FAR and inflatable heat shields

[rpayne88]

I have DR and FAR installed. How can I use an inflatable heat shield to protect my spacecraft without making my heat shield become my parachute.

[Zaryulenko]

I recommend using a drogue parachute whit the inflatable heat shield so when it expands it doesnt tend to flip

[ferram4]

First, make sure you're using the latest version, since earlier versions have always had problems with large heat shields.

Second, make your reentry vehicle as squat as you can, with as much mass as possible near the bottom; this is because if the CoM is too far towards the back no amount of natural stability from the heat shield will save you.

[Tommygun]

It's a little cheaty, but I have edited a drogue chute in the past to keep my ship up right during reentry.

Edit the part file for low minAirPressureToOpen and high deployAltitude with maybe 5 units of drag and a high maxtemp point.

You might need to increase breakingForce and breakingTorque as well.

I'm not certain if it will work with FAR though.

[Sapphire]

Alternatively you can try B9 Aerospace's airbrakes, which should hopefully get you enough drag to stay straight.

(disclaimer: I don't use FAR so I don't know if this works)

[Tommygun]

I like that airbrake idea, never thought of that and it's not cheaty.

Ferram is right though, the deign needs to be balanced.

The drogue chute suggestion is really for more minor balance issues.

[ferram4]

Another thing is to make sure that when you finally ditch the heat shield that you also deploy a chute somewhere near the top of the thing you're landing. I had a RSS Duna-Mars rover landing end badly because the rover flipped around due to the weight of the skycrane and the failure of the drogue to deploy in the thin atmosphere.

[Brotoro]

The ship that I used to experiment with using inflatable heat shields was stable because of its CG location...but I wasn't using FAR, so that might make a difference.

http://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/threads/29334

[rpayne88]

The ship that I used to experiment with using inflatable heat shields was stable because of its CG location...but I wasn't using FAR, so that might make a difference.

http://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/threads/29334

I actually saw that one.

[KerbMav]

Put the smallest fins you can find on the top for designs that cannot be altered?