High speed Kerbin re-entry

[Kelderek]

I did a mission a little while ago where my return vehicle re-entered Kerbin's atmosphere going more than 20km/s. I thought that was pretty cool and it made me wonder: what is the highest velocity you've had upon re-entering Kerbin's atmosphere?

This might make for an interesting challenge for the challenge forum, kind of like the opposite of the Stock Kebin Escape speed record challenge. It's one thing to leave Kerbin's SOI at a high speed, but returning really fast would probably require the use of gravity assists. It would get even more interesting with the addition of re-entry heat changes in 1.0 as it might become possible that a high enough speed would not be able to aerobrake into orbit without disintegrating.

What are your top re-entry speeds?

[worir4]

Woah 20km/s! How did you manage that????

The fastest i have done is a direct return from Eeloo. Something like 5km/s.

[Kelderek]

I can't remember exactly, but it would have been a return from Eeloo or Jool. I did both of these missions a few days back and close together so they're sort of mixed together in my memory. IIRC I had to dip below 20km altitude to get an orbit capture which was the lowest I've ever needed. I wish I had thought to take pictures.

[merendel]

20k is impressive as you prety much had the equivalent of getting into a retrograde version of kerbin's orbit and slammed into it directly. Kerbin's orbital velocity is around 9.2km/s so 18.5km/s hiting the SOI and probably picking up a bit more on the way down the gravity well. I play with FAR and DRE so my returns are significantly more sedate than that. Hiting atmo at that speed is just as final as hiting the ground at that speed. Going deep enough to capture will vaporize the ship if it does not have an aerodynamic breakup first.

I think 4-5km/s is the fastest I've done with the mods. I've done faster with cheats and stock rules but that does not really count does it

[Brotoro]

5450 m/s returning from Eeloo is my maximum. This was back before reentry effects, so the picture doesn't look exciting.

[cantab]

I entered Kerbin's SOI doing around 25 km/s. Not sure what my speed was on hitting the atmosphere, but the g-forces peaked at 335 g and the ship broke apart. In stock aerodynamics without DRE.

[problemecium]

It's a shame 1.0 is probably going to nerf all of this :C

[Nathair]

It's a shame 1.0 is probably going to nerf all of this :C

In what way?

[Tank Buddy]

I believe Cupcake Landers may take the prize at +19000 m/s!

[sedativechunk]

I've done 12,000 m/s returning from Jool once. If you are playing with deadly reentry, don't try those speeds!

[Laie]

The Maximum Impact Velocity challenge from last summer.

I went out high over the sun, did a 180, and met Kerbin head-on. Hit the ground at 4000m/s. According to supplemental data, I seem to have entered the atmosphere at slightly more than 30km/s.

[Kelderek]

I'm trying to figure out what I did and reproduce it. I am quite certain I was over 20km/s on hitting the atmosphere, and yet I have no memory of exactly how I got to that point, lol. I just tried a return from Eeloo using hyperedit, and that was only about 5km/s as others have said. This is one of those things that will eat at my brain until I have no more brain cells remaining (never had many to begin with).

[samstarman5]

In what way?

Not nerf it so much as make it improbable to actually enter safely at such speeds. They haven't stated it outright, but there are lots of notes(such as those around the cargo holds) that are alluding that actual re-entry heat is going to finally be introduced. I think that is another reason for the aerodynamic revamp, so heat can be properly figured on objects entering atmo.

So buckle your seatbelts, kerbonauts, with 1.0, it is about to get real fun when coming back home to Kerbin(or visiting Duna, Eve, Laythe, or Jool) Geez, just realized entering Eve's and Jool's atmo is going to require some real finesse. This excites me a lot.

[ravensoul6@hotmail.com]

8,500 M/S with FAR and DRE installed on a high elliptic return from DRES. They died.

[Guest]

[something]

Edited April 5, 2015 by Jack Wolfe

[mythbusters844]

This fast. Don't ask how I got going so ridiculously fast. When it hit the atmosphere a fraction of a fraction of a second later, FAR immediately stripped EVERYTHING off the rocket-including the parachute-while everything was taking 500+ gees from aero forces. Needless to say, Biluel died, but I thankfully had made a quicksave.

Edited February 16, 2015 by mythbusters844