Reentry just ploughs into ground?

[maceemiller]

Hi all. Just a quick question. Ive just deorbited to return to kerbin yet I didnt slow down? As I came thru the atmosphere I had the flames appear as usual with my parachute ready to deploy except all the way to ground impact the flames remained burning and I just got faster? By the time my parachute deployed it was just to late. Anyone else have this issue before?

[tater]

Sounds like you were grossly too steep.

[Thomassino]

You were entering too steeply. Also, when you enter the atmosphere with a command pod, tilt it about 15 degrees upwards. This will create lift and you will lose more of your velocity in the upper atmosphere.

Edit: like this: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atmospheric_entry#/media/File:Apollo_cm.jpg

[tranenturm]

The latest update thinned out the air, so you don't have enough drag to slow your ship down before "landing". To reentry successfully you need to come in shallow to burn as much speed off as possible. When I come in I usually set my periapsis for about 25,000 m. This is high enough to hit plenty of atmosphere so that I don't go explody, but low enough that I capture. This value has plenty of play in it and is also dependent upon mass of your reentry vehicle.

- - - Updated - - -

Also. If you're doing early career, a mistake I first made was going straight up on an early launch. If the launch goes high enough, more explody on the return. So just angle those early launches.

[maceemiller]

Also. If you're doing early career, a mistake I first made was going straight up on an early launch. If the launch goes high enough, more explody on the return. So just angle those early launches.

I only play sandbox.

Ok thankyou for your replies.....I thought I was shallow enough but thinking back I may not have been. Ive had this once before in 32bit (I use windows 64bit and thought that may be why) however I have re entered perfectly before in 64bit. I will send a test craft up later today to try re entry again and report my findings.

Thankyou all again

[Snark]

...all the way to ground impact the flames remained burning and I just got faster?

Certainly, entering too steep can cause reentry problems post-1.0, but this sounds wrong. The typical symptom of entering too steep is that you overheat and explode long before you get to the ground, in my experience. Certainly you shouldn't be accelerating as you get down to ground level.

By any chance are you running any mods that tinker with aero, such as FAR? Over the past month or two, I seem to recall occasionally seeing people post questions here with symptoms such as you describe, and IIRC it often turned out that they were running some sort of mod that didn't play nice with the new aero.

Just a thought. In any case, the other folks who have already posted on this thread have provided good advice on how to reenter these days.

[maceemiller]

Certainly, entering too steep can cause reentry problems post-1.0, but this sounds wrong. The typical symptom of entering too steep is that you overheat and explode long before you get to the ground, in my experience. Certainly you shouldn't be accelerating as you get down to ground level.

By any chance are you running any mods that tinker with aero, such as FAR? Over the past month or two, I seem to recall occasionally seeing people post questions here with symptoms such as you describe, and IIRC it often turned out that they were running some sort of mod that didn't play nice with the new aero.

Just a thought. In any case, the other folks who have already posted on this thread have provided good advice on how to reenter these days.

I do use FAR.....maybe I will try reentry without it to see if it helps. Thankyou

[Streetwind]

You generally slow down a little better with FAR than with stock aerodynamics these days. (Weird how that goes. )

However, you may also have a bug. The game stores the so-called drag cubes (the definitions of aerodynamic properties) in a file called PartDatabase.cfg in the KSP root directory. This file loves breaking horribly if you update KSP or a mod and then try to keep playing as if nothing happened. However, KSP can easily regenerate this file for you with the correct values if you simply delete it. So I would recommend you go do that (it literally has no downside) just in case there's a screwed up value or three in there. It's entirely possible that if for example your pod lost its drag cube, then it will barrel through the atmosphere unslowed and create a nice impact crater.

[maceemiller]

You generally slow down a little better with FAR than with stock aerodynamics these days. (Weird how that goes. )

However, you may also have a bug. The game stores the so-called drag cubes (the definitions of aerodynamic properties) in a file called PartDatabase.cfg in the KSP root directory. This file loves breaking horribly if you update KSP or a mod and then try to keep playing as if nothing happened. However, KSP can easily regenerate this file for you with the correct values if you simply delete it. So I would recommend you go do that (it literally has no downside) just in case there's a screwed up value or three in there. It's entirely possible that if for example your pod lost its drag cube, then it will barrel through the atmosphere unslowed and create a nice impact crater.

Hi there and thanks for your help. I deleted that file but alas nothing changed. I uninstalled FAR and hey presto it works again (I am using 64bit windows 1.0.4) but now ive lost the atmosphere graphical flame effect? Any ideas?

[Wolfox]

Hi there and thanks for your help. I deleted that file but alas nothing changed. I uninstalled FAR and hey presto it works again (I am using 64bit windows 1.0.4) but now ive lost the atmosphere graphical flame effect? Any ideas?

Doublecheck "Aerodynamic FX" settings. If they are on and no flames appear, i suggest restore your backup copy, or (if you don´t have one) reinstall game fresh.

[maceemiller]

Doublecheck "Aerodynamic FX" settings. If they are on and no flames appear, i suggest restore your backup copy, or (if you don´t have one) reinstall game fresh.

Alas nothing is working.....guessing its just 64bit.....time to revert to 32bit but thanks for your help

[Wolfox]

Alas nothing is working.....guessing its just 64bit.....time to revert to 32bit but thanks for your help

64-bit is like a wonderland. You never know what shenanigan-ish stuff you will find next.

[maceemiller]

64-bit is like a wonderland. You never know what shenanigan-ish stuff you will find next.

Lol very true!