Spaceplane Reentry Heat Management

[MarkusA380]

Hello fellow Kerbonauts!

SInce 1.2.2 I am not able to get a Spaceplane back to Kerbin without it melting.

I am entering the atmosphere with a very shallow angle while keeping the nose 30° above AoA.

Here's a picture:

Note: The slight thrust is just due to the screenshot key combination.

Any guidance?

Edited June 13, 2017 by MarkusA380

[FancyMouse]

Just replace the cockpit with heat resistant part like shock cone intake at the front and use inline mk1 cockpit instead - you should be good. The front-most part is responsible for handling the most convective heat, but mk1 cockpit max temp is pathetic, hence my suggestion.

Or if you really want to be on the safe side, go with mk2. They are good at heat, very good at it.

[bewing]

Looks like you've got an immense amount of fuel remaining. (You may not have much Ox, but I can't tell from the pic.) So, first suggestion is: during reentry when you are still really high in the atmosphere, turn around retrograde and burn all of your Ox, and however much Lf is necessary -- or until your speed is down to 1500 m/s, whichever comes first. The fuel is heavy, and makes your reentry that much harder if you come in at full speed. But if you burn it instead, your reentry will probably be a cakewalk. The other benefit is that you will have a much shorter reentry, which means you can pinpoint it much better. Try to do the burn about 200km west of KSC to land at the runway.

Second suggestion is: if you are coming in faster than 1500 m/s, then go for a 90 degree AoA instead of 30, until you are down to maybe 45km (or maybe lower, if your spaceplane can hold that AoA). A 90 degree AoA distributes the heat better -- as said above, that MK1 cockpit is not very good at handling heat. If it's the part in the very front, then it will take almost all the heat.

 

Edited June 13, 2017 by bewing