Does anyone else do this?

[Dizzle]

Since I started KSP, I've found that whenever my chutes deploy, I end up watching the speed indicator like a hawk to see if it will lose that extra .1 m/s before touchdown.

[TechnicalK3rbal]

Well, once they're open open there's not much else to do....

[Godot]

Once my chute is deployed I send my Kerbal outside of the capsule to gather EVA science points

(the speed after deploying of the chute is low enough that he will be able to hold onto the ladder and not be blown away to his death)

[HafCoJoe]

Yeah I do this too. Random question. On Eve, do open chutes provide more drag and thus slow your speed more than on Kerbin? I've found parachute landings to be easier/slower on Eve.

[Godot]

Yep, the parachutes slow down the lander according to the atmospheric density (at least in vanilla KSP) ...

which also means that it is much more difficult on Duna

[GJames]

Yeah I do this too. Random question. On Eve, do open chutes provide more drag and thus slow your speed more than on Kerbin? I've found parachute landings to be easier/slower on Eve.

I would think so. Probably why parachutes aren't as useful on Duna, because of the thinner atmosphere.

Edit: Sniped.

[Tortoise]

Sort of random, but yeah I do too.

[Bishop149]

Yeah I do this too. Random question. On Eve, do open chutes provide more drag and thus slow your speed more than on Kerbin? I've found parachute landings to be easier/slower on Eve.

Yeah, atmo is thicker meaning chutes work better. The opposite is true on Duna where you'll need A LOT more chutes to slow decent than on Kerbin. . . in fact it's often so many as to be a little oppressive so I tend to use a combo of chutes and powered decent.

For Laythe I'm not sure, I get the impression that chutes aren't quite as effective as on Kerbin . . . but theres not so much in it and I find that generally speaking if it will safely land on Kerbin it will be ok on Laythe too.

[Phylan]

Semi-related question: what is the "safe" velocity at which chutes can fully open (go from half way deployed to fully deployed) without ripping the craft apart? So far my extensive research has shown that it's less than 1500 m/s, and more than 80 m/s.

[Deadpangod3]

Semi-related question: what is the "safe" velocity at which chutes can fully open (go from half way deployed to fully deployed) without ripping the craft apart? So far my extensive research has shown that it's less than 1500 m/s, and more than 80 m/s.

I've found that its like eighty m/s and below is safe

[Dizzle]

Semi-related question: what is the "safe" velocity at which chutes can fully open (go from half way deployed to fully deployed) without ripping the craft apart? So far my extensive research has shown that it's less than 1500 m/s, and more than 80 m/s.

I've not had trouble with 115 m/s, though I guess it would depend on the craft. As Deadpan said, 80 m/s is probably fine no matter what.

[Deadpangod3]

Yeah, it kinda really depends on the strength of the connections between parts, if you have a weak connection somewhere close to the top, you can place some parachutes on the lower part to take some stress off that joint,

But the majority of my ships will lose all but the command pod, sas, and maybe a part or two underneath anywhere above 80m/s

I wonder how the Kerbals feel like going from like 75 m/s to 5m/s in less then a second...

[Villageidiot]

Once my chute is deployed I send my Kerbal outside of the capsule to gather EVA science points

(the speed after deploying of the chute is low enough that he will be able to hold onto the ladder and not be blown away to his death)

You don't have to do that eva science while falling. As long as you are hanging on to the ladder of your capsule you can get the, "Above environ" EVA report.

VI

[Godot]

You don't have to do that eva science while falling. As long as you are hanging on to the ladder of your capsule you can get the, "Above environ" EVA report.

VI

I agree (at least as long the capsule doesn´t land in water, in which case this wouldn´t work) ... it is more an expression of the thing that was mentioned before ... i.e. not having anything to do while the capsule slowly descents to the surface ... this way I don´t have to do the "Above-Ground"-EVA after landing (and can limit my activity on the ground to stepping outside and getting EVA report from the ground as well as a surface sample, before I can finally complete the mission)

[Redshift OTF]

If I'm using standard chutes on Duna I tend to set the fully deploy height as high as it will go to give the chutes more time to slow me down.

[Proxle]

I think it really comes down to how structurally sound you craft is, more struts the better!! (Sometimes)

[Remkeau]

When you have a lot of chutes on a craft and you want to decrease the stress from fully opening you can set sets of opposing chutes to deploy at slightly different hights. This will spread the yanking and in my experience, can make quite a difference

[Dizzle]

When you have a lot of chutes on a craft and you want to decrease the stress from fully opening you can set sets of opposing chutes to deploy at slightly different hights. This will spread the yanking and in my experience, can make quite a difference

I'm not sure I understand what you mean. Wouldn't some chutes deploying early just mean that the force is spread across fewer points initially than if they'd all deployed at once? It seems like it would, in that first deployment, be more vulnerable to being torn apart.

[Joe32320]

TBH, I've come to the conclusion that parachutes really aren't worth the effort, especially for crafts designed to then go back in orbit.

If the atmosphere is not very dense (i.e. Duna) then you end up strapping a load of parachutes on which A) looks ugly, increases the risk of some parts detaching themselves and C) causes design headaches, particularly the drogue chutes since they have no radial version.

If its a dense atmosphere, then you might be doing 100-200m/s before hitting the surface, its then not that expensive to build a descent stage rocket for the last couple of thousand meters to the ground.

The other benefit of rockets is that you are able to pick a landing spot should your current trajectory be taking you to the steep side of a mountain.

[aleis]

Semi-related question: what is the "safe" velocity at which chutes can fully open (go from half way deployed to fully deployed) without ripping the craft apart? So far my extensive research has shown that it's less than 1500 m/s, and more than 80 m/s.

One tactic is to attach some parachute lower down on your craft and on different parts. That way those partst are supported individually and all the stress of the opening chutes is spread out. Just make sure you test your final stage top make sure you done have to many parachutes to far down the craft flips over