Shadownailshot Posted September 19, 2012 Share Posted September 19, 2012 Yeah but we will only be able to time warp to 4x with physics for now. Considering real ion engines burn for weeks/months at a time...i dont think that would help in the slightest.Yes but aren't they adding up to 10x physical time warp later on? It doesn't matter really, we have NERVA for now, we'll see what they do later. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AmpsterMan Posted September 19, 2012 Share Posted September 19, 2012 I have spent the whole day reading about NERVA engines and nuclear prupolsion in general. I have to say, these Nuclear engines have definitley stolen the show for me when it comes to this update. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nivvydaskrl Posted September 19, 2012 Share Posted September 19, 2012 (edited) Imagine how low the thrust will have to be to balance out an ion engine though...the NERVA engine that Nova showed has 80(newtons? what is the unit of thrust they are using?) of force, and that was for balance reasons, for an ISP of 800s. If we get ISP in the neighborhood of 4000s, how low will the thrust have to be for balance? 4? 5?I typically think of it in terms of metric tons for weight, and kilonewtons for thrust.Well, note that the NERVA is a 1-meter part. I think that an ion engine could be a 2-meter part with a much higher weight but similar thrust to the NERVA -- that would allow a usable amount of thrust to remain, but would decrease the thrust-to-weight ratio. A 2-meter NERVA could then be added with similar weight, but lower efficiency and a higher thrust.Examples off the top of my head would be:Weight = 8Thrust = 60Isp = 4000Weight = 8Thrust = 400Isp = 800or something to that effect. I'm at work, so can't load up the game and see what existing parts are hanging around to compare to, but these are just off-the-cuff examples.EDIT: A one-meter ion engine could be a high-efficiency, high-weight version of the current landing engine. The current landing engine has a thrust of 20, a vacuum Isp of 400, and a weight of 0.5. Bump the weight to 2.5, raise the Isp to 4000, and leave the thrust the same, and it starts to look appropriate; the weight can even be increased further to 3 or 3.5 for balance, and it can be justified by saying it has a built-in nuclear reactor or nuclear thermoelectric generator to provide the electrical power. Edited September 19, 2012 by nivvydaskrl Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shadownailshot Posted September 19, 2012 Share Posted September 19, 2012 EDIT: A one-meter ion engine could be a high-efficiency, high-weight version of the current landing engine. The current landing engine has a thrust of 20, a vacuum Isp of 400, and a weight of 0.5. Bump the weight to 2.5, raise the Isp to 4000, and leave the thrust the same, and it starts to look appropriate; the weight can even be increased further to 3 or 3.5 for balance, and it can be justified by saying it has a built-in nuclear reactor or nuclear thermoelectric generator to provide the electrical power.I would think that the NTG would provide more than enough power. Or solar panels. You could even go so far as to say that the crew module has piezoelectric generators in it. Although I don't think Kerbals would be able to work out that concept. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheProdigy Posted September 19, 2012 Share Posted September 19, 2012 Yes but aren't they adding up to 10x physical time warp later on? It doesn't matter really, we have NERVA for now, we'll see what they do later.Even with that, it will take much too long. And they said they want to implement 10x. Who knows if 10x is even reasonable possible without the game messing up.Anyway this is somewhat offtopic so lets end that discussion there Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shadownailshot Posted September 19, 2012 Share Posted September 19, 2012 Even with that, it will take much too long. And they said they want to implement 10x. Who knows if 10x is even reasonable possible without the game messing up.Anyway this is somewhat offtopic so lets end that discussion there I concur.Well, the two most exciting parts of this next update for me are now NERVA and the new planets. I will be first establishing a good space infrastructure in the Kerbin system, and then sending single-man orbital craft to Duna and Eve to test fuel consumption. (I already have a craft designed that worked before I found the fuel bug, and it works even better using the fuel bug). After that I will be designing more orbiters with NERVA, maybe some landers, and possibly even a permanent Duna ground-base. I don't know about orbital stations before docking comes out, the launch stage without docking would need to be massive and I'm pretty sure my computer would disagree with that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Oicani Posted September 19, 2012 Share Posted September 19, 2012 http://i.imgur.com/1cICb.pngHere's one I made earlierThat's pretty cool. Body-wise, I'd be satisfied if that's the stuff in 0.18. Definitely expecting *cough* improvements in other *cough* areas, besides planets, thoughcough Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Capt'n Skunky Posted September 19, 2012 Share Posted September 19, 2012 Seeing as 0.17 has been released, this thread will now be closed.Cheers!Capt'n SkunkyKSP Community Manager Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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