Flat Pack Parachutes

[Olvirm]

Do you think that parachutes that are flat and you can stick on the top of your spaceship will every be in the game. It's slightly annoying having to use the radial parachutes on a single seat command pod just because I want an escape tower. If I could (on the top of my command pod) have a parachute, a decoupler, and then a LEM I would rejoice.

[NeoMorph]

Umm... there IS a flat pack parachute (at least I have them).... It's a rectangle with blue and white stripes (at least it is to my weird colour blindness).

Oh and there are escape towers in several mods out there. I use them a lot.

Edit: Ooops, my bad. It's that I play with Soooooooo many mods that I forgot that blue and white rectangle is the radial parachute lol.

I use this combination of a Common Berthing Module docking port and an escape tower to make a nice pod setup a lot.

Edited May 31, 2013 by NeoMorph

[Olvirm]

I don't have them

[Splode]

This would be a great part to have, I've wished for its existence many times. However, I'm not sure if KSP can handle attachment nodes that can disappear: once the parachute fires anything above the parachute should fall off, or it wouldn't make any sense.

[Deadweasel]

Oh wait... Are you talking about an interstage 'chute? That'd actually be pretty slick!

[Olvirm]

just a parachute that can have things attached to both the top and the bottom, as Splode mentioned the problem would be if you activate the parachute and theres things on top

[stupid_chris]

The nova punch mod has one!

And @Splode, Nova Punch solved this problem by making the parachutes go off from the sides. The small side panels just pop off and I think one or two parachutes come out and slow your craft, leaving your top panel and your attachment nodes untouched.

[Olvirm]

The nova punch mod has one!

And @Splode, Nova Punch solved this problem by making the parachutes go off from the sides. The small side panels just pop off and I think one or two parachutes come out and slow your craft, leaving your top panel and your attachment nodes untouched.

So it would be possible to have both a drogue chute and a regular chute?

[stupid_chris]

So it would be possible to have both a drogue chute and a regular chute?

I doubt this, I think it sends two chutes to balance because the one chute would make your thing tilt on a side.

[Olvirm]

I doubt this, I think it sends two chutes to balance because the one chute would make your thing tilt on a side.

no like have a drogue chute fire (a stock drogue chute), cut it, then activate the nova punch flat pack chutes

[stupid_chris]

no like have a drogue chute fire (a stock drogue chute), cut it, then activate the nova punch flat pack chutes

Well you can already do this by using a normal drogue chute and two side attaching normal chutes, but yes, you could stack them this way on the top instead of using side mounted chutes. Also, if you need a drogue chute to slow down, better not cut it.

[Olvirm]

Well you can already do this by using a normal drogue chute and two side attaching normal chutes, but yes, you could stack them this way on the top instead of using side mounted chutes. Also, if you need a drogue chute to slow down, better not cut it.

well if you want to do something similar to this

http://youtu.be/GKsvfX5H83k?t=2m9s

[stupid_chris]

If you want to stack them it would work with the NovaPunch parachute, else you can just use a droqgue and three radial parachutes to do the job. NovaPunch isn't compatible with .20 at this moment though :l

[NeoMorph]

Yeah, just stack the drogue chute on top of the NP one and it works a treat. I used this on one of my Duna landings. I used an action group to cut the drogue and open the main chutes.

[Olvirm]

hrmm maybe I should try this NP pack, though there are so many parts in it...

[stupid_chris]

hrmm maybe I should try this NP pack, though there are so many parts in it...

It'S broken for .20

And a lot of parts are command pods/lander parts, like the gemini parts or Thor landers, etc. When I had the mod on .19, I only kept the fuel tanks, engines, large SAS/ASAS, structural and the parachutes. That together is about 100 parts. The whole mod has about 160ish.

[NeoMorph]

Yeah, just stack the drogue chute on top of the NP one and it works a treat. I used this on one of my Duna landings. I used an action group to cut the drogue and open the main chutes.

ONE THING THOUGH! - You need to heavily strut the parachute packs to to the top of the capsule or they slide off. Nothing more embarrassing as getting all the way to Duna and then having the parachutes fall off (as it did to me). I had to use more engine thrust and a LOT more fuel to get down... which would have meant another rescue op if I hadn't had a refuelling pod on standby.

[FluffyBob]

An easy fix is to just put a docking port or radial attachment point on top of your regular Mk 16 -XL chute, it does not interfere with the chute in any way.

I do this all the time; voila an Apollo CM style chute / docking port. It can be difficult to perfectly center the port on top of the chute but really its minor. This has the advantage over the radial chutes that it does not screw up the balance of you module so it re-enters in the proper orientation. I would like to see a combined part for this, with a light like the mobility enhancer to make docking easier on the dark side.

[RoboRay]

Ahem...

There are tricks to getting these to attach without enabling Part Clipping in the debug menu, but it's a lot simpler if you just do that.

It works fine with or without the decoupler, if you want to keep the hardware attached above the 'chute.

And yes, you can easily stack drogues on top of regular 'chutes with this technique.

Edited May 31, 2013 by RoboRay

[T3E]

Ahhaaaweesoohoome!

Not because its a parachute or anything that would help the kerbals, BUT ITS POINTY.

AND WE ALL KNOW ROCKETS SHOULD BE POINTY.

I hope they will implant some of these to the stock!

[FluffyBob]

You don't need the cube strut if you just use a docking port.

[NeoMorph]

Like I said, Fluffybob. Get the Common Berthing Mechanism docking ports. THEY ARE FLAT. My earlier picture of the pod and escape tower INCLUDES a docking port.

http://kerbalspaceprogram.com/common-berthing-mechanisms-2-5m-docking-ports-2/

There are 2m to 5m docking ports there. To be honest I am currently using them more than the stock models. They CAN be a bit fussy about what they attach to at times though. So you may have to use other parts to help them attach right. But I have so many extra parts I never have a problem.

Edit: See what I mean?

Edit2: Oh yeah, and that little yellow and black striped thing is a radial parachute too. Can't remember where it is from... think it maybe from the NovaPunch pack.

Edited May 31, 2013 by NeoMorph

[RoboRay]

You don't need the cube strut if you just use a docking port.

True. My specific example was from an older thread where somebody wanted a way to stack those particular components on top of a parachute. Your method is better if you're only sticking an LES on top.

Here's another variation...

LES tower

Shielded docking port (the LES jettisons off the top of it)

Decoupler, with linear RCS ports (not strictly necessary, but more realistic to jettison the docking port before deploying 'chutes)

Drogue 'chute

Main 'chute

[NeoMorph]

Shame the drogue doesn't cut away as the main opens... Other than that, the tower is amazing.

Here is my tower setup that I use...

But here is a real one that shows you what I mean about drogue cutoff...

Edited May 31, 2013 by NeoMorph

[RoboRay]

Shame the drogue doesn't cut away as the main opens... Other than that, the tower is amazing.

Thanks! Acceleration peaks at 8 gees. It can cut the drogue on main opening... I just didn't have the action groups set up for that when I tested it.

Edited May 31, 2013 by RoboRay