3DBAe Systems - Lightning IV - Air/Space Superiority Fighter

Posts

• Stormcloud2 Posts: 0Member

  July 2014 #2

  really am happy with the shape already so its still unchanged - think thats a first for one of my models - dont get me wrong went through many iterations of different wings and cannards and had tweaks to the fuselage too but all before i though it worth showing and the general shape really hasn't changed since i first laid it out
  
  anyway added some detail and the cockpit - being cel shaded rest of the detail i think would be done with textures (not an area i'm any good at but might give it a try) anyway......
• MaxxRush180 Posts: 168Member

  July 2014 #3

  

  Looks great, but it does remind me strongly of the GTF Perseus from the game Freespace 2.
• Stormcloud2 Posts: 0Member

  July 2014 #4

  gonna make an animation out of story i've concocted about space,fighters, battleships etc - gonna be called Dawns Light and here is a carrier - pretty basic design but more i thought about it a convoluted shape jsut doesn't make sense and the design has come from my interpritation on theroetical systems under development today - wanted it to have an air of believability from form following fuction obviously with afew embelishments here and there - the story will be staking place about 40 years in the future
  
  so was trying to work out how you would land a fighter on a carrier in space - would be simple under normal circumstances but in combat? circular opening seemed to make most sense gives good clearnace and uses a magnetic arrester system
  
  engines are a UDD (Ultra Dense Deuterium) deuterium/deuterium fusion rocket with magnetic nozels - with laser iginition - laser ignition and other ship systems are powered by an aneutronic hydrogen/boron dense plasma focus fusion reactor (DPF).
  
  Hydrogen is stored cyrogenically and is preheated before being used in the DPF reaction by the waste heat from UDD drive increasing operation duration, in combat excess energy from the DPF can be stored in super capacitors allowing maximum engine performance for longer durations.
  
  Sounds complicated for a spaceship model? well i actually modeled out the engine first fuel lines - heat pumps - laser igniters and power cables for them - seemed a shame to cover them up really but they would need some sort of protection - but since in my story one of these guys fairly early on gets blown up be an excuse to show off the engines!
  
  the engines are aligned with the center of the ship and with taht big hanger you gotta figure wont be on the center of mass for the ship but will be adding additional structure(weapons, comms towers etc) to the top side but for now i give you the flying box!
• Stormcloud2 Posts: 0Member

  July 2014 #5

  little update to the original fighter too
• Schimpfy396 Posts: 1,632Member

  July 2014 #6

  

  Love that fighter and the ship, while "simple" is great as well. :thumb:
• Stormcloud2 Posts: 0Member

  July 2014 #7

  little update
• spacefighter2 Posts: 0Member

  July 2014 #8

  very nice engine bells and good to see the big radiators, you're going to need them. the fighter looks good now it has some markings and despite your calling it a "flying box" the carrier is already recognisably a ship(and a plausible one too). given current launch costs and rates of development for launch vehicles i doubt we could have anything that big up there within 40 years. the technology makes sense and the use of magnetic arrester lines in battle is a cool idea, nice to see a space carrier design that respects the way space fighters would fly.
  
  as for the power source having a helium-3 product from your propulsion reaction begs the question, why not react the helium-3 with more deuterium to get more energy (if deuterium-deuterium fusion has been developed you probably already have deuterium-helium3 reactors working, the deuterium-tritium reaction has a higher cross section so needs less pressure/temperature to be ignited). performing this second stage will result in more of your product nuclei being charged so easier to steer out of the engine, than if you finished after deuterium-deuterium. you would have the following process
  first stage
  deuterium+deuterium-->(helium3+neutron) some of the time (tritium+proton) some of the time (helium4) rarely
  second stage
  deuterium+helium3-->helium4+proton
  and
  deuterium+tritium-->helium4+neutron
  
  helium4 is a really stable nucleus so if your fusion reactions can be made to result in it then you have a much larger energy released than if you finished at helium3 and tritium. using the hydrogen1-boron reaction to power the ships electrical needs seems a bit weird for power production(as opposed to propulsion) an aneutronic reaction can be bad as much of the power output from currently planned reactors will be gained by getting the output neutrons to strike and heat materials surrounding the reactor, this reaction also needs boron to be carried and gives less energy per unit mass of fuel than the reactions already taking place in the engines. you might be able to power the whole ship from the same reactor as the engine, otherwise carry some tritium and more deuterium along for a separate small power producing reactor.propulsion system diagram.png
  
  as for the latest post, nice image but is there a reason all your fighters are the same way up?
  

  propulsion system diagram.png 174.2K
• Stormcloud2 Posts: 0Member

  July 2014 #9

  its a UDD fusion (its ultra dense deuterium - would be hundreds of times denser than lead - with the nucleus being so close together fusion occurs very easily) - its pretty theoretical at the moment infact might not be able to make it and doubtful you could store it either but i'm ignoring that since its very easy to make it fuse (in theory) - the waste products from it go straight out the exhaust - there is no attempt to extract power from drive or to collect by products - would make the system much mroe complex no longer a fusion rocket so much as series of reactors - UDD amount to pellets of udd zap them with a laser inside a rocket and then repeat - simple system
  
  yes the dense plasma focus is aneutronic this is actually a big advantage in terms of waste heat and radiation issues and it genereates plenty of power and rather interestingly the power does not need to be extracted through heat exchangers and turbines saving lots of weight it comes out of the reactor as a directional electrically charged particle stream and x-ray radiation both of which convert to electricity directly http://focusfusion.org/index.php/site/index2 you can read about it here - its a very interesting technology
  
  - the helium from the hydrogen boron fusion could either be added to the main drive plasma - not sure if that would help or not - probably not - so either store it and sell it later or jsut jettison it
  
  now to the lift senario - yes these ships are constructed in orbit with amterial from asteroids etc - the spacedocks themselves were constructed shortly after SSTO launchers started providing fully resuable fast turn around access to space - with that said earths space based forces are not extensive - world wide total being in the order of about 7 space carriers and about 25 smaller military ships - wont spoil the whole story but fairly early on quite a few of those ships will be lost leaving only about 3 carriers left one of which is pretty much out of comission
  
  space navy is pretty new since colonies on mars, jupiters moons, and asteroid colonies have only started to pop up recently in responce to the rapid expansion of space industry/mining
  
  I might adjust the dates by a decade or something but not much more than that - still sorting out the timeline for the plot
• Stormcloud2 Posts: 0Member

  July 2014 #10

  another update - changed the carrier a bit to make the thrusters look better - sadly did like the vertical non symmetry but that had to go and i didn't really serve any purpose other than my aesthetic tastes
  
  you might also notice the cruiser - basically carrier without hanger and more guns - engine module essentially the same figured would make for easy manufacutring