Ion Engine Orange Tank to Orbit Possible?

[inigma]

Is it possible to launch a fully fueled orange fuel tank with a docking port into orbit using nothing but ion engines?

[Promii]

Ion engines cannot even lift their own weight on Kerbin, so you are not getting into orbit with them no matter the payload.

[r_rolo1]

Well, with the help of wings , it might be possible ... It is not dificult to find some ion planes in the Spacecraft exchange.

[dryer_lint]

He didn't say which planet it had to be on. He just said "orbit".

Quick! To Gilly!

[Laie]

Well, with the help of wings , it might be possible ... It is not dificult to find some ion planes in the Spacecraft exchange.

Actually, with the help of control surfaces. There's been a few Ion SSTO challenges not too long ago (three weeks at most), and one wanted to rule out every hint of infinigliding, so control surfaces were forbidden. Wings only. The altitude record in that challenge was about 35km.

Control surfaces help a lot. Those tiny ion+delta_deluxe spaceplanes get more than half of their thrust from the infiniglide glitch, even without actively flapping their control surfaces.

Wings only might still work if you're willing to drop tanks, engines and possibly even wings along the way. Never mind the cost: part count alone would be horrible even without any payload to speak of.

[GoSlash27]

I'm pretty sure this one would be impossible.

The problem is that you still need (roughly) .3 t/w in order to clear the 33KM "wall" ion gliders have to overcome, even with infiniglide.

Extrapolating from my manned SSTO ion infiniglider, lifting that payload into orbit would require roughly:

-100 engines

-170 xenon tanks

-1600 solar panels

-2000 batteries

and

-1000 small control surfaces.

That's not counting all the cubic octagonal struts, bracing, and assorted other goodies necessary to transform it from a pile of parts into an actual aircraft.

While this is technically possible, the parts count to pull it off is simply too high to be feasible.

Best,

-Slashy

Edited September 1, 2014 by GoSlash27