Hii, i am bit confused about which engine and fuel should i use for greatest efficiency. It is not like am not able to get to the orbit or other planet but i do it by just random guessing.
If someone could teach me about when and which engine and fuel should i use for better efficiency.
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136 Thelegitpilot13Pinned 5.1 years ago
Ok, here’s what I know:
Kerolox: great for getting stuff off of the ground, not much else. Heavy, but energy packed (best used for 1st stages, or on small stages)
Hydrolox: efficient, lightweight, and versatile (used on all stages)
Methalox: Similar to Kerolox, but much more efficient. It’s lighter than Kerolox, but heavier than Hydrolox, with a power density in between both. (1st stages, small stages, or BFRs if you’re ballsy)
LH2: The lightest fuel source available. Used solely for nuclear engines. EXTREMELY efficient, but not very powerful (only vacuum/deep space missions, as the radiation would be trapped in the atmosphere)
Water: Also used solely for nuclear engines. Much cheaper, but much heavier. Also used to drink.
Monoprop: Used solely for control, or sometimes for low powered engines (small sats, RCS)
Solid: Simple mechanism: you push the button, it goes. No throttle control, but powerful. (mainly used for extra boosters or retrorockets)
Xenon: much like nuclear engines, but this is the most efficient fuel type available. Though, with its efficiency, it has very minimal thrust, and can only accelerate slowly, but surely (usually used on deep space missions)
Batteries: electricity for all of your electric needs. The only true replenishable power source. (Wheels, gyroscopes, ion engines)
Jet Fuel: also known as Kerosene, or Jet A-1, it’s used for jet engines. Not that hard to figure out.
I personally don’t know that much about the engines aspect of it, though I know someone here must know more. I can look it up sometime else. -
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198 Nerfenthusiast5.1 years ago
this video covers combustion cycles pretty well while also being simple. @Anand
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198 Nerfenthusiast5.1 years ago
there is a lot covered in it and positives and negatives might not be enough @Thelegitpilot13
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136 Thelegitpilot135.1 years ago
@Nerfenthusiast or just do what I did and make a short list of the positives and negatives of each.
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198 Nerfenthusiast5.1 years ago
a full flow staged combustion cycle engine is the most Powerful I will find a video that explains combustion cycles in very simple terms and post the link tomorrow
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7,823 SmurfResearchX5.1 years ago
great explanation - you can also check how efficient each type will be by looking at the TWR and Delta V while changing fuel types to see which one will give you enough thrust to lift off, or enough km/s to reach a target...those 2 numbers help me alot with the size of the tanks
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136 Thelegitpilot13+1 5.1 years ago
@Anand no problem!
@MarioG I did forget to mention that. Thanks for reminding me. I’ll edit my post to have that.
You could probably make something about the engines, as I don’t know too much about engine types and the like. -
916 Noobiebub+2 5.1 years ago
@Thelegitpilot13 thank you sooooo much dude. This is really very helpful for me and also for those who are bit confused like me about engines..
Much appreciated that you took out some time and helped me.
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@Thelegitpilot13 good stuff but you missed the most important part of the three main fuels Keralox is the densest, Hydrolox is the least dense and methalox is the goldilox inbetween.
This density means that keralox is good for smaller stages or for stages with need power amd density. Hydrolox is extremely efficient but necessitates large tanks. methalox is inbetween with size and efficiency. LH2 while being the most efficient liquid fuel is extremely low density. Also the most efficient engine power cycle would be full flow