Mk-55 "Thud" Liquid Fuel Engine
| Mk-55 "Thud" Liquid Fuel Engine | ||
 | ||
| Liquid fuel engine by Rockomax Conglomerate | ||
| Radial size | Radial mounted | |
| Cost | (total) | 820.00 
|
| Mass | (total) | 0.900 t |
| Drag | 0.2 | |
| Max. Temp. | 2000 K | |
| Impact Tolerance | 7 m/s | |
| Research |  Advanced Rocketry
| |
| Unlock cost | 3 500
| |
| Since version | 0.16 | |
| Part configuration | liquidEngineMk55.cfg | |
| Maximum thrust | (1 atm) | 108.20 kN |
| (vacuum) | 120.00 kN | |
| Isp | (1 atm) | 275 s |
| (vacuum) | 305 s | |
| Fuel consumption | 8.02  /s
| |
| Thrust vectoring | 8 ° | |
| 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 | |
| Packed volume | None | |
The Mk-55 "Thud" Liquid Fuel Engine is a radially mounted liquid fuel rocket engine.
Contents
Product description
| “ | After an intensive search for an engineer crazy enough to plan and build a revolutionary new engine type, researchers turned to renowned engineer Eumon Kerman, one of the top minds in the industry. He failed miserably at the job, and this is what we ended up with. Hey, at least it works well with other large (Rockomax) engines when you want more control. Sorry, no combo deals. — Rockomax Conglomerate |
” |
Usage
The Thud is a liquid fuel engine with thrust vector control that allows efficient control of the rocket during descent and landing. The Thud is fairly low-thrust. This is offset by its comparatively low weight, however. The engine has a thrust-to-weight ratio comparable to the LV-T45 "Swivel" Liquid Fuel Engine.
The low thrust and radial mounting makes a single Thud unsuitable as a main engine on most lower stages, but it can be used to augment other engines. A common use of this engine is in lander designs, as it eliminates the need to have a vulnerable engine in an easily-damaged position. The Isp of this engine is adequate, being 275 s at 1 atm and 305 s in vacuum, not far behind the LV-T30 "Reliant" Liquid Fuel Engine and LV-T45; however, it is still greatly inferior to dedicated vacuum engines, such as the LV-909 "Terrier" Liquid Fuel Engine and the RE-L10 "Poodle" Liquid Fuel Engine.
Additionally, landing legs can be mounted directly on these engines. This is an advantage shared with other radial engines: the LV-1R "Spider" Liquid Fuel Engine, the 24-77 "Twitch" Liquid Fuel Engine and the O-10 "Puff" MonoPropellant Fuel Engine.
Like the Twitch, this engine has a respectable gimbal range of 8 degrees.
Contrary to the product description, it can indeed use fuel from rocket fuel tanks that use non-Rockomax engines as well as ones from that company.
Trivia
- The Thud bears a slight resemblance to the Space Shuttle's Orbital Maneuvering System (OMS) thrusters. However, besides obvious coloration differences, the Thud uses liquid fuel and oxidizer, unlike the real life OMS thrusters which burned hypergolic bipropellant fuel.
Changes
- Remodeled and retextured
- Description changed
- Cost reduced from 850 to 800, Isp increased from 290 vacuum / 320 atmosphere to 360 vacuum / 320 atmosphere, gimbal range increased from 3° to 5°.
- Description changed
- Mass reduced from from 1.5 to 0.9, gimbal range increased to 3°, Isp curve changed from 330 vacuum/280 atmosphere to 320 vacuum/290 atmosphere, heat production increased from 300 to 350.
- Renamed 'Mark 55 Radial mount engine' to 'Rockomax Mark 55 Radial Mount Liquid Engine' (Currently Mk-55 "Thud" Liquid Fuel Engine)
- Thrust increased from 80 kN to 120 kN.
- Manufacturer changed from Jebediah Kerman's Junkyard and Spaceship Parts Co. to Rockomax Conglomerate.
- Initial Release
