Keyes777 Posted July 21, 2011 Share Posted July 21, 2011 http://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/imagegallery/image_feature_2014.htmlVery awesome to see the actually re-entry trajectory, as well as the 'hot spots' during the trip. Hopefully this will be a familiar sight when the new re-entry design is fully developed in KSP. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Capt'n Skunky Posted July 21, 2011 Share Posted July 21, 2011 I saw this earlier, it's freakin awesome.I gather the light it's creating is from the atmospheric friction heating up the shield?Skunky Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sordid Posted July 21, 2011 Share Posted July 21, 2011 Actually most of the heat is from compression of the air rather than friction. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
softweir Posted July 21, 2011 Share Posted July 21, 2011 @Sordid - very true, and better put than I could.@SkunkMonkey: Yes - and it's also heating the atmosphere up to incandescent temperatures, creating quite a large volume of plasma as it does so. This is a nuisance for agencies operating re-entry vehicles, as the plasma acts as a radio communications barrier - it's like wrapping the craft in thick tin-foil! From the moment the craft enters the atmosphere until it drops below hypersonic velocity, the ground controllers have to sit and wait, and depend on external cameras to see how things are going. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Capt'n Skunky Posted July 21, 2011 Share Posted July 21, 2011 Gotcha!My father was the Rocket Scientist, not me. I just got the smart genes from him. LOLCheersSkunky Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cjameshuff Posted July 21, 2011 Share Posted July 21, 2011 @SkunkMonkey: Yes - and it's also heating the atmosphere up to incandescent temperatures, creating quite a large volume of plasma as it does so. This is a nuisance for agencies operating re-entry vehicles, as the plasma acts as a radio communications barrier - it's like wrapping the craft in thick tin-foil! From the moment the craft enters the atmosphere until it drops below hypersonic velocity, the ground controllers have to sit and wait, and depend on external cameras to see how things are going.The Shuttle can remain in satellite contact during reentry. Not sure if this is so for modern capsules like the Dragon and Soyuz. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
softweir Posted July 21, 2011 Share Posted July 21, 2011 The Shuttle can remain in satellite contact during reentry. Not sure if this is so for modern capsules like the Dragon and Soyuz.I appear to be out of date. It *used* to be a problem! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moach Posted July 22, 2011 Share Posted July 22, 2011 yeah, but i reckon we should probably make it back into a problem in KSP, just for the 'suspense factor' ;D Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Arrowstar Posted July 23, 2011 Share Posted July 23, 2011 The Shuttle can remain in satellite contact during reentry. Not sure if this is so for modern capsules like the Dragon and Soyuz.The orbiters have radios that point 'upwards' as well as 'downwards,' so they bounce their signals off satellites known as the Tracking and Data Relay Satellite System (TDRSS). I suspect this mitigates the plasma blackout effect. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cray Posted July 23, 2011 Share Posted July 23, 2011 The orbiters have radios that point 'upwards' as well as 'downwards,' so they bounce their signals off satellites known as the Tracking and Data Relay Satellite System (TDRSS). I suspect this mitigates the plasma blackout effect. Yep, though the upwards radio shots are only possible because of the shuttle's size. Its 'wake' is fairly plasma-free, which is otherwise a great radio shield. Capsules, being smaller, do not have the open wake to fire a signal to TDRSs. Or so I've heard. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StrayEagle Posted July 24, 2011 Share Posted July 24, 2011 http://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/imagegallery/image_feature_2014.htmlVery awesome to see the actually re-entry trajectory, as well as the 'hot spots' during the trip. Hopefully this will be a familiar sight when the new re-entry design is fully developed in KSP.Very awesome. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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