How harsh is reentry heating?

[kiwiak]

I cant play 1.0 for now, but i am wondering, is reentry heating dangerous enough to destroy capsule coming from low kerbin orbit?

I am asking, because with deadly reentry capsule woudl heat a little but survive anyway.

Edited May 1, 2015 by Vanamonde

[Scarecrow88]

It can definitely destroy a returning capsule, but if it's a problem for you, you can change it's effect in settings, at least in Sandbox mode. Don't know about other modes as I never play them.

[Eric S]

If you reeenter too steeply, yes, but as long as you do it right, you don't even need a heatshield for the mk1 capsule to reenter. And no, the mk1 doesn't have a built in heat shield like DRE gave it.

[Superfluous J]

From a roughly 75x75 orbit, lowering the periapsis to 13km and coming in with just a capsule and a parachute I've never had a problem. In fact, the spent stage makes it down with me. I'm pretty sure you need a heat shield for a Mun return but I'm to afraid to try without

[KerbMav]

Engines are also very good "heat shields" still (still as in when I used DRE).

[eddiew]

With regards to spaceplanes; perfectly manageable if you keep the nose up about 15 degrees and have airbrakes.

If you go in facing prograde without brakes, you'll die.

[biohazard15]

Mk1-2 pod can definitely survive a Mun return re-entry. Set your Pe at about 20 km and don't forget the heatshield. If done right, you'll even have some ablator left. Heat settings is 100%, sandbox mode.

[Blu_C]

If you are returning from a low orbit carefully then you won't have problems. It is when you are doing a steep reentry from a high orbit (or into a thick atmosphere) that you will find you need a heat shield.

[Scrogdog]

If you reeenter too steeply, yes,

Hmmm, I'm having the opposite observation. Coming in shallow is the only way the ablative material reduces.

Last night I came in pretty steep with a botched sub-orbital with the MK1 and what actually happens is that I moved so fast through the 'heat area' that it barely even caused the effects to show much less reduce the shield.

I should have been fried to a crisp, I believe. The way it is now it would less dangerous to do a straight up and down than to try and hit a re-entry corridor from orbit.

[kiwiak]

What about Duna, is low duna orbit harmless, even for delicate probes?

Atmosphere is much thinner than Kerbins.

[Renegrade]

From a roughly 75x75 orbit, lowering the periapsis to 13km and coming in with just a capsule and a parachute I've never had a problem. In fact, the spent stage makes it down with me. I'm pretty sure you need a heat shield for a Mun return but I'm to afraid to try without

My current Mun science grabber doesn't have any shield.

I haven't tested yet, but I suspect a straight-down return would be fine as long as you semi-deploy a parachute early enough. The heat seems to take forever to build up, and even a semi-deployed parachute drops you instantly to a slow, cool velocity.. In fact, I've noticed that when I try to play it properly, I lose MORE shielding (if so equipped) and suffer much higher temperatures on a sane approach and late chute deployment than a steep dive with an early chute pop.

[battlefieldaces]

Stock reentry heating is stupid at best. MK2 Cockpits blow up at about 2000m, at 1300m/s and 50% heating. SSTOs took a big blow, so stick to rockets if you want to use heating.

[Fearlessjames118]

Re-entry heat can be EXTREMELY dangerous if the ship is falling to fast\at the right angle. How ever,parachutes tend to save me from burning up to a blazing crisp!

I actually lost half my ship due to over-heating!

[11matt556]

I believe heat shields are aimed more at interplanetary returns, such that a heat shield is generally not required for returns within Kerbins SOI, but interplanetary missions should need one. I haven't needed one yet, but I also haven't done any interplanetary missions in 1.0 yet.

[kurja]

Those deployed 'chutes really, really need to burn during reentry. Maybe in the next update...

[KSK]

I figure parachute cheese will be fixed at some point so I've been flying reentry profiles that get me through all the heating and shock effects at 8km, giving me plenty of time to slow to terminal velocity and pop the chutes. It has the nice side effect that overheating hasn't been a problem.

[jarmund]

Those deployed 'chutes really, really need to burn during reentry. Maybe in the next update...

I truly hope so. I for one like stock heat system, but I miss that aspect of Deadly Reentry.

[Wintersdark]

Hmmm, I'm having the opposite observation. Coming in shallow is the only way the ablative material reduces.

Last night I came in pretty steep with a botched sub-orbital with the MK1 and what actually happens is that I moved so fast through the 'heat area' that it barely even caused the effects to show much less reduce the shield.

I should have been fried to a crisp, I believe. The way it is now it would less dangerous to do a straight up and down than to try and hit a re-entry corridor from orbit.

Reduction in the shield is unrelated to survival or not without a shield. The abalator reduction is a matter of time at extreme temp. If you come in straight with a Mk1 without a shield, the moment the capsule hits it's heat tolerance (and this can happen fast on an energetic reentry) it simply explodes. On the other hand, with a heatshield, the capsule is protected from the heat and you only lose a little abalator because you lose velocity fast.

On the other hand, a gentle entry will often shear more off the abalator due to the extended time at high (but not critical) temperature, but the peak temperatures are far lower.

You can test this pretty easily. Take an unshielded Mk1 capsule on a gentle reentry. No problem at all. Take one at steep angle, and you pop like a grape.

- - - Updated - - -

My current Mun science grabber doesn't have any shield.

I haven't tested yet, but I suspect a straight-down return would be fine as long as you semi-deploy a parachute early enough. The heat seems to take forever to build up, and even a semi-deployed parachute drops you instantly to a slow, cool velocity.. In fact, I've noticed that when I try to play it properly, I lose MORE shielding (if so equipped) and suffer much higher temperatures on a sane approach and late chute deployment than a steep dive with an early chute pop.

Yeah, you can drop straight into the atmosphere with an early chute pop - they never burn up, and while your Kerbals may not appreciate 10G's of acceleration, it'll work pretty much every time. It's kinda cheaty though, and will likely change so I wouldn't get too used to it.

I've had several sketchy re-entries now saved by popping a parachute at 50,000m, and just letting it autodeploy as soon as there's enough atmo to do it (typically around 25,000km)... That's allowed steep Minimus returns with unshielded Mk1+Service Bay+Science Jr crafts. Nothing burning off at all.

[larkvi]

I was playing career on hard mode, and I blew up several times in a mk 1-2 with a heat shield with a 100 ap 30 pe re-entry, which was an easy entry in DREC with FAR (it only ablated a few points, then everything went boom); re-entry heating in the new version seems insanely harsh.

[little square dot]

^^That doesn't sound right.

I feel like the system needs to be much, MUCH more unforgiving...perhaps command pod maxTemp values need to be lowered or something.

I think re-entry should always be a nail-biting moment, but as it stands you don't even really need to use a heat shield in order for the pod to survive, at least with the Mk1-2... I haven't tested the system with other pods, but I was actually trying to s'plode the Mk1-2 by diving in at a ridiculously steep angle. Alas, I survived.

I even managed to survive a 9000m/sec dive into Jool's atmosphere, despite my heat shield having met with a violent end shortly after I hit the atmosphere. The 1-2 seemed to bear the brunt of the heat just fine after the shield was gone.

Edited May 4, 2015 by little square dot