Launch Escape System
| Launch Escape System | ||
 | ||
| Launch Escape System by Kerbodyne | ||
| Radial size | Small | |
| Cost | (total) | 1 000.00 
|
| (dry) | 982.00
| |
| Mass | (total) | 1.125 t |
| (dry) | 0.900 t | |
| Drag | 0.2-0.3 | |
| Max. Temp. | 2700 K | |
| Impact Tolerance | 15 m/s | |
| Research |  Landing
| |
| Unlock cost | 4 500
| |
| Since version | 0.23.5 | |
| Part configuration | part.cfg | |
| Maximum thrust | (1 atm) | 666.67 kN |
| (vacuum) | 750.00 kN | |
| Isp | (1 atm) | 160 s |
| (vacuum) | 180 s | |
| Fuel consumption | 56.65  /s
| |
| Thrust vectoring | No | |
| Burn time | (1 atm) | 0.5 s |
| (vacuum) | 0.5 s | |
| Testing Environments | ||
| On the surface | Yes | |
| In the ocean | Yes | |
| On the launchpad | Yes | |
| In the atmosphere | Yes | |
| Sub-orbital | Yes | |
| In an orbit | Yes | |
| On an escape | Yes | |
| Docked | Yes | |
| Test by staging | Yes | |
| Manually testable | No | |
| Packed volume | None | |
| Solid fuel | 30
| |
The Launch Escape System (abbr. LES) is a tower which can be placed above a command pod to safely pull the crew of a rocket in case of an emergency. It behaves like a solid rocket booster as it is fuelled by solid fuel and that it can only activated once. Compared to the other solid rocket boosters the Launch Escape System has a pretty high specific impulse and thrust.
Due to the low amount of solid fuel it only fires for five seconds but because it usually only pulls itself, some accessories like parachutes and a command pod the thrust-to-weight ratio is high. For example a combination of one Mk1-2 Command Pod, for which the LES fits the best, two Mk2-R Radial-Mount Parachute and the LES itself only mass 5.38 t which results in thrust-to-weight ratio of 14 on Kerbin.
Manufacturer's description
| “ | This super heavy tower is designed to wrench the command pod up and away from a malfunctioning rocket. — Kerbodyne |
” |
Changes
- 0.23.5 (projected)
- Initial release
