Lander that can withstand re-entry?

[MrPopcup]

Hello everyone!

I made a lander that can get refueled, it's built of 3 crewed capsule (mk3 cockpit,,I guess?) and a big fuel tank underneath it with two small fuel tanks on the sides, srapped with two LV-N's,

I did 1k science mission just using this lander, got refueled twice, and it's now orbiting minmus, the problem is that it doesn't really have any heat absorbing stuff, and LV-N's are really expensive, is there a way to use an efficient lander that can also withstand re-entry heat?

Thanks in advance!

[NASAHireMe]

If you're worried about reentry heat on Minmus, you're in luck. Since Minmus has no atmosphere, you don't have to worry about reentry heating at all.

If you're talking about recovering your lander to Kerbin intact, your only options are to:

1. Quicksave, then try reentry without any heat shields. I reckon all your big parts (tank, crew capsule, LV-Ns) will survive reentry just fine even without a heat shield. Engines have high heat tolerances.

2. If the above strategy fails, reload your quicksave, then use a Claw or some sort of docking arrangement to attach a heatshield/parachute craft onto your lander in orbit, then reenter with that arrangement.

[rudi1291]

You can also let your Kerbals grab the data/experiments/science (right click on the command module of the lander (or specific experiment), then"Take Data" (if you are on EVA)) and transfer them over to a vessel which can reenter. This way you get all the science, even if you only return the kerbals

Edited May 14, 2015 by rudi1291

[cicatrix]

If you don't want to waste your engines just leave it in orbit. Here's a design I used once:

Return capsule with parachutes

Heat shield

Separator (not decoupler)

Docking port

Docking port

Fuel tanks + engines + the rest of the stuff (batteries, solar panels, probe core, etc) that stay in orbit.

You only waste separator and one docking port this way. Once you returned from Minmus (or wherever you've been), make sure your Pe is well within the atmosphere (35-40 km), separate the stages before reentry, then circularize your engine block. Then switch to the reentry capsule and continue the descent.

Edited May 14, 2015 by cicatrix

[Geschosskopf]

Another Option: Don't return the lander to the surface on Kerbin. If you're refueling it, I'm assuming you have a fuel depot station somewhere. Dock the lander to that. Then send another ship to meet the lander there. This other ship is simply a crew-and-data recovery vehicle, specifically designed for reentry. Have EVA Kerbals transfer all the data from the lander into the recovery ship, get in it themselves if they're due to come home, and then land the recovery ship.

Next time you want to use the lander, send another recovery ship out there with the new crew in it. Move the crew to the lander, refuel it at the depot, go do more science, put the data and Kerbals back in the recovery ship, and bring that home. Repeat until you get bored with it.

[radonek]

You could probably bring it down in one piece, but I doubt you can land it safely without chutes. LN-Ns have poor performance in atmosphere and that beast of your is big and heavy. (Also, I consider running LV-N down over habitable parts to be a bad taste.) You could bring up heatshield and chutes, attach it via docking port and (with some careful piloting) land it, but that would be more expensive then just ditching the whole thing…

I'd say forget about it. If you want to save funds, best way IMO is designing small and efficient single-purpose crafts.

[MrPopcup]

Yeaah what I eventually did was sending another spacecraft and dock with it, transfer all the data and return, but that's not the problem as I did this right away I finished gathering science, the problem is landing on an atmospheric body, say I went to duna, collected science and wanted to return to kerbin with very little fuel, my lander has to withstand the heat, or also consider aero-braking in jools atmosphere, this is my problem.

Anyway! Thanks every for trying to help, you guys really did give me some ideas!