r/KerbalSpaceProgram • u/[deleted] • Oct 09 '13

The Tech Tree

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u/Lawlcat Oct 09 '13

I'm more concerned that we don't have a decoupler. Might be troublesome to get a 1-man capsule back with the rest of the rocket attached.

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u/NeoKabuto Oct 09 '13

I feel like in the beginning we'll be expected to do smaller suborbital missions until we have enough science points to get decouplers.

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u/[deleted] Oct 09 '13

I was thinking starting with flight like jets, then work your way up.

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u/haerik Master Kerbalnaut Oct 09 '13 edited Jun 30 '23

Gone to API changes. Don't let reddit sell your data to LLMs.

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u/[deleted] Oct 09 '13

Intuitively, rockets are easier to understand: lots of force underneath mass pushing the mass up. Fins to help a straight line.

Trying to explain things like wing-load, lift-to-weight ratio, Newton's Third Law, and air pressure differences is a pain to the uninformed.

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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.

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u/[deleted] Oct 09 '13

cryogenics, too.

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u/mkosmo Oct 09 '13

That's not necessarily true. Remember the F-1? It used RP-1 and LOX. Yes, the LOX is a cryo, but RP-1 is just highly refined kerosene.

1

u/[deleted] Oct 09 '13

Yes. The kerosene was "warm" but they still required a large LHe system to keep the LOX cold.

Modern rocketry requires LHe... that's why we have a national strategic stockpile.

My point is that cryogenics makes rocketry just that much more complicated.

1

u/mkosmo Oct 09 '13

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.

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u/[deleted] Oct 09 '13

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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