Let's discuss lithobraking

[The Optimist]

Anyone have good substitutes for actual landers? Parachutes and retro-rockets are for scrubs. Crashing a rocket at Mach 8 into a alien city is the true Kerbal way, and surviving it is even better arguably. It's basically a egg drop contest for probe cores. I cannot grammar right now, but I'll post some of my own when I get back home.

[SpaceplaneAddict]

What about wings and no landing gear?

[The Optimist]

3 minutes ago, SpaceplaneAddict said:

What about wings and no landing gear?

How would it do in a wrestling match against the mun arch?

[Hysterrics]

How about 50 layers of the item with the strongest crash tolerance?

 

[The Optimist]

Less clipping = More fun!

[SpaceplaneAddict]

I meant on Duna or Laythe.

[The Optimist]

Hmmmm... I wonder if we attached a long, slightly suggestive looking object to the bottom of the main reinforced module if it could slow down the impact effectively. I dropped a reinforced steel cube from orbit, and most of the vital components (RTG, probe core, battery) have survived a direct 300 m/s impact, though somewhat separated from each other. I actually jammed some mk2 wheels in the cube to see if they would help, but they appeared to have not popped, which means that they didn't absorb any of the impact force.

Edited December 5, 2015 by The Optimist

[Gardevoir11]

On ‎05‎.‎12‎.‎2015 at 1:30 AM, Sequinox said:

How about 50 layers of the item with the strongest crash tolerance?

+offset=(almost) unbreakable shield

 

[SSgt Baloo]

I experimented with more turkey feathers, then decided to add some crash-absorbing structure.
Nailed it!

Reentry:

Landed without exploding. Landing speed was about 25 m/s.

 

See? No chute. 

Edited January 11, 2016 by SSgt Baloo

[Ehco Corrallo]

I've got something: The Lithostick. 

Apparently if you use config editing to increase the crash-tolerance of a girder to 1000 m/s the result is something magical. You can drop things (even manned things) from orbit with nary a care. Well... That's not entirely true, you have to worry about tipping and the like, but otherwise you can just use the power of the soup-o-sphere to come down to a reasonably safe speed. Airbrakes are helpful, but unnecessary. 

Edited January 12, 2016 by Ehco Corrallo

[SSgt Baloo]

If anyone has suggestions for how to build a capsule that doesn't need chutes. please share. Further experimentation shows that while the first version I worked out works a treat every time, when I try to use a different capsule, I have considerably less success (as in: "all hands lost, and no trace of the vessel, either).