LV-909 "Terrier" Liquid Fuel Engine

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LV-909 "Terrier" Liquid Fuel Engine
Part image
Liquid fuel engine by
Jebediah Kerman's Junkyard and Spacecraft Parts Co

Radial size Small
Cost (total) 390.00 Funds
Mass (total) 0.50 t
Drag 0.2
Max. Temp. 2000 K
Volume  ?
Impact Tolerance 7 m/s
Research Advanced rocketry.png Advanced Rocketry
Unlock cost 1 600 Funds
Since version 0.14
Part configuration liquidEngineLV-909.cfg
Liquid fuel engine
Maximum thrust (1 atm) 14.78 kN
(vacuum) 60.00 kN
Isp (1 atm) 85 s
(vacuum) 345 s
Fuel consumption 3.55 Units of fuel/s


Thrust vectoring 4 °
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 No
Test by staging Yes
Manually testable Yes

The LV-909 "Terrier" Liquid Fuel Engine is a 1.25m liquid fuel engine, with a high vacuum specific impulse and fuel efficiency.

Product 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 Spacecraft Parts Co

Usage

The Terrier is the first true vacuum engine unlocked in the tech tree. While its specific impulse (Isp) at sea level (85 s) is unusably low, its vacuum Isp (345 s) is significantly higher than almost any engine of its size (apart from the T-1 Toroidal Aerospike "Dart" Liquid Fuel Engine). In addition, it has the lowest mass of any 1.25m engine, lower than that of the LV-T30 "Reliant" Liquid Fuel Engine or LV-T45 "Swivel" Liquid Fuel Engine. This makes it the most efficient engine for many medium-size crafts; using a Terrier engine will help maximize available delta-V.

The Terrier is short enough that LT-1 Landing Struts can extend past it. Combined with the Terrier's thrust vectoring, this makes it a good choice for lander engines. However, the Terrier's thrust is low; for large ships, it may not provide enough thrust in high-gravity environments.

The thrust vectoring on this engine tends to be less useful than on the Swivel, due to the Terrier's reduced gimbal range and the fact that it is often used on lighter rockets, which can be turned easily by the SAS torque provided by the command pod or probe body.

Be aware that unlike the Swivel and Reliant, the Terrier does not have an alternator, meaning it cannot produce electric charge. Another source of power (even if just batteries) is therefore strongly recommended for any spacecraft that uses it.

Variants

As of version 1.6 this engine has three models that can be switched in the editor.

Shroud variant
TrussMount variant
Bare variant
The different variants of the engine
Pre-0.18 appearance
Pre-1.6 appearance

Changes

1.6
  • New model and texture
  • Added 3 variants
0.18
  • New, higher quality model applied.
0.17
  • Max thrust increased from 20 to 50; vacuum ISP reduced from 400 to 390.
0.14
  • Initial Release