LV-909 "Terrier" Liquid Fuel Engine

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The LV-909 Liquid Fuel Engine is a liquid fuelled rocket engine.

Usage

The LV-909 is the second Liquid Fuel engine with thrust vector control, that allows efficient control of the rocket when it is most needed - during ascent and orbit correction burns. Despite having the same fuel specific impulse as LV-T30 and LV T-45 Liquid Fuel Engines, the much smaller and lighter LV-909 has dramatically less thrust (and longer burn time at the same fuel amount). The low thrust makes the LV-909 unsuitable as a main engine on most lower stages, but the low mass allows for more efficient upper stages. More importantly, the LV-909 is short enough that LT-2 Landing Struts can extend past it. Because of this, the LV-909 is the primary choice for lander engines in 0.14.x.

Like LV-T30 and -45, the LV-909 are not placeable on Radial Decouplers. The LV-909 must be directly below a non-empty liquid fuel tank, or fed by an fuel line to produce any thrust.

The thrust vectoring on this engine tends to be less useful than on the LV-T45, due to both the reduced gimbal range, and use on lighter rockets.

Description

The 909 model was initially received with some skepticism by spacecraft engineers, as it defied the long-standing convention that "More Power!" is always better. Despite this, the 909 series has found its place in the spacecraft construction world, being particularly useful as a final stage and landing engine.

Jebediah Kerman's Junkyard and Spaceship Parts Co.

Created by: Mrbrownce

Changes

0.18
  • Retextured
0.17
  • Max thrust increased from 20 to 50; vacuum ISP reduced from 400 to 390.
0.14.0
  • Initial Release