Capsule goes MIA

[LordFerret]

I have a plane I built with a manned science capsule in the cargo hold. The idea is to fly to specific areas and drop the capsule and do science. The plane flies just fine, with or without the capsule, not a problem. When I eject the capsule (via an action group), the capsule drops and the chutes open, and I can see the capsule floating down. Unfortunately, if I continue to fly the plane beyond about 2km beyond the capsule, it disappears. The Kerbonaut inside the capsule shows as "Missing In Action". If I circle the plane about the ejected capsule, staying within 2km of it until it lands, the capsule and Kerbonaut survive ... only then am I able to fly away beyond 2km, land the plane, then switch back to the capsule and do science. I'm wondering if the TR-2V Stack Decoupler is the issue?... should I use a docking port instead, and undock (answering my own question lol)?

Edited October 28, 2014 by LordFerret

[Vanamonde]

Once a ship gets beyond 2.5kms from you, it is no longer fully simulated, but becomes an abstract point travelling on rails. But in atmosphere, the game hasn't yet been given the ability to apply aerodynamics to that ship, so it's simply eliminated. Circling around to stay within 2.5kms until the other ship lands, as you discovered, is the only way to drop something intact.

[Vallius]

The issue has to do with how physics is represented in KSP. Someone can refine the exact distance but anything more than 2.5 km from the focused craft is considered destroyed when in atmosphere.

[magico13]

That's an aspect of the stock game. Only a bubble with radius about 2.3 km is actually loaded at any time. In space the unloaded vessels just go on-rails, but in atmosphere the game deletes them.

You have a couple options:

1. Follow the object down in the plane until it lands
   
2. Use a mod to increase the physics loading range (which can also dramatically increase lag). I know of the Lazor Docking System mod, but I believe there are other, more recent mods that do this.
   
3. Use the Flight Manager for Reusable Stages mod to fly each vessel separately (and then the save files are merged)
   
4. Use a mod like StageRecovery, which will recover your kerbals and the parts, but won't actually land the craft (probably not what you want in this situation, but works for dropped stages)
   

[LordFerret]

Bah... I was hoping that would not be the answer. Oh well, tight circles it is until it lands.

Thanks for the replies guys.