Ablator at Duna/Ike

[RandomRyan]

SO,I was doing some junk at duna, using my space craft that has a nuke engine.

then after I had circularized the orbit on Duna, i turn the fuel and materials stuff up(the fuel can thingy)

I noticed that the ablator gauge went down like what. so, because of that, i went to ike instead.

same thing happened there ,then i landed, planted a flag, mess with the Kerbals, and do other stuff.

heres the problem:

wai is the ablator gauge going down and i have discovered some explosions on the Batt Man batteries(Z-400) the Nerv engine,

and the decoupler(under the heat shield) is overheating

sorry for shortened words.(its 11:16PM at my time)

and yes. im sleepy

Thanks in advance

Edited June 5, 2015 by RandomRyan

[Feradose]

Your craft is overheating. Overheating causes ablator to ablate from ablative heat shield.

[RandomRyan]

oh ok. so how do i not overheat the craft?

[Feradose]

You have many options, some are easier and some are more practical.

For existing craft:

Try doing your burns at night side.

Try to expose your ship less to sun.

Do shorter burns.

Graze the highest part of an atmosphere to cool of a little (really little)

For new craft:

Do your own radiators from wings/panels. (They radiate heat but can also take more heat in)

Use solar panels. (They radiate heat but also take heat from other side.)

Have a heatsink (like an unusable tank of RCS).

And if your shield ablates during atmospheric entry, its normal. If its a lot, its time to slow down (if its an aerobrake, make your entry a little shallower)

[RandomRyan]

oh so thats how. the craft exploded anyway. one went on EVA.

[Feradose]

Sorry for your loss, the Nerv engine mysteriously overheats while its heating very cool propellant, so when youre going to use the nerv engine with a small craft without any advanced cooling mechanism, do short burns and keep an eye on the thermal info screen