Space Engineers Thrusters: Types, Stats, and Damage Immunity Explained

Strap every cool block in the game onto a ship and you still end up with an expensive paperweight if the thrusters are missing. Thrusters are the engines that move the vessel, the brakes that stop it, and the reason your half-built rover can do anything other than sit on a hill. This guide walks through every thruster variant, how each one consumes power, when to favor one over another, and which blocks survive being parked behind a hot exhaust.

How Thrusters Generate Movement

A thruster pushes a ship in the direction opposite to where its nozzle points. Place one facing backward and the ship moves forward. Thrusters never apply torque on their own, so they will not rotate a vessel. Rotation comes from gyroscopes, which is a different system.

The velocity ceiling is 100 m/s (360 km/h), no matter how many thrusters are bolted on. Extra thrust just gets you there faster and lets the ship haul more mass.

Poor placement is the main reason newer players end up spinning helplessly into an asteroid. If reverse thrusters are not aligned with the center of mass, every braking attempt becomes a tailspin. Balance is more important than raw output.

The Three Thruster Types

Space Engineers ships three propulsion technologies. Each has an environment where it excels, and a serious ship usually carries at least two of them for redundancy.

Ion Thruster

An electric thruster that draws a baseline of 0.002 kW (2 W) even when idle. Power consumption scales linearly with throttle, while efficiency drops sharply as the surrounding atmosphere becomes denser. In vacuum it performs beautifully. Near sea level on an Earth-like planet it wheezes.

Best fit: deep-space mining rigs, long-haul cargo ships, anything that lives mostly outside an atmosphere.

| Variant | Grid | Dim (W,H,L) | Volume | Max Thrust | Mass | Max Power | Thrust-to-Mass | Flame | |---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---| | Ion Thruster | Large | 1,1,2 | 31.25 m³ | 345.6 kN | 4,380 kg | 3.36 MW | 79 N/kg | 6.6 m | | Ion Thruster | Small | 1,1,2 | 0.25 m³ | 14.4 kN | 121 kg | 0.2 MW | 119 N/kg | 0.69 m | | Large Ion Thruster | Large | 3,2,4 | 375 m³ | 4,320 kN | 43,200 kg | 33.6 MW | 100 N/kg | 11.9 m | | Large Ion Thruster | Small | 3,2,4 | 3 m³ | 172.8 kN | 721 kg | 2.4 MW | 240 N/kg | 1.98 m |

Hydrogen Thruster

Hydrogen units burn liquid hydrogen instead of pulling electricity. They require a Conveyor line running to a Hydrogen Tank or an O2/H2 Generator. Cut that supply and they sputter. The thrust-to-mass ratio is the highest of the three families, and these thrusters perform identically in space and atmosphere.

The catch is fuel cost. Maintaining a hydrogen fleet means juggling ice mining, electrolysis, and tank storage. They are excellent for combat ships and emergency landers, painful for long expeditions.

| Variant | Grid | Dim (W,H,L) | Volume | Max Thrust | Mass | H₂ Use | Thrust-to-Mass | Flame | |---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---| | Hydrogen Thruster | Large | 1,1,1 | 15.625 m³ | 1,080 kN | 1,420 kg | 803 L/s | 761 N/kg | 4.75 m | | Hydrogen Thruster | Small | 1,1,1 | 0.125 m³ | 98.4 kN | 334 kg | 80 L/s | 295 N/kg | 0.71 m | | Large Hydrogen Thruster | Large | 3,3,3 | 421.875 m³ | 7,200 kN | 6,940 kg | 4,820 L/s | 1,037 N/kg | 15.15 m | | Large Hydrogen Thruster | Small | 3,3,3 | 3.375 m³ | 480 kN | 1,222 kg | 386 L/s | 393 N/kg | 3.32 m |

Atmospheric Thruster

This one is the mirror image of the Ion Thruster. The denser the air, the harder it pushes. In a vacuum it does precisely nothing. Under a thick atmosphere it delivers the strongest raw thrust of the three families.

Best fit: planetside haulers, surface miners, and vehicles that take off and land without ever leaving the gravity well.

| Variant | Grid | Dim (W,H,L) | Volume | Max Thrust | Mass | Max Power | Thrust-to-Mass | Flame | |---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---| | Atmospheric Thruster | Large | 1,1,3 | 46.875 m³ | 648 kN | 4,000 kg | 2.4 MW | 162 N/kg | 3.59 m | | Atmospheric Thruster | Small | 1,1,3 | 0.375 m³ | 96 kN | 699 kg | 0.6 MW | 137 N/kg | 0.68 m | | Large Atmospheric Thruster | Large | 3,3,5 | 703.125 m³ | 6,480 kN | 32,970 kg | 16.8 MW | 197 N/kg | 11.23 m | | Large Atmospheric Thruster | Small | 3,3,5 | 5.625 m³ | 576 kN | 2,948 kg | 2.4 MW | 195 N/kg | 2.21 m |

Unlocking Thrusters in Progression Mode

If the save has Progression turned on, thrusters are not all available on day one.

• Ion and Atmospheric Thrusters unlock after building a Cockpit or a Remote Control block.
• Hydrogen Thrusters unlock after building a Hydrogen Tank and an O2/H2 Generator.

Build order matters. Drop a Cockpit first, then assemble the hydrogen pipeline, and the full propulsion roster opens up.

Thruster Damage and Immune Blocks

Many servers run with Thruster Damage enabled. When active, anything directly behind a firing nozzle takes damage from the exhaust flame. Small-grid thruster flames will not damage blocks whose deformation ratio is below 25%, which is why heavy armor variants dominate the immunity list.

Large-Grid Blocks Immune to Thruster Damage

• Blast Doors
• Blast Door Corner
• Blast Door Corner Inverted
• Blast Door Edge
• Control Stations
• Drill
• Heavy Armor Corner Square Block
• Heavy Armor Half Corner Block
• Heavy Armor Half-Sloped Corner
• Heavy Armor Half-Sloped Corner Base
• Heavy Armor Sloped Corner
• Wheel Suspension 1x1 Right
• Wheel Suspension 1x1 Left
• Wheel Suspension 3x3 Right
• Wheel Suspension 3x3 Left
• Wheel Suspension 5x5 Right
• Wheel Suspension 5x5 Left

Small-Grid Blocks Immune to Thruster Damage

• Blast Door Corner Inverted
• Blast Door Edge
• Cockpit
• Drill
• Heavy Armor Corner Square Block
• Heavy Armor Half Corner Block
• Half Slope Inverted Heavy Armor
• Heavy Armor Half-Sloped Corner
• Heavy Armor Half-Sloped Corner Base
• Heavy Armor Sloped Corner
• Heavy Armor Block
• Heavy Armor Corner
• Heavy Armor Inverted Corner
• Heavy Armor Round Corner
• Heavy Armor Round Inverted Corner
• Heavy Armor Round Slope
• Heavy Armor Slope
• Wheel Suspension 1x1 Right
• Wheel Suspension 1x1 Left
• Wheel Suspension 3x3 Right
• Wheel Suspension 3x3 Left
• Wheel Suspension 5x5 Right
• Wheel Suspension 5x5 Left

Picking the Right Mix

There is no single best thruster. A capable ship usually combines families: Ions for vacuum cruising, Hydrogens for emergency boost and crossing between space and atmosphere, Atmospherics for surface operations on worlds with air. Build for the worst environment the ship will see, and the lesser environments take care of themselves.