How do you get your rovers through an atmosphere?

[dellcom1800]

So I finally made the voyage to Eve with a satellite. I thought well if I am going there I mind as well do some exploring if I can, and what better way than a remote control rover. However there is not a "capsule" in the stock game to put it in and get it threw an atmosphere. I don't think re-entry damages things now but for the sake of fun I assume it will.

So I came up with this rig and was curious what solutions you all might have come up with. I tested it in Kerban and it worked well, going to test on Eve soon.

Edited November 5, 2013 by dellcom1800
Fixing grammatical error in title

[lajoswinkler]

My rovers are too weak to throw an entire atmosphere, though I don't know where would they throw it...

[SpaceSphereOfDeath]

I use a full shield, stock, the 1x1 panels and radial decouplers to create a 'shield' around the object, however, when I deploy them all solar panels on the payload seem to break, so I have to use RTGs,

Here's a video showing an example:

[deadshot462]

I use a heat shield like you. Jettisoning it after parachute deployment.

Well done building the payload upside down like a real rover mission. Usually I just build from top to bottom and flip the rover for landing.

[JakeGrey]

The Procedural Fairings mod.

[Akinesis]

The Procedural Fairings mod.

Yup. I use Procedural Fairings and the Deadly Re-entry heat shields. It makes for some superb aesthetic effects. Not sure if you want to use mods though?

[dellcom1800]

My rovers are too weak to throw an entire atmosphere, though I don't know where would they throw it...

Well played sir

[FITorion]

Sky crane for no atmo.

modified to have a bunch of parachutes for atmo.

[Thorbane]

Uh, you have sepratrons pointed directly at your very fragile solar panels.

[rpayne88]

If you want to, there is a mod called deadly reentry. It simulates heat and g-force damage to your parts. It also comes with multiple heatshields that will survive reentry provided you reenter correctly.

[Brofessional]

Curiosity style shell+skycrane is the most entertaining method.

To save time I usually just go with something like this

Lands on legs to keep the wheels from breaking, then the legs fold up and the rig detaches from the bottom of the rover and it drives out.

[Galacticruler]

Lands on legs to keep the wheels from breaking, then the legs fold up and the rig detaches from the bottom of the rover and it drives out.

I know what I'm copying now.

[FITorion]

Uh, you have sepratrons pointed directly at your very fragile solar panels.

They cause no damage at all.

[Specialist290]

I think this fits slightly better in Gameplay Questions

Curiosity-style aeroshells do indeed seem to be quite popular (and fun!):

It's not a perfect "skycrane" since I landed the rover before decoupling the whole assembly.

[700NitroXpress]

I use parachutes and landing rockets because my rover is it's own heat shield.

[Spyritdragon]

Personally i just point retro and let the insulation in the engines take the brunt of the heat. Once i get a bit further in progress i'll do something more fun though :3. I do have the Procedural Fairings mod.

And to the people above: How did you construct your shells? They seem very interesting. Could i maybe have a peek at the craft files?

Curiosity-style aeroshells do indeed seem to be quite popular (and fun!):

http://i.imgur.com/Jgar4y9.png

http://i.imgur.com/FNlMPLI.png

http://i.imgur.com/XUTAckT.pnghttp://i.imgur.com/m88LuXs.png

It's not a perfect "skycrane" since I landed the rover before decoupling the whole assembly.

That top picture looks awesome. I've never managed to get that kind of effect. What part is it, and how fast were you going?

They cause no damage at all.

Ah, but if you're not playing it realistically like that, why are you in a thread about currently obsolete reentry shields?

[Umlüx]

this is my rover deployment system. mostly stock with proc. fairings (and stretchy tanks for the IP stage)

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[toomuchbrew]

this is my rover deployment system. mostly stock with proc. fairings (and stretchy tanks for the IP stage)

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Wow, this is very impressive. Nice job. Eve makes a nice backdrop for screen shots too.

[Specialist290]

That top picture looks awesome. I've never managed to get that kind of effect. What part is it, and how fast were you going?

The parts at the top are actually from the Procedural Fairings mod, which I've found make for useful aeroshells due to their high heat tolerance (since I play using Deadly Reentry). They're not quite as good about not transferring heat to other parts, though, which sometimes makes things interesting, and is why I now mount most of my payloads upside down with the heat shield facing towards the top of the rocket underneath the fairing.

As for how fast I was going, I don't rightly remember, but it must've been pretty fast indeed, as I do remember that I completely botched that aerobraking a couple of times (again, thank Deadly Reentry for that) and ultimately had to still use my orbiter's engines to slow the craft down to achieve true capture.