Nukes? science?!

[RocketScientistsSon]

I have two questions:

I have heard talk of using nuclear power? Say what? Where is this in the game? Is it a mod? Have I already asked more than two questions?!?!

My second question relates to the science equipment. Whats the deal with it? Is it for later upgrades to the game or is there a functionality that I have yet to figure out? I can turn them on but thats about it...any explanation would be appreciated!

[Eric S]

I have heard talk of using nuclear power? Say what? Where is this in the game? Is it a mod?

In the stock game, there's an atomic engine (similar to the NERVA engine that was testfired decades ago) and an RTG, which is a type of electricity generator that gets used from time to time in real space missions. The engine has a very high ISP but a very low TWR, so it's mostly used for interplanetary transfers. RTGs get put on craft when solar panels would be less effective or just too much of a pain.

My second question relates to the science equipment. Whats the deal with it? Is it for later upgrades to the game or is there a functionality that I have yet to figure out? I can turn them on but thats about it...any explanation would be appreciated!

In 0.21, that's about it. In 0.22, they may get more functionality that ties into research, but I haven't heard anything on the existing science gear with regards to research and the tech tree.

[-Velocity-]

There are mods that give you nuclear reactors. The DSM mod has one, but it is very unrealistic for space exploration- no thermal panels. Alchemy Labs has a very W.I.P. mod for a nuclear reactors that does attempt to simulate the cooling aspect.

With nuclear reactors, you can make big, very long range, high delta-V nuclear ion propelled ships. Actually no mods out there have realistically-sized xenon tanks, so I had to make my own mod to give me a realistic quantity of xenon (liquid xenon is 3X denser than rocket fuel, so a tank the size of a Jumbo 64 can hold nearly 100 tons (1,000,000 units) of xenon fuel!). I'm using the nuclear reactors from the Alchemy Labs mod for these ships.

Also, I just landed a nuclear-electric airplane on Eve that has infinite endurance and range, as it's driven by a nuclear reactor that generates electricity for electric propellers (the propellers are from the Firespitter mod, and I am using the reactor from the DSM mod- since there is no need to simulate radiative cooling as the aircraft flies in a thick atmosphere). I'm hoping that the nuclear-electric airplane will be able to hoist a rocket up to a high enough altitude to get above most of the atmosphere, which is the primary challenge in launching from Eve.

Edited October 1, 2013 by |Velocity|