[0.17] Re-entry Heat Module and Mk-1 Pod Heat Shields

[PakledHostage]

Contact: PakledHostage

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

PROCYON INNOVATIONS ANNOUNCES NEW HEAT SHIELD LINE FOR MK1 AND MK2 COMMAND PODS

[KSC, September 21, 2012] Procyon Innovations, in cooperation with Mechanical Mouse Industries, has released a new line of ablative re-entry heat shield parts for the popular line of MK1 command pods. The new parts protect spacecraft from the extreme conditions typical of re-entry.

The two new heat shield models are the culmination of months of work that began with the development of a physics model to predict conditions experienced by spacecraft entering Kerbin’s Atmosphere. Little progress was made after that however, until an agreement was reached between Mechanical Mouse Industries (MMI) and Procyon Innovations (PI) to work together on the project. MMI would provide the 3D model, while PI would provide the plugin.

When asked to comment, astronaut Jebediah Kerman remarked “I’m not sure why we need this part, we never had any difficulty with re-entry before…†He became more excited about the new heat shield, however, when he was shown the picture below:

Spacecraft using this new line of heat shields will be destroyed if they experience excessive g-forces or extreme temperatures during re-entry. And while the ablative shields will sustain heat loads typical of re-entry, some planning is required.

Use of this heat shield requires steeper re-entries than you may be used to. Aggressive aerobraking and shallow re-entry angles will result in the heat shield burning up. Too steep a re-entry will result in excessive g-loads. The survivable re-entry corridor therefore gets narrower with higher re-entry speeds. Procyon Innovations has promised to provide a plot of the re-entry corridor vs. re-entry speed in the user manual, but no completion date has been given.

Procyon Innovations would like to acknowledge and thank the following people for their help with this project.

- Dani-Sang at Mechanical Mouse Industries for his work creating the heat shield part and emissive animation.

- Tosh for making his FireSmoke particle emitter class library available for use by the KSP modding community.

- MrPwner for his efforts to create a transparent emissive texture. While his work didn’t make it into this version of the project, the visual effect will be a great addition once it finally is ready.

- Thorfinn for his polite and constructive feedback about the re-entry physics model

With apologies to NovaSilisko for borrowing his idea to display heat shield integrity in an information bar on the icon stack. It was too good an idea to pass up.

The new Procyon Innovations Heat Shields are available for download here

Question and Answers

Q: Why don’t I see any re-entry effects?

A: Have you activated the heat shield in the staging sequence? Re-entry effects are only displayed when the red “Integrity†information bar is displayed in the icon stack on the left-hand edge of the game window (see screenshot above).

Q: My heat shield is active, but I still don’t see any re-entry effects?

A: Are you sure you are going fast enough through atmosphere that is thick enough? Re-entry effects are calculated based on the atmospheric properties of the planet you are landing on. It takes a while to heat up. Think of it this way:

- You put a pot of water on a hot stove. The stove is already glowing red hot but it takes a while for the water to heat up. If you put the pot of water over a weak heat source (like a match or lighter), it won’t heat up at all.

- Just as thin atmosphere doesn’t slow the spacecraft very much, it also doesn’t heat up the spacecraft very much. Maximum heating occurs at maximum deceleration. This is a good indication that the physics behind this re-entry model reflects reality.

Q: My parachute exploded during re-entry

A: You opened your parachute too early, and the parachute was intentionally destroyed by the Plugin module. The parachute opens automatically in the game while the spacecraft is still at high supersonic speeds. It should burn up or be torn from the spacecraft if you let it open that early. Curiosity's parachute, for example, was only rated to open below about Mach 2.

Revise your staging so that the parachute is on its own stage (see the screenshot above for an example), and then only open your parachute once the spacecraft slows below about 300-400 m/s.

Q: How do you calculate the re-entry effects?

A: The re-entry heating effects are calculated using a simplified aerodynamics and heat transfer model that is described in detail in the Re-entry Heating Model thread, over in the General Discussion section.

Q: My screen went blank, the Navball shows “NAN†in the speed display and the altitude is showing funny numbers.

A: This is a known bug in version 1.0.17.01. It was caused by an unexpected interaction with MechJeb. This bug was fixed in version 1.0.17.02. Download the most recent version (see below) to solve this issue.

Q: What is the most recent version of the re-entry heat plugin?

A: Version 1.0.17.03 was posted to Kerbal.net on September 29, 2012.

Q: How do I know which version of the re-entry heat plugin I'm using?

A: The re-entry heat plugin version number is displayed in the KSP Debug Console. Press Alt+F2 after activating the heat shield to see the version number.

Q: Can I use the re-entry heat plugin with my own heat shield model?

A: Yes. Just include an emissive animation for the heat effects in your model. The animation should "play" from coldest to hottest. See C7's

for an explanation of how to create emissive animations. Add "module = ReentryHeat" and a "HeatShieldHeatAnimation" parameter to your model's part.cfg file. The HeatShieldHeatAnimation parameter specifies the name of your emissive animation. (i.e. HeatShieldHeatAnimation = my_animation).

If you make a part that uses this re-entry heat module, please do not distribute the module with your part. Instead, set this addon module as a pre-requisite in Kerbal.net. That way, I can post updates to a single site, rather than having to keep track of every mod that uses it.

For more information or assistance, please request help in this thread before contacting Procyon Innovations directly.

Edited September 30, 2012 by PakledHostage

[Cepheus]

Neat. I've been waiting for this one.

[internerd]

What happens to parts without a heat shield, i.e debris?

[Apatheticjester]

Everybody has been waiting for something like this. We have been able to destroy Kerbins with impacts and explosions, but what we have really wanted to do is plot screwed up reentry paths and cook them through our own ineptitude. Trying it out now, Kudos. Seriously though, this is the one thing this game is missing. A fear of reentry...that's the single scariest part of space flight and in Kerbal it's the safest part.

[Tommygun]

Hummm, I smell Kermans.

Thanks for this, it looks very promising.

I'll try it out right away.

[phoenix_ca]

What happens to parts without a heat shield, i.e debris?

My guess would be nothing. The post states that craft carrying the part are subject to re-entry heat, not all spacecraft. I know Squad is planning to add re-entry heat at some point, at which time it'd be a hard-coded part of the game...I would think.

Still, this is neat. Might try it out.

[Subcidal]

Just tried it, I don't know if i was going fast enough to create a flame because i didnt obtain orbit but it didnt nothing, and then my game crashed and started rollling 1111 22222 33333 4444 55555 like people say happens when crashing into jool, not 100% sure it was this mod.

[spl1nt]

..ive never downloaded mods from other websites....

[togfox]

Which websites have ou downloaded from? PH Is well known on these forums. Im sure his mod is legit.

[Apatheticjester]

I didn't have much luck with the few tests I did. I did a 3 man pod with the shield at a shallow re-entry...totally normal. No burn effect. I did 3 one man pod tests. One at a shallow angle...no burn...no difference. One at a steep angle...short burn, no change on the meter, died from "g-load" a few seconds into the burn. In between angle, no burn, no death. No feedback from the red bar either. Anyway you could make a part that just gave the burn effect on all re-entries.

[internerd]

My guess would be nothing. The post states that craft carrying the part are subject to re-entry heat, not all spacecraft. I know Squad is planning to add re-entry heat at some point, at which time it'd be a hard-coded part of the game...I would think.

Still, this is neat. Might try it out.

Yeah that's what I thought, it annoys me when I jettison parts to see them sail through the atmosphere unharmed. It will be awesome when Squad does add it in, but this will be a good stopgap.

[inferno34s]

I didn't have much luck with the few tests I did. I did a 3 man pod with the shield at a shallow re-entry...totally normal. No burn effect. I did 3 one man pod tests. One at a shallow angle...no burn...no difference. One at a steep angle...short burn, no change on the meter, died from "g-load" a few seconds into the burn. In between angle, no burn, no death. No feedback from the red bar either. Anyway you could make a part that just gave the burn effect on all re-entries.

I had the same issue until I landed and noticed something

the integrity bar for the shield poped up when I deployed the chute, did a quick test, went up to 15km and seperated the boosters and it looks like you need to deploy the heat shield. Now I just need to do a quick orbit and return with the sheild on its own stage and see what happens

Edit: Well, I saw some flames pop up at 20km then screen went black and super lag. I was expecting my kerbal's to burn up in re-entry since i dont know the angle.... but for SCIENCE we will find out

Edited September 22, 2012 by inferno34s

[Staros]

This is amazing, tried it out, I might have killed some kerbals doing reentry, but otherwise this is very interesting to see, can't wait until Squad adds this to game.

[Sbowyer28]

Have I ever said I LOVE YOU!!!!!!!

[Sbowyer28]

Im getting problems, This will refuse to work no matter what, Looking into a solution ATM

[KingAirDriver]

As mentioned earlier, I just tried staging the heat shield in its own stage and activating it. As a previous poster said, around 20,000m the screen went black and altitude said 666666, lol. Game didn't crash, only the mission. While it's a very cool mod, looks like there might be a few bugs to work out?? Great idea and thanks for the hard work, OP.

[internerd]

Well Bill Kerman survived re-entry despite the loss of one parachute.

[SpaceNavy]

Awesome!!!

gonna try this out!

[JebThrillMaster]

I just found a bug: http://i.imgur.com/qOxvT.png

[DasPenguin85]

Every test, multiple installations, always gives the NaNm/s & black-screen bug

[togfox]

black screen as well.

Was something left out of the zip file? Different graphics cards/drivers?

[DasPenguin85]

Attempting to be proactive here, I'll be the first to post what togfox is getting at:

nVidia GTX285 on 301.42 drivers (Win Vista - I know, it sucks/sucked - I really haven't had problems with it, but I wasn't about to drop another $300 for Vista's quick-successor, 7)

My thoughts: It seems to occur when the heat shield is supposed to start burning, so that would either tell me that it's calling for an effect it can't locate, or the effect is what togfox suggested, a potential problem with either drivers or video cards. It wouldn't be the first time nVidia drivers have borked something up.

[ddavis425]

I also have been getting the black screen, and I have an nVidia card, however now when I use this mod it doesn't do anything at all. No flames, no black screen, it just acts as if it isn't there.

[kerbalboy2000]

it doesn't work for me at all, instead when I'm turning upside-down (parachute down accidentally) my parachute is exploding.

[aval5]

i love the idea and everthing but when i did the first (nice and easy re-entry ) my game screwed up with the black screen and the 666,666m and the NaNm/s so rate it at like 6 out of 10 but it would be a 20/10 if all these bugs are fixed A.S.A.P. (or take your time )