Ion RCS Thruster

[RidingTheFlow]

When you unlock higher levels of tech tree and Ion propulsion, I think it make great sense to have ion engine which has RCS control scheme. Basically, ion version of vernor thruster.

Considering low-thrust needed and the fact that you never need them for long-time bursts, I think ion engine makes perfect use case here - especially for larger ships.

[clivman]

You do realize it would use several times the electricity of reaction wheels

[RidingTheFlow]

Yes, and...? Given that with RCS you generally need only short bursts, you just need pretty modest battery capacity (I've tested with current ion engines).

Why compare with reaction wheels anyway? Reaction wheels can't translate.

Edited September 13, 2015 by RidingTheFlow

[Coyote27]

The way I see it, they're just not going to have enough thrust to be all that useful when docking, landing, or doing otherwise maneuvering that's necessarily tight. For loose maneuvering like trajectory adjustment, why not just rotate the craft and use a main ion engine? I think it's a neat idea for space stations, if they actually needed station-keeping thrust now and then to keep their orbits stable, but in KSP they don't. So... I'm just not seeing how they'd actually be an improvement on monoprop RCS for translation and tight maneuvering, or on the existing ion engine for efficient loose maneuvering. I'm sure they'd look cool, so maybe that's something?

[passinglurker]

The way I see it, they're just not going to have enough thrust to be all that useful when docking, landing, or doing otherwise maneuvering that's necessarily tight. For loose maneuvering like trajectory adjustment, why not just rotate the craft and use a main ion engine? I think it's a neat idea for space stations, if they actually needed station-keeping thrust now and then to keep their orbits stable, but in KSP they don't. So... I'm just not seeing how they'd actually be an improvement on monoprop RCS for translation and tight maneuvering, or on the existing ion engine for efficient loose maneuvering. I'm sure they'd look cool, so maybe that's something?

I don't think we can say for sure that is the case until it's tried in practice but even still if ion doesn't work then maybe thermoelectric thrusters(resistojets or arcjets) will. Even a moderate isp improvement to 400+ with a useable amount of thrust would be enough to justify the new part

[JPLRepo]

My AmpYear mod already has ION RCS thrusters.

[RidingTheFlow]

The way I see it, they're just not going to have enough thrust to be all that useful when docking, landing, or doing otherwise maneuvering that's necessarily tight.

Why? Landing, maybe (ions have bad TWR), but not docking or maneuvering. Stock Dawn ion engines have thrust of 2.0, same as RCS ports - so they are no worse by any means. I've placed these engines where RCS ports were, and they moved ship quite nicely. All we need is RCS control scheme applied to them.

My AmpYear mod already has ION RCS thrusters.

I know this but I think someting basic like that (at least single ion vernor part) should be in stock.

Edited September 13, 2015 by RidingTheFlow