Is one engine enough in space?

[Rockyfelle185]

I was just randomly thinking about ksp, and since there is no friction in space, then should not one rocket be enough for a really wide space-craft if its in the middle? Of course the weight would come into account but then you could just put more rockets in the middle, right?

[Moar Boosters]

One of the smallest engines in the game is "enough" once you get into space. It'll move anything given enough time........ but time becomes the main consideration. A spaceship isn't very fun to play with if it takes you 2 hours to perform a burn, so you'll want a bit more thrust than the smallest engines provide.

[xxjetterxx]

Yep, anything goes in space, as long as it's symmetrical. For landing though, use enough engines to lift your lander off the ground.

Or, since this is ksp, use as many as you can fit on there

[sgt_flyer]

of course you can use only one rocket engine it's up to you to balance your Thrust to Weight Ratio vs ISP (ex, you can very well propel a massive vessel with a tiny engine - but it will require lots of time to change the velocity, due to the sheer mass of your vessel. most people try to have a Thrust to weight ratio of at least 0.20, in order to have playable burn times (under a 0.20 TWR you can end up with very long burn times, especially when you want to go to other planets - which is boooring to watch - as you only have physical warp when the engines are active )

[Rosco P. Coltrane]

It would certainly do. The problem with low trust is the time it takes to do anything, from going to a planet, to burning to be captured by said planet, everything becomes sooo tedious...

EDIT: Ninja'ed by like 3 or 4 guys.

[aeronaut]

One engine is enough to get the job done. However if you are worried about burn times to get the delta V you need, you may want more engines.

EDIT: Ninja-ed by more than that...

Edited October 10, 2013 by aeronaut
ninja-ed

[Rockyfelle185]

Allright, my plan was to stick a [FLUFFY BUNNIESload of engines in the middle of everything, and have to ship really wide, so if you were at the edge you would be moving with the space ship, but you would not see the engines, if you had friction that would not work, but it does in space right?

(The first question was sort of ment to be this one sorry for the confusion)

[Moderation team note, please refrain from using profanity]

[aeronaut]

Any reason for building it really wide?

[Rockyfelle185]

I dont really remember it currently, but for some reason I needed to do that, and it would be look nice only having engines in the middle.

[aeronaut]

Fair enough haha, depending on what your final mass is you may want to consider using more than one engine. For reference if your mass is 6t a single LV-N will give you 1000m/s in 94 seconds, 12t would take 188 seconds 24t 375 seconds.

Edited October 10, 2013 by aeronaut
Added actual times for each burn

[Monger]

One of the Problems of slow acceleration is: some manoeuvres are impossible to do. Sometimes you have a short window e.g. to perform a swing-by, and for this you need a lot of burst at a specific point.

Besides this, you are right. You could pack up your starship with a single ion drive, and given enough fuel and enough time you can reach any point in the Kerbol system.

[Rockyfelle185]

Yes, but as said in my previous post before my previous post, what I now want to know is if I can put very many rockets in the middle of everything but none at the edges, which are very far away

[Hodo]

Yes, but as said in my previous post before my previous post, what I now want to know is if I can put very many rockets in the middle of everything but none at the edges, which are very far away

You can.. where you place your rockets doesn't matter. What matters is the Center of Thrust (CoL) runs through your Center of Mass (CoM).

[Cupcake...]

You can.. where you place your rockets doesn't matter. What matters is the Center of Thrust (CoL) runs through your Center of Mass (CoM).

I've got a real soft spot for single engine craft....

[zxczxczbfg]

Once you're in a stable-ish orbit, thrust is really no object. Otherwise, the PB-ION and LV-N engines would have no use whatsoever.

[Mr Shifty]

On a wide ship, the far flung parts still have inertia. You'll get flexing and bending when you thrust, and if you've got large thrust and/or haven't properly strutted your vessel, you can snap parts off. It's not friction, but inertia that causes the flexing.