Do engines generate more heat in full sun?

[FlamedSteak]

I noticed the other day that a cluster of three LV-1's seemed to get closer to overheating when purpendicular to the sun. However my next burn with them behind the shadow of the space craft they only got to three quaters before stabalising.

Is heat from the sun modelled that well? Or am I just imagining things?

[Brotoro]

I would be surprised if that is modeled in the program.

[NASI Director]

Was the thrust the same? Were there different amounts of engines around? Anyway, I would think that in the early stages of development that the sun doesn't have heat yet, but instead the planets that you may or may not have been burning around.

[bigdad84]

I can second this. I noticed my nuclear engine when doing the burn out of Kerbin influence was barely overheating but when doing an orbital insertion burn at Moho the engine overheated much more than usual.

[Motokid600]

Does a thermometer pick up light/shadow temp swing?

[FlamedSteak]

Was the thrust the same? Were there different amounts of engines around? Anyway, I would think that in the early stages of development that the sun doesn't have heat yet, but instead the planets that you may or may not have been burning around.

It was the same ship and they were both trans-orbital burns between Kerbin and Duna. I only noticed it because my LV-N's were getting incredibly close to complete failure, so I obviously thrusted back a little to cool them down.

Edited June 12, 2013 by FlamedSteak

[UNSC]

I remember when Moho had a hot atmosphere, so I think this may be true.

[entaran]

as far as I've been able to tell it does this too. I've noticed it enough that I stopped using LV-N's lol. Also I kinda think LV-N's are cheating a bit so I do everything (including interplanetary transfers) with less efficient engines.

[stupid_chris]

as far as I've been able to tell it does this too. I've noticed it enough that I stopped using LV-N's lol. Also I kinda think LV-N's are cheating a bit so I do everything (including interplanetary transfers) with less efficient engines.

Why would LV-Ns be cheating? They exist in real life and work properly, their stats in KSP aren't boosted either, it's actually really balanced with real life. You are free to do what you want, there's no "cheating" in KSP because there's no competition, but if you don't want to use them it's up to you. I'm just intrigued at why you consider them unfair to the game.

[Temstar]

Does a thermometer pick up light/shadow temp swing?

Yes it does, observe:

Here is the thermometer on my Kerbol probe, hidden in the penumbra of the sun shield.

Here it is again, this time with the probe turned so that the thermometer is directly facing the sun.

[Brotoro]

Experimentation is the mark of a true scientist. Excellent!

[Sapphire]

Yes it does, observe: -snip-

I find it funny, though, how you can be right up in the sun's face, with nothing bad happening.

[ThePyrateCaptain]

Don't know about in the game, but the 302 in my galaxy 500 sure the hell does!

[entaran]

Why would LV-Ns be cheating? They exist in real life and work properly, their stats in KSP aren't boosted either, it's actually really balanced with real life. You are free to do what you want, there's no "cheating" in KSP because there's no competition, but if you don't want to use them it's up to you. I'm just intrigued at why you consider them unfair to the game.

because they're approximately 9 times better than the next nearest competitor.

[MBobrik]

because they're approximately 9 times better than the next nearest competitor.

.

actually, more like 2.05 times better ... at the cost of miserable TWR, huge mass, and general unwieldiness.

.

I think they are quite balanced.

[entaran]

But the game seems balanced around using them for all interplanetary work. Tried to burn from Kerbin to Jool without them recently? It's an exponential level of difficulty harder.

[stupid_chris]

But the game seems balanced around using them for all interplanetary work. Tried to burn from Kerbin to Jool without them recently? It's an exponential level of difficulty harder.

Yes because no one does interplanetary burns with with regular chemical rockets. It's way too expansive on fuel. Almost all the concepts for mars colonization would use the NERVA engine, after which the LV-N is based. Pretty much all the probes the exited Earth's gravitational influence used multiple gravity assists cause a NERVA is too heavy for them and else it's just too much fuels.

Nuclear engines are built for interplanetary travel. That's what they were trying to do when they engineered them, it's normal that IP in the game is based off them because it's pretty much the same in real life. IP is costy and if you want to do it, you either have to be very clever on gravity assists and aerobraking maneuvers or have a ridiculously efficient engine.

[hyperformer]

I would be really excited if this was added into the game with me not knowing, I'm not really sure if it is but yay

[TheCanadianVendingMachine]

Don't know about in the game, but the 302 in my galaxy 500 sure the hell does!

The LV-N's are a real concept which was going to be used for Apollo, although they didn't want the astronauts to get cancer...

[Motokid600]

Yes it does, observe:

Here is the thermometer on my Kerbol probe, hidden in the penumbra of the sun shield.

Here it is again, this time with the probe turned so that the thermometer is directly facing the sun.

those values seem strange. Why is it 14 ( c or f? ) in the sun. Isn't it around a 500 degree temp swing?

[Levelord]

Yes it does, observe:

Here is the thermometer on my Kerbol probe, hidden in the penumbra of the sun shield.

Here it is again, this time with the probe turned so that the thermometer is directly facing the sun.

That probe looks so ridiculously sexy, that I've made my own version look-alike in my KSP.

I kinda think LV-N's are cheating a bit so I do everything (including interplanetary transfers) with less efficient engines.

Next I'll start seeing people saying that using oxidizer is cheating, so they'll limit themselves to only using rocket fuel.

Edited June 12, 2013 by Levelord

[OrbitusII]

Yes it does, observe:

-snip-

Here is the thermometer on my Kerbol probe, hidden in the penumbra of the sun shield.

-snip-

Here it is again, this time with the probe turned so that the thermometer is directly facing the sun.

That's really interesting... I've been working on a plugin that models the solar heating better, and there's an In-Development build out right now if you want to try it out.

Ze link: http://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/showthread.php/25420

[FlamedSteak]

Tested this with a high orbit sat around kerbin. There was about a 30-40 degree swing between light and shade in full sun and a 200 degree swing when you got in the shadow of Kerbin.