Do you use abort systems to save your Kerbals?

[OrbitusII]

I've been using them a lot recently, notably on my Fairing'ed rocket series. I figure if I'm going to make a semi-realistic rocket I may as well make it function like it would in real life.

[aleis]

the problem with Escape pods is the problem with KSP in that parts aren't sucure so to add in an extra decoupler on the main stack means so much more chances of failing that I'd lose more Kerbals testing the abort than it could ever safe

[aceassasin]

I used to use them alot, and then when my rockets rarely failed or the abort system failed I took it off to decrease weight

[Tiron]

the problem with Escape pods is the problem with KSP in that parts aren't sucure so to add in an extra decoupler on the main stack means so much more chances of failing that I'd lose more Kerbals testing the abort than it could ever safe

Well you should already have a decoupler on the bottom of the pod for parachute landings anyway. But there's a nice, dual use, minimalistic method to add an abort 'tower' on top of it.

Put a clamp-o-tron on the top node of your pod (which is handy anyway). Attach a Modular Girder Adapter directly to the Clamp-O-Tron. Yes, directly. Add two or more Radial Mount Parachutes to the pod. Mount desired number of Sepatrons to the Modular Girder Adapter.

Set action groups as follows:

Abort: Rockomax Brand Decoupler under the Pod: Decouple. Sepatrons on Modular Girder Adapter on top of the Pod: Activate/Toggle (Doesn't matter which, since they can't be turned off anyway.)

Desired Custom Action Group: Clamp-O-Tron On pod: Decouple (You heard me right). Sepatrons on Modular Girder Adapter: Activate/Toggle.

Suggested:

Desired Custom Action Group: Radial Parachutes on Pod: Deploy.

With this setup, the abort action group will decouple the pod and fire the sepatrons, extracting the pod at a rate proportional to the number of sepatrons used. The first action group I suggest is the jettison button for the LET; press it and the escape sepatrons propel it extremely rapidly away from your rocket (Note: I suggest doing this after starting your gravity turn, or else it will come back down QUITE close to your rocket.) The second action group is...to deploy the parachutes. Because unfortunately, activating the abort is probably going to leave you with a bunch of empty stages sitting there which you may not have time to get cleared before crashing.

These are the directions for the 3 man pod version but it's easily adaptable to the 1 man pod just by using smaller parts.

[JakeGrey]

Yep. Got into the habit before 0.21 was released, because I kind of got attached to Jeb. I don't use the escape tower, though; I find a brace of Separatrons are just as good and look a bit better.

For spaceplanes, or rather vaguely aeroplane-shaped deathtraps that will someday become spaceplanes, I use the EVA parachutes mod and the eject module.

Edited August 20, 2013 by JakeGrey

[Wallace]

my abort system: mash space like crazy, wobble the capsule off the top and deploy chutes. however, some moon base parts went up with kerbals in, cos well, sometimes they sneak in, sometimes I can't be arsed to send them seperate, umm, there were a few accidents with the first launcher, but I reverted before they became Kerbal pancakes.

[Tiron]

Yep. Got into the habit before 0.21 was released, because I kind of got attached to Jeb. I don't use the escape tower, though; I find a brace of Separatrons are just as good and look a bit better.

For spaceplanes, or rather vaguely aeroplane-shaped deathtraps that will someday become spaceplanes, I use the EVA parachutes mod and the eject module.

There's an eject module? For spaceplanes I just mount a decoupler behind the cockpit and attach some parachutes. Works pretty well, so long as you don't hit it at high speed below 500m (which semi-frequently results in the parachutes being either ripped off or destroyed).

The advantage to using a tower versus just putting sepatrons on the pod directly is...you can get rid of it. It weighs more at launch but you can dump it around 10km or so, and it's not weighing you down on your way to Jool.

[JakeGrey]

There sure is.

And Separatrons weigh so little that they're not really noticeable on a Mun or Minmus flight, as well as making useful emergency de-orbit motors. I'll keep that in mind for when I start planning manned missions beyond the moons, though.

[Caesar15]

Save? Kerbals? Abort systems are not expendable. But kerbals are, who in their right mind would think of something like that?

[Tiron]

There sure is.

And Separatrons weigh so little that they're not really noticeable on a Mun or Minmus flight, as well as making useful emergency de-orbit motors. I'll keep that in mind for when I start planning manned missions beyond the moons, though.

Yeah, the more Delta-V you're wrangling the more noticeable the extra weight gets. One particular sub-advantage is that because you're dumping it partway up, you can use more sepatrons on a tower than you would mount directly to the pod without affecting the performance much.

Which is useful when you're trying to outrun your suddenly free-flying SRBs. Fekkers are FAST when they're not attached to a rocket, particularly the small ones. Their inward-curving tendencies are bad for survival too.

[razark]

I place Sepratrons directly on the capsule. Abort mode shuts down all engines, fires any retrograde Sepratrons on the vehicle, decouples the capsule, and fires the abort Sepratrons. If the abort engines are unused when the capsule reenters, I fire them on the way down to help slow down. I tend to use three most of the time, but I've been known to use two on the small capsule, or four on the big one. Or a lot more, to abort with a capsule/crew pod.

[JakeGrey]

Yeah, the more Delta-V you're wrangling the more noticeable the extra weight gets. One particular sub-advantage is that because you're dumping it partway up, you can use more sepatrons on a tower than you would mount directly to the pod without affecting the performance much.

Which is useful when you're trying to outrun your suddenly free-flying SRBs. Fekkers are FAST when they're not attached to a rocket, particularly the small ones. Their inward-curving tendencies are bad for survival too.

Never had much of a problem with that myself; when I use SRBs I try to make sure they're depleted well before it's time for the gravity turn, which is where the trouble usually begins in my experience.

[NoMrBond]

I usually have an escape tower and set up up on the 0 action group which decouples under the crew area and fires the tower (with 6/8 sepratrons on it, weight dependant).

[ouion]

I do. I put Escape towers on Manned Spacecrafts and now I am thinking about Putting them on Cargos Launch too to make it Reusable and realistic.

[Wait- Was That Important?]

My computer is so slow that if something fails catastrophically, it usually lags and stops for 1-2 seconds before anything happens. If I press the abort button in that time then it's usually a 90% chance my kerbals will be pulled away to safety instead of splattered.

[Rufus Callahan]

i do because i don't like dead kerbals and i don't "revert" unless i intend the flight to be a test mission. i don't mean to sound condescending if i do... it's just to add another challenge to my gameplay!

[Tiron]

Never had much of a problem with that myself; when I use SRBs I try to make sure they're depleted well before it's time for the gravity turn, which is where the trouble usually begins in my experience.

Unless you're building massive, superpowered monstrosities like I have in the past.

Imagine a central orange tank double stack, six more orange double stacks radially attached to it, two single orange stacks attached to each of those six, mainsails on all of them, and then five large SRBs for every two outer tanks at the bottom. On top of that? Seven more Orange tanks, with Poodles. And then there was one more center-only stage on top of that, but I forget what I had in it.

Completely asparagus'd, even to the point of inter-level asparagus: it was set up so that the poodles would fire as soon as they were exposed by parts of the lower inner ring dropping off, with fuel drawn from the lower tanks. Which is roughly equivalent to a pancake, efficiency wise, but actually looks like a ROCKET. And gives some really weird and cool looking firing patterns.

Getting that monstrosity TO the gravity turn was an accomplishment. Getting past that was...something I never really managed.

Edited August 21, 2013 by Tiron

[thereaverofdarkness]

there's an abort button? What is it?

I always wanted to be able to press eject and have my Kerbonaut pop out of the command pod and float down on a tiny parachute.

[Spyritdragon]

The problem with my crafts and abort systems is, when they fail either i have several running mainsails breaking off which will keep pushing my command pod in place unless i have a whole bunch of sepratrons attached, or they fail in such a way that its safer to stabilize with ASAS, then manually decouple my pod. In general, either abort is not an option, i have rocket parts wizzing past my crews ears, or i have the time to abort in a more controlled fashion, such as when i have a single engine breaking off.

[Van Disaster]

Yes, it's called "EVA and hope". More successful than it sounds.

[softweir]

I build Abort systems onto all my manned launchers, if only for "the look of things". I don't often have to use them now, but if - every once in a while - I do then it feels so cool to be able to rescue the crew without hitting Escape and reverting.

[Bacterius]

Yes, it's called "EVA and hope". More successful than it sounds.

How do you manage that? My kerbals die when they fall off the launchpad, I doubt they would survive atmospheric free fall. Though perhaps they could on Eve.. with some luck..

[sumghai]

Abort systems are mandatory on all my crewed launches.

Generally for each new craft design, I perform a large number of unmanned abort tests / test flights (a pad abort, abort immediately after liftoff, abort after executing roll maneuver, abort after gravity turn, standard test flight with abort system jettisoned normally before circularisation) prior to approving it for Kerbal-rated operations. I also particularly enjoy manufacturing malfunctions in order to further stress-test my setup.

To avoid the crew pod still being pushed and stuck to the rest of my rockets even after abort, I usually also map to the Abort action group options to shutdown and jettison all engines in all stages. This saves on having extra Sepratrons in my designs.

[Van Disaster]

How do you manage that? My kerbals die when they fall off the launchpad, I doubt they would survive atmospheric free fall. Though perhaps they could on Eve.. with some luck..

I don't know if it's luck, or what it is... try and land them on their heads if you can, otherwise just keep them floppy. It's usually said if you bail out over the sea that's the end of it, but I bailed Bob out of a spinning jet at 4000m or so & he just splashed & eventually surfaced ( although I did burn all his jetpack fuel on the way down ).

[KerbMav]

I treat launch failures or late-revealing-design-flaws as errors showing up in simulations and peer review - revert, try again, use abort action key for something else (usually disabling gimble before launch etc.)