Have you ever used 0,625m heatshield?

[Numerlor]

Just started career with research buy in and I'm wondering if it is any use. Only thing that came to my mind is small manned ion probe that wwould need it to survive re-entry

Edited April 25, 2017 by Numerlor

[IncongruousGoat]

Yes, I have. It's great for returning science canisters from the Mun and Minmus. Although, technically speaking, the canister can stand up to re-entry. It's the probe core you've got tacked on to it so you can get credit for surface return that's the thing at risk.

[Numerlor]

2 hours ago, IncongruousGoat said:

Yes, I have. It's great for returning science canisters from the Mun and Minmus. Although, technically speaking, the canister can stand up to re-entry. It's the probe core you've got tacked on to it so you can get credit for surface return that's the thing at risk.

Couldn't you just stage parachute and let it go?

[ZooNamedGames]

22 minutes ago, Numerlor said:

Couldn't you just stage parachute and let it go?

depends if you have the game settings set to burn off parachutes during re-entry. If they deploy after re-entry then technically yes, but if release the chutes in space prior to return they'll open during re-entry/mach velocities and that doesn't end well.

Simple answer, yes, but dependent on settings.

[Numerlor]

4 minutes ago, ZooNamedGames said:

depends if you have the game settings set to burn off parachutes during re-entry. If they deploy after re-entry then technically yes, but if release the chutes in space prior to return they'll open during re-entry/mach velocities and that doesn't end well.

Simple answer, yes, but dependent on settings.

can't you set them to release at certain pressure?

[ZooNamedGames]

2 minutes ago, Numerlor said:

can't you set them to release at certain pressure?

Yes, but you can still be traveling at mach+ speeds when they deploy but that comes down to flight trajectories and whatnot.

[RocketBlam]

I've used them when I have the small fuel tanks attached radially. I don't use them often, but there are a lot of parts I use less.

[Numerlor]

28 minutes ago, ZooNamedGames said:

Yes, but you can still be traveling at mach+ speeds when they deploy but that comes down to flight trajectories and whatnot.

I just tested this with direct trajectory from Mun, even those chutes survived (somehow). It would probably work with mk2-R chutes too, I was afraid they would burn up or something but with that fast aerobraking and that big heat tolerances maybe not.

Sorry for the sound, I forgot to remove it

 

[septemberWaves]

1 hour ago, Numerlor said:

can't you set them to release at certain pressure?

This isn't ideal. However, parachutes do have a "deploy when safe" option that guarantees they'll only deploy when at a safe velocity.

[Numerlor]

5 minutes ago, eloquentJane said:

This isn't ideal. However, parachutes do have a "deploy when safe" option that guarantees they'll only deploy when at a safe velocity.

Sometimes I get safe while above 20km but below 70 wouldn't that trigger them?

[septemberWaves]

40 minutes ago, Numerlor said:

Sometimes I get safe while above 20km but below 70 wouldn't that trigger them?

They still work based on pressure limits too, so if you want them to only activate close to the ground you can set a high pressure limiter. The "deploy when safe" setting (which is the default for most parachutes) acts essentially as an override so that if you're travelling too fast when you're at a pressure level where your parachute could deploy, it still won't deploy until you slow down.

[Numerlor]

But that means it is better to just set them to deploy at 0,44 pressure like in video, no? If you're that low any going too fast for chutes it'll be pretty close or not enough

Edited April 23, 2017 by Numerlor

[IncongruousGoat]

3 hours ago, Numerlor said:

Couldn't you just stage parachute and let it go?

It's not returning the science that's the concern here. It's that contracts that require you to return a vessel from the surface of the Mun or Minmus require that that vessel be controllable.

 

But yes, if you're just trying to return the science you can tweak the parachute deploy altitude and let it re-enter. Both the parachute and canister are resilient enough to survive.

Edited April 23, 2017 by IncongruousGoat

[Numerlor]

well then it's useful

[septemberWaves]

Ultimately the point of the discussion is the heat shield rather than parachutes, and it does have its uses. It's good for small science return missions, and it's also probably quite effective for protecting small outlying parts of a vehicle which aren't covered by the area of a 1.25m shield.

[fourfa]

Guys - don't think too hard about the 0.6m heat shield.  I was watching DasValdez streaming KSP late in the 1.2 pre-release period, working with the science canister which had just been introduced.  Making high-velocity science return capsules - like, 8km/s high velocity.  Someone from Squad was in the stream chat (IIRC RoverDude, whose name is in the cfg), said hey do you want a Mk0 heatshield? Then it appeared in the next build.  It's just scaled from existing models so there wasn't any work involved.  

Don't start thinking you're playing the game wrong if you don't see a need for it.

[blakemw]

The small heat shield is the first available 0.625m decoupler, it's also the cheapest one, though not the lightest (but if you remove the ablator it is pretty light)

An OKTO2 probe core does fit behind the 0.625m heat shield, so does the 0.625m battery and reaction wheel, so it is just barely possible to make micro-landers for dumping into atmospheres at high speeds (i.e. hyperbolic), actually getting the micro-lander to do anything useful is a bit of a design challenge.

[kerbiloid]

If Laika had one, she would stay alive. 

[Ferdoni]

I never used it due to a lack of neccesarity for the heat shield

[monophonic]

18 hours ago, Numerlor said:

Just started career with research buy in and I'm wondering if it is any use.

Don't fret about it, you can just buy it directly from the VAB/SPH when/if you find a need for it.

[cfds]

2 hours ago, kerbiloid said:

If Laika had one, she would stay alive. 

Sputnik 2 was launched nearly 60 years ago and that would be a surprising age for a dog. And besides, Laika died in orbit, not during reentry.

[kerbiloid]

Laika died in orbit because they didn't have a ready solution to return her from there.

Edited April 24, 2017 by kerbiloid

[mrclucks]

.625 heatshield is stock?! I thought it was a modded part!!

I set my pressure for parachutes to .2-.3 and stage them from orbit and I've never had them burn up, even with a pe ~25 from the mun

To answer you question, yes I use it because I like building both tiny and huge and the .625 heatshield is perfect when returning an octosat with all the science goodies and the first parachute(the white one)

[The Moose In Your House]

I only use the 0,625m heatshield to transport the science from my space station back down to Kerbin, though Jeb usually puts snacks in them when not used.

[TopHeavy11]

I'm considering using one for a contract to bring something from a fly-by of Ike back down to the surface of Kerbin. A small probe core is really all that is required...or even an experiment box, idk.