m4gus88

@NotTheRealRMS I noticed Deadly Reentry is not in the required or the recommended mods. Is it another mod you excluded from Realism Overhaul for simplicity? Is it compatible?

Hi, I've done some configs for MKS to work with Realism Overhaul, you can find it here: https://github.com/m4gus88/USI_RO It's WIP, but playable already. Some mass, EC values, etc. might be out of place here and there, but I'll improve on these as I'm testing it, and I'm hoping for some external input from the community as well. I'm working on including more additions, like the Malemute rover, stuff from the Exploration Pack, FTT, etc. RP-0 configs are also on my TODO list Enjoy!

@Rigel Kerman: I was playing around with the configs you created for RO, and I found 2 issues regarding CoM and angle keeping: You have all the propellant in the aft tanks, but the real shuttle had tanks in the nose to serve the forward thrusters. By moving half the propellant from the aft tanks to the nose, the CoM now seems to be at the right place (about in the middle of the fuselage). The RCS thrusters are way too weak. Based on the old "Component Space Shuttle" RO configs, I set the nose thruster power to 3, and the aft ones to 4, and that seems to work much better. Also, not related to reentry, but I used the old "Component Space Shuttle" configs to correct some other things, like having CO2 scrubbers in the nose, and a proper fuel cell in the engine mount, with hydrolox propellant tanks. Now the only remaining problem is the wings, which for some reason doesn't seem to be recognized by FAR. Upon reentry, the shuttle just turns to its side, and isn't able to turn back. I've tried different configs for FAR, but no luck If anyone has any idea, I'm all ears, looks like this is the only remaining issue regarding reentry.

Did you install Rigel's Realism Overhaul patch? If not, go back a page or two, the download link is in one of his posts.

If you want to stay realistic, then OMS fuel on the nose won't help on reentry, because AFAIK the shuttle vented all fuel from the nose at entry interface, and only used the aft thrusters for holding AoA. (I'm not sure why it did that, but best guess, they didn't want hypergolic fuel in a place that gets hit hard by reentry heating) Another thing is, you wouldn't want to move the CoM too much ahead of the CoL, as it will make it "too stable", and you'll lose maneuverability (it will also make it more difficult to hold a high AoA). I just put enough ballast in the nose to move it just a little ahead. Of course this will make it less stable in the lower atmosphere, but it's supposed to be a flying brick anyway, right? After a bit of research, I found this: https://spaceflight.nasa.gov/shuttle/reference/shutref/structure/fwdfuselage.html Looks like the real shuttle had around 2 tons of total ballast in the nose section.

I had the same problem, but yesterday I finally managed to reenter. The solution was some lead ballast (~15 tons) clipped into the nose. It's still not completely stable, and flips if I try large pitch angles, but MechJeb can steadily hold it at 30 degrees, and it comes down like a charm, doing lots of skips in the upper atmosphere. Then, when I'm under 5 Mach, I can switch to SAS and manual control, and it's quite easy to maneuver. It doesn't work without the lead ballast though, so for the RO configs I'd recommend making the nose heavier a bit, and reducing the mass of the engine mount by the same amount. At least to bring the CoM in front of the CoL. Alternatively, you can try removing OMS fuel for the entry, that will also bring the CoM forward, but you'll need some fuel for holding the AoA.