenge was searching for, at least compared to my opinion... so I am very sad to tell you, even though I am seriously impressed, I can't really put it on the top of my preliminary list. Close to it, though... Anyhow, I won't comment more since I don't want to influence the rest of the judges in any way or form. My opinions are strictly my own!

I'm weirdly enjoying myself very much testing your ships, guys. Every flight is interesting, especially since I start them by simulating an engine failure to see how well it handles full and without power. I seriously recommend applying to be a judge!

Rune. You can guess right now another one is making the climb to orbit on the background, and I needed to comment on how things were going.

Edited March 4, 2014 by Rune

[MiniMatt]

I know there are no docking ports, that is intentional, because to me the Aeris 4A is meant as a tool to learn how to fly a spaceplane. Also, if anyone wants, they can stick one on. If you guys think it SHOULD have a docking port, tell me quickly!

Oh I dunno To me (and my opinion is merely that and I'd advise everyone to pay it very little attention) the Aeries 4a is a tool to learn how to fly a spaceplane and a tool to learn how to dock - the original has a docking port and RCS to aid in docking manoeuvres. I figure if you're only going to go up into space and come back again then there's not much need to include RCS.

Does not have a way to gain energy except jets, because it is not designed to stay moving so much, and if you un out of electricity you can always use RCS. If you guys think it is a necessitiy then tell me!

Again, only *my* opinion, but given the limited battery storage on offer I'd be tempted to add at least a couple of static solar panels - noting the rather fine jet fuel quantity, if that runs out then a survivable glide would still be possible *unless* you also run out of electricity.

Very pleased to see another entry showing altitudes and speeds that can be obtained without intake spam though

[O-Doc]

Very pleased to see another entry showing altitudes and speeds that can be obtained without intake spam though

You know you can get the Aeris 4a up to 37km and 1800m/s before firing the rocket right? There's no wing drag so it slips straight through the lower atmosphere.

[mrmcp1]

Here is my entry the Aeris 4B it is only a simple design but it does the job. It has a single rapier for ease of use and only two intakes.

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Flight profile:

At around 40m/s you can take off

Then pitch up to 45- 50 degrees

At 10,000m go to 35- 40 degrees

At 23,000 try to gain more velocity

At around 17,000m/s your engine should go closed cycle when it does press 2 and get your apoapse out of the atmosphere

Action groups:

1. Toggle engine

2. Toggle intakes

3. Switch rapier mode

4. Toggle ladder

5. Toggle docking port

Download link: https://www.dropbox.com/s/kfit4s3zv4hoaaf/Aeris%204B.craft

I hope it is up to standards

[Giggleplex777]

I think I have something!

[LordFjord]

I am trying each of the craft now - several fail to load in the SPH.

I get an NullreferenceException whenever one of the following craft files is present:

Aeris 4B.craft (Even if i rename it, please dont name your plane after existing stock craft)

Auk Ia.craft

Buffalo.craft

Icarus I.craft

Leisure.craft

SSTO_1.craft

I am no expert on the craft files so I cant track down the reason for the error. All other can at least be loaded.

If your craft is in the list, please doublecheck it or where you have it hosted - they didnt work for me

I intend to fly each of them to the island runway and park them for a group-shot

[HazelPine]

I like the idea! Can you park mine later? I will edit my entry later today, for the better.

[Xeldrak]

Attention! Important announcement:

Since this thread has been stickied I will prolong this competition in the following manner:

The building phase will not be over tomorrow, but on Friday 14th. This means you basically got an extra week to build and tune your entry. Remember: as long as the building phase is open you can still chance your entry.

Afterwards ther primary vote will run from Friday 14th until Friday 21st. So basically one week for you to test the crafts and rank them.

Im not sure how many entries will enter the final vote, but it will rund for another three days, so the competition should be over at Monday 24th.

This way the challenge will basically cover march and can live up to the thread of the month title.

[HazelPine]

0_o

*starts building a celebration space station to dock all entries*

This is the best news I heard today.

@Xeldrak, how's you entry coming along?

[Xeldrak]

My own entry? Well it's current iteration looks like this:

I really like the inverted vertical stabilizers - they give a very compact look and the topside of the plane is basically an even surface with only the avacs-style docking port protruding. But I have the problem that I need cannards - otherwise it has the same turning radius as a freight train. But the cannards keep me from adding a ladder and the plane is so compact that I don't have any other place to put them

However, should I take part in this BSC I don't expect to be a favourite - seven days ago I had never built a working non-rapier Spaceplane

[HazelPine]

Hello! I have an update on my entry! Now comes with docking ports and BETTER RCS placement, + a nifty looking solar panel area. I hope the Aeris 4A RedoNE is more useful now.

Check official entry post for download + pics!

Edited March 5, 2014 by SaplingPick

[capi3101]

I am trying each of the craft now - several fail to load in the SPH.

I get an NullreferenceException whenever one of the following craft files is present:

<snip />

Auk Ia.craft

<snip />

That's troublesome; is anybody else having problems with the Auk?

I'll take another look at the .craft file today to make sure there aren't any parts that aren't supposed to be there; IIRC it's stock.

Edited March 5, 2014 by capi3101

[LordFjord]

I'm not sure what causes it - usually craft files with unknown parts still get listed when clicking the load button - here it didnt even open the dialog for the other crafts.

When I removed it, it worked, so its something with the craft file.

[capi3101]

Have you tried deleting and reloading the craft file? Is it continuing to give you grief?

Anybody else having problems with the ribbon generator today?

[Giggleplex777]

SSTOs should be BIG.

Edited March 5, 2014 by Giggleplex777

[Silverchain]

That's troublesome; is anybody else having problems with the Auk?

I didn't have any problems with the .craft file, but the plane did fall over backwards on the runway... After that it was cool though.

[mrmcp1]

I am trying each of the craft now - several fail to load in the SPH.

I get an NullreferenceException whenever one of the following craft files is present:

Aeris 4B.craft (Even if i rename it, please dont name your plane after existing stock craft)

Auk Ia.craft

Buffalo.craft

Icarus I.craft

Leisure.craft

SSTO_1.craft

I am no expert on the craft files so I cant track down the reason for the error. All other can at least be loaded.

If your craft is in the list, please doublecheck it or where you have it hosted - they didnt work for me

I intend to fly each of them to the island runway and park them for a group-shot

I'm not sure what other craft you talking about with regards to the Aeris 4B as the original stock craft is called the Aeris 4A and their have been know more planes submitted with that name so I am not sure what you mean.

[capi3101]

I didn't have any problems with the .craft file, but the plane did fall over backwards on the runway... After that it was cool though.

Yeah, it does that. Rear wheels are too far forward. I'd fix it but it doesn't actually cause any damage when it tips over and it corrects itself easily once you start rolling. Plus if I move the wheels further back it won't take off before it reaches the end of the runway.

Well...the Auk is definitely all stock. So...diagnostic process then: is there something those six craft have in common with each other and with none of the other craft?

Sounds like a bit of work is in order.

[Andrew Hansen]

(still image)

The Starlon is a simple SSTO that can dock to space stations or go to Minmus and return.

I like the Aeris 4A. It's pretty easy to get into orbit, and its low part count makes it easy to digest for new players. However, it has some obvious problems. The first time I flew it, I broke off the back engine. After reverting the flight, I flew it up to a high altitude where I flamed out. Then after regaining control, I got it into orbit just fine.

But I do like the way it looks, how easy it is to get into orbit with it, its docking node and RCS, and its low part count. The Starlon is my attempt at redesigning the Aeris 4A.

Looks

The Starlon looks similar to the Aeris 4A in its wing design. I traded delta-wings for swept wings so they would fit on my smaller fuel tanks. One problem the Aeris 4A has when docking is that its vertical stabilizer can get in the way, so my vertical stabilizers are placed on the wingtips where they should be less of an issue. In my opinion the placement of the Starlon's wings make it look sort of futuristic - like this....

Performance

The Starlon has less parts than the Aeris 4A (yes, it has one less part). The landing gear are placed further back to protect the engine on takeoff. This means you have to be going faster to lift off the ground (120 m/s), but don't worry - you can still land very slowly (>40 m/s when empty, >75 m/s when full).

Because this craft weighs just 10.5 tons (compared to 18.5 tons for the Aeris 4A), it only needs one jet engine to get it into orbit. That jet engine is powerful enough to allow you to climb vertically into orbit. If you want to go to Minmus and return, you need to climb at an angle to save on fuel, however. Having one jet engine prevents flat spins and even with two RAM air intakes, you can get a high apoapsis on the turbojet alone.

Once you run out of intake air, the Starlon uses two 47-RS engines to provide thrust. Because obviously... what other engine is better than the 47-RS?

Ease of Use

The Starlon can literally be flown to under 1,000 m/s (surface velocity) and still get into orbit. A new pilot should be able to get it into orbit just fine. While it can do a return trip to Minmus, that's mainly for demonstration purposes only (to show how much fuel it has). I mean, if you can go to Minmus with it, then surely you can get into orbit with it!

The Aeris 4A's RCS thrusters are kind of placed in random locations and cause a lot of unwanted rotation when translating. I used the RCS Build Aid mod to place my RCS to ensure there was as little rotation as possible. Additionally, the docking port is placed right over the center of mass to make docking as easy as possible.

Speaking of the center of mass, according to RCS Build Aid, the total shift between the wet and dry COM is only 0.02 meters! Practically nothing. Of course, that's assuming that all the monopropellant and fuel is used up. If the fuel is used up but the monopropellant remains, the COM shifts forward. If the monopropellant is used up and fuel remains, it shifts backward. Even in these circumstances, the shift isn't much and is not enough to render the craft unstable. The center of lift is always behind the COM.

Another thing to mention is the fuel lines. They may look strange at first, but being placed that way ensures you'll never have to transfer fuel. All the engines have access to fuel from all tanks.

Video

Edited March 11, 2014 by Andrew Hansen

[LordFjord]

Sorry with the Aeris 4B, that was my mistake, I tried to copy it twice, hence the misunderstanding.

I downloaded the Auk again, now it worked Not sure what went wrong.

I will try to re-download the other ones as well, so ignore the warning for now.

I have already flown 7 planes to the island. Its interesting to see how differently they were built and how they behave.

[mrmcp1]

Sorry with the Aeris 4B, that was my mistake, I tried to copy it twice, hence the misunderstanding.

I downloaded the Auk again, now it worked Not sure what went wrong.

I will try to re-download the other ones as well, so ignore the warning for now.

I have already flown 7 planes to the island. Its interesting to see how differently they were built and how they behave.

Don't worry about it but i would be interested to know how you think the Aeris 4B flies.