Last possible Moment for final Staging befor Reentry

[Horman]

Hi there,

is there a way to determine, when I have to jettison my support module, before my capsule starts reentering the athmosphere?

So is there a reentry hight or something like that?

thx and greets

[Rage097]

Check the atmosphere gauge under the altimeter. the brighter the blue, the deeper in the atmosphere to are.

[astropapi1]

Actually, you can land with the CSM still attached.

However, I usually jettison it at ~80km.

[M5000]

Yeah the re-entry effects really don't do anything. You can jettison whenever, though usually I jettison immediately after my de-orbit burn, because it's more realistic to have the capsule heatshield-down. But really, if you wanted, you could enter any way you wanted, though the wind may or may not (it usually may) rip your solar panels right off.

[Zeroignite]

I typically jettison my service module at between 50 and 80 kilometers up. Heating doesn't really start significantly until 35-40km depending on speed, and it's nice to have a power supply as long as possible.

One piece of advice is to always decouple your service module perpendicular to the direction you're going, otherwise you might smack right into the debris. This also goes for orbital stages if you're preparing for any kind of retro-burn.

I play with DeadlyReentry, so ensuring that the capsule is heatshield-down by the time I hit significant atmo does matter.

[TheSaint]

I usually time warp right after the deorbit burn finishes, which then drops to 1x when I hit the outer reaches of the atmosphere at 69k. I then jettison my service module perpendicular to my direction of travel and realign the capsule to bring the shield prograde.

[Skorpychan]

Re-entry starts when you hit atmosphere at about 70km, so that's as low as you can jettison it before re-entry.

[tstehler1]

Personally, for the sake of realism, I jettison at 80km. I also permanently disable SAS at this point, since there's really no way to (realistically) control a falling command module with its heat shield pointed down.

[Apollo13]

I jettison about 50k to ensure the service module deorbits.

[MrPopcup]

I just jettison them at 90km and then re-enter

[Kasuha]

Hi there,

is there a way to determine, when I have to jettison my support module, before my capsule starts reentering the athmosphere?

So is there a reentry hight or something like that?

thx and greets

You don't have to jettison it at all - i.e. the moment depends on whether you want to be realistical or whether you're just playing a game. Unless you are using a mod, you can take the support module - or most of it, unfolded solar batteries usually fall off - with you all the way down to the ground.

Or almost. It will probably separate itself when your cabin-mounted parachutes open.

Two days ago I forgot to put a separator below my crew cabin. Here I thought I lost the crew but to my relief the rest of the rocket separated itself cleanly 500 m above the ground.

If you want to jettison it right before visible atmospheric effects start, jettison it at 30 km.