indylead

It wouldn't be the first time! I was just saying on the other thread that as this was the first time I've posted here, it was good to see two mod devs respond quickly. Now going to have to fight the urge to get back into the game

My bad, just used to other forum where caps lock is shouting Ferram4 has responded on the other thread - seems to be a clipping issue of the parts, and can be worked around. Thanks for responding. ETA as AmpsterMan replied after I wrote the above - I realized on re-watching the video that the acceleration was a misconception and not a result of the modelling of drag. I wondered if it was the acceleration of the craft as it closed on the periapsis (and ignoring aerodynamic effect of the atmosphere). Impressed that two different mod developers and a forum mod have both replied so quickly to the issue at hand - my first foray into this forum and good to see quick replies from folk. Now, to investigate if Lei's problem was all a ruse to lure me back into playing the game... You will be happy to know that the video was all a bad dream Bill had on the eve of the launch night. On the 'real' mission, he realized the heat shield was unnecessary and jettisoned it prior to attempting a landing. This was followed by a landing maneuver entirely within acceptable parameters of Kerbal physiology, and Bill will be back on active duty just as soon as someone sends a boat to fetch him.

An update: We've been posting on the Deadly Re-entry thread here. The developer of DRE seems pretty sure the bug is not with his heat shield. It does seem that the problem is with the aerodynamic properties of the part as modeled in FAR. Looking at the speeds involved on the video, it looks like the atmosphere is having zero effect on the speed (graphical effects aside) and the acceleration is not the drag vector being 'in the wrong direction' but a result of the acceleration as the craft moves towards periapsis. If the dev wants any more info, please let me or lei know.

Calm down, calm down, no need to shout. We weren't saying the problem was with the Deadly Reentry mod itself, just trying to identify what the problem was. We are aware the capsule doesn't NEED a heat shield, we were investigating the reentry issues of the part. Whether the root cause is the Deadly Reentry Mod, or FAR mod, I have no idea, nor do I particularly care. One of them is borked. I'll let someone else work out which. I've posted across in the FAR thread with this link to a video showing what happens with that part fitted. I NOW IT IS NOT NEEDED. THAT IS NOT THE ISSUE! By "inverted" drag, what we meant was the drag direction appeared to be in the opposte direction to expected, i.e. the drag force appears to be acting along the direction of flight, thereby accelerating the ship (as seen in the video) and not acting in the opposite direction to slow the ship. On re-watching the video, I don't think this is what is happening - it seems to me that the FAR data on the heat shield is simply missing, and somehow is not slowing the craft. Anyway, whether you are interested or not, whatever. Just trying to show a bug somewhere and help someone fix it.

Right, Lei's so-called knowledgeable friend here, just to add a few more details. I haven't played this version of KSP until today, and being an engineer wanted to be methodical! Step 1: Completely new clean install using KSP v0.25 32bit with FAR 14.3.2. Basic rocket built, small capsule etc. Ap. 102km, Pe 20km. Everything flew as expected - i.e. safe landing. Whilst chatting, Lei had built the same rocket as me, and then commented that he;d left out a heat shield and might die due to deadly re-entry. The re-entry was slower than he'd been seeing, although a little faster then my version. Step 2: Added Deadly Reentry 6.2.1, and using the same rocket, added only an appropriate heat sheild, then went into same orbit (Ap 100, Pe 20). This time, on starting reentry effects at 45km the speed started to increase from 2369m/s @45km to 2390m/s @37km - i.e. I was accelerating! Reentry effects did not go until 5km. At 10km the capsule was still travelling at 1,450m/s, impact speed at 0 was 302m/s, unfortunately with the loss of Bill Kermin. So it seems either the small heat shield drag values are screwed, or there is some sort of clash between FAR and DRE. Edited to add: video showing reentry with the Deadly Reentry Heatshield in place here: linky Thanks for the help, folks!