Karker solar probe

[lajoswinkler]

Ministry of no better things to do has decided to fund yet another project to try to establish the closest safe distance from Kerbol for unmanned vessels, and to test their performance as part of a longterm study of the effects of solar wind on materials and structures. The probe was named after Eugene Karker-Kerman, notable Kerbal heliophysicist who hypothesized that Kerbol is smelly in all observable directions.

Notable mods and add-ons: Probes plus, Hullcamera VDS, Kerbalism, Mandatory RCS, Solar science, Making history DLC

 

The probe established its first perihelion of less than 0.6 million kilometres above Kerbol by thrusting to counteract Kerbin's movement.

 

Initial perihelion was closer to the star than the overbaked dwarf planet (naked planetary core) Ablate, but it still performed well.

Several more swings are planned, each approaching closer and closer to the star.

[lajoswinkler]

The probe dipped below 400,000 km and it's fine as long as the timewarp is <1000x and it's pointed straight into the star.

 

At 320,000 km first part exploded - top shield layer,  but the rest survived. For now, this seems to be the lowest safe orbit for this design.

It's consistent with the data I collected earlier.

 

View from Hullcam navigational camera at 200,000 when all of the top shields were gone.

 

At 96,586.6 km, nothing remained.

Now that we have proper plates from Making history, I'll try to redesign this.

Edited August 5, 2018 by lajoswinkler

[Kerbolitto]

Awesome idea, I'll try it some day !