How do I get this out of orbit?

[jonpfl]

All,

It goes to 65k but then goes back into orbit.  I thought under 70k means it will get pulled down.

 

Thx
jonpfl

[Just Jim]

If I understand what you're asking, you may have been going so fast it still went back into orbit. But if your PE is under 65k, I would imagine in another orbit or three you'll be slowed down enough to stay....

[bewing]

Your craft has got a lot of speed. Every time it goes below 70km, it loses a little bit of speed.

To get pulled down, your speed will have to drop to something like 2400m/s at your Pe.

Each time you go through the atmosphere, that's called an "aerobrake", and you're probably going to need to do about 30 aerobraking passes.

It helps if you put your craft in an orentation that exposes the draggiest parts to the air. Which in your case would be rear end first (retrograde).  But I can't see if you have any solar panels on that ship -- and you may run out of EC fairly quickly, unless you are careful.

 

Edited May 25, 2017 by bewing

[Spricigo]

At 65km the atmosphere is very thin,  so it will take a while to slow down enough.

 Also watching it from the tracking station will not work,  the craft will be put on rail and the aeroforces not calculated, so you need to be there to watch it 

If there is risk of running out of electricity arm the parachutes (check if they are set to deploy when safe). 

 

[Lelitu]

If you're as brave as jeb, you can actually get out and push when it's that small.

You'll need to do that at apoapsis, and have the pilot stay aboard to keep SAS hold going (tumbling makes it a crapload harder). Have one of the others get aligned with the center of the heatshield, and push with RCS thrusters
It won't take much. dropping periapsis below about 50Km should be enough to bring you in on the next pass. just don't forget to save some RCS fuel to get back in.

[GoSlash27]

To answer your question,

 Wait until you're at Ap, then retroburn to drop your Pe to 34 km. You'll reenter on that pass.

Best,
-Slashy

[Spricigo]

@GoSlash27 hint: check his staging.  

I support @Lelitu's idea,  getting the periapsis .  But save before,  in case you end up unable to get back to the pod, or with a periapsis too low. 

I also hope this is not one of the flammable vessels you mention in the other thread ( if is leave it alone until you can get a rescue ship meet then. 

 

[jonpfl]

All,

I am totally out of fuel so no way I can retroburn (I think someone posted I should do that).  In regards to it slowing down, can I hit '.' while controlling the ship or do I have to actually do it in real time.  Or do I need to do physical time warp 'alt .'?

I think the max number of people I can have in my facility is 12 and between the scientist, engineers and VIPs, I believe I am at 12.

I assume once I clear out some spots, I will get more pilots, correct?

Thx
jonpfl

[Zhetaan]

@jonpfl:

You're going to have to get out and push.  It's not strictly necessary, but since your apoapsis is above 650 km, you'll be waiting for hours for the tiny amount of drag you experience to slow you down enough to reenter.

However, there is some good news:  because your apoapsis is so high, you won't need to push much.  Wait until you're at about your apoapsis, point retrograde, and send a non-pilot outside to give a push to the middle of the heat shield as was suggested earlier.  If it's your engineer, then you can watch the KER readout and know roughly how close you are to being done.  Because you're at your apoapsis and the apoapsis is so high, only a comparatively tiny nudge is needed to put your capsule below 50 km at periapsis, and that will shorten your braking time considerably.

It is also possible that you are completely out of power.  That's okay; it just means that you'll have to use your Kerbal's EVA navball to figure out where retrograde is (since your Kerbal shares an orbit with the capsule, retrograde for one is retrograde for the other) and you're probably going to end up pushing on the side of the capsule.  That's okay; it doesn't have to be perfect so long as it lowers the periapsis.  Just be sure that you don't run out of EVA fuel.  You can always get back in the capsule and get more; ten pushes that get the job done are better than one push that puts you in a worse situation.

[Kevin Kyle]

Its been quite some time since I had to get out and push ( I always lol about this. Kinda feels like your pushing a Pinto. ) It is an effective way to deorbit. It also teaches good Kerbal control. Just make sure you dont run out of jetpack fuel before you return to the capsule or it could end badly. lol You essentially have unlimited jetpack fuel in your capsule. (unless that got changed but I dont think it did)