The aurora orbiter drone!(not real life ship)

[Arugela]

I've been working on a space plane I call the Aurora! It's is designed to see how far I can get out of orbit and explore the solar system virtually unaided. Or at least with out having rockets and throw away parts. It is currently an MK2 drone plane with stock 12 wing configuration, weighing 21.3t, using 2 R.A.P.I.E.R. engines, electric based maneuvering and control systems, a communitron 88-88, Solar panels, and several 1k battery arrays for extra energy, and parachutes for fuelless landings. it has a virtually permanent back end with a front end made for easy modding. Mearly modify front section for functio and rebalance the mass to lift back to center. As weight is added wings can be added to move the lift forward if needed. MAke sure th front endge of all wings are alligned in each section though as it might throw off balance of the plane(I could be mistaken though). Some things may need to be improved with aerodynamics as I'm not that knowledgable but it's pretty good as far as I can tell for now. Consider this the base model or a late test model. There are lots of earlier version testing out ideas and learning the game(I recently got it) but this one pretty much embodies the point. There could be problems with weight to mass though as it is scalled up. I'm not familiar with the forumulas for that. It can be modded to add more engines fairly easily though. I recomend putting the same fuel engine config with struts and fuel lines back to the main body unless more rocket fuel is desired for travel in place of pure liquid or as a Mass distrubutor. The fuel lines ensured that the rear fuel is used first and it accessible at all times.

The rear(with 2 engines) has 300 liquid fuel to give you time to get in the upper atmosphere and gain as much speed as possible before punching the R.A.P.I.E.R. engines into rocket mode.(Earlier test models were all Super Jet with possible smaller side rockets as the tests proceded.) I finally settled on the R.A.P.I.E.R. when I finally figured out what they were! 8p They were also more efficient in jet mode for what I was doing. So enjoy!(AT least once I figure out how to share the file for the ship. Can someone tell me how to do that. Can it be done on the forum or do I need to use something like Curse and link it?

Note: This ship is designed from stock parts and designed with the idea of not having any unrealistically clipped or stacked items making it as realistic as possible from the games perepective. I think the elevators clip at a few points but those can be adjusted. I was just to lazy to do it. If there are any other oddly placed items it is accidental and I missed them.

Edited December 26, 2014 by purpletarget

[ExplorerKlatt]

The most common way to share a craft file is to use a site like Google drive or Dropbox. Once loaded there you click the share button and post the link here.

[soulreaver1981]

Mediafire also works nice and its free up to 50gb.

al my crafts sins i started playing ksp are on it and im on 15mb lol

[Arugela]

http://www./download/kieirtviokigomc/Aurora_Orbital_Explorer_Drone_Jumbo_x64_v2.craft Here is the larger version I eventually made. I saved over the smaller one and I would have to remake it. Plus it only used jet engines and small side boosters not rapier engines.

WARNING: This may be a 64 bit or 32 bit stock plane. I'm not certain. I used this command in Steam: Properties; Set Launch Options, "LC_ALL=C ./KSP.x86_64" and then I hit "Play". I don't know if that just set the language for 64 bit and launched 32bit or if it also launched 64bit mode. This is from a linux steam install launched from steam.

Either way, for me, it is very laggy. I hope it isn't for you. I still need to add features and rebalance it for electric drive and a rover to help give more science and batteries when attached along with a way to get the rover in and out of the cargo in gravity and 0 gravity environment without destroying the planes aerodynamic properties. That will be V3 and up. I hope you enjoy. Tell me what you think I would love to hear the feedback. I'm trying to learn more about the game as I just recently got it to improve my design.

I don't know if you can see the images or not. But they are supposed to show the fuel and other in ship resources and the ship stats. Sorry if they do not show enough detail. I'm still trying to figure out how to do that properly.

Parts: 541

Weight: 61.6t

Height: 5.2m

Width: 16.5m

Length: 42.3m

Cost: 336,092

Runway/full Stats:

Electric charge: 9400

Liquid Fuel: 2910

Oxidizer: 2090

MonoPropelent: 100

AirIntake: 40.40 sitting still.

Max AirIntake: 133

8 R.A.P.I.E.R. Engines each with a liquid fuel fuselage with 150 fuel each.(part of the above 2910 LF)

5 Solar XL solar panels

8 Crew

2 Pilot

+Other features

Tip: fly with kerbals in the pilot seat or control from the actual cockpit. The plane gets very bad wobbles in SAS when using the drone core as a control(when I flew it with no kerbals in the cockpit to be more precise). I think it is related to the torque values in the drone control section for some reason. You will want SAS for keeping the nose steady during flight. It is essential.

One issue is the rear canards are taking damage from the engines constantly in the log. I'm not sure if there is a way to disable that or not. But it might help with lag. I have not yet seen them actually destroyed at this point thought so it doesn't seem to affect the plane realistically.

Edited January 1, 2015 by Arugela

[GusTurbo]

It's always cool to see new craft. One thing I would suggest is to simplify the design. Fewer wings, control surfaces, and canards will likely make it easier to control and less wobbly. You could also probably get rid of a lot of intakes. The biggest benefit will be a reduced part count, which will make it more fun to use.

[Arugela]

I'm technically using this to see if I can get into stable orbit on just jet mode.(This is the version going to my Uber mothership design eventually.) Then try to get it to as many orbital bodies as possible. I think I actually need some more intakes and I can actually get enough juice out of the engines to get fully into low 32k or higher orbit. It already has partially working engines at like 40km and higher I think. Or close. I just have to get those engines working at 33k with enough force to get the surface speed high enough and so far it seems that requires more air intakes.

It doesn't wobble if you control from the cockpit. It's just in SAS if it's from the mk2 drone core. It seems to have to do with the uneven torque and SAS. Flies perfectly from the cockpit though.

I also have a smaller version I will be putting up called the Kerbal Rescue drone. I'll put that up also when it's done. It's more like the original photo with only 2 engines and 20t weight.

I have added 50+ max air intake and it seems to help the more I add.

BTW, My lag basically went away when I realized I put the graphics back to full settings and put them back down to minimum.

Edited January 2, 2015 by Arugela

[Arugela]

http://www./download/kws11y1opzl5c9t/Aurora_Orbital_Explorer_Drone_Jumbo_x64_v3_mini.craft Here is the mini version! This is as scaled back as I could get! 8p BTW the point of this vehicles is to make a plane that can get into orbit with just jet power(hence the intakes) be scaled to larger sizes potentially, and do it with minimal to no clipping of parts unrealistically. So I'm adding vents to try to see how long and high I can control jets to give it power in the upper atmosphere. Ultimately, I would like to be able to control it like a plane from 33-55km with as much ease as possible. So, it needs lots of air intakes and lots of surfaces since I'm not doubling up on them anywhere. And since I'm sticking with the MK2 series atm for the body that means longer.

BTW, this is a test bed basically. I'm still learning the game but I thought maybe some people might enjoy it.

Also, what wobbles did you think it had. Mine flies perfectly if I'm not controlling it from the drone core. If the drone core is the control point it tries to shake itself to death, but only if SAS is on.

Edited January 4, 2015 by Arugela

[Slam_Jones]

I believe it's impossible to get into a stable orbit off of just jet power.

[Arugela]

I almost just did it with 225 max air intake in the last linked version. I had it at 65k one one end and 25k on the other but started goofing around and messed it up. It was a sloppy flight to boot. I'm now testing 253 air intake(Should be 255 but I accidnetly took of something.).

Edited January 4, 2015 by Arugela

[Slam_Jones]

I'm sure someone else can explain it better, but I'll put it this way: You can get your apoapsis out beyond 70k, sure, but when you get there you won't have any air intake to power the engines. As such, your periapsis will invariably still be below 70k.

Since you have Rapiers, you can switch to closed cycle, but as far as jet-power (I guess you could call it), no chance of getting into stable orbit.

[Arugela]

http://i1262.photobucket.com/albums/ii613/PicsMe101/KSP/Screenshotfrom2015-01-04010100_zps564b9018.png' alt='Screenshotfrom2015-01-04010100_zps564b9018.png'>

5 minutes past and still going strong!!

Edited January 4, 2015 by Arugela

[Arugela]

http://www./download/vn94k55182prpp4/AEIOU_NIRD_Prototype.craft <- The Latest version.

AEIOU NIRD (Aurora Explorer Interplanetary Orbital Universal Nuclear Ion Rocket Drone!)

A little slow taking off from kerbin. I did this trying to conserve fuel and weight. I could remove the second set of nuclear engines if it helped and convert it to the rapier engine pods to reduce another 10t and possibly get the plane to fly better off Kerbin. Also needs a lot more Air intake to ease exit from upper atmosphere.

125t

12 Rapier Engines

4 Nuclear engines

50 Ion engines

50400 Xenon Gas

4050 Liquid Fuel(150 per Rapier engine+)

2750 Oxidizer

400 Monopropelient

14404 Electricity

I'm still test flying this and haven't figured out how much fuel I need to get around the solar system.

NIRD Fighter (Nuclear Ion R.A.P.I.E.R. Drone!)(With VTOL)

http://www./download/er44c1eror817im/NIRD_Fighter.craft

Approx. 66t

Approx. 700 parts.

8 R.A.P.I.E.R. Engines.

33 Ion Engines

5 Basic Jets(VTOL)

1 Nuclear engine

2065 Electric Charge

7.5 Monopropelient (More needs to be added potentially. don't even have RCS items on it atm.)

2280 Liquid Fuel (1200 Dedicated for jets)

1320 Oxidizer

25200 Xenon Gas

128 Max Air intake

Approx. 20t in fuel

This is the MK1 version of the AEIOU Drone. It was built around 33 ion engines and a 66ton weight limit. It has Nuclear and Ion power for day and night burning. Jet power to get into orbit as cheaply as possibly and hopefully the ability to land and take off from EVE and any other target. If not, I will make it into one once I've actually managed to get to those targets once! 8p I've only had this game less than a month. I have used whatever calculation I've figured out in the game so far to try. Missing a lot though. I'll update these as I figure stuff out.

I'm also uncertain how good the VTOL is. It's a little laggy and hard to test outside of using it for launch and ascent. Tried to land on the hanger but failed. It is nice while going into orbit to adjust trajectory. I may change it so the two of them in front of the COM are TurboJets(or Rapiers for ascent on oxygen less planets) if needed to help with upper orbit.

MK3 NIRDm

http://www./download/63iz1s8pqy0hn00/MK3_NIRDm_Area_explosive_.craft this is a build up to an MK3 version of the other ships for potential refueling and a small orbital base. it's unsound structurally and will blow up on the runway just from it's own weight, but it makes a cool explosive radius about the size of the entire facility! 8) could be a cool idea for an interplanetary bomb.

Edited January 24, 2015 by Arugela