For my fellow Kerbal rocket scientists out there, beware of KSP 1.05! It’s got a doozy of an update!
In previous versions of this lovable space/crash/rescue sim, you could semi-deploy a parachute during re-entry at any speed and the partially expanded fabric would act like a drogue: the envelope wouldn’t be fully deployed, but would still create significant drag, helping slow the vessel down to where the parachute could be fully deployed, safely bringing your vessel to the surface.
In 1.05, trying to do this “pre-deployment” will result in your parachutes getting ripped off.
This means that re-entry trajectory shaping is crucial to ensuring your vessel will be able to aerobrake enough to be slow enough to deploy your parachutes before you impact the terrain.
Of course, with the re-entry heating that was added in 1.0, go too fast and you’ll burn up, so there is now a tiny sliver of acceptable re-entry angles that will result in a successful atmospheric recovery.
At the shallower angles, re-entry literally takes minutes. With heat-sensitive parts onboard that aren’t being proected by the heatshield (the Mystery Goop container in this screenshot), you also need to very carefully monitor angle of attack and/or temperatures to make sure the heat soak doesn’t cook important things.
In 1.05, more than ever, this is a glorious sight. Larger vessels will have different ballistic coefficients requiring very different re-entry angles for the same speeds.
In the last screenshot, I also found out (the hard way!) that my re-entry configuration was aerodynamically unstable! During the first part of re-entry, the pilot SAS was able to maintain control but as we descended into the thicker air, I had to take manual control to ensure my science module didn’t get baked (which would have disintegrated, leaving my re-entry module without a heatshield). This was the most white-knuckle re-entry I’ve had since I first started playing version 0.18.
But I did make it!
For those interested, I’m flying these in career mode - it’s how I like to start in each new version. During my first attempt, I killed all my Kerbalnauts as soon as I started trying to go out of the atmosphere. With the new parachute limitations, suborbitals are especially deadly due to the steep re-entry angle for weaker rockets. Interestingly enough, you need to go faster to ensure your re-entry vessel has a shallow enough trajectory in the atmosphere to slow down!
After killing off the enitre Kerbal Space Program (we’ve all done it), I used Sandbox mode to do a bit of experimentation with re-entry angles, vessel ballistic coefficients, parachute configurations, etc., and am now back in Career. So far, no deaths, but I’m making very slow progress and it’s very nerve-wracking!
Playing KSP DID is pure torture…but oh so rewarding!