Idea Genericized Ballute/Aeroshield

[Tacolev]

So as any deep space pilot knows, and knows doubly if they're going to the outer planets, every last kilogram of propellant counts. With a preponderance of add-ons geared for long transfers, I'm surprised that so few of them are equipped with heat shields, aeroshells, ballutes, or similar structures for slowing down at mars, venus, or a gas giant system with minimal propellant expenditure...

Which gave me the idea that this would be quite the handy thing to standardize: a relatively light, collapsible, disposable aeroshell with a docking port/attachment point in the center, available in diameters of 5, 10, and 20 meters.

 

[MaverickSawyer]

Why hasn't anyone thought of this before?
Go for it, man. I'll download it, for sure!

 

[Grover]

well, at high velocities you need effective wings to give enough lift to hold yourself in the atmosphere

like the DG for example, but then you have to build in the wings, you cant substitute them in later, they'd end up too small

dont let me deter you though, it is possible, but difficult to generate enough lift

good luck man!

 

[Moach]

do you need a mesh and textures for that? i have one just sitting here (i made it for KSP)

 

[Tacolev]

Well, good to see there's a positive response to this!

Grover: I was under the impression significant lift was only needed for aerocapture vehicles so that they could execute control authority throughout the maneuver. Most crewed interplanetary vehicles feature outsized RCS which I imagined would suffice for this task. Is my thinking wrong on this subject?

I was thinking of setting these up as very basic SC3 vehicles and, once functional, making them into a DLL with artlav's converter. I have some very real academic concerns for the next week or so but once I'm in a clear spot I'll start a development thread.

Moach: I would very much appreciate your mesh/texture! The big reason I didn't start this as a development thread out of the box is because I have very limited experience with graphical work and even less with animation. I'll PM you when I have something to use it with. Many thanks.

 

[Tommy]

Lift is used during aerocapture to keep the vessel from climbing back out of the atmosphere. Without that, you won't stay in the atmosphere long enough to loose enough velocity. Using RCS to stay in the atmosphere would be LESS efficient than a standard orbit insertion (remember, you'll have a very high velocity at first - so it's more efficient to change the amount of velocity than it is to change the direction of velocity.

For a manned vessel, the limiting factors as to how much velocity you can shed with drag are temperature and G-force. The farther into the atmosphere your periapsis, the more velocity you'll lose - but the higher temps and G-forces you'll experience.

Depending on the planet (or moon), you may not be able to get down to a velocity low enough to allow you to be captured - and you would need to make a retrograde burn as soon as you were far enough out of the atmosphere to allow it. You could still save some fuel this way - every bit helps.

Some moons, like Titan, are great for aerobraking. It's atmosphere is quite cold so overheating is less likely, and quite dense so you get very good braking.

I do remember seeing on add-on, an interplanetary vessel with a head shield at one end designed for aerobraking - but don't remember what it was called. It's at OH somewhere.