RE-M3 "Mainsail" Liquid Fuel Engine

From Kerbal Space Program Wiki
Revision as of 21:55, 29 January 2013 by Greenjinjo (talk | contribs) (General cleanup)
Jump to: navigation, search

Template:Partbox

The Rockomax "Mainsail" Liquid Engine is used to provide thrust for larger rockets and lower stages. It is typically fueled by large diameter Liquid Fuel Tanks.


Usage

The Mainsail is the most common choice for lifting large stacks of liquid Fuel Tanks into orbit and beyond, or propelling large heavy lift vehicles. As of 0.17, this is one of only two size 2 engines, and it is the highest thrust stock part by a factor of 5. The thrust vectoring also gives it good pitch and yaw control, greatly easing first stage stability, though care must be taken to not allow Advanced S.A.S. to tear the ship apart. The high thrust of this engine, combined with thrust vectoring (TVC) can destroy poorly built rockets in the middle of ascents. Throttling down is often recommended.

The Thrust-to-Weight ratio of this engine is excellent. However, the Mainsail suffers from a rather low specific impulse, especially in a vacuum.

Description

A monster of an engine for heavy lifting purposes, the Mainsail's power rivals that of entire small nations.

Rockomax Conglomerate

Created by: NovaSilisko

Changes

0.18
  • Overheats much faster
0.17
  • (Undocumented) Renamed, thrust increased (1200 -> 1500), weight decreased (7 -> 6), new description
0.16
  • Initial Release