Recovering parts

[MoridinUK]

I have spent quite some time, building a set of subassemblies designed to be recoverable. Essentially a probe core, with some large tanks and the main sail engine. I have a tonne of paracutes designed around the centre of mass to give a nice gentle slashdown. Under the crash limit of 6 m/s every time! Testing it a couple of times and it worked, but first time in a real mission all I had to recover was the core and parachutes. Is there any point in trying to add more parachutes to slow it further, or is this just luck/buggy. The speed is under 6 m/s (5.79 last time) which isn't all that fast. I'd expect my parts to survive hitting water as fast as I can sprint...

Any advice? short of building huge space planes which I can't do

[Axelord FTW]

Might as well use Stage Recovery if you already know your parts can and will make their way down with parachutes and hit the water at a leisurely 6m/s.

I used to recover parts manually (or at least, tried to) but I find it simpler to use Stage Recovery, set the cutoff lower than default (I think it's 11m/s) at 8m/s and work with that.

Otherwise (if you want to keep stock functionality), you could keep a tiny bit of fuel and soften the touchdown by activating the engines at the right moment (you could get away with less than 10m/s left of delta-v to land the whole thing at 0.1m/s if you have rad skills. I've used separatrons as landing softeners before too.

EDIT: I guess there's also Better Buoyancy by Ferram which might (or not) help with parts dying on contact with the water.

[Janos1986]

Add more parachutes, and make sure it lands on the engine, since it has more impact resistance.

Edited January 28, 2015 by Janos1986

[Taki117]

I would actually move the parachutes ABOVE the center of mass, this way their drag will always pull the engine in the correct direction (A ring around the top of the orange tank would work wonders) Just make sure you are always hitting water otherwise it might tip and explode. Also, as it's coming down, since it is rather tall, as soon as it hits the water recover. (You will have a very small window to do it, meaning you will need to hover over your altimeter as it gets close)

[Kryxal]

Splashdowns are on the weird side sometimes, you might not be able to do much. Check just what happens to which parts in what order.

[MoridinUK]

Well I tried it with a full ring of chutes and as long as I recover before it topples over all is good. But that is exactly why I tried to make them land flat lol..