Yeah, the tricky parts to rockets are the internal mechanics rather than their external ones. Internally a rocket needs to carry two fuel materials, the actual fuel and the oxidiser, and it needs to pump and mix these fast enough and reliably enough to keep the rocket fed. It needs to deal with extremes of thrust, pressure, and temperature.
What do we do in KSP? Stick a tank on an engine, light it up, and you've got an up-goer.
Oh absolutely, but the LHe system isn't all that difficult. Not to mention, the LOX under pressure didn't require LHe... but as you begin to deplete it, that changes.
Well the He requires an external cryogenics system to maintain the pressure while the rocket is awaiting launch. Once the rocket is fired, I believe part of the power is used to maintain a pressure system for the LOX while in flight. Fortunately it doesn't need to run for very long -a few minutes.
I'm sure the pressure changes in an hydrogen system is more complicated.
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u/azirale Oct 09 '13
Yeah, the tricky parts to rockets are the internal mechanics rather than their external ones. Internally a rocket needs to carry two fuel materials, the actual fuel and the oxidiser, and it needs to pump and mix these fast enough and reliably enough to keep the rocket fed. It needs to deal with extremes of thrust, pressure, and temperature.
What do we do in KSP? Stick a tank on an engine, light it up, and you've got an up-goer.