Solar Panels not Breaking

[Jman]

Has anyone else noticed that solar panels don't break as easily while flying through the atmosphere in 1.0? I would always get a kick out of watching my solar panels break in the atmosphere after forgetting to retract them after a mission. But now it seems like the don't break at all or as easily or I am just hallucinating. I haven't tested to see if they break after fully re-entering. After seeing heating effects on them for a hot minute I remember to close them. I guess its just a minor detail that only bothers me ha-ha.

[Dman979]

What kind are you using? The OX-STAT ones don't break.

[Jman]

SP-W 3x2 Panels

[Alshain]

They don't break as easily in the high atmosphere because it is properly simulating a very thin atmosphere up there. You get down to 45km and they will break.

Drag is nearly (but not quite) non-existent above about 45km.

[Jman]

They don't break as easily in the high atmosphere because it is properly simulating a very thin atmosphere up there. You get down to 45km and they will break.

Drag is nearly (but not quite) non-existent above about 45km.

Hasn't it always been like that though or is that something with the new atmosphere update?

[Alshain]

Hasn't it always been like that though or is that something with the new atmosphere update?

I don't remember, even before 1.0 I used FAR so it has been a very long time since I played the old stock aero. But I think it wasn't quite as thin as it is now.

[Jman]

Thanks man that clears up some questions.

[magnemoe]

They don't break as easily in the high atmosphere because it is properly simulating a very thin atmosphere up there. You get down to 45km and they will break.

Drag is nearly (but not quite) non-existent above about 45km.

I feel that high atmosphere has more drag than in 0.9 for aerobraking.

[Goddess Bhavani]

I feel that high atmosphere has more drag than in 0.9 for aerobraking.

In 1.02 I can pull ridiculous amounts of aerobraking and cross-range maneuvering, perhaps because of whatever body lift multipliers Squad added.

But if you fly at zero AoA you should enjoy greatly reduced drag. Then pitch up 20-30 degrees and you see what I mean, it's like pulling the handbrake!

[Starwhip]

I feel that high atmosphere has more drag than in 0.9 for aerobraking.

That is because there actually is a "high atmosphere". In 0.90.0 the atmo basically stopped past 45 kilometers. Now it stretches all the way to 70 km, though it is rather thin, but it still affects your orbit.

[mikegarrison]

Has anyone else noticed that solar panels don't break as easily while flying through the atmosphere in 1.0? I would always get a kick out of watching my solar panels break in the atmosphere after forgetting to retract them after a mission. But now it seems like the don't break at all or as easily or I am just hallucinating. I haven't tested to see if they break after fully re-entering. After seeing heating effects on them for a hot minute I remember to close them. I guess its just a minor detail that only bothers me ha-ha.

If you use the unretractable ones, you'll see that they do break eventually.

I like it, because you can still do areobraking with the unretractable panels as long as you don't go too deep in.

Does anybody know for sure what makes them break? I'm guessing it is some dynamic pressure threshold, so that speed squared and density are the main factors.