Parachute fail on the way up

[handrumsolo]

I played KSP heavily a year to a year and a half ago then took an extended break. trying to get back into it and some things have changed since last I played. For some reason my parachute is consistently breaking during my ascent....any tips or ideas as to what I'm doing wrong? Never had this problem in the past.

[The Optimist]

10 minutes ago, handrumsolo said:

I played KSP heavily a year to a year and a half ago then took an extended break. trying to get back into it and some things have changed since last I played. For some reason my parachute is consistently breaking during my ascent....any tips or ideas as to what I'm doing wrong? Never had this problem in the past.

Why are you using your parachutes during ascent?

If the icon is turning red, it just means that deployment at that moment is unsafe. If's not broken.

[Tex_NL]

Two things can cause parachutes to fail during ascent. Premature activation (as Optimist is assuming) and heat. Both types of failure can be easily identified by looking at the mission report [F3].
If your parachutes failed from aerodynamic forces you've activated them too soon. Like in real life your parachutes have been ripped off.
If your parachutes failed from overheating they did exactly that, they got too hot. You're going WAY to fast!

Edited February 27, 2016 by Tex_NL

[wumpus]

A year ago the ideal launch profile was to maintain a TWR of 2.0 through the entire ascent.  It has vastly changed, and you can greatly benefit by *launching* at or near 2.0 (I'd expect closer to 1.5*, although it doesn't pay to lower a more powerful rocket to less than 2.0) and allowing the TWR to increase as the fuel burns.

Burning up your parachute means you were going *way* too fast for either of these versions.  It might not be pure speed, you might be pitching over (what we often call a "gravity turn", although real ones are now possible) far to early.  With the current model, you need to slow your pitchover to a gradual turn from 0 to 45 degrees (or 90 if you have less thrust and can manage it).

Are you sure it was during the ascent?  It used to be that you could easily bring home your final stage, but doing that now typically means coming down headfirst and burning up your parachute (especially a top-mounted one).  Early returns typically require staging everything down to the capsule prior to re-entry.  Note that for the career mode "escape the atmosphere" you will need to get your craft to nearly a 45 degree angle while under thrust, stage everything down to the capsule, and then stage the parachutes when you are less than ~200 m/s (I think 210 m/s is the magic number).  A lot of things can go wrong and burning on the way up is one of the less likely ones.

* I'd guess that 1.7 is ideal, but don't know how to begin the experiments.  It probably involves spamming side thrusters and hacking Isp ratings.

[AlamoVampire]

@handrumsolo Id wager you are burning up the chutes with way too much speed now. New aero and all. Get Procedural Fairings, they are far easier to use than what the stock confetti "fairings" are. Procedural Fairings may be what you need. Best of luck

[Speadge]

they dont fail, its just the new icon telling you that it is unsafe to use them in that moment.

failed paras have a red background. you are speaking about red parachutes.

 

they get a normal icon when u r in orbit or below a specific speed in atmo

[handrumsolo]

yeah the little icon is turning red. I figured it was something to do with the new aerodynamics or something. I'm definitely not deploying them on the way up lol.

Edited February 27, 2016 by handrumsolo

[sal_vager]

Red icon background means unsafe, red parachute on the icon means busted.

Just don't open the chutes when the icon is red and you'll be fine.

Though if you set the opening pressure to .75 they won't open until near the ground on Kerbin, the chute will be blue if staged early, but won't actually deploy so will be safe.

[Tex_NL]

25 minutes ago, sal_vager said:

...
Though if you set the opening pressure to .75 they won't open until near the ground on Kerbin, the chute will be blue if staged early, but won't actually deploy so will be safe.

Setting the pressure too high can prevent your chutes from opening at all. If you happen to come down on a mountain range the surface pressure might not be enough to trigger your chutes.

[sal_vager]

True, I usually use 73, and an opening height of 2000.

[handrumsolo]

ok yeah the icon turning red was freaking me out but now I see that just means "don't deploy now". getting the hang of all this stuff again

[AlextheBodacious]

6 hours ago, handrumsolo said:

ok yeah the icon turning red was freaking me out but now I see that just means "don't deploy now". getting the hang of all this stuff again

Welcome back! We missed you!