How to Deadly Reentry?!

[quasarrgames]

I started using deadly reentry for the first time, and holy hannah! I've had 10 reentries, and in only one did the cockpit (and not much else) survive. And this was on normal mode with FAR! How is it even possible for a spaceplane to survive that, especially in real life?! If anyone could tell me, i'd love to know.

Also, i turned on hard mode once, and my spaceplane immediately just popped. is it possible to survive that? :?

[Taki117]

Come down gently, skim through the upper atmosphere as long as possible. You're going to glide most of the way around Kerbin. For Capsules, if your periapsis is lower than about 20km, you are probably going to explode.

[Pecan]

There has never been a spaceplane in real life.

I've tried DRE a few times but never found it added anything so I think it must just be that I use a very shallow approach anyway. All the "Exploring The System" vehicles that are meant to re-enter atmosphere have been tested with DRE, for instance.

[Empiro]

The space shuttle can be considered a spaceplane (though not an SSTO one, of course).

Anyway, shallow trajectory is the key. If coming in with a capsule, keep a high PE -- 30km or so. At worst, you have to come around again. For spaceplanes, use your aerodynamics to your advantage. When high in the atmosphere, keep a high angle of attack by turning left and right. This creates a lot of drag and will slow you down. If you're heating up too much, pitch upwards to slow your rate of descent (and maybe even start going up again). Pitch back down to increase your descent speed.

[InterCity]

Heat shields + shallow trajectory are your answer.

I've survived a reentry with large mk3 beasts without losing anything to reentry heat by skimming the atmosphere multiple times and then gliding my way to safety. Aim for 30-35 km periapsis on your first skim and you should be OK.

Also, I'd recommend to set up a 100km orbit before you return, if you have a highly eccentric orbit you're probably going too fast.

If you have FAR and you like to overuse wings like me, pitching up is only a good idea when high in atmosphere. Once you get under 20 km don't even think about it unless you are going reasonably slow.

[StainX]

Here is how i worked this out:

Lower Periapsis to about 40km above KSP.

At 70.000km pitch down almost -90°, so that you use the wings to produce as much drag as possible.

At 47.000km pitch back to something like +15° above horizon

Keep the Point of touchdown (measured it by blue orbit line) bit before KSC by using S-Turns or by pitching up or down.

Also its really helpful to build in some airbreaks or at least spoilers on that planes

Have fun, and as Scott Manley would say: "Fly safe!"

Edited April 7, 2015 by StainX

[Hodo]

There has never been a spaceplane in real life.

I've tried DRE a few times but never found it added anything so I think it must just be that I use a very shallow approach anyway. All the "Exploring The System" vehicles that are meant to re-enter atmosphere have been tested with DRE, for instance.

Actually that is FALSE.

There has been a space plane in real life, the Space Shuttle was a "Space Plane" Just not a SSTO space plane.

The trick with DRE and re-entry on any aircraft design is to stay high as long as possible and get your speed below mach 5-5.5 before you go below 27.5km ASL.

I find if you are returning from 100km orbit you should set your PE for around 5-10km, this changes based on your crafts glide slope. Also you will want air brakes or some kind of spoiler to create as much drag as possible to slow the craft down when coming down.

You can see in these pictures one of my craft from the last version of KSP on re-entry with FAR+DRE.

[celem]

I've not really tried bringing spaceplanes back in through DRE since I dont build them very often.

But heres my goal for a capsule: From 70km orbit I tend to aim around periapsis 35km. Returning from the Mun or Minmus I wont take lower than about 50-55km, G's are the biggest killer in my experience, not heat. Your kerbals cant hold more than a couple of seconds north of 12-13 G's without dying. Several times I've had an interplanetary mission return to Kerbin, aerocapture, then aerobrake and return a bucket of juicy science, and a smear of goo that was the crew 3 minutes ago...

[Hodo]

I've not really tried bringing spaceplanes back in through DRE since I dont build them very often.

But heres my goal for a capsule: From 70km orbit I tend to aim around periapsis 35km. Returning from the Mun or Minmus I wont take lower than about 50-55km, G's are the biggest killer in my experience, not heat. Your kerbals cant hold more than a couple of seconds north of 12-13 G's without dying. Several times I've had an interplanetary mission return to Kerbin, aerocapture, then aerobrake and return a bucket of juicy science, and a smear of goo that was the crew 3 minutes ago...

Don't try to return straight from the Mun. I usually shoot for a parking orbit before I de-orbit the craft. This way I am not going 4000m/s on re-entry.