Interstellar shield or aerobraking shield?

[GoldForest]

So, I was recently going through the KSP 2 videos again, and I happened to notice something. I apologize in advance if this has been discussed before btw. 

Yeah, that thing on the front of the Daedalus style craft. I can't really make out what it is. Is it a shield to protect against interstellar material? Or is it to be used for aerobraking at your destination? 

While the former is less likely due to the size, it is protecting the most critical part, the spaceplanes. 

If the latter, that begs the question, does entry heat now act like it does IRL, meaning that heatshields will create a protective shockwave cone, allowing it to essentially protect the whole craft without covering the entire thing diameter wise? 

I'm scratching my head on this one and would love to hear your guys' and gals' input, please and thank you. 

Edited November 1, 2022 by GoldForest

[Bej Kerman]

19 minutes ago, GoldForest said:

Is it a shield to protect against interstellar material?

Yes

[Just a random person]

I kinda doubt the lithobraking too, although it would definitely fit the kerbal spirit.

Aerobraking could be possible tho

[GoldForest]

6 minutes ago, Just a random person said:

I kinda doubt the lithobraking too, although it would definitely fit the kerbal spirit.

Aerobraking could be possible tho

Whoops. typo. Meant aerobraking lol.

[Profugo Barbatus]

Honestly, I'm inclined to believe it is neither, and that its just a structural piece they put out there because it looks nice to pretend its a debris shield

[Strawberry]

I hope its for aerobraking on a star, the idea of a lithobreak with an interstellar vehicle is very funny though

Edited November 1, 2022 by Strawberry

[Pthigrivi]

What I can’t tell is if there’s a decoupler near the bow and thats a payload that detaches and aerobrakes separately? But yes interstellar debris and radiation is an interesting question. 

[intelliCom]

It's a bit too small to be a practical aerobrake or interstellar whipple shield for the entire ship. Definitely either a decorative element or part of an aerobraking payload.

[Rutabaga22]

From what I've heard (I don't know what I'm talking about but read an article somewhere), interstellar spacecraft would need radiation shielding in front of their crew modules. 

[t_v]

8 minutes ago, Rutabaga22 said:

interstellar spacecraft would need radiation shielding in front of their crew modules. 

This is it. I was looking closely at the texture and noticed it looked exactly the same as the radiation shields on the middle and back of the craft. I’m not sure if only shielding the front is effective, since I imagine that sideways-moving radiation would still come in at a large enough angle to miss the shielding. But, at significant fractions of c, the radiation from the front can be noticeably worse. 

[MechBFP]

4 hours ago, Strawberry said:

The idea of a lithobreak with an interstellar vehicle is very funny though

Interstellar Any % speed run key strat.

[Minmus Taster]

21 minutes ago, t_v said:

This is it. I was looking closely at the texture and noticed it looked exactly the same as the radiation shields on the middle and back of the craft. I’m not sure if only shielding the front is effective, since I imagine that sideways-moving radiation would still come in at a large enough angle to miss the shielding. But, at significant fractions of c, the radiation from the front can be noticeably worse. 

That would make sense, except if you look at it from a different angle its clearly a massive heatshield:

Could be to protect the craft from dust but it does seem a little small to do that and then there's the issue of turning the thing around for a slowdown burn, but it could be to just protect the spaceplanes since they'd need to remain in perfect shape to enter an atmosphere, spaceplane heatshields weren't really a thing in the first game but some of the parts for such vehicles were seen to have more of a black and tiled look in the images shown:

*NOTE: not all the airplane parts are shown to have heatshields but they might just not be as spaceworthy as the larger cockpits

*NOTE 2: Ok so some other stuff shows the larger pods without shields but this could still just be the painting covering it up

[Strawberry]

There was a podcast like over a year ago where nate simpson, another dev and two college level kids was on it, and I remember them directly saying they werent going to have interstellar dust as they found it really limits your spacecraft designs. Its possible they changed there mind about that but I doubt it.

[t_v]

5 minutes ago, Minmus Taster said:

That would make sense, except if you look at it from a different angle its clearly a massive heatshield:

Oops, thanks! I’m so used to KSP 1’s I consistency that I didn’t even consider the possibility that a different part could have the same look. 

[GoldForest]

2 hours ago, intelliCom said:

It's a bit too small to be a practical aerobrake or interstellar whipple shield for the entire ship. Definitely either a decorative element or part of an aerobraking payload.

 

34 minutes ago, Minmus Taster said:

That would make sense, except if you look at it from a different angle its clearly a massive heatshield:

 

Could be to protect the craft from dust but it does seem a little small to do that and then there's the issue of turning the thing around for a slowdown burn, but it could be to just protect the spaceplanes since they'd need to remain in perfect shape to enter an atmosphere, spaceplane heatshields weren't really a thing in the first game but some of the parts for such vehicles were seen to have more of a black and tiled look in the images shown:

Would the expansion of the wake wave be enough protect the craft? 

 

[Strawberry]

I think the middle circle is a smaller fusion engine, considering the small gas tanks above it. I think the heat shield is just for the second stage, not for the whole vehicle. 

[GoldForest]

7 minutes ago, Strawberry said:

I think the middle circle is a smaller fusion engine, considering the small gas tanks above it. I think the heat shield is just for the second stage, not for the whole vehicle. 

Can't really tell what's under the second rad shield, but I'm not sure that's it. I think those might be RCS fuel tanks in front of the secondary rad shield. They're too small to be fuel tanks to be honest for a craft of that size (Talking about everything in front of the secondary rad shield.)

You also have no RCS thrusters on the front of the craft, so either the planes would be needed to maneuver the 'second stage' as you put it, or it's something else. 

[Strawberry]

Just now, GoldForest said:

Can't really tell what's under the second rad shield, but I'm not sure that's it. I think those might be RCS fuel tanks in front of the secondary rad shield. They're too small to be fuel tanks to be honest for a craft of that size (Talking about everything in front of the secondary rad shield.)

You also have no RCS thrusters on the front of the craft, so either the planes would be needed to maneuver the 'second stage' as you put it, or it's something else. 

Zooming in on the video, there appears to be no engine on it, but there does appear to be what looks like a small mark 3 fuel tank behind it. Im guessing the fuel tank is for the rcs? This may mean that the heat shield is for the whole ship which is exciting to say the least.

[GoldForest]

5 minutes ago, Strawberry said:

Zooming in on the video, there appears to be no engine on it, but there does appear to be what looks like a small mark 3 fuel tank behind it. Im guessing the fuel tank is for the rcs? This may mean that the heat shield is for the whole ship which is exciting to say the least.

So, the void created by the entry/reentry shockwave is meant to protect the entire ship? 

[MechBFP]

Keep in mind the heat shield on the front might simply be an aesthetic choice by the designer. They may have added it as if it was protecting the ship for role playing purposes, even if it doesn’t actually do anything to make it look more real.

As @Profugo Barbatusmentioned in his post as well. 

Edited November 2, 2022 by MechBFP

[GoldForest]

12 minutes ago, MechBFP said:

Keep in mind the heat shield on the front might simply be an aesthetic choice by the designer. They may have added it as if it was protecting the ship for role playing purposes, even if it doesn’t actually do anything to make it look more real.

As @Profugo Barbatusmentioned in his post as well. 

True

[intelliCom]

2 hours ago, GoldForest said:

Would the expansion of the wake wave be enough protect the craft?

If by 'wake wave', you mean passing through an atmosphere fast enough that the protected area expands outwards, I don't know too much about how that would work, but I'm guessing you'd need enough speed to actually make use of it. I guess interstellar speeds would do the trick, but then it might be too much for the shield itself. If it's too slow, the expansion isn't enough and parts of the spacecraft too far out begin to melt.

[MechBFP]

41 minutes ago, intelliCom said:

If by 'wake wave', you mean passing through an atmosphere fast enough that the protected area expands outwards, I don't know too much about how that would work, but I'm guessing you'd need enough speed to actually make use of it. I guess interstellar speeds would do the trick, but then it might be too much for the shield itself. If it's too slow, the expansion isn't enough and parts of the spacecraft too far out begin to melt.

Hitting an atmosphere at those speeds would likely be like hitting a brick wall.

[intelliCom]

46 minutes ago, MechBFP said:

Hitting an atmosphere at those speeds would likely be like hitting a brick wall.

Like dropping into water. Normally you can pass through it with some effort, but with enough speed it can cause a lot of damage to a human body just hitting it.

Out of curiosity, what would an atmosphere like Duna's do to interstellar speeds? Or an atmosphere even 1% of Duna's?

For the sake of argument, lets assume "interstellar speeds" is 10% the speed of light, maybe less.

Edited November 2, 2022 by intelliCom

[magnemoe]

8 hours ago, MechBFP said:

Hitting an atmosphere at those speeds would likely be like hitting a brick wall.

Yes, you will detonate.  In KSP 1 aerobraking in practice only work for circulating orbit for an large ship except Duna as it has an low orbital velocity.