Stack Separator Vs. Decoupler - Your preference ?

[Sovnheim]

Hello everybody,

I've been wondering if there was any advantage in choosing stack separators over stack decouplers...

I tend to use separators, but that is just because they look much cooler in low gravity.

Is there any actual difference ? It doesn' t seem so. Do they even count as debris ?

Thanks everyone

[Floppster]

I never use separators, mostly to keep the debris levels down.

[Zeroignite]

The only time I'd use stack seperators is if I need both cut ends to be accessible for some reason. This is really rare, and as Floppster said I don't want to add debris.

[Claw]

I love the way separators look. I like the thin profile and the way they separate.

Decouplers (because of size) also provide a nice place to hide batteries, RCS fuel, and other small stuff. Then it looks kind of neat when they fall away.

I suppose because of debris and utility, I tend to use decouplers.

[Sovnheim]

It makes sense

Well my Kerbin low orbit is starting to look like the Earth in Wall-E, anyway :S

[Wahgineer]

I actually wondered this too. I did some looking and found the one advantage, besides debris reduction, that decouplers have over separators: they're cheaper.

[Kasuha]

Decouplers are lighter and leave less debris - so when I don't need both ends clean I go for a decoupler. I only used separator once.

But there was time when I was really upset that there are no radial separators.

[Floppster]

Novasilisko made a radial separator in like five minutes or so for a thread some time ago, I'll see if i can find it....not the original thread, but here it is.

[Geschosskopf]

I prefer separators because of their entertainment value. If you set up your staging correctly, you can punctuate your stack separations with cool but harmless explosions, which incidentally eliminate the extra debris of the separator ring itself.

To do this, set up your staging like this:

....

Stage X: Upper stage engine

Stage X+1: Separator and Septratrons mounted on lower stage X+2

Stage X+2: Lower stage engine

....

So, your lower stage burns out. You hit the spacebar to drop it, pause about 1 second, then hit spacebar to ignite the upper stage engine. When you drop the lower stage, its Sepratrons move it back a safe distance from the upper stage while the blue ring of the separator coasts with the upper stage, remaining just behind the upper stage engine nozzle. Thus, when the 2nd hit of the spacebar fires the upper stage engine (you having left the throttle on), its exhaust blows the separator ring backwards at tremendous speed. The separator ring then strikes the front end of the lower stage and explodes violently often engulfing the upper stage in the fireball. However, no damage done to the upper stage and because the separator ring is destroyed, the amount of debris is the same as if you'd used a decoupler. It's a win-win

[tutrakan4e]

Separators are useful in Apollo-style missions and look cool. And theyre much shorter than decouplers.

[luizopiloto]

I use decouplers on rockets... and separators for emergency eject systems on planes...

[Shna_na]

I'll agree that separators look great, but I tend not to use them for the same reason as most people: keeping the debris levels low. I use them often when landing a rover though. Means that I can drop the rover and send the rest of the craft back into orbit, without any of it looking bad.