Sylvie Willis
Fuel tanks are an essential component of the Kerbal Space Program, used to contain and provide fuel to engines and consumers. The game features tanks for four different fuel mixtures: liquid fuel and oxidizer, liquid fuel alone, monopropellant, and Ore. The volume of a cylindrical fuel tank can be calculated using a specific formula, and the tanks can be insulated to prevent cryogenic fuels from boiling too quickly. Players can mount additional fuel tanks and transfer their contents to a central tank, creating an asparagus staging system. Advanced Tweakables settings allow players to set different tank priorities and manage fuel flow across decouplers. Understanding fuel tank mechanics is crucial for efficient rocket design and successful space exploration within the Kerbal Space Program.
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What You'll Learn
Setting fuel tank priorities
In Kerbal Space Program, you can set fuel tank priorities to determine the order in which they drain. This is particularly useful when you want to use specific fuel tanks for certain engines, or when you want to jettison empty tanks one at a time.
To set fuel tank priorities, you can follow these steps:
- Enable "Advanced Tweakables" in the options menu. This will allow you to adjust the fuel flow priority for each tank.
- Right-click on a fuel tank to access the Fuel Flow Overlay. This will show you how fuel is currently being drained from the tanks.
- Adjust the fuel flow priority for each tank by assigning a higher number to the tank you want to drain first. The game will then draw fuel from the tank with the highest priority first.
- Ensure that fuel tanks are attached directly to one another or crossfed through an enabled separator or decoupler. Flow priority only works between directly connected tanks or those explicitly crossfed.
- Be mindful of fuel types and compatibility. Solid rocket boosters, for example, cannot have their fuel flow changed, as they use solid fuel instead of liquid fuel.
By setting fuel tank priorities, you can control the order in which your fuel tanks drain, allowing you to optimize your spacecraft's performance and achieve your mission goals more efficiently.
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Using liquid fuel with solid boosters
Solid rocket boosters are typically used in the first stage of a rocket when high thrust is needed to get a heavy rocket off the ground. They are quite challenging to steer and have low fuel efficiency, so they are usually jettisoned as soon as they burn out. Solid boosters are also very cost-effective, as they have a good thrust-to-weight ratio for getting rockets off the ground without the need for an extra fuel tank.
Liquid fuel engines, on the other hand, come in two forms. The typical use for these engines in space requires a mix of liquid oxygen and liquid fuel, which are contained in separate tanks that need to be attached. Liquid fuel engines also allow you to set priority on the tanks so that one set drains first before the other.
If you're using solid boosters with a liquid fuel tank on top, you'll need to attach a liquid fuel engine to the fuel tank and remove the booster. It's important to note that solid boosters use solid fuel, not an oxidizer/liquid fuel mix, so your boosters may not be able to use the liquid fuel. Additionally, solid boosters have a set flow, and it's not possible to change their fuel source or transfer fuel to other tanks.
To set the priority of your fuel tanks, you can activate advanced tweakables in the options menu. This will allow you to set different tank priorities and ensure that fuel is flowing from the tanks to the boosters. You may also need to allow crossfeed on decouplers for fuel to flow from radial to core.
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Fuel tank volume and capacity
Fuel tanks are used to store fuel in a spacecraft in Kerbal Space Program. There are five different kinds of fuel in the game: Methalox, Methane, Monopropellant, Xenon, and Hydrogen. These fuels are used by engines to propel spacecraft through the air or space. All fuel tanks have a 9:1 wet/dry mass ratio, meaning they are 9 times heavier when full than when empty. This sets an upper limit to the amount of delta-v a single stage can provide.
The volume of a cylindrical fuel tank can be calculated using the formula: Volume = π * radius^2 * height. For example, the Rockomax X200-16 Fuel Tank has a height of 1.84 meters and a radius of 1.25 meters, resulting in a total volume of 9032.1 litres (9.0321 m³). The FL-T200 Fuel Tank, with a height of 1.1105 meters and a radius of 0.625 meters, has a volume of 1362.8 litres (1.3628 m³).
The in-game fuel capacity of a tank can be determined by dividing the volume by the fuel density. For instance, the Rockomax X200-16 has a capacity of 177.15 units/m³, while the FL-T200 has a capacity of 146.78 units/m³. The fuel density is calculated assuming a volumetric usage efficiency, as the entire volume of the tank is not used due to the presence of rounded ends and thick walls.
Additionally, players can set priorities for fuel tanks to determine the order in which they are drained. This can be done by activating advanced tweakables in the options and adjusting tank priorities accordingly.
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Fuel tank insulation
Fuel tanks in Kerbal Space Program are used to store fuel in a spacecraft. There are five different kinds of fuel in the game: Methalox, Methane, Monopropellant, Xenon, and Hydrogen. These fuels are used by engines to propel spacecraft through the air or space. Most fuels are directly ejected out of the back of the craft to accelerate, while air-breathing engines burn methane using ambient oxygen to propel air using turbines.
In the stock game, there are tanks for four different fuel mixtures: liquid fuel and oxidizer in the usual ratio of 9:11; liquid fuel alone, for use by jet engines in oxygenated atmospheres or by the "Nerv" Atomic Rocket Motor; monopropellant (without any oxidizer), usually used for RCS; and Ore, which can be processed into liquid fuel, liquid fuel and oxidizer, or monopropellant with a converter.
The distribution of fuel through the rocket depends on the type of fuel. While xenon gas and monopropellant are available everywhere in the craft without additional plumbing, engines using liquid fuel and oxidizer need to be attached to the tank, with only fuel crossing parts between them.
Liquid fuel and oxidizer are stored under slight pressure in special fuel tanks to prevent them from vaporizing, as they require extremely low temperatures to remain in a liquid state. The tanks can also be insulated to keep the cryogenic fuels from boiling away too quickly.
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Mounting additional fuel tanks
In Kerbal Space Program, mounting additional fuel tanks radially with or without decouplers is possible. Their contents can be transferred to a central tank using fuel lines. This setup can be used to construct an asparagus staging system, where the outer tanks are drained first and discarded once empty, while the central tank remains full. This strategy can be challenging to execute with very large rockets, as the outer layers of rocket engines must be kept running long enough to ensure the rest of the rocket can reach orbit after they stop providing thrust.
To manage fuel flow between tanks, players can enable Advanced Tweakables in the options. This unlocks the ability to set different tank priorities, allowing players to control the order in which tanks are emptied. For example, setting a higher flow priority for a tank will cause it to be emptied before tanks with lower flow priorities. Additionally, players must allow crossfeed on decouplers for fuel to flow from radial to core tanks.
It is important to note that solid rocket boosters have fixed fuel flow and cannot transfer fuel to or from other tanks. They are fuelled by solid fuel, not an oxidizer/liquid fuel mix used by normal engines. Therefore, it is crucial to ensure fuel compatibility when dealing with solid boosters.
The distribution of fuel through the rocket depends on the type of fuel. Xenon gas and monopropellant, for instance, are available throughout the craft without additional plumbing. In contrast, engines using liquid fuel and oxidizer must be attached to the tank, with only fuel crossing parts between them.
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Frequently asked questions
You can set priority on the tanks so that one set drains first before the other. If Advanced Tweakables are enabled, then fuel tanks will have a "Flow Priority" option. If an engine can draw fuel from multiple tanks, then the tanks with higher flow priority will be emptied first.
You can enable Advanced Tweakables in the options menu.
No, boosters use solid fuel, not an oxidizer/liquid fuel mix.
A fuel tank is a dedicated part to contain fuels and provide it to the appropriate reaction engines or consumers.
You need to attach a liquid fuel engine to the fuel tank and remove the booster or just remove the fuel tank.
