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Weight


spaceman1999

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I just use whatever parts seem suitable as a dummy payload.

The reactors from Near Future Propulsion are quite heavy for example, so I used a few of those the last time I designed an SSTO.

...Stresstesting an experimental spaceplane by loading it with nuclear reactors might not be the safest thing to do. But it's quite kerbal!

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So how do you test weight capabilities of your rockets? Do you use dummy payloads or mods?

I didn't originally. For a long time, I just built something specific to the payload, eyeballing it, until it looked good enough to do a test. If it didn't make orbit, I added more boosters or something, and tried again. Trial and error, with usually only a couple of test launches needed, if that. Sometimes it was just fine as is.

With ARM, I decided to standardize my lifters, so I made test payloads with precise weights, at 50, 75, 100, 125, 150, and 200 tons. I tuned lifters to handle the 50, 100, 150, and 200 ton weights such that they could get the payload into a 150km circular equatorial orbit, with the last stage of the lifter attached with about 25% or 33% of its fuel left (for a margin of error in payload weights, or launching into more inclined orbits). Since then I've also added a 275 ton category (because one of my asteroid tugs hit that weight).

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