EVE Reentry bug?

[RabidSmurf]

Have played kerbal since alpha, alot on 1.0.5 and never encountered this before.

I have a science probe which is basically a materials bay with a 1.25m heatshield, some rcs and other things. Re-entering eve from a starting altitude of 100km, set my periapsis to 82km, orbital velocity is around 3250m//s. The probe burns up and explodes at around 68km at way less than 1g of deceleration. I have done many EVE missions in the past (but never on 1.3.0) and I don't recall EVE re-entry being quite this hard. This doesn't seem right to me, and I was just wondering if anyone has any thoughts on what's causing this?

[MR L A]

7 hours ago, RabidSmurf said:

Have played kerbal since alpha, alot on 1.0.5 and never encountered this before.

I have a science probe which is basically a materials bay with a 1.25m heatshield, some rcs and other things. Re-entering eve from a starting altitude of 100km, set my periapsis to 82km, orbital velocity is around 3250m//s. The probe burns up and explodes at around 68km at way less than 1g of deceleration. I have done many EVE missions in the past (but never on 1.3.0) and I don't recall EVE re-entry being quite this hard. This doesn't seem right to me, and I was just wondering if anyone has any thoughts on what's causing this?

Not a bug  The materials bay is simply overheating, the same as it does when re-entering Kerbin. The heat shield is only protecting the bottom surface of the bay, not the sides, so the whole thing still gets too hot and goes boom. If you want to land a materials bay, you're going to need a bigger heat shield to protect the whole thing  That or a boat load of dV and just plop into Eve's atmosphere at extremely low speeds.

I can't remember when, but certainly after 1.0, the thermals of the game was changed  

[Foxster]

Do you mean Eve rather than EVE? Assuming Eve...

Have you closed the doors on the material bay? Does the RCS stuff or anything else stick out? Do you have something draggy at the back end to keep the craft retrograde?

A picture would help.

[RabidSmurf]

I think it might be the decoupler that's attached to it. and kind of overlapping the heatshield, thanks for the tips though.

[Xavven]

Yes, please upload a picture, but Foxster is probably right about your science jr. bay doors. Close them!

[OhioBob]

In addition to what others have said, I also recommend that you use a lower periapsis.  At 82 km all you're doing is skimming through the thin upper atmosphere where you are generating a lot of heat but almost no drag.  It may seem contrary, but you have to actually pass through that thin upper part quickly and get down to some thicker air where it can actually do some good and start slowing you down.  Why don't you try a periapsis of about 50 km and see if that helps?  I agree with the others that it sounds like you may need some design changes, but the shallow entry certainly isn't helping either.