Place-Anywhere 7 Linear RCS Port

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Revision as of 23:42, 10 April 2013 by Elembis (talk | contribs) (Thrust is now the same as for the RCS block.)
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The Linear RCS Port is used for spaceship rotation and translation movement and is fueled by FL-R25 RCS Fuel Tank. The Linear RCS Port has the same thrust as the RV-105 RCS Block but is only capable of thrusting in one direction. This part is only available in the paid version of KSP, though non-stock parts with equivalent functionality are available for the demo.

Usage

RCS thrusters are used to rotate and translate the ship, and can do so outside of the atmosphere unlike canards and control surfaces. They need fuel from an RCS Fuel Tank but do not need to be placed on the tank itself, unlike the larger engines. When you don't want to spend fuel you can toggle the RCS thruster system on and off with the R key. RCS thrusters work together with the Command Pod's reaction wheels and the Advanced S.A.S. system.

The little cold gas thrusters are still powerful enough to be used instead of liquid engines for major orbit changes with smaller ships. This capability will be useful for docking (partially implemented). For adjusting heading, it is helpful to have the S.A.S. on to prevent unwanted rotation.

The positioning of your RCS thrusters is very important. They should be placed as far from the centre of mass as possible to give them maximum leverage (except for version 0.18.1 where they are more effective the closer they are to the center of mass, see change log). You should mount at least 4 RCS thrusters around the nose and tail of large rockets. Beware, they will be fatally damaged if they brush against the ground.

RCS Thrusters seem to prevent RT-10 Solid Fuel Boosters from overheating, even when offline.

Description

In real life, RCS stands for Reaction Control System. It is used to control the attitude of a spacecraft.

A linear port rcs thruster.

Reaction Systems Ltd.

Changes

0.18.2
  • Nominal performance increased, bug providing vastly superior linear performance removed.
0.18
  • Thrust reduced from 3 to 1 kN; retextured; given Isp values and actual mass.
0.15.2
  • (undocumented) Thrust reduced from 10 to 3, bringing part Isp in line with the RV-105 RCS Block
0.15.0
  • Initial Release