Inflatable Heatshields

[Voyager275]

I want an inflatable heat shield like in deadly reentry in the stock game. Real life one:

https://www.nasa.gov/home/hqnews/2012/jul/HQ_12-250_IRVE-3_Launch.html

[tater]

Then all you'd need is to hit the atmosphere at north of 11 km/s, since I tested that fast with a regular heat shield, and only slightly warmed the capsule.

[tg626]

I want an inflatable heat shield like in deadly reentry in the stock game. Real life one:

https://www.nasa.gov/home/hqnews/2012/jul/HQ_12-250_IRVE-3_Launch.html

I second this suggestion

Then all you'd need is to hit the atmosphere at north of 11 km/s, since I tested that fast with a regular heat shield, and only slightly warmed the capsule.

That's all well and good, but it doesn't address how the inflatable heat shield stows for launch or deploys.

[tater]

My point is that I'm not sure heat shields matter at all unless you play modded, in which case they are already a thing. I suppose we could test stock aerobraking at Jool under worst case, and see if it is needed. From kerbin worst case is ~14 km/s, from Moho it's ~29. It might have a use in stock, I suppose.

[Red Iron Crown]

Inflatable heatshields would be cool for aerobraking things greater than 3.75m in diameter without aerobreaking them.

[Tay_T]

The way I see this could be useful is when the heat-shield doesn't cover all the width of a vehicle or other parts of it that stick outwards, especially if it were a horizontally wide ship, such as a space station that wanted to be turned into a land base for example. Basically, this would be a workaround to avoid stacking multiple shields, or putting multiple ones over parts of the ship, making it visually and literally become redundant. (Even though, the game nicely lets you select how much "Ablator" is used, which could reduce the weight slightly, so you only burn up as much as you use, but that's another subject.

Although heat does dissipate, and yes, there is some valid points about heat not being a major issue with a regular heat-shield provided with the vanilla game version, this is still an idea nonetheless.

Another thing it could be useful for? Aerobraking.

Inflatable heatshields would be cool for aerobraking things greater than 3.75m in diameter without aerobreaking them.

Yes, what I'm saying was already said, but maybe I'll continue on that notion.

It sounds perfectly valid, like it would be great at slowing down a vehicle, which might even be more valid on low-density atmospheres like Duna where you basically are hurled towards the ground if you fall through the atmosphere at a slightly uncontrollable speed. (The article shown mentions it being a "decelerator," so this seems somewhat proven. Also, an amazing idea presented in the article that could totally work for KSP: Dropping cargo from space with heat-shields that fold out. That sounds like fun to me. ) Although... "A.I.R.B.R.A.K.E.S." does a very good job of doing the decelerating as well, the same as creating a fairing that dissolves most of the heat and speed without sacrificing anything inside of it. It's about the same result either way. I've done a few tests myself, going typical orbital velocities as different angles, using a combination of the airbrakes and heat-shields, which, the brakes seem to lower the speed greatly, and in my experience, around 2x as fast deceleration than it would be without the brakes. But, this is all for you to decide. Just some thoughts I guess.

[Wjolcz]

Inflatable heatshields would be cool for aerobraking things greater than 3.75m in diameter without aerobreaking them.

This.

[Rath]

Inflatable heatshields would be cool for aerobraking things greater than 3.75m in diameter without aerobreaking them.

My current forkaround is to us a fairing and but a regular heasheild on the inline bit

[sumghai]

[MOD - Thread title renamed for clarity]

[mattinoz]

Would double as a good toboggan on minmus.

[Kegereneku]

I'm betting someone would make boat out of them.

Anyway :

Inflatable heatshields would be cool for aerobraking things greater than 3.75m in diameter without aerobreaking them.