Fairings does anyone use them

[Foxster]

Indeed but only designing pointy ships,probes,.. is very restrictive without fairings.

Your choice of course. You can either design proper pointy craft and fly them further for less...or use a fairing.

[Nookos]

Your choice of course. You can either design proper pointy craft and fly them further for less...or use a fairing.

I think I m confused. Do you mean that all your probes/ships are pointy? you never launch a satellite that is not pointy?

[Foxster]

For launching at Kerbin, perhaps. But try aerocapturing a spiky, lumpy probe covered with delicate instruments at Laythe without a fairing, especially if you have to bounce off Jool first.

That's not exactly mainstream though.

They were sold in the pre-release stuff as useful everywhere, notably Kerbin. In fact, though, there's few places where you aren't better off making your craft pointy instead.

They simply need their weight halved.

- - - Updated - - -

I think I m confused. Do you mean that all your probes/ships are pointy? you never launch a satellite that is not pointy?

I wouldn't say that. But if I want an optimal flight that doesn't waste dV then, yes, I have to get pointy (and preferably skinny too). If it's not important or just impossible to work around then I generally find just throwing it up as-is is often better than using a fairing.

Edited June 12, 2015 by Foxster

[gogozerg]

Fairings can be very useful (necessary) when flying very fast in atmosphere.

But I almost never use them, because of all the stability issues forcing me to stay well under Mach 1 below 15 kilometers.

[Geschosskopf]

That's not exactly mainstream though.

They were sold in the pre-release stuff as useful everywhere, notably Kerbin. In fact, though, there's few places where you aren't better off making your craft pointy instead.

They simply need their weight halved.

Huh? Sending probes to other planets isn't mainstream? What planet do you live on? If Jool's too far away for you, what about Eve? Lots of people send probes there before they finish the tech tree, and aerocapture at Eve is usually the harshest in the game.

Having a pointy rocket only matters if you're ascending from Kerbin. If you're aerocapturing, you're going blunt-end first and even with a heatshield, the delicate parts of an exposed probe will usually burn up everywhere except Duna. So you need to keep the fairing intact all the way to the destination to protect the probe.

And seriously, fairings don't weigh enough to matter. If you can't get your rocket to space with a fairing, you probably couldn't get it there without one, either, because you just don't know how to build rockets or fly proper ascent paths. OTOH, if you've got no trouble designing and launching rockets, then a bit more weight means nothing to you.

[Sharpy]

I once made a Rover drop craft to fulfill a contract that needed me to go to 4 different locations on the opposite side of Kerbin. Would love to have some droguechutes on the fairing to make them droppable as capsules to shield a complex craft from reentry aerodynamics. But the current fairing don't allow parts to be attached to it. Any solutions?

Attach the drogue chutes to the fairing base (the ring), letting it fall head-first through the "danger zone". Then when down to 60m/s or whatever your drogues bring you down to, open the fairing and deploy a normal parachute attached to the payload or a beam going alongside the fairing next to the payload.

[mrclucks]

These are excellent points. I just add fairings because I thought they matter that much, but I'll now test my rockets with and without fairings

[Cairol]

Since I use FAR, I very rarely use fairings. Because usually they cause more drag than the bare payload.

I guess it's similar without FAR!?

It's sad, because I'd like to have my payload realisticly shielded from the athmosphere upon ascent.

But if it disturbs my rockets balance, I can't use them.

[Wanderfound]

Since I use FAR, I very rarely use fairings. Because usually they cause more drag than the bare payload.

I guess it's similar without FAR!?

It's sad, because I'd like to have my payload realisticly shielded from the athmosphere upon ascent.

But if it disturbs my rockets balance, I can't use them.

Fairings can help with drag in FAR, but you need to make 'em as long, skinny and pointy as you can.

[jwenting]

Oh so that's why they're useless. It's not the fault of the fairings, but the aerodynamics.

I've actually had payloads destroyed on liftoff without fairings using the stock aerodynamics.

Another important function of fairings: making your rockets look good

[Kaos]

I once had a totally wobbling rocket. Then I added a fairing, because the payload was very irregular and I though this would be a good chance to test fairings. It was still a bit to wobbly afterwards, but it definitively helped; 4 struts did the rest to a successfull launch.

So yes: I use them, but rarely.

[jwenting]

Your choice of course. You can either design proper pointy craft and fly them further for less...or use a fairing.

or you can design properly pointy fairings... Take a look at real satellites, they're not pointy. Most are cylinders with stuff stuck on the sides and top...

Pretty much like the ones I create in KSP in fact...

Things like this for example

[Jart]

First Time I used them, they made my rocket blow up... "Never Again!"

Now I starting to use them, making a huge difference on some craft.

I am now building better rockets by far. As a few other have said here long and pointy seems to be a key. I am amazed at my launch profiles difference.

Edited June 13, 2015 by Jart

[Foxster]

or you can design properly pointy fairings... Take a look at real satellites, they're not pointy. Most are cylinders with stuff stuck on the sides and top...

Pretty much like the ones I create in KSP in fact...

Things like this for example

http://www.hornet.demon.nl/KSP/comsat%20launcher%201.PNG

I'd build something like that with all the satellites in-line and a nose cone on top or else put them in cargo holds. Bet either would fly better than a big fat fairing.

[Superfluous J]

I'd build something like that with all the satellites in-line and a nose cone on top or else put them in cargo holds. Bet either would fly better than a big fat fairing.

in-line they get all wobbly.

I'd design them to fit closer together, and connect them to the main stack with the smaller decouplers. If possible, I'd also make the main stack a girder or truss so they're even tighter in, making the fairing less wide.

[klesh]

I use them, theyre great.

http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=453113199

[Geschosskopf]

I'd build something like that with all the satellites in-line and a nose cone on top or else put them in cargo holds. Bet either would fly better than a big fat fairing.

in-line they get all wobbly.

I'd design them to fit closer together, and connect them to the main stack with the smaller decouplers. If possible, I'd also make the main stack a girder or truss so they're even tighter in, making the fairing less wide.

A lot depends on the shape of the probe(s) and the size of the rocket needed to take them where they need to be. In general, if the probes are long and narrow, it's best to cluster them side-by-side to reduce potential wobble, PROVIDED the underlying rocket is wide enough. Such as this 3.5m thing taking a constellation of commsats to various Joolian moons (and which, incidentally, needed to hang on to its fairing through a harsh aerocapture at Laythe).

OTOH, even long, narrow probes have to be stacked if they're not identical and/or if the underlying rocket doens't need to be large-diameter. In this case, there's a very long science probe sitting atop a short, squat lander probe, all on a 2.5m stack (also needing to retain fairings until parked at Laythe). Struts run from the probes down to the fairing base's upper surface (plus KJR) prevented wobbles.

Finally, if the probes are wide, then there's no real option but to stack them, especially if they're not very tall. Here, 4 probe rovers are stacked on a 3.5m rocket and the fairing was even wider. All rovers are strutted together and the bottom one strutted to the upper surface of the fairing base. No wobble, but also KJR in effect.

[juanml82]

The problem I have with fairings is that they cause my rockets to tip over during ascend. This for example

Should benefit from fairings, I guess. But if I put a fairing, it will tip over once the SRBs are dropped and the mainsails take over. I guess it's because the weight of the fairing is on the base instead of spread along the fairing itself, but I don't know.

Edited June 13, 2015 by sal_vager

[Superfluous J]

The problem I have with fairings is that they cause my rockets to tip over during ascend. This for example

http://imgur.com/sKsWs8l.jpg

Should benefit from fairings, I guess. But if I put a fairing, it will tip over once the SRBs are dropped and the mainsails take over. I guess it's because the weight of the fairing is on the base instead of spread along the fairing itself, but I don't know.

I think it has more to do with he fact that the fairing you put over that thing would more closely resemble a coin than a dart. You're making your ship aerodynamically stable backwards.

After a few days of launching some crazy stuff without fairings, I've decided to forego them. Usually a couple fins on the back gives all the stability I need, and the extra drag doesn't outdo the extra mass of having fairings.

[Jet_Fission]

I once made a Rover drop craft to fulfill a contract that needed me to go to 4 different locations on the opposite side of Kerbin. Would love to have some droguechutes on the fairing to make them droppable as capsules to shield a complex craft from reentry aerodynamics. But the current fairing don't allow parts to be attached to it. Any solutions?

You can actually finish a fairing without making the tip. Just bring the fairing to the edge of the parachute, and click, like this:

http://i.imgur.com/JvZnkzT.jpg

And the fairing conveniently keeps an opening for the parachute to fit right in.

http://i.imgur.com/8jR6NRX.jpg

This makes it really easy to make Saturn V type fairings:

http://puu.sh/inVtv/492514af30.jpg

[KarateF22]

Fairings can be decent in situations where its too hot for even heat shields, such as slamming into Jool or Eve without an optimal descent profile. I've slammed a couple suicide probes into Jool before, the heat shield typically fails them but if they are encased in a fairing they survive.

[jwenting]

in-line they get all wobbly.

I'd design them to fit closer together, and connect them to the main stack with the smaller decouplers. If possible, I'd also make the main stack a girder or truss so they're even tighter in, making the fairing less wide.

all possible. But this design has the advantage that I can swap out the dish for a larger one and use the same launch vehicle (with a bigger booster obviously) to launch satellites around Duna and Eve and still have fuel for the crew to get home.

The bigger decouplers are also easier to click to decouple one of the satellites than are the smaller ones.

And no, the fairing isn't fat Bit bulbous obviously but shapely.

[Nich]

Thanks for the replies. they have been very informative