Need some help with deploying a Thermal Control System

[Foxster]

I want to deploy a Thermal Control System part on a craft flying in atmosphere. I know, I know, they aren't supposed to do that. I'd still like to find a way if it is possible though.

So far all that I have tried ended up with the thing quickly falling apart. So far I have tried:

Deploying it along the craft axis. Works until the craft changes direction.

Installing inside a fairing. Can't deploy it.

Deploying inside a cargo bay. Falls apart soon after takeoff. Dunno why this is, I was hopeful for this one.

Anyone got any ideas?

[Jimbimbibble]

I don't think it's possible. They designed it to fall apart exactly as you described.

[Foxster]

I don't think it's possible. They designed it to fall apart exactly as you described.

Yes, been trying again but I've still had no luck. Just hoped that someone might have found a glitchy way of doing it, other than resorting to editing cfg files.

I'd also like to be able to attach a Radiator Panel to a Shell (fairing). Perhaps someone has managed that?

[Hagen von Tronje]

It's an aerodynamic surface with no structural integrity, naturally it will fly off when any force is applied.

If for some reason you just want the challenge of launching an atmospheric craft with extensible panels, I think the only way to do it would be to totally occlude the panel, presumably by attaching it to the underside of a center column and surrounding it with radial columns (probably tanks though I guess structural panels could encase it too). You'll want to leave the back open so you can access it to deploy. This craft will of course be incapable of going retrograde inside the atmosphere...

But I'm not sure radiators are even meant to do anything useful in the atmosphere? For some reason I thought they were used for heat sink while in space where you can't use atmospheric ventilation. Either way there are static radiator panels that don't fly off so easily, and I'd be really curious what you've built that needs this much heat radiation while in flight within the atmosphere.

EDIT: For whatever reason I decided to try this. It works fine as long as you never change trajectory, but if you do, even slightly, you will lose your panels no matter how occluded they are, even totally entombed in structural panels and surrounded by tanks. I have no idea whether this is because atmospheric physics are imperfect or because Kerbals can't make an airtight weld or what, but that's what my testing suggests.

Edited July 23, 2015 by Hagen von Tronje

[Foxster]

Thanks for trying.

This is for an aircraft travelling just above sea level (240m) going as fast as possible. Obviously the problem is heat. I've tried dumping heat with radiator panels but as I understand it they only dump heat from the part they are attached to. The hottest part of my aircraft is the fairing streamlining the front and you can't attach radiator panels to any part of a fairing. The Thermal Control System parts seem to work differently by pulling heat out of all the parts of the craft. So that's why I'm trying to get one or more on this craft.

[Hagen von Tronje]

I see what you're getting at, low atmosphere super/hypersonic jets? Makes sense you'd dump heat for that.

Unfortunately the closest thing to an idea that I have is, bizarrely enough, maybe attaching Gigantor solar panels to the fuselage, in the open, and not extending them. This only even occurs to me because I've seen them get way hotter than the rest of the craft on some atmospheric entries, which makes me wonder if physics don't make them act as heatsinks even retracted. Obviously they might explode from overheating, too, and I might even just be a dummy seeing things where they don't exist, but that's all I got.

I can say that retractable radiators do seem to pull heat from any part, I've sent sun-diving probes with nuclear engines and large radiators, and the panels did in fact heat up in thermal display after the nukes got pretty hot despite being attached to the body of the craft. But I have no idea if the game treats heat from parts the same as heat from drag.