Search the Community
Showing results for tags 'retrograde '.
Found 1 result
-
Hi all, So I recently ran into an interesting issue that I've never really payed attention to before. First off, let me state that I am using RSS, but this topic should apply to stock as well, if perhaps to a lesser degree. I was returning a three kerbal capsule from the moon, and accidentally overdid the lunar escape burn. This meant that, while I had a good return trajectory, I'd be coming in retrograde relative to Earth's rotation. I didn't think this really mattered, until my capsule exploded on reentry. This was a capsule I'd returned from the moon multiple times before, and I hadn't modified my install or save game at all, so I was baffled until I realized the possible cause. I did some tests and it seems that reentering retrograde produces much more intense heating (approximately 100-200 degrees more). So here's my question. Is this realistic? I understand that the atmosphere is rotating along with the planet, but I wouldn't have thought it would cause any real differnce in airspeed during reentry. Was I wrong and atmospheric rotation is a much bigger issue than I suspected?
