Quick question about torque and SAS and such

[vildar87]

I am trying to make rendezvousing and docking easier for my large tanker, so I have some questions.

So I understand that SAS is used to keep the ship on a specific heading, or going straight and such.

on small ships, when approaching, flipping around and such to move the ship, it moves around rather quickly in space. I assume that is from the torque of the pod. you can also use RCS for this as well, though that wastes mono propellant.

is there a way to make larger and heavier crafts easier to flip around as well?

such as would adding more SAS modules, which I assume means more torque, help with that, or is there really a way to do it?

any help would be greatly appreciated, thanks!

Edited September 29, 2013 by vildar87

[abihoooo]

Adding SAS modules will help a lot for rotating your ship in space.

Eventually when your ship gets to a larger size you will want to use RCS ports to make it easier to rotate.

[Tex_NL]

Yes, to rotate a heavy object you'll need a lot of torque. Torque can either be provide by RCS or reaction wheels.

RCS

Pro: light weight and can also be used for translation.

Con: limited use due to fuel requirement.

SAS/Reaction wheels

Pro: unlimited use as long as you have power. When you run completely out of power your ship is dead!

Con: No translation.

To make a long story short; Since you already have RCS for the actual docking you should not add too many more reaction wheels. Often a short burst of RCS is enough to start and stop a rotation. Especially in combination with 1 or 2 reaction wheels.

[vildar87]

all right thanks for the info, that will give me something to start with. going to add a lot more reaction wheels since the fuel tanker is rather large. just noticed I have some from a mod, so I will do some math and see what ones I have are the most efficient. so thanks for all the info and answering my questions