Aerospike: Too Good?

[purple100]

The toroidal aerospike engine weighs less than the LV-T30 and LV-T45, produces more thrust, has a better thrust to weight ratio.

1. Is there any reason to use the LV-T30 at all, then?

2. Does the gimballing of the LV-T45 outweigh the increased weight (1.5 vs aerospike\'s 1.0) and decreased TWR (133.33 vs 250)?

[vexx32]

1. Perhaps not at this point. Maybe in future. However, the Aerospike cannot have decouplers attached beneath it, or anything for that matter. As such, it requires different designs.

2. Depends. At lift-off, not usually -- you can use ASAS and winglets to correct course here. In space, thrust-vectoring engines remove the need for RCS which would otherwise be wasted on rotating and reorienting the ship

[Captain Kirk]

With 7 tanks of fuel, 2 turbofan engines and an aerospike it is possible to land and return from Minmus sooooo yes. It needs to be be a little more thirsty IMO.

[TouhouTorpedo]

Thing is, Aerospike engines actually are that good.

The thing thats missing in the game is the fact they overheat TERRIBLY, due to the fact a regular rocket nozzle can radiate heat out of the combusting gases stream, and an aerospike can\'t. which is the main reason they\'ve never seen use beyond testing. Some small rocket concepts are considering the aerospike though.

[White Owl]

I see the aerospike as being balanced later on in a campaign mode, where they could be advanced, expensive technology. Not available for your first orbits and Mun landing.

[Vostok]

But remember you can\'t stack things under an aerospike, which does make it a damn inconvenience on upper stages...

I\'d say it\'s fairly well balanced as-is. I never use it, anyway, since it\'s non-stackable.

[ultrasquid]

Thing is, Aerospike engines actually are that good.

The thing thats missing in the game is the fact they overheat TERRIBLY, due to the fact a regular rocket nozzle can radiate heat out of the combusting gases stream, and an aerospike can\'t. which is the main reason they\'ve never seen use beyond testing. Some small rocket concepts are considering the aerospike though.

Too true! I saw some tests on Youtube of aerospikes fueled by a hybrid gas-solid propane/acrylic system. The one made of steel melted and failed rather quickly. The nozzle they machined from solid graphite lasted a bit longer, but that material has its own issues (it can\'t like vibrations very much, could it?).

[Endeavour]

As is, the aerospike is the best for almost every situation. The fact that you can\'t stack it doesn\'t really balance out its awesomeness.

[Tim_Barrett]

As is, the aerospike is the best for almost every situation. The fact that you can\'t stack it doesn\'t really balance out its awesomeness.

I use it for spaceplanes, since they don\'t sit on anything in the first place.

[Endeavour]

I use it for spaceplanes, since they don\'t sit on anything in the first place.

I\'ve found that they can stand on the launch pad as well. You can orbit Minmus and return with one aerospike and four fuel tanks. Maybe you could land if you have lots of skill.

[White Owl]

Not to mention the small solid booster is over twice as good as the larger booster.

[_Aramchek_]

I never use the aerospike myself.

My designs perform better using the other engines.