Aerobraking

[crashy]

How would I aerobrake at other planets/moons with atmospheres without burning up? I could use a heat shield, but that complicates any designs I will build, especially probes. I have tried aero braking at Jool, but the instant I hit the atmosphere, I immediately burned up.

[Gaarst]

What do you mean by "burning up" ?

If it's reentry effects, then it's normal and isn't necessarily linked to the craft overheating. Reentry effects happen much higher in 1.0.4 than in 1.0.2 (at 55km at Kerbin).

If it's the ship overheating, try aerobraking higher in the atmosphere for less drag and heat. Trial and error is almost vital in KSP.

Edit: added some things.

Edited June 28, 2015 by Gaarst

[Starhawk]

The new aero model has made aerocapture/aerobraking much more dangerous.

I haven't tried a Jool trip in the new model, but you could use trial-and-error as mentioned above to see if there is a safe altitude you can dive to that will still provide enough friction to slow you down sufficiently (or at least help). If not, you will have to use gravity assists or engine burns for insertion at Jool.

Good luck, and

Happy landings!

[Guest]

Jool's atmosphere extends way out now, 200 km according to the wiki page and the info panels in game. Aerobraking heights have changed dramatically. Ship design changes are also needed with the new heating models in 1.03 and 1.04. I use larger diameter fuel tanks now whenever possible. The larger diameter tanks help shield the more sensitive parts from the heat.

[*Aqua*]

@crashy

If you can't add a heat shield it often helps to turn retrograde and use your engines as heat shields. They are not effective as real heat shields but they can absorb a lot of heat.

[TauPhraim]

you could use trial-and-error as mentioned above to see if there is a safe altitude

I just tried with Eve, and there simply isn't such an altitude: one height everything explodes in a few secondes. Epsilon higher, and you almost don't lose any delta-v.

The airbrakes are exploding way before all the rest, so I wonder if they're any use.

I admit I didn't use the new radiators yet, but I figure they'd get ripped off by the drag pretty fast (it looks to me like things for supporting nuclear engines in space but I could be wrong).

[Zwolff]

I had the same problem returning from my Jool mission. No middle ground between burning up and not slowing down enough to stay inside Kerbins SOI.

What I do to save some ∆v on my more recent interplanetary missions is to slow down using engines outside the destination planets atmosphere just enough to get the apoapsis inside the planets SOI, and then circularise through aeorbreaking when the speeds are low enough to survive.

Also when going to Jool, one can do a gravity assist manoeuvres around Tylo or Laythe to slow down enough to get an apoapsis within Bops orbit without ever having to use ones engines or enter an atmosphere.

[Kilmeister]

Yeah I just tried to aerobrake at Jool. At a Perapsis of just 197 I nearly completely burnt away my ablative shield, but it seemed to only provide about 100ish ∆v of change....

In the past I've always packed a heatshield to any Joolian mission to take advantage of it's atomosphere and always found it useful. But now that I know about the current atmosphere, packing the weight of a heatshield and designing your craft to fit behind it is just not worth 100 ∆v of extra fuel somewhere.

I'd recommend skipping aerobraking while they work out the issues with the current heating model.