Well heat should not be that much of a problem for our ships, since we are already scooping hydrogen fuel out of stars coronas..
What would atmospheric entry look like?
- Thread starter amadeus1171
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Well heat should not be that much of a problem for our ships, since we are already scooping hydrogen fuel out of stars coronas..
Wouldn't make any difference with the infinite amount of thrust the ships thrusters have.
Considering no game developer has ever done them justice, it can look a lot worse than that and a lot of people will be fine. As long as there's enough to do down there.
Though might not be able to say that above a 10G planet.
To be honest though, landing on a 10g planet is virtually suicidal no matter if it has an atmosphere or not. Probably easier to get to the surface, but getting up would be far harder to achieve in an atmosphere.
This thread is an interesting read.
That gif in the OP is quite dramatic. I think the ships we currently have would be able to handle an atmospheric reentry relatively well :
- The amount of fuel we carry on board allows us to actively slow the ship down, while current reentry technology usually relies on friction and trajectory management to slow the ship. We have so much delta-V on tap, we can probably burn retrograde (or use the retro thrusters) for hours without running out.
- Our ships are able to approach quite close to stars, and sustain the heat for a few seconds even when approaching too close, thanks to our active radiators. Currently shields don't do anything for that, the hull materials and the radiators do everything.
So reentry temperatures of 3000 Kelvins for an Earth-like should be manageable, especially with the help of our thrusters, minimizing the amount of time enduring that level of heat.
- In atmosphere flight would also be fine, since we can already fly around planets with several Gs of gravity just fine. The presence of air would probably make the ships more sluggish, but nothing major.
For these reasons, I think the glide and approach mechanic currently ingame would work fine. I like the idea of having to follow an ideal trajectory, or maintaining a specific angle of attack to avoid overheating.
edit : due to real life events, it took me ~ 45min to post this, so everything is ninja'd multiple times
That gif in the OP is quite dramatic. I think the ships we currently have would be able to handle an atmospheric reentry relatively well :
- The amount of fuel we carry on board allows us to actively slow the ship down, while current reentry technology usually relies on friction and trajectory management to slow the ship. We have so much delta-V on tap, we can probably burn retrograde (or use the retro thrusters) for hours without running out.
- Our ships are able to approach quite close to stars, and sustain the heat for a few seconds even when approaching too close, thanks to our active radiators. Currently shields don't do anything for that, the hull materials and the radiators do everything.
So reentry temperatures of 3000 Kelvins for an Earth-like should be manageable, especially with the help of our thrusters, minimizing the amount of time enduring that level of heat.
- In atmosphere flight would also be fine, since we can already fly around planets with several Gs of gravity just fine. The presence of air would probably make the ships more sluggish, but nothing major.
For these reasons, I think the glide and approach mechanic currently ingame would work fine. I like the idea of having to follow an ideal trajectory, or maintaining a specific angle of attack to avoid overheating.
edit : due to real life events, it took me ~ 45min to post this, so everything is ninja'd multiple times
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The gif in the OP is attempt to transpose ED ship into our "modern" RL spaceship re-entry.
Which makes no sense, since ED ships have insane amount of delta-V and can keep engine running to counteract gravity for huge amount of times.
They could just kill their orbital speed and (relatively) slow hover down to surface. Actually they don't actually have "proper" orbital speed (to stay in orbit) in first place.
Unlike RL spaceship which must have massive orbital speed just to stay in orbit - simply because it does not have luxury of hovering via engine and almost all the time essentially in freefall.
Which makes no sense, since ED ships have insane amount of delta-V and can keep engine running to counteract gravity for huge amount of times.
They could just kill their orbital speed and (relatively) slow hover down to surface. Actually they don't actually have "proper" orbital speed (to stay in orbit) in first place.
Unlike RL spaceship which must have massive orbital speed just to stay in orbit - simply because it does not have luxury of hovering via engine and almost all the time essentially in freefall.
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It's also the same with lift off. They could lift off and fly up at a sedate 4-5 mph and get into space that way. Would take a while though.
Atmosphere is relatively thin - and in Elite ships could hyperjump from within atmosphere (at least if you consider Frontier/FFE canon).
To travel ~100-200km they could just fly at their "normal" in-space speed, maybe a bit faster. I believe this still is nowhere close proper orbital speeds which are approaching 10km/sec. More like airplane speeds - and airplanes don't tend to create plasma fireball around them
Though I fully expect ED will ignore that fact and will make a "pretty-looking" fireball just for the sake of it. Because its a "space-sim" /s
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Aha ... ! But my ship is the T-10, cunningly provided with a spoiler, or rather a stabilizing wing, for the purpose
A cinder block with a ricer wing is legit. I think 1200+ ton ship with vertical aerodynamics of a coffee table should have no problem getting safely to and from an atmos planet surface.
Knowing FDEV, I suspect there will be absolutely no difference, just the sky will be coloured and there might even be clouds.
Aerodynamics of a coffee table... ROFL!
Best description of the T10 to date!
A cinder block with a ricer wing is legit. I think 1200+ ton ship with vertical aerodynamics of a coffee table should have no problem getting safely to and from an atmos planet surface.
Aerodynamics of a coffee table... ROFL!
Best description of the T10 to date!
With no shields and a burst open canopy, lol.
To be fair, ships have very good cooling systems, to be able to dissipate many MW of heat
Just turn your broken canopy away from the star, you'd be fine (with only minor radiation sickness/sunburn which probably easy cure by future medicine
)
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Real world physics is all very well, but as we’re all aware, this is a game....
How can they make this challenging? Do they need to? FDev have plenty of handwavium in the stores, as we know...
I think that it’d be great to have to concentrate and follow a varying path or something like the interdiction mini game but with actual difficulty, with factors like your hull lines, atmospheric conditions and hull weight etc. making a difference.
So, as with other stuff, you have to trade off the ability to land safely.
Maybe stabilty modules would would be available to buy etc....
I’ve a little teensy hope that the paid for expansion coming this year could have a bit of atmosphere about it.... complimented by the 3.? Exploration update....
Just a teensy one...
like really really small.
How can they make this challenging? Do they need to? FDev have plenty of handwavium in the stores, as we know...
I think that it’d be great to have to concentrate and follow a varying path or something like the interdiction mini game but with actual difficulty, with factors like your hull lines, atmospheric conditions and hull weight etc. making a difference.
So, as with other stuff, you have to trade off the ability to land safely.
Maybe stabilty modules would would be available to buy etc....
I’ve a little teensy hope that the paid for expansion coming this year could have a bit of atmosphere about it.... complimented by the 3.? Exploration update....
Just a teensy one...
like really really small.
'We're in the pipe, 5 by 5...'
At the beginning, as a shower of meteorites which would crash on numerous planets
Hmm, can't agree regarding the control surfaces, many ships have, if though vestigial. And, when I look at the sips designs themselves, many also look like to designed as buoyancy bodies - I don't know whether this is the correct word (not native english speaker) - in german it is "Auftriebskörper". That means the ships shape itself works for some part as a control surface and therefore gives buoyancy.
