Print

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length

[Sean Mirrsen]

The 909 has less thrust than the NERVA. NERVA has 60kN, 909 has 50kN.

And while Skipper is a more controllable ascent solution, especially in a fuel crossfeed configuration with LFBs, the Mainsail is still pretty much the definitive ascent engine. There's no better engine to put on the bottom of a tall fuel tank stack. It's the best way to clear the lower atmosphere quickly.

Plus don't forget the Aerospike. While normally thought of as a spaceplane engine, it makes for very good LFBs if the center stack is gimballed. It's heavier than the T30 and has less thrust, but its fuel efficiency at sea level is unparallelled.

[Putnam]

You don't want to clear if quickly, just efficiently, and skippers are better at that :I

though I guess if you really want effective in atmosphere, you just go with a very large number of jets

[Girlinhat]

Skipper's probably better for ascent if you're not desperate for thrust.

Skipper and Mainsail are -sorta- the LT-30 and LT-45 of 3m.  If you're going to use a Skipper, you might as well use a quad connector and 4 LT-30's if you ask me.

[Sean Mirrsen]

Yeah, the Mainsail is for when you have an exceedingly heavy center stack, and the Skipper just doesn't cut it for when the boosters are gone.

[Putnam]

Skipper's probably better for ascent if you're not desperate for thrust.

Skipper and Mainsail are -sorta- the LT-30 and LT-45 of 3m.  If you're going to use a Skipper, you might as well use a quad connector and 4 LT-30's if you ask me.

I'm using a quad connector and 4 skippers connected to a mainsail...

[Sean Mirrsen]

I use that configuration as the launch stage for my space tug.

Spoiler: And later, this thing (click to show/hide)

[LordSlowpoke]

though I guess if you really want effective in atmosphere, you just go with a very large number of jets

if you're slamming 100+ tons into orbit i see no reason to not use ludicrous jet abuse

give it warmup time and you'll be running out of atmosphere without even touching the main lift stage

[BFEL]

And if you really, REALLY want fuel efficiency you just throw jeb in a FTL-Egg.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8EZWbF3sQQI

[Graknorke]

Wow, okay.
I designed a small probe for going to the mun and Minmus. It generally gets there with some of the stage used to get it there. Whatever, I generally just dump it and let it crash. So I then have another stage of just a FLT800 and a T45 to deorbit and assist with decelerating before the probe lands. On this particular mission to Minmus I decidied to try out the metrics equipment (thermometer etc) on the probe. And just because I had enough fuel left, I landed using the deorbit stage still attached. After I had transmitted all of the science available, I decided to see if I could return to Kerbin.
When I was trying to establish an orbit I way overshot and ended up in a very erratic Kerbin orbit.
That made me wonder just how much DV I had left over. So I figured I'd try some interplanetary stuff for the first time in career mode.

I ended up making it to Duna, and the entire landing was conducted using only the probe itself. It has hardly any fuel left, but hey, I got an extra 800 science or so.

[Krevsin]

I am filled with new-found respect for small engines in 0.22

I use craft with the large crew modules and propel them to my space station using only the 48-7S engine. It's small and slow, but it makes orbital maneouvering so much more manageable and allows me to go stingy on fuel supply.

One thing that hasn't changed, though, is my attitude towards probes. I tend to not use them unless they are rovers. I try to make all the trips return or I try setting up a base and working from there (usually, I send a return vehicle and an ascent vehicle, similar to Mars Semi-Direct. This mostly applies to other planets, for moons, just a simple rescue craft will do)

[Graknorke]

The only places where rovers are useful for science currently are Kerbin and the Mun, since they're the only ones with distinct biomes.

[Krevsin]

I know, but I just think that rovers on Duna look so friggin' cool....

Not to mention they compliment my accidental Kerbal Colonies verily.

[Facekillz058]

If you use kethane a mobile drill rig is handy if you can't land accurately worth a damn.

[WillowLuman]

I've never been able to get anything large into orbit, except when I do and it doesn't have enough fuel left to do what it was supposed to

You people are wizards

[Sean Mirrsen]

I've never been able to get anything large into orbit, except when I do and it doesn't have enough fuel left to do what it was supposed to

You people are wizards

Considering that many of my rocket designs take a while to prepare, are completely batshit insane, and very frequently result in fireballs, that's probably not too far from the truth.

In other news... so. Procedural Fairings. Recently introduced the Interstage Adapter.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Interstage Adapter? More like Custom Fuselage Shroud.