birrhan

So I was coming in around 4000 m/s, and was up to 4600 m/s at closest approach (set Pe to about 25 km). I had enough fuel to slow to about 4100 m/s. In no configuration could I slow down fast enough to avoid overheating or G force excess. I notice that the 6.25 m inflatable heat shield likes to cause drag; every time it likes to re-orient above the craft, much like an ad hoc parachute. Next configuration will try to take advantage of that and I'll put one on each end. I also imagine coming in slower (intercepting much prior to Kerbol Pe) will increase success rates--it seems Lexif had success at 3100 m/s. I think the magic question is "is it even possible to aerobrake from interplanetary space using FAR + DE, and if so by how much?"

Well, I've got a pod with a 6.25 m inflatable shield up top and the 2.5 m command pod heat shield down low returning from Jool as we speak. I will try some variations and let you know how it goes. I mean, how it blows up. The trick will be getting velocity at periapsis down below 3100 m/s (kerbin escape velocity) on the first pass, and without blowing up.

Go on.... Specifically, let's say you're coming in from interplanetary space pretty hot, and hit atmo around 3000-3500 m/s. What's your reentry profile (AoA, peri, speed)? Assume a Mk1-2 pod (3 person), and FAR + DRE + KER.

I'd argue that it's not "science" but it is scientific method. Accepting that there's a reason for the way the things work in the game, can you troubleshoot what will invariably go wrong? Even if you don't know it, you'll learn it. I dropped out of physics (often times it shows) but I still plug away at it, and I'm slowly learning. I mean, the percentage of people who are legitimate rocket scientists playing this game is very very small. So try not to be intimidated if you don't already know it.

So we all know that ion drives are ridiculously efficient but weak. I was just wondering what real-Kerbin examples you have of using ion drives to move payloads. Like, what mass did you move, how many ion engines, how did you power them, and around which planet/mun? Let's stick with a discussion of the stock ones, I know the modded ones are more powerful.

Make sure fuel lines flow from the bottom of the source stack to the top of the target stack; KER doesn't account for fuel kinetics. I'll wager you're tracking fuel by right clicking on the target tank, and it's not filling once the 1st source tank (of the three in each stack) empties. And (of course) make sure they flow the correct direction.

I used parachutes three times last night in 0.21.1, FAR + DRE, on a capsule that gets blown free of a rocket during liftoff. Rocket disintegrates around 15000 m, and our terminal velocity falling back down from that is around 330 m/s. That's with chutes unfurled but not filled; they decelerate the pod to 250 m/s then unfurl and go straight to 8 m/s at around 500 m. Parts get knocked free, but the chutes worked. Using two radial chutes on an MK1-2 pod. You could try drogue chutes (orange) in addition to radial chutes, ought to improve your odds. Pics of your reentry vehicle?

Just want to clarify that while orbital and flight info are largely OK in 0.21, the RDV button crashes the KER interface (goes to gray). Otherwise dv per stage, TWR, altitude, etc are good.

Can't seem to find a post on this, so here goes: Protractor (as well as the RDV button on Engineer Redux) is broken. The calculator in Protractor is visible, but clicking on it gives a ~10 pixel square in the center of the screen that can't be moved and doesn't show anything (it's too small anyway). The RDV button in KER makes the readout gray out entirely, buttons included, and the only way to restore it is to revert or destroy the craft. Both versions are current, and there are no redundant files from 0.19 or before in the file tree, and were working fine in 0.20.2. With the issues MJ had, I suspect there's a problem with the way orbit prediction is handled by the most recent code. Thank god for http://ksp.olex.biz/

@Lexif: dlls were the cause, worked GREAT afterwards.

how soon will this be working for 0.21? I get the button, but no readout.

Sorry, thought I'd clarified--that was one of many versions, most of which lack winglets there (or near there). All of them pitch over, actually, regardless of winglets (position or number). It is simply the size of the rocket using FAR. I actually replicated the behavior on a much smaller rocket--if you do a gravity turn too quickly, you're gonna have a bad time--and "too quickly" is much slower than you'd think at first. I do it in sub-5 degree increments now, and tab the opposite direction after each adjustment to make sure I'm still in control.

Nothing there. Nothing to see there. move along.... that's the, um, pizza delivery rocket.

Correct. SRBs flame our around 13km, and the rest of the first stage gets me most of the way there. Ideally. What just worked was keeping the pitch to 75 degrees (15 degree off vertical) until 32 km, then pitch over to 20 degrees pitch at full throttle. of course, this is not efficient--lost about 250 dv from what I expected, so there's room for improvement. keep plugging away....

I do. I'm at 65 degrees around 19000 m, when this all happens. How shallow do you suggest? Degrees and speed at what altitude?

So what worked for me last night was this convoluted scenario: 1) Apo 80, Peri 0. 2) point retrograde at 35km. 3) Ignite, full throttle. 4) Decelerate to ~1000 m/s 5) Release drogue chute and decouple booster. 6) Release main chutes. 7) ~ 3000 m the drogue chutes tear free (speed ~150 m/s) 8) Slowly accelerate again, by gravity (not by choice) 9) Fill out main chutes at ~ 500 m, slow to 8 m/s 10) Land. This is obviously not the way it's suppose to work, and totally ignores the heatshield (because it's ignoring me). Bit it did work. Think like a Kerbal. Will look for old dlls in the FAR directory. The DRE 2.3 folder is clean and new.

It appears that the problem was that my payload extended a wee but past the fairings, and is those pieces lacked nosecones they introduced drag up top. I put nose cones inside the fairings, and I'm about 3 orbits for every 5 launches. It was drag, all along. I think. I also notice that when it does pitch up and over that FAR generate a severe stall warning. On a rocket. But whatever, it's a party.

I'm desperate. I leave the engine/tank decoupler on during a powered descent, crank it up to 90% throttle at retrograde, then around 1000 m/s drag overtakes me and I start pinwheeling out of control and die by g force. But at least it wasn't by overheating. What you see is a nominal reentry configuration. Should work--it is pretty standard, no? I should note that you were right, there were misplaced files in the root parts directory, deleting them forces the correct heat shield to stick. It still burns up in about 20 seconds though. Literally no change, except I can see the ablative shielding decrease with time. Temp increases rapidly to 3000 deg C, then pop. This is buggy as all hell.

double post

I see you have MechJeb but not FAR. I strongly suspect this is a problem with FAR coupled with the massively overpowered engines in KW Rocketry.

Install is now the current version. I seem to still have the old parts, however. And none of them have an ablative bar when right clicking. I've literally been working on this project non stop (non. stop.) since Friday. So the cost/benefit of what should by all appearances be a simple project diminished a long time ago. For example, your post was my first clue that there was a version incompatibility with spaceport. I can see the shield being applied in the VAB, it looks nice and charcoaly, like the underside of the shuttle. but in orbit, I decouple the "special" decoupler, and the $#!tty gold foil shield is there instead. This is after a clean install of DE 2.3. So This: turns into this:

OK, I was running v 1.3, now that's fixed. using the new heat shield and decoupler. it appears that g forces are now the culprit. This was from a 70 km x 10 km powered descent--using thrust applied retrograde throughout descent to avoid overheating. velocity at explosion was 900 m/s, altitude of 17 km Funny enough the heat shield ALWAYS blows up from g force damage. Leading to overheating.

nevermind, the slowest horse crosses the finish line. Buried up top: in case anyone is slower than me (unlikely): https://github.com/Ialdabaoth/ModuleManager/blob/master/DeadlyReentry2.3.zip?raw=true

It seems to be buried in that thread, and any time ialdaboth says "download" he doesn't provide a link, not even on the main page. How in the seven hells does one acquire this? Google search terms "DRE 2.3 kerbal", "Deadly Reentry 2.3 Kerbal".

Oh I'm sure there is, but I'm modeling it after this post, and he got it to work just fine: http://www.reddit.com/r/KerbalSpaceProgram/comments/1ie1fz/3kerbal_395ton_aerobraking_lander_with_remote/ 110 tons even. I have tried removing the fins, putting many fins down low, all to no avail. The magic (tip) happens after the SRBs drop and after I'm halfway through my liquid fuel. it's precisely when the upper tank empties. Which makes me think there's a coding error involved with the empty tank.