Is asparagus the best staging system? (might contain science)

[Jodo42]

I am speechless. Whoever came up with that is a genius. Who made that? I'd say honor the inventor by naming it <Name>-Staging.

Originally invented by reddit user captncraig. He referred to it as blowtorch staging.

http://www.reddit.com/r/KerbalSpaceProgram/comments/2gl1oj/i_call_it_blowtorch_staging/

[Red Iron Crown]

Originally invented by reddit user captncraig. He referred to it as blowtorch staging.

http://www.reddit.com/r/KerbalSpaceProgram/comments/2gl1oj/i_call_it_blowtorch_staging/

Thanks for finding this. Poking around that reddit, it looks like the gif I linked was made by redditor wheresmydanish, inspired by captncraig's proof of concept.

[Teutooni]

That's asparagus in an odd shape.

Well, it's a combination of twisted candle and asparagus. Not just asparagus in an odd shape...

[Red Iron Crown]

Well, it's a combination of twisted candle and asparagus. Not just asparagus in an odd shape...

No. Twisted candle is dropping one tank at a time, that's the whole point and reason it's a bit more efficient than asparagus. Dropping tanks in pairs is asparagus, though the shown configuration resembles twisted candle physically.

[Teutooni]

The way I think of asparagus staging is all engines firing, staging happening around the ship. Parallel/onion staging -> all engines firing, staging going from outside to inside. Twisted candle -> all engines firing, staging going along the length of the ship from bottom to up. The staging in my video is doing staging both around the ship (asparagus) and along the length of the ship (candle), again all engines firing. So in a sense it's a 2D hybrid of asparagus/candle. You could even do 3D staging doing all of the above simultaneously.

The issue of dropping 2 tanks each stage is only to preserve symmetry. With all tanks arranged along the length of the ship it is already symmetric, so you only need to drop one tank in twisted candle staging. The amount of dropped tanks is a necessary feature but not a defining one, imo.

Edited October 11, 2014 by Teutooni

[TimePeriod]

I judge in the number of parts used, not the amounts of dV or tW ratio.

[Red Iron Crown]

The way I think of asparagus staging is all engines firing, staging happening around the ship. Parallel/onion staging -> all engines firing, staging going from outside to inside. Twisted candle -> all engines firing, staging going along the length of the ship from bottom to up. The staging in my video is doing staging both around the ship (asparagus) and along the length of the ship (candle), again all engines firing. So in a sense it's a 2D hybrid of asparagus/candle. You could even do 3D staging doing all of the above simultaneously.

The issue of dropping 2 tanks each stage is only to preserve symmetry. With all tanks arranged along the length of the ship it is already symmetric, so you only need to drop one tank in twisted candle staging. The amount of dropped tanks is a necessary feature but not a defining one, imo.

I think of it in terms of how quickly the design sheds empty tanks. For parallel staging (all engines firing) in order of decreasing efficiency:

1 tank dropped at a time = twisted candle

2 tanks dropped at a time = asparagus

>2 tanks dropped at a time = onion