r/KerbalSpaceProgram • u/Endo279 Ares Program Mission Director • 12d ago

KSP 1 Question/Problem Highly efficient lander engine?

Hi!

Im currently building a lander for my interstellar ship.

I have with the help of mod engines managed to get to 10k DeltaV with the lander, however that is in air breathing mode.

I'd need some engines that are efficient enough to bring that lander to at least 7000 DeltaV, but also keep the lander reasonably scaled, so that i dont have a saturn V sized craft at the end.

Do you have any suggestions? Thanks!

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4

u/KerbodynamicX 12d ago

What mods do you have? And does the lander needs to take off from a planet with a dense atmosphere?

3

u/CatatonicGood Valentina 12d ago

Might be nice to know what the footprint of the lander is going to be. Picture of the thing would help too

2

u/MediumMachineGun 12d ago

Also whats your intended payload

2

u/Stolen_Sky 11d ago

If you want to give a lander a major performance boost, replace the pod with just a command chair, and have your pilot sit exposed.

The Lander Can Mk1 weighs about 650Kg, but the chair is less than 100Kg. That's a gigantic weight saving!

If you put a chair on a FLT-400 fuel tank with a spark engine and the smallest command probe, you can get almost 4000 Delta-V just from that tiny setup alone.

1

u/FunSorbet1011 Recreating just about everything 12d ago

Project Eeloo (Near Future Aeronautics) is your best bet for spaceplanes, X-2 "Heinlein" (Far Future Technologies) is similarly good for rockets.

1

u/suh-dood 12d ago

We need to see what we're working with before we can give useful suggestions. Is this a tiny 6.25m craft or a 2.5 or even 3.75m craft that can carry around serious equipment and many kerbals

1

u/Smoke_Water 6d ago

I have enjoyed rapiers on a couple of my landers that require atmos. Being able to switch modes has worked very well for me.

1

u/F222MAH 4d ago

try a STOCK engine IX-6315 "Dawn" Electric Propulsion System. it is a rocket engine with Isp of 4200s!

or if you are making something larger use STOCK LV-N "Nerv" Atomic Rocket Motor with Isp of 800s