Ships blowing up during re-entry

[Bradvh97]

So I'm really early in my Science mode save and whenever I send manned ships to collect science from space high above kerbin or fly by's of the Mun, my ships always blow up from overheating during re-entry (apart from the capsule), so my goo cannisters, science bays and everything else apart from the cockpit is blown up (I'm using heat shields). Any tips?

[*Aqua*]

You are probably coming in to steep.

When deorbiting burn until your periapsis has a height of about 45 km.

[klesh]

This depends on whether you've unlocked EVA yet, but you can EVA your Kerbal out of the capsule and float over to the individual experiments, right-click them and take the data from the experiment. Float back to the capsule and put the "data" in there. This is how you can bring 26 thermometer scans home with you, without having to transmit them and lose science.

If you're using heatshields and buring them up on returns from the Mun (which isnt very fast), it sounds to me like you're re-entering the atmosphere too steeply. Bring your Pe down to like 35km and slice your way back to Kerbin.

[annallia]

^What they said.

If you are using the heatshield and things are still blowing up (like the goo canisters) whcih does happen because they stick out I recommend using the 1.25 service bay (bigger if you need bigger but doubt it early on) and sticking the canisters in there to bring them in line with your heatshield.

[almagnus1]

Going off of what they said, you want to rework the design of the ship so that only the heat shield + capsule + parachutes reenter, and everything else is shed. The capsules are generally areodynamically stable if you get them pointing retrograde, so you should be able to reenter without needing to use SAS.

It's also where service bays full of stuff is helpful, as you can stick one of those on a heat shield, and put a bunch of stuff in the service bays.

[Bradvh97]

Going off of what they said, you want to rework the design of the ship so that only the heat shield + capsule + parachutes reenter, and everything else is shed. The capsules are generally areodynamically stable if you get them pointing retrograde, so you should be able to reenter without needing to use SAS.

It's also where service bays full of stuff is helpful, as you can stick one of those on a heat shield, and put a bunch of stuff in the service bays.

Those 3 core things are good, but what about SC-9001 Science Jr. bays? That is usually the thing I'm not sure how to protect from the heat.

[Xavven]

Those 3 core things are good, but what about SC-9001 Science Jr. bays? That is usually the thing I'm not sure how to protect from the heat.

I have trouble protecting those. They are bulky, but light, so even when you slap a heat shield on the bottom, there's danger of the whole thing flipping over during re-entry and burning up. I wait until I unlock EVA from the astronaut complex before using science jr. on anything greater than a suborbital hop.

[Edax]

If the spacecraft isn't aerodynamically stable, then you can try a BBQ roll, rotating the ship radially pointed 90 degrees away from prograde so that the heat is distributed across more of the ship and you'll encounter the reentry head for less time and slow down faster.

[Xyphos]

You're re-entering too steep. adjust your AP to below 120km then on your de-orbit burn, do so until your PE is about 40-45km and that should put you on the correct angle.

[Vanamonde]

Things are blowing up despite a heat shield? Are the damaged parts exposed to the airflow? Pics of the craft might help diagnose the problem.

[mikegarrison]

You are probably coming in to steep.

When deorbiting burn until your periapsis has a height of about 45 km.

That is really, really conservative. If you are normal difficulty, normal re-entry heat, stock parts, etc., you can set your re-entry periapsis to 20km or so and survive pretty easily. With many ships you won't need a heat shield at all, but if you try to land a long and heavy 1.25m ship you may need a heat shield in order to avoid becoming a "rod from God".

[Bradvh97]

So I put 2 goo cannisters into a service bay, and they blew up... I had nothing but 2 cannisters in that service bay and they both blew up whilst the doors were close, and nothing else was damaged, just the cannisters... My periapsis was at 35km when re-entering... Screenshots

[mikegarrison]

So I put 2 goo cannisters into a service bay, and they blew up... I had nothing but 2 cannisters in that service bay and they both blew up whilst the doors were close, and nothing else was damaged, just the cannisters... My periapsis was at 35km when re-entering...

Don't know, compadre. I've returned many goo canisters in that same service bay, with no issues, with steeper re-entries. By the way, I don't think those radiators are helping you in the least. Have you tried without them?

[MalfunctionM1Ke]

I noticed that things in the Service bay get hot if you expose the closed Service bay to the airflow quite easily.

It happens to fast to be convected from the sciencebay to the part inside it.

So in your case, try to take the heatshield off and put it on again. Maybe the game things the heatshield was placed above the bottom of the Service bay.

[annallia]

Don't know, compadre. I've returned many goo canisters in that same service bay, with no issues, with steeper re-entries. By the way, I don't think those radiators are helping you in the least. Have you tried without them?

I've done it too, one thing I have noticed is certain areas of the bay tend to I guess you could say hotter than others. Keeping everything centered with absolutely no clipping (I mean not even touching!) seems to fix that issue though there is still a bug that makes it explode from time to time instantly.

I noticed that things in the Service bay get hot if you expose the closed Service bay to the airflow quite easily.

It happens to fast to be convected from the sciencebay to the part inside it.

So in your case, try to take the heatshield off and put it on again. Maybe the game things the heatshield was placed above the bottom of the Service bay.

This was my second thought. Sometimes the heatshields sink in a fraction and when that happens they tend to not work.

[fat_cloudz]

Maybe your goo containers clipped through your service bay and are connected directly to the heatshield instead...?

[GoSlash27]

I have brought vessels back from Minmus with exposed science jrs and goo pods *without* heat shields, storage bays, or radiators and had them reenter safely.

The trick is to be very conservative with the aerobraking by setting a high periapsis. I ran as many as 10 aerobraking passes to work off the excess speed before making the final reentry at 45km.

tl;dr:

If you come in too fast and steep it's gonna blow up no matter what you do.

Best,

-Slashy

[Laie]

This thing also returned from Minmus. I aimed for a 27km periapsis to bring it down in one go. Being comparatively lightweight helped a lot (a pod is much heavier), as did the heatshield on the bottom. Please note that I started with 60 units of ablator: only very little was consumed. Despite this, I'm under the impression having a heatshield made a huge difference.

Also note how the goo containers are in the shadow behind the science jr's. This was vital.

[GoSlash27]

http://ksp.schnobs.de/caveman/caveman_02.jpg

This thing also returned from Minmus. I aimed for a 27km periapsis to bring it down in one go. Being comparatively lightweight helped a lot (a pod is much heavier), as did the heatshield on the bottom. Please note that I started with 60 units of ablator: only very little was consumed. Despite this, I'm under the impression having a heatshield made a huge difference.

Also note how the goo containers are in the shadow behind the science jr's. This was vital.

Agreed; ablative heat shields make a *huge* difference. You can get a lot more aggressive when you have them.

My point is that you can't come in too fast and steep or you'll blow it up, but if you're careful then even stuff you'd think can't survive will. Likewise, if you're too aggressive, then stuff that "should" survive won't.

*edit* Put another way...

Coming in completely unprotected from Minmus is dodging a wrench.

Best,

-Slashy

Edited July 16, 2015 by GoSlash27

[almagnus1]

Heatshields are crucial, as is some way to apply torque to the vessel (like reaction wheels/capsules/cockpits)

For a lot of the early on tourist missions, I frequently recover a vessel that's the heat shield + inline cockpit + mk1 capsule + nose cone parachute + 2x radial parachutes (all parachutes mounted to the capsule, so they are shielded from heat - at least that's the idea).

The key is keeping the heat shield pointing towards your prograde vector, which basically means having the capsule going retrograde the entire way down.

That said, I have managed to incinerate myself by loosing control of the reentry (as I need to watch the reentry as that capsule design requires a lot of attention until it's sub 1 km/s speed), so it's all a combination of how you're reentering the atmosphere with how well you can put the heat shield in front of you.

While not the most credit efficient of designs, I generally don't stick anything on my capsule that isn't a heat shield or parachutes. All science instruments get shed before reentry, as that keeps the capsule aerodynamically stable, and my chances of survival the highest.

[mikegarrison]

Yesterday the wrench I dodged was when I ended up trying to have to land a MPL+cupola with no heat shield or engines. Luckily I did have some parachutes attached to it, and a pilot in the cupola could give it some control. It made a hard but successful landing.

(I had tried to land a ship which consisted of a pod with engines connected to the lab and cupola by clampotron Sr. But the clamptrons blew up during re-entry, and the two ships wouldn't stay close enough together so that they both ended up in the physics bubble. So I F9ed and tried another option. I was able to de-orbit the combined ship, undock the lab, re-orbit the engined pod, and then try to land the lab by passive drag and parachute. And it worked! I had put parachutes on both the lab and the main pod just in case something like this happened.)