Is it worth using the nuclear engine on duna?

[Promii]

I don't know why everyone is saying LV-N is not a good lander engine. All my 2+ kerbal landers for airless worlds* use LV-Ns. Even on relatively small craft the ISP makes up for the weight and by attaching them in pairs to the sides of your lander, the length isn't an issue and you can use the bottom of the lander for a second docking port.

* I haven't been to Tylo but I suspect the TWR of the LV-N would be insufficient there.

[MBobrik]

I usually land on Duna using exclusively chutes, and return only kerbals, so I usually don't need big things like LV-N. But I am considering using it in combination with parachutes to place heavy stuff on the surface for my base. Because, basically, only LV-N can give a skycrane hover time of several minutes on Duna.

[RoboRay]

I don't know why everyone is saying LV-N is not a good lander engine. All my 2+ kerbal landers for airless worlds* use LV-Ns. Even on relatively small craft the ISP makes up for the weight and by attaching them in pairs to the sides of your lander, the length isn't an issue and you can use the bottom of the lander for a second docking port.

Because you can have a much smaller and lighter lander without using LV-Ns. Don't just look at the fuel you're burning during the landing and ascent... consider how much extra fuel you're burning on your launch and transfer stages to lift multiple heavy LV-Ns and their supporting structure. You're exponentially increasing the requirements of the previous stages by using those heavy LV-Ns for landing.

If a single LV-909 is enough to land and take off again, sticking a pair of LV-Ns on there instead isn't the best way to proceed.

Edited June 11, 2013 by RoboRay

[Crush]

How do I delete this?

You don't, because someone else might have the same question and now doesn't have to create a new thread.

[birrhan]

I don't know why everyone is saying LV-N is not a good lander engine. All my 2+ kerbal landers for airless worlds* use LV-Ns. Even on relatively small craft the ISP makes up for the weight and by attaching them in pairs to the sides of your lander, the length isn't an issue and you can use the bottom of the lander for a second docking port.

* I haven't been to Tylo but I suspect the TWR of the LV-N would be insufficient there.

Yeah, it's quite insufficient for Tylo. For starters, you need TWR >1 to slow down before you kersplat, and you need that thrust acting on enough W to yield 6000+ dv--which is a lot of W, and all the more using heavy LV-Ns. I have tried this and would not recommend it--even when TWR > 1, your deceleration burn is over 4 minutes, and from an altitude of 60 km you only have ~3 min to kill rotational velocity, otherwise you land via unplanned rapid deceleration. It may well be possible, but would have to be pretty tightly designed. I have yet to see one.