Solid fuel only Tanks?

[spaceweezle]

Maybe I'm going blind, senile, or both, but I can't see any Solid fuel tanks for use with the LVN-Nerv engine.

All the standalone tanks have Oxidizer included, which is obviously a waste and unnecessary weight. Are we supposed to drain the Oxidizer through custom staging or something?

[spaceweezle]

Okay I see it. It's in 'Aviation' lol.

[DaftCanuck]

Yeah you could absolutely drain out the oxidizer from the normal tanks. That would work and reduce the weight.

[spaceweezle]

Originally posted by DaftCanuck:

Yeah you could absolutely drain out the oxidizer from the normal tanks. That would work and reduce the weight.

That's pretty cool. Thanks for clarifying.

I'm not sure yet what the best application would be for those. The engines themselves are quite heavy.

[arjensmit79]

Yes, the nuclear engines are very heavy but have an extemely high ISP.
The following factors make really good application for them:

-Refueling in space so the cost of getting these heavy engines in orbit doesn't matter much anymore.
-Burns done in orbit around the sun. The very low TWR means a burn can take 10 or 20 minutes. That is not convenient when in orbit of a planet or moon. (although you can split the burn over multiple orbits). Its better for burns done in orbit around the sun.
-Far away missions. The plus side is that you can get insanely high delta-v numbers with these engines trough their exceptional specific impulse.

But don't try to stack these engines so that you have a TWR of 1 or so. That totally ruins their strength and magnifies their weakness.

[spaceweezle]

Originally posted by arjensmit79:

Yes, the nuclear engines are very heavy but have an extemely high ISP.
The following factors make really good application for them:

-Refueling in space so the cost of getting these heavy engines in orbit doesn't matter much anymore.
-Burns done in orbit around the sun. The very low TWR means a burn can take 10 or 20 minutes. That is not convenient when in orbit of a planet or moon. (although you can split the burn over multiple orbits). Its better for burns done in orbit around the sun.
-Far away missions. The plus side is that you can get insanely high delta-v numbers with these engines trough their exceptional specific impulse.

But don't try to stack these engines so that you have a TWR of 1 or so. That totally ruins their strength and magnifies their weakness.

Would having three Nerv's on a tri-coupler be that bad for a efficiency?

I get that it's a drag to haul them into orbit, but like you said, once they are in VAC they become supremely efficient.

Was considering building a light detachable science lander using this configuration to fly around Mun/Minmus for surface samples.