Structural failure on linkage between parachute and command pod.

[Ated]

So I finally bought the game this morning and I am having a whole lot of fun with it! Though so far my only problem is with my parachute. Once my command pod begins to fall back to earth, I release my parachute. As soon as I get to 500m (the height at which the wiki says it should deploy) my parachute then disappears and my command pod crashes and explodes in a fiery inferno.

In the flight results, the sentence "Structural failure on linkage between Mk16 Parachute and Mk1-2 Command Pod" takes place just a few seconds before "Mk1-2 Command Pod collided into surface."

I'm still learning the ins and outs, but I really can't seem to find out why this is happening. How do I get it to deploy?

EDIT: Figured it out, had to use the XL one! I watched older videos of people using the normal parachute so that kinda confused me. Is there a way to delete a thread?

Edited September 9, 2012 by Ated
Figured it out

[vexx32]

Dunno. Try using Edit, then going Advanced and see if that's an option. If not, a mod can lock or delete this.

As a note, during the 0.16 update new parts were added, and some of the larger parts look similar to the small ones -- particularly the Mk1-2 pod. The old one that was used with the small parachute is now the little black one

[sal_vager]

I can delete this for you if you really want, but it could help others with the same problem, if they look that is

But on a related note, if you squeeze an ASAS or and RCS tank between the pod and the XL chute, you will also get this problem, the way to fix it is to run a strut from the pod to the tank (or ASAS) and that will hold it on.

Fitting a strut from the tank to the pod does not work however, as the check to see if the tank and chute stay on occurs before the check to see if the strut can handle the load.

[JackAz]

I also had this problem, but can't remeber exactly if i had something else on top of my Pod. Maybe check out the symmetry option, cause once i attached 8 parachutes on top the pod, but didnt notice it beacuse they were all sticked toghether, and had a structural failure while landing.

[vexx32]

My way of fixing it is having the parachute "hidden" beneath a decoupler. Basically, look at the top of the capsule and attach the parachute to the surface without affixing it to the actual node, but as close to the center as you can. Then, place a decoupler on top. It's a good idea to rotate it so it's attached backwards, to ensure the decoupler leaves the craft along with whatever else you've got on top. I then often affix RCS, SAS and ASAS modules on top. Followed by a nosecone (which isn't strictly necessary... yet).

When you decouple the last stage, both decouplers above and below the CM will fire, and the parachute will deploy nice and safely.

[maltesh]

When I don't physically attatch the chute to the pod, my solution is generally, "Aerobrake." Come into the atmosphere with a periapsis height of 10 km or so, that can burn off over a dozen km/s of velocity. Then don't pop the chutes until you're nearly down. Over oceans, I've been known to wait until about 1000m, but generally, I wait until the speed has dropped to under 350 m/s or so.

[Serratus]

Or You can attach two small parachutes to the sides of command pod, just below the top. Not ON top, but just below it.

[tttyto]

its not bug or somewhat. so DONT edit or mod it,

otherwise then the challenge of KSP is gone.

EDIT: Figured it out, had to use the XL one! I watched older videos of people using the normal parachute so that kinda confused me. Is there a way to delete a thread?

even it can happen with XL parachute too if you attach it to heavier parts ie 3 manned pods.

Because you going too fast to down or your parts is too heavy to keep sticky.

When the parachute FULLY deploys, then the drag force will be too great that it pulls apart from your capsule.

there is a few simple solutions;

1 add more parachutes.

or

2 use conscruct strut to make parachute more stickglue to your capsule. (my favorite solution)

or

3 lower speed(brake) with rocketengine first before re-enter.

also dont forget before you re-enter to turn SAS OFF, otherwise SAS will pull your capsule back to orginal position, its bad for your chute, it can break.

other guy here said that you must deploy it later, he is wrong.

deploy it early as possible, it brakes your capsule to affordable speed, also it steers automaticly for pods without SAS.

its one of my first designs with chutes.

[ATTACH=CONFIG]32746[/ATTACH]

[Vanamonde]

other guy here said that you must deploy it later, he is wrong.

I'm not sure how wise it would be in the real world, but in the game, the capsule itself will do most of the braking, and you can indeed leave the chute until quite late. Experimenting with 1-man capsules, I've triggered the chute at 300m and it opened with about 8m to go, and I spashed down just fine. It's not advisable to play chicken with the planet like that, of course, but it was an interesting experiment. Edited September 9, 2012 by Vanamonde

[Fuzzy Dunlop]

If you wait till later you will be lower down and the atmosphere will be thicker, which can sometimes mean more force on the parachute. Drag is proportional to speed and air density. Really you want to look at your G meter: the lower the G-force, the lower the drag and the less chance of the parachute being ripped off.

That said, the parachute wont open at all untill your in the atmosphere and wont fully open till 500m above the surface.

Its always better to have the shallowist possible re-entry. Try lowering the periapsis to just 20km/

[Binky]

I'm not sure how wise it would be in the real world, but in the game, the capsule itself will do most of the braking, and you can indeed leave the chute until quite late. Experimenting with 1-man capsules, I've triggered the chute at 300m and it opened with about 8m to go, and I spashed down just fine. It's not advisable to play chicken with the planet like that, of course, but it was an interesting experiment.

I tend to do this a lot. Mainly because of the no-more-timewarp-in-atmosphere thing making the last 500 metres take forever at 7m/s. Works ok over water, but on land ...ew