Atmospheric Density Table

[Specialist290]

So a while back, I was trying to figure out the math behind aerobraking, and failing at that horribly. I ended up doing the next best thing and made a large handwritten table comparing the altitudes of various levels of atmospheric pressure across different planets. Because it was handwritten, this took several hours.

Today I finally figured out how to set up a Microsoft Excel spreadsheet that could do all of the number-crunching in about fifteen minutes. Here are the fruits of my labor:

This table shows the altitude for a given atmospheric pressure on each planet of the Kerbol system that has an atmosphere, with various points of interest highlighted in different colors. The index altitudes are marked by having their cells filled, as are those that are either in vacuum or "lithobraking" range. Someone with better skills than mine could probably have taken this and turned it into a nice, eye-pleasing graph, but I figured I'd put the info out there in case someone finds it useful.

Edited August 25, 2013 by Specialist290
New graph with additional info.

[firerider521]

Lithobraking....

Yes... YEESSS...

Oh, and thanks for the chart.

[magnemoe]

Thanks, I thought the atmosphere on Jool went higher. could swear my highest point went downwards then I cut trust at 150km then I did the Jool return mission.

[TriggerAu]

Great work, really good reference

[Specialist290]

Thanks, I thought the atmosphere on Jool went higher. could swear my highest point went downwards then I cut trust at 150km then I did the Jool return mission.

I'm using the data I got from the wiki, which admittedly might not be perfect. When I'm in the neighborhood of Jool with one of my upcoming missions, I'll check on that myself.

[Francesco]

great work, will definitely use this.

last time I went to Eve, I dropped a pod and wrote down terminal velocities at various altitudes, but forgot about pressure values.

no need for another launch thanks to this

and yes, the data on the wiki is correct.

[ROFLCopter64bit]

MAGIC

I can provide my patented Sciency Thingosâ„¢ (equations) if needed.

[Specialist290]

Nicely done!

It would be nice if the values under 1 atm were scaled logarithmically rather than linearly, though, as otherwise the far right end is a bit hard to read. Impressive work nevertheless.

[ROFLCopter64bit]

You can look at the doc if you want immense detail.

[tavert]

Just switch to log-log plotting and it's all straight lines.

[Specialist290]

Took the time to update this chart a little. Changes include:

-Now in color! A key has been included to show what each color means.

-Maximum semi-deployed pressure and altitudes for all parachutes are now highlighted in the appropriate color.

The new chart has been added to the first post, replacing the original.

[Tuupertunut]

Is it intentional that the words density and pressure are mixed and used for the same purpose?

[Specialist290]

Whoops! I'll get to fixing that, once I remember where the original Excel spreadsheet was.