How to get to eve without burning up in the atmosphere.

[Partperpart]

So a few hours ago I tried getting to eve but then when I enter the atmosphere my entire ship overheats and explodes

[Hotel26]

The stock KSP world is a cleverly-graded series of exercises that get harder and harder and more and more challenging and interesting.

So you have to choose your missions judiciously as your own skill and understanding increases.

I gather that Eve is one of the hardest challenges there is...

Edited February 25, 2018 by Hotel26

[StrandedonEarth]

You need heat shields, a shallow entry (don't put the Pe too low) and an intercept that isn't too crazy fast (your orbit should touch Eve's orbit, not cross by a large amount). And a tough crew compartment. Screenshots or .craft files of your ship would help us give more specific advice.

My typical Eve direct entry is at 4km/s, which the inflatable heatshield can handle, as long as the part it's attached to can handle the heat transfer it will get.

Edited February 25, 2018 by StrandedonEarth

[MagicFireCaster]

Next time you should post in gameplay questions and tutorials. 

My recommendations:

Use Heat Shields that go  with the size of your craft

If your craft is pretty wide, use the inflatable heat Shield

Put reaction wheels and rcs around your craft so you can stay stable when entering the atmosphere.

If you have a engine try to use it to stabilize your craft so i doesn't flip around. 

 

Good luck

[IncongruousGoat]

Make sure every exposed thing is protected by a heatshield, or, even better, a fairing and a heatshield. Eve re-entry is brutal, even if you're descending from a low orbit.

Although, are you just trying to get to Eve, or are you trying to go there and return? Because the former is much easier than the latter.

[Reactordrone]

Powered descents are also a possibility. Low orbit speed at Eve is quite high and reducing your velocity by 2000-3000m/s will allow an unshielded entry and landing. This can be a useful method to land unwieldy ascent vehicles that will refuel after landing since you've already got high thrust engines and fuel onboard.

Edited February 25, 2018 by Reactordrone

[Foxster]

As others have said, heatshields are pretty much a must-have. 

However, once the heat is sorted, you will quickly hit the next snag of the craft flipping during re-entry and heatploding anyway. The fix for this is lots of drag at the back end; use either a lot of air brakes, some wing sections, or another heatshield just for drag.  

Edited February 25, 2018 by Foxster

[Guest]

An alternative to heatshields is using a glider. If it's light enough and has enough wing surface and you get your trajectory right, it will slow down sufficiently before burning up. If it still has some fuel left you can burn it retrograde as you enter the atmosphere, which will make it even easier.

Of course this means a one-way trip, or carrying an ISRU so you can fuel up on the surface. Flying down a fully fuelled plane would be much harder.

[Gilph]

As mentioned, Eve is the hardest challenge. As you did not mention how your ship was built, I'm sure it was not built to spec.

The secret is to do the research on the characteristics of the body you are visiting. A few minutes of research will show you how difficult it is to land, way more difficult to take off from, and how specialized vessels have to be to accomplish it.

[paelleon]

Same problem here. As long as I need to land small one-way probes, no problem. But my large crewed spaceplane (karbonite powered) keeps flipping out flight attitude making the forward heat shield useless.

Are you sure that air brakes or drogue chutes can withstand that heat and speed?

[Foxster]

6 hours ago, paelleon said:

Are you sure that air brakes or drogue chutes can withstand that heat and speed?

They can if they are mounted as to be in a cone extending behind the rim of the forward heatshield.